Is the Ron Johnson Model the New Normal?

In 2010 a rich political newcomer won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin.  Ron Johnson went on to avoid tough questions from the media, preferring to instead preach his fundamentalist Ayn Rand Gospel to the already converted.  Johnson married into wealth and certainly used a part of his personal fortune to bankroll his campaign.  The only opportunity most Wisconsinites had to see this political unknown was in his many misleading TV ads.

Now that Johnson has undoubtedly proven himself to be a know-nothing ideologue, you have to wonder if he would have ever been elected had voters known more than what showed up on TV.  You don't have to take my personal assessment of him, check out what some of his own Republican colleagues recently said about him in Roll Call:

“He’s an interesting case study of someone who has talked more than he has listened, lectured more than he has developed relationships with his colleagues, and now he’s having a tough time because of that behavior in advancing his policy goals,” one senior GOP aide said. “It’s kind of like watching a temper tantrum by a 2-year-old in the middle of the grocery store.”

Now Wisconsin is preparing to vote for U.S. Senate again and we have yet another filthy rich political newcomer spending gobs of his own money to get the job.  Like Ron Johnson in 2010, Eric Hovde is using his own personal wealth to flood the airwaves with ads.  Just before Hovde officially launched his campaign it was reported that he would be able to tap his own wealth gained through family real estate holdings, banking and hedge fund management to the tune of $10 million.

Like Johnson, he has not been properly vetted by voters and if he continues using the Johnson model that may never happen.  Right now the only thing that most people know about Eric Hovde is that he keeps giving us the evil eye, wearing white pants and running up stairs. Call me old fashioned but I really think that voters should get the chance to actually know the candidates well beyond this kind of gimmicky TV ad persona.

Hovde's new bio ad tries to make it seem like he is just one of us regular folks. But is it really the "American Dream" to find yourself born into a wealthy lifestyle and then simply use that inherited leverage to add to that wealth? Despite the perception that Hovde's new ad tries to paint I don't know many people that fit his actual real life profile.

• Growing up as a privileged son of a real estate developer that was also an official in the Reagan administration.
• Hedge fund manager that has lived for decades in Washington D.C. before conveniently moving back to Wisconsin just in time to run for U.S. Senate.
• In one 1980's media report he was described as a "Washington D.C.- based S&L industry consultant"
• To this day he appears to buy banks like most of us buy groceries (including bailed out banks, even though he was allegedly against TARP)

Don't get me wrong, we've had many wealthy candidates that have lived privileged lives and some have done outstanding work in public office.  But the problem here is a combination of factors taken as a whole : 

1. An unknown, untested, unvetted and unpredictable candidate 
2. No real policy track record of any kind 
3. Using vast personal wealth to create a fictional TV character. 

That was essentially the Ron Johnson Model to office and I don't want to see it repeated by anyone of any ideology or party.   The growth of this phenomenon should be concerning to everyone of every political stripe.  It may be good for a candidate's own ego, it may be good for their wealthy cronies or for their political party but it is certainly not good for the future of our electoral system or for the governance of our nation.  

This Kind of Hypocrisy is Almost "Criminal"

During the last budget, draft legislation was circulated that would give companies tax credits for hiring ex felons. Seizing on a perceived politically opportune moment, the right-wing Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) feigned all kinds of outrage over the idea. WPRI's blogger dutifully wrote an attack piece entitled "Is the Recession Hitting Felons Too Hard?" In that blog entry he commented that "...using the financial crisis to socially engineer changes that benefit those who have harmed others isn't the 'stimulus' we need." It didn't take long for right-wing talker Charlie Sykes to jump on the always opportunistic bandwagon. What I do find interesting, however, is that I haven't heard a peep from WPRI or Sykes about Ron Johnson's use of employment programs involving convicted criminals.

State records show that Ron Johnson has been using prison labor at the family company since 1998. He has been doing this even as the unemployment rate in Oshkosh has nearly doubled. So maybe WPRI and Sykes should ask Ron Johnson why he is still employing felons, some with violent histories, instead of working families in Oshkosh?

They have not and will not ask Johnson that question but I have a few ideas about the real answer. I suspect that it just might be because Johnson is able to offload health care costs to the state while still having people do the work for him. Again, it seems like this is yet another example of Johnson's double-talk on "small government". It apparently should be small unless it is helping his own bottom line. The AP has reported that the prison labor is saving Ron Johnson about $10,000 per employee per year. Rather than call out the hypocrisy WPRI and Sykes prefer instead to join in with a bit of their own, by remaining suddenly silent.

WPRI, Sykes and the rest of the right-wing brigade continually attack Governor Doyle for the "earned release" program. Usually they go about chronicling the name and criminal record of dozens of people who have (and have not) qualified for the program. So why aren't they raising even a whisper about the inmates — who are still serving time —who are allowed to get out to work in Ron Johnson's factory? While on work release, these people are monitored by the company, but not always by corrections employees. And some of them have serious charges for which they have been found guilty. Consider this listing of offenses by those that work for Johnson:

1st Degree reckless homicide (14 year sentence)

2 counts of bail jumping, 2 counts of fleeing and eluding, homicide by negligent use of a vehicle

Homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle

2 counts of battery, 2nd degree reckless endangering safety

2 counts of burglary, OWI, bail jumping

Burglary

Theft

2 counts burglary

Burglary, theft

Where is the right-wing fear mongering about these individuals? Where is their feigned outrage over the program itself? Apparently WPRI and Sykes have no problem with the situation because them being consistent would hurt Ron Johnson. Not only would it hurt his campaign but it would hurt his pocket book. That kind of right-wing hypocrisy is breathtaking, in fact you might even say that it is almost "criminal".

Johnson's Whiteboard as Empty as His Rhetoric

Johnson Shrugged (off homeless vets)

Now this is a heck of a quote to take national! Apparently for Ron Johnson this election isn't about details, whether it concerns creating jobs for the middle class or for helping homeless veterans.

Johnson Shrugged (off the Middle Class)

We all know that Ron Johnson is a policy lightweight. Just witness his tendency to hide from the media and his refusal to engage in any environment that he doesn't totally control. We also know that he is a fortunate elitist that thinks very little about the daily struggles that the rest of us face. Both of these Ron Johnson realities were perfectly crystallized in his meeting with the editorial board of the Green Bay Press Gazette.

During that interview Johnson was rattling off one of his substance-free talking points, but was quickly rattled by what should have been an easy question. They simply asked him to describe his jobs plan for the middle class. He had no answer, and he has no plan. Involuntarily imitating the title of his favorite book, "Johnson Shrugged" off the middle class.

The Green Bay Press Gazette endorsed Russ Feingold saying in part that "Johnson seemed unable to further articulate his plan for job creation — especially for the middle class..." Even with all of his sound-bytes, bumper stickers, and expensive ad buys, that statement should really tell us all that we need to know. Everyday Wisconsinites are not the major priority for an out-of-touch elitist like Ron Johnson. UPDATE: Johnson Shrugged (off homeless vets)

The Year of the "Missing" Candidate

Ron Johnson is not only content in making himself "missing" from multiple debates but as Politico reports, he has also made himself purposefully "missing" from the media in general. It seems to be a common strategy for many of the GOP's more extreme right wing candidates all over the country. Politico is calling it, The Year of the Missing Candidate.

Update: Like I said, "missing".

"PolitiFact" Fails Simple Math

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "PolitiFact" project is very quickly making itself irrelevant. They are accomplishing this by arriving at some of the most absurd conclusions. They are doing this with several campaigns but they really seem to have a chip on their shoulder with the Feingold campaign. In fact the apparent chip is so big that they have even abandoned their (assumed) knowledge of simple math in the process.

Today they arbitrarily gave the Feingold campaign a "pants on fire" designation for suggesting that Russ Feingold's opponents have always outspent him. Here is the very simple math:

In 1992, Feingold’s opposition in the Democratic Party primary- Joe Checota and Jim Moody- spent $4,986,780.78. In the general election, incumbent Bob Kasten spent $5,427,163.00.
Feingold spent $1,990,488.00 total against both his Democratic primary opponents and his general election opponent.

The Math:

Opponents $10,413,943.78
Feingold $1,990,488.00


In 1998, Feingold’s opponent Congressman Mark Neumann spent $4,373,953.00. Feingold spent $3,846,089.00.

Neumann was also aided by millions of dollars of outside independent expenditures for TV ads attacking Senator Feingold.

The Math:

Opponents Well over $5 million
Feingold $3,846,089.00


In 2004, Feingold’s three Republican opponents spent $11,645,443.00 attacking Feingold.

Russ Darrow spent $4,826,619.00, Bob Welch spent $1,276,737.00, and Feingold general election opponent, Tim Michels spent, $5,542,087.00.

The Math:

Opponents $11,645,443.00
Feingold $9,239,908

Even if we include Feingold’s spending before his GOP opponents entered the race, Feingold was still outspent $11,645,443.00 to $10,977,339.3.

1992-2004

In total, Feingold’s opponents have spent $26,433,339.78 trying to defeat him and this doesn’t even include all the independent ads that have been spent by outside groups.

Feingold has spent $16,813,916.31 against his opponents, while his opponents have spent in excess of $26,433,339.78.

The Math:

Opponents $26,433,339.78
Feingold $16,813,916.31

Ron Johnson Dodges Debates and Media

Proud to Join the Cheddarbomb for Russ!

UPDATE: Wisconsin's progressive bloggers easily passed our original goal of 100 contributors to Russ's Cheddarbomb! We had to push it up to 125 and at this rate we may have to push that goal up again before midnight. If you haven't joined the fun, contribute now!

Our outstanding U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is now officially facing multimillionaire and public policy lightweight Ron Johnson. Since Johnson is also a fortunate son (in-law) with money to burn, he has pledged to spend $15 million to try and buy this seat in the U.S. Senate. Rather than face his opponents in the Republican primary, the media or even the questions of tea party activists, he opted to just keep spending money on slogan-filled ads. He has continually tried to avoid a real substantive discussion of issues. Hopefully he wont be able to continue hiding from an actual debate. Russ has already agreed to 6 of them and hopefully Johnson will do the same.


Even if Ron Johnson gets tutored long enough to have those debates, he still will be spending his vast wealth to try and drown out everything else in the race. That is why Wisconsin's grassroots need to step up and speak with one voice to help Russ close the financial gap! The Feingold campaign has announced a "Cheddarbomb" for Russ today. They are calling it the "15 for 15 Cheddarbomb". They want 15,000 people to give to Russ today (the 15th) to help match the $15 million that Johnson wants to use to buy a Senate
seat.


Progressive bloggers from all around the state are doing their part and set up an Act Blue page to join in this important effort. So click on either image in this blog posting and give whatever you can to Russ today!

And if you needed more inspiration to give, here are a few words from Russ on today's effort:

All the polls show this race is a toss-up and I expect it to remain tight until Election Day

My opponent multimillionaire Ron Johnson thinks his checkbook can decide this election. He’s so confident about winning that he's already pledged to spend upward of $15 million of his own fortune, or “all of it,” to win.

Today, September 15, my campaign is launching our newest effort: “15 for 15 Cheddarbomb.” We'll match Ron Johnson's $15 million with the donations of 15,000 grassroots donors. This is our first-ever “moneybomb” or as we call it in Wisconsin – a “Cheddarbomb.” Our “Cheddarbomb” will show that my campaign can match Johnson's $15 million with 15,000 grassroots donations of our own – in a single day.
Contribute to our September 15 “Cheddarbomb” right now.

Our goal of 15,000 grassroots supporters is a pretty ambitious one-day goal, but my campaign is built on grassroots support, not on the support of Washington corporate interests. The only way to win this election is by having the strongest grassroots support and the absolute best ground operation. My campaign has already contacted 228,696 Wisconsin voters and opened 22 field offices across the state. The momentum is on our side. We'll win because we have the best volunteers and supporters, not because we rely on special interests and big checkbooks to help us win.

In fact, in just the past three months, Johnson has already spent $4 million on slash-and-burn television ads. Ron Johnson has millions of dollars to spend on attack ads, but you have a voice and it needs to be heard. That's why I need your help right now.

This is the first time a one-day online fundraising campaign has ever been attempted in Wisconsin campaign history. I hope you'll make this “Cheddarbomb” a success by standing up with me today!

Line of the Week: Feingold Campaign

“Ron Johnson doesn’t understand that when you’re in a hole, you stop drilling."

-John Kraus, a senior strategist for the Feingold Campaign.

Why Didn't Johnson "Just Say No"?

Even his fellow Republicans seem to be stumped over his vacillating positions on what should have been a clear cut issue.

Maybe it had something to do with his Big Investment in BP and Big Oil in general.

About that Deficit...

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities produced the above chart to help show the major contributors to the current federal deficit. The chart accompanies the latest installment in their ongoing series, "Economic Recovery Watch". I certainly hope that those feigning sudden outrage over the federal deficit will be first in line to call for an end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. After all, as far as contributors go, it is second only to the two wars.

UPDATE: It looks like Ron Johnson has "no opinion" on the massive portion of the federal deficit that came at the hands of George W. Bush. Yet in his latest commercial he bemoans the idea of "unsustainable debt and spending". Which is it Ron? Or maybe your values vacillate depending on the political party of the president.

ht: Daily Kos

Waiting for Wall's Second Epistle

I don't think that anyone was expecting the interview that former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terrence Wall gave to WTDY. In it he accused establishment candidate Ron Johnson of everything from paying off people at the convention to tampering with convention voting. After hearing Wall's comments I assumed that it was just a moment where his emotions got away from him and that it was probably the end of it. Clearly I was wrong because now Terrence Wall has gone into even more detail by writing a small epistle about a RPW "culture of corruption".

Wall's latest blistering attack on Ron Johnson and the RPW establishment that cornated him included all kinds of new accusations. They include some of the following:

Hiring away Wall's direct-mail vendor

Trying to hire away Wall staff at the convention at "above-market compensation"

Party officials ordering Wall staffers to vote for Johnson at the convention

A Brown County official ignoring his county's rules which called for "no endorsement".

People being given their ballots back and told to vote for Johnson.

People allegedly asking Wall supporters "what do we need to give you to get you to switch your vote?"

A man with a woman's credentials trying to vote.

People that were upset about the way the convention vote was handled but being silenced.

Swiping Wall ballots so that they were never counted.

A misinformation campaign on the convention floor.

Wall being threatened that if he ever wanted a "career in politics" that he would remain silent about the alleged activities at the convention.

The piece ends advising the readers to "stay tuned" because Wall has more to tell next month. He promises that it will be a more "humorous edition" but something tells me that the RPW and what Wall describes as "kingmakers" don't find any of this to be very funny. If the recent endorsements of David Westlake are any indication, it looks like the Tea Party doesn't find much of this funny either.

As for me, given the remarkable accusations in this first Wall epistle, I will certainly be waiting for the second (regardless of its humor quotient).

Someone Find the Voter Fraud Task Force!

Thanks to Terrance Wall and his recent allegations, we may have a new "voter fraud" investigation involving Ron Johnson! Where is J.B. Van Hollen and Milwaukee County ADA Bruce Landgraf when you need them? They seem to chase any and every "voter fraud" allegation, both real and imagined. I seem to recall that they were the primary forces behind the "voter fraud task force" launched in 2008. Seems like we may have had a "voter fraud" incident right here in Milwaukee County, at the RPW convention. Quick! Someone find the task force! (or Batman...whoever responds first)

Ron Johnson's New Policy Advisor?

Last week I tried to pin down the small and rather odd list of policy positions held by Ron Johnson. Now this week we are learning where he may be getting some of his off-the-wall ideas. On Wednesday, Johnson's hometown paper reported that he played a major role in bringing controversially extreme right-wing author Charles Murray to town.

Murray co-authored the book, "The Bell Curve" in 1994. One of the more infamous claims of the book includes the idea that genetic differences between blacks and whites account for poor performance by African-American students. Murray has also suggested that some kids should simply not be encouraged to go to college.

Assuming that Ron Johnson ever gives us an actual policy position on education, I'm eager to examine it for Murray's influence. Depending on what we find, we may have to assume that Charles Murray is Ron Johnson's newest policy advisor (assuming that he actually has anything other than political handlers in the first place).

I'm Sensing a Theme Here...

It seems that Ron Johnson is part of some strange right wing club. The membership of that club is apparently required to hold very extreme and rather odd "policy" positions. They apparently are further required to hide and otherwise dodge the legitimate media. I wonder if someone in Wisconsin's media can give Johnson the same grilling that his fellow club member received in Nevada recently?

Ron Johnson's Odd Collection

Early on Ron Johnson admitted in an interview that he was still working on his policy positions. As I recall, he would only commit to supporting "freedom" at the time. Now we are starting to gather quite an odd mix of policy positions from Ron Johnson. Here is the list that I have so far:

Favors Drilling for Oil in the Great Lakes
We Shouldn't Pick on BP
He is glad that there is global warming
He was one of only a few private citizens to testify against the bipartisan Child Victims Act
Supports the Patriot Act and Real ID but only when a Republican is President
Supports massive unfunded federal mandates (see his support for Real ID)
Praised Russ Feingold for opposing Wall Street bailout
He is willing to take away new protections for children with preexisting conditions

That is one heck of a list of policy positions, no wonder he is trying to avoid real questions from both the media and from Tea Party people. With such an odd collection, its no suprise that even the RPW chair didn't want to talk about it.

UPDATE: Illusory Tenant reminds us that Johnson also supports teaching creationism.

Out-of-Touch: Johnson’s Preexisting Condition

Ron Johnson received his coronation by the RPW elites over the weekend but aside from his reciting of tea party bumper stickers and slogans, he has shown very little in the way of actual public policy. He admitted as much on several occasions saying that he was still working on his actual positions on the issues. One of the places that he recently made such an admission was on Mark Belling's radio program. In fact his only real attempt at discussing policy revealed not only that he is light in that department but also that he is totally out-of-touch with average Wisconsinites and the struggles that they face.

When talking about what made him enter the race he said the following:

"Well, I can tell you well first of all the theme of my campaign will be freedom. Okay, that's the main reason I'm running is freedom, and the trigger point, the straw that broke the camel's back from my standpoint was the passage of ah the Health Care Bill—ObamaCare, and the assault on freedom that that thing represents."

When asked by Belling if he is really ready to run for office he responds with the following statement and what appears to be an unrelated personal story:

"I believe I am. But let me tell you just one other thing about a motivating factor here Mark in terms of health care. My, my, my first child was a daughter and she was born with a very serious congenital heart defect that required major surgery to reconstruct the upper chamber of her heart. Now what I had to do was I had to call up around the country to find the most advanced medical treatment for her. Now the good news though, I'll skip ahead, she now is a twenty-seven year old woman and she is a nurse in a neo-natal intensive care unit herself."

So let me see if I am getting this straight. He has a child that had a very serious pre-existing medical condition yet he wants to "repeal" protections for nearly 100,000 kids in Wisconsin with pre-existing conditions that could otherwise be denied health care? News flash to Ron Johnson! Most of those 100,000 Wisconsin children don't come from families with multimillion dollar fortunes to pay for their medical care. If you include all Wisconsinites under the age of 65, the number of people with preexisting conditions swells to over 1.1 million. The health care reform that is now law gives us a much needed level of protection for those people. Ron Johnson wants to take those protections away, leaving both children and adults (who are not multimillionaires) to fend for themselves.

Apparently Ron Johnson doesn't only suffer from a lack of ability on public policy but he is also deeply out-of-touch.

“They Don’t Think for Themselves”

Those were the words of a Dave Westlake supporter just after Westlake was thrown under the RPW bus at their convention this past weekend. Westlake certainly wasn't the only one that was run over by Republican insiders. Delegates also decided the throw Terrance Wall under the bus even after he has thrown a ton of his own money into the race. It looks like the real estate mogul made a bad investment, thanks to the RPW insiders.

The above Republican candidates were only the latest to be thrown under the bus by their own party. That process was started the moment that they decided to break with some 32 years of tradition and coronate Scott Walker right in the middle of a heated primary with Mark Neumann. Not only did the RPW throw Mark Neumann under the bus, but even a number of his followers were kept on the street outside of the convention (presumably so that they could also be run over later).

It is clear that the RPW insiders are trying to hurry up and rally behind one candidate (no matter how flawed) in certain races but not in others. But I have to wonder if they have rushed too fast to coronate some of these people. For example, Ron Johnson has not even figured out his policy positions opting instead to read the same old substance-free bumper stickers and slogans. What policy surprises and gaffes can we expect from him along the way? Has the RPW even taken the time to properly and completely vet him in their mad rush to throw the other Republican candidates under the bus?

In coronating a struggling Scott Walker, the RPW's strategy could also backfire. Mark Neumann's campaign has done much better this year and has actually made more of a race in the Republican primary than many would have thought was possible. Neumann has been successfully making inroads into the tea party and it is hard to throw him under the RPW bus without throwing them under as well. Somehow I don't think that they take kindly to party bosses decreeing that their candidate (and they) should shut up and fall in line. We already know that there is a history of tension between party bosses and the tea party folks.

So now that they have run over many of their own candidates (along with their supporters), it will be interesting to see if the RPW bus backfires or otherwise breaks down along the election year road.