MADISON - With pressure mounting over his likely illegal $10 million corporate payout, it turns out Senator Johnson is full of other ethically questionable decisions. After spending nearly six years in Washington protecting a rigged economy, Senator Johnson has left behind a trail of suspect choices and shady deals. Now, with 47 days till the election there are too many scandals and not enough time.

So to help sort through Senator Johnson’s ethically questionable choices we’re launching a “Multi-Millionaire Madness” bracket challenge. We’ve pulled together eight of Johnson’s shadiest and most suspect decisions and they’ll compete for the crown of which is the worst. Each day we’ll announce the winners of the previous days' round. You’ll want to stay tuned.

A bracket is attached to the email, and you can also view it here. Here are today's matchups*

SHADY REGION

• Suitcase of Cash vs Private Planes

  • Suitcase of cash: Senator Johnson must really value his chief of staff Tony Blando. He gave him $48,000 in cash as a gift for no apparent reason.¹

  • Private planes: Johnson used $1,300 from his own PAC to fly to a Koch event. Multi-millionaires don’t pay for their own flights, that’s what they’ve got billionaire friends for! ²

• Golden parachute vs Stashing cash

  • Golden Parachute: Not much to say about Sen. Johnson’s $10 million golden parachute, since he refuses to come clean about it. But what we do know ain’t good...

  • Stashing cash: Ethics rules smethic rules. With all his shady deals it’s easy to see why Johnson violated Senate Ethics Rules and failed to disclose his involvement in an LLC profiting off patents.³

     

SUSPECT REGION

• Hollywood vs Handouts

  • Hollywood: Johnson is sort of a movie buff (see the Lego Movie). That's why he spent $2,800 of taxpayer money to produce right wing infomercials highlighting ‘victims of government.’

  • Handouts: Do you smell that? No it’s not teen spirit, it’s hypocrisy! Johnson, rails against government support for small business, but took $5 million in government handouts for his company.

• All in the family vs Money Talks

  • All in the family: Ever wondered what $20,000 in plastic cups looks like, neither have we. But Johnson did. He spent $20,000 in campaign cash on products from his old company, that his brother now runs.

  • Money talks: You’ve gotta spend money to make money. That’s why Johnson has paid his finance consultant $575,000. More than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump’s campaign managers make!

¹ [Senate Office of Public Records, Anthony Blando, 2013]
² [Federal Election Commission, accessed 6/17/15]
³ [Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, LightTime Annual Report, 5/5/10]
*Feel free to reach out for additional citations.