Government officials are crowing about the deal that brought Sumitomo's silicon-wafer factory to northeast Phoenix. But they haven't mentioned that the deal will cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
It took two very questionable appraisals to get it right, but the state Land Department finally came up with a discount price Sumitomo Sitix could swallow. Some people say the deal warrants a criminal investigation.
Public relations firms wrote a script for overcoming opposition to Sumitomo's new silicon-wafer plant. City and state officials learned their lines well.
