Add a formal inquiry by the Senate Ethics Committee to Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s troubles less than six months before he faces voters. Johnson, who broke an earlier pledge to only serve two terms when he announced his bid for re-election in 2022 is under fresh scrutiny for travel between Washington, D.C. and his family’s vacation home.
Here’s why that’s a scandal:
- Senators are allowed to use government funds, that is, your taxpayer dollars, to cover their travel between Washington, D.C. and their home state.
- 17 different times, including nine times last year, Johnson made taxpayers foot the bill for travel between his vacation home in Florida and Washington, D.C.
- In his latest financial disclosure filings, Johnson reported that he and his wife have assets that fall between $16.5 million and $78.3 million.
With that kind of wealth, why in the world is Senator Johnson putting taxpayers on the hook for commercial airline tickets that are almost always less than $1,000. To be clear, $1,000 is a lot of money to most people.
Not Johnson. In fact, what makes this scandal even harder to believe is that at the height of the pandemic, Johnson was taking his family’s private jet to work. That’s right, the walking talking vector of covid disinformation that is Senator Ron Johnson was flying private at the same time as he was downplaying the severity of the pandemic.
When you have those kinds of financial resources it is outrageous to play fast and loose with Senate Ethics rules and charge taxpayers for travel to and from a vacation home.
The fact that Johnson did just that will not be received well by Wisconsin voters. Now, the verdict from those voters isn’t the only one awaiting Johnson.
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