When you look into the eyes of some Republicans, you see pure, unreconstructed evil. When you look into Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s eyes, you’re more likely to see all nine Ernest movies running on a continuous loop—but that doesn’t mean the evil isn’t there.
Rojo the Clown has played footsie with murderous dictator Vladimir Putin, likely killed people with his dopey vaccine skepticism, and allegedly tried to facilitate the overthrow of the legitimate government of the United States, but those are hardly the limits of his awfulness. And now—in a revelation that smacks of Donald Trump’s alleged off-the-book payments to his company’s ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg—Johnson is drawing criticism, as well as an ethics complaint, over $280,000 in cash gifts he made to his former chief of staff, Anthony Blando, and his wife.
And before you say to yourself, “Oh, how generous of him,” this appears to be yet another case of a high-profile Republican politician believing the rules simply don’t apply to him.
While these gifts certainly appear improper, there’s some question about which Senate rule applies. The Senate has put limits on the gifts senators and their staff are allowed to accept, though the Senate Ethics Manual notes that they may take gifts from senators and Senate employees “with no restrictions on the dollar value of the gift.” But another section of the manual specifically notes that a “gift of cash or a cash equivalent (for example stocks or bonds) is not an acceptable gift, unless it is from a relative or is part of an inheritance.”
According to Kedric Payne, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog group, Johnson could still evade responsibility, but he might be in trouble if it’s determined that he was attempting to skirt staff compensation rules.
“These ‘gifts’ appear to violate the rules for when a Senator uses personal funds to compensate staff,” said Payne. “An investigation is needed to determine if these payments were intended as compensation for staff work, which requires tax and other payroll withholdings under the ethics rules.”
When contacted by The Wisconsin State Journal, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning “declined to specify why Johnson made the payments, but noted Johnson first contacted Blando in 2003 after Blando was diagnosed with cancer, and Johnson offered to pay for his continued treatment.”
And that sounds really nice and everything. Johnson wanted to pay for his friend’s vital medical treatments—while denying rudimentary health care to millions of less well-connected Americans (the gormless goober is still talking about repealing Obamacare, FFS)—but ours is still a rules-based society, and Johnson appears to have run afoul of those rules. If he’d wanted to pay for his friend’s cancer treatments without violating Senate ethics guidelines, he could have started a GoFundMe or hosted a bake sale, like so many other Americans are forced to do thanks to the cruelty and shortsightedness of senators like Ron Johnson. And while Johnson might think he’s actually helping, his actions merely perpetuate the cycle of dependency among people with fatal diseases who really should remember that this country was built on rugged individualism.
I mean, my ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin in the late 1800s with loose change in their pockets, not a whole U.S. senator. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps, man! This is America! Not some country with universal health care and a higher life expectancy than Estonia and Cuba. Why does Johnson want to change the very fabric of our country?
For shame, senator. For shame.
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.
Rojo the Clown has played footsie with murderous dictator Vladimir Putin, likely killed people with his dopey vaccine skepticism, and allegedly tried to facilitate the overthrow of the legitimate government of the United States, but those are hardly the limits of his awfulness. And now—in a revelation that smacks of Donald Trump’s alleged off-the-book payments to his company’s ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg—Johnson is drawing criticism, as well as an ethics complaint, over $280,000 in cash gifts he made to his former chief of staff, Anthony Blando, and his wife.
And before you say to yourself, “Oh, how generous of him,” this appears to be yet another case of a high-profile Republican politician believing the rules simply don’t apply to him.
While these gifts certainly appear improper, there’s some question about which Senate rule applies. The Senate has put limits on the gifts senators and their staff are allowed to accept, though the Senate Ethics Manual notes that they may take gifts from senators and Senate employees “with no restrictions on the dollar value of the gift.” But another section of the manual specifically notes that a “gift of cash or a cash equivalent (for example stocks or bonds) is not an acceptable gift, unless it is from a relative or is part of an inheritance.”
According to Kedric Payne, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog group, Johnson could still evade responsibility, but he might be in trouble if it’s determined that he was attempting to skirt staff compensation rules.
“These ‘gifts’ appear to violate the rules for when a Senator uses personal funds to compensate staff,” said Payne. “An investigation is needed to determine if these payments were intended as compensation for staff work, which requires tax and other payroll withholdings under the ethics rules.”
When contacted by The Wisconsin State Journal, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning “declined to specify why Johnson made the payments, but noted Johnson first contacted Blando in 2003 after Blando was diagnosed with cancer, and Johnson offered to pay for his continued treatment.”
And that sounds really nice and everything. Johnson wanted to pay for his friend’s vital medical treatments—while denying rudimentary health care to millions of less well-connected Americans (the gormless goober is still talking about repealing Obamacare, FFS)—but ours is still a rules-based society, and Johnson appears to have run afoul of those rules. If he’d wanted to pay for his friend’s cancer treatments without violating Senate ethics guidelines, he could have started a GoFundMe or hosted a bake sale, like so many other Americans are forced to do thanks to the cruelty and shortsightedness of senators like Ron Johnson. And while Johnson might think he’s actually helping, his actions merely perpetuate the cycle of dependency among people with fatal diseases who really should remember that this country was built on rugged individualism.
I mean, my ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin in the late 1800s with loose change in their pockets, not a whole U.S. senator. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps, man! This is America! Not some country with universal health care and a higher life expectancy than Estonia and Cuba. Why does Johnson want to change the very fabric of our country?
For shame, senator. For shame.
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.