Saturday, November 22, 2014

Ron Johnson Won't Self-Finance 2016 Campaign Just Like He Didn't In 2010

US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) was recently on C-SPAN where he said that he would not self-finance his 2016 campaign for reelection:
When Sen. Ron Johnson seeks re-election in 2016, don't look for the Wisconsin Republican to open his own checkbook this time around.

Johnson said on C-SPAN that he's not going to self-finance another campaign.

"I made my $9 million investment in this country," Johnson said Wednesday. "I gave it once, I don't think I should do it again."
RoJo has obviously forgotten that he didn't self-finance his 2010 campaign either

His company, Pacur, financed it:
After dropping nearly $9 million from his own pocket to win a seat in the U.S. Senate, Ron Johnson didn't have to feel the pain for very long.

Johnson's plastics company paid him $10 million in deferred compensation shortly before he was sworn in as Wisconsin's junior senator, according to his latest financial disclosure report.

The first-term Republican declined to say how his Oshkosh firm, Pacur, came up with a figure that so closely mirrored the amount he personally put into his campaign fund.

"You take a look in terms of what would be a reasonable compensation package, OK?" Johnson said this week. "It's a private business. I've complied with all the disclosure laws, and I don't have to explain it any further to someone like you."

[...]

Unlike most deferred package deals, however, it appears that the company had not set aside a specified amount annually that would be paid out when he left the firm. Instead, Johnson said the $10 million payment was "an agreed-upon amount" that was determined at the end of his tenure with the company.

Agreed upon with whom?

"That would be me," he said.

Still, Johnson said he couldn't see why anyone would raise any questions about the going-away present he gave himself. His LLC now owns only 5% of Pacur.
Even that is not completely accurate.

Pacur was actually created by RoJo's father-in-law as a supplier to his other company, Curwood. RoJo married into his job.

Furthermore, RoJo was pretty dependent on government loans and HUD grants to keep his company going.

But thanks to the Citizens United decision, it is without doubt that RoJo is counting on the dark money special interest groups to support his campaign for being such a good water carrier for them during his term, so he won't need to tap into his business' coffers to support another race.

Cross posted at Crooks and Liars.

No comments:

Post a Comment