Self-styled “reformers” have gone off one one of the stupidist campaign finance and corporate contribution crusades we’ve seen in a long time, and that’s saying something. Indeed, this one goes well beyond stupid.
The reformers are are upset because Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson spent something under $9 million of his own money in his upset win over Russ Feingold last fall. Then, Johnson’s company, Pacur – a privately held firm owned by, well, by Johnson – paid him $10 million in deferred compensation. Ho no! The good government types are freaking out. This is, they claim, an illegal corporate contribution to his campaign. Mike McCabe, head of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, calls it “a clever scheme… to get around the law,” “the law” referring to the prohibition on corporate contributions to a campaign.
Now, of course, Ron Johnson is a very wealthy, very successful businessman. This was well known as he ran for senate – after all, he did put $8 million and then some of his money into the campaign. And where does all of Ron Johnson’s “own money” come from? It comes from his ownership of Pacur! When Ron Johnson needs extra cash, what does he do? He either pays himself dividends, cashes in equities, or pays himself more salary. So basically, the reformers’ theory goes like this – because Johnson makes his money from a corporation, any money of his own he puts into the campaign is an illegal corporate contribution. Or maybe it goes like this – if Johnson pays himself before the campaign, it’s OK, but if he pays himself after the campaign, it’s not OK. From the standpoint of preventing corruption, the distinction should be clear.
“I thought it was supposed to be a self-financed campaign,” says Jay Heck, head of Wisconsin Common Cause. “This raises a number of questions.” Yes, like how stupid do you have to be before Wisconsin Common Cause won’t employ you anymore? Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ace reporter Daniel Bice, who wrote a number of anti-Johnson columns during the campaign (while drawing a salary from a corporation, heaven forbid!) wants to know how the amount Johnson took from the company “so closely mirrored the amount he personally put into his campaign fund.” “Closely mirrored?” Yes, it was only off by more than $1 million. Hey, for rich guys like Johnson, that’s a rounding error, right?
Naturally, a bunch of the blogs are lathered up about this non-scandal. Yes, my friends, the reformers have reached the other side of stupid.
