DSCC Statement On Ron Johnson Using Taxpayer Dollars To Travel To Florida Vacation Home

In response to bombshell reporting today from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealing that Sen. Ron Johnson “has been using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of flights between a Florida family vacation home and Washington, D.C., including nine such trips last year,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Amanda Sherman-Baity issued the following statement:

“The fact that Ron Johnson is using taxpayer dollars to fund his Florida vacations embodies everything Wisconsinites hate about his self-serving politics. At every opportunity, Johnson is looking out for one person: himself – and that’s exactly why Wisconsin voters will fire him in 2022.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Sen. Ron Johnson uses tax dollars to travel between Florida family home and the U.S. Capitol
By Daniel Bice
May 26, 2022

• U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of flights between a Florida family vacation home and Washington, D.C., including nine such trips last year, federal records show.

• Democrats say the expenditures by the multimillionaire Republican are a waste of public money because they say the trips have nothing to do with his official job representing Wisconsin at the U.S. Capitol.

• Last month, Johnson invited scrutiny of his government spending, telling Brian Kilmeade of Fox News that he was for “total disclosure.” He added, “The public has a right to know. I am for total transparency. I am for the truth.”

• Federal records show that Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, has been reimbursed for 19 flights from Fort Myers, Florida, to Washington between 2013 and May 2021.

• Wisconsin’s senior senator went to Fort Myers at least nine times between Jan. 1, 2021, and May 10, 2021. Those flights between Florida and Washington cost taxpayers anywhere from $227 to $1,152.

• Travel records show that Johnson attended a meeting, via teleconference from Florida, with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and a couple of Republican senators at Trump International Hotel to discuss allegations of election fraud on Jan. 4, 2021.

• Johnson then billed taxpayers $565 to fly to Washington two days later to vote on certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Johnson was among those who voted in favor of certification, after first indicating that he planned to join with 10 other Republican senators in objecting to the certification.

• He returned to Florida on Jan. 7, the day after the attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. 

• It is impossible to determine the exact cost for Johnson’s jaunts from Florida… But Senate records show the trips cost taxpayers at least $5,418 and no more than $18,781.

• Philip Shulman, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, said the wealthy two-term senator should not be asking taxpayers to pay for flights between Florida and Washington.

• “Whether it’s helping pass legislation that enriched himself and his biggest donors or spending thousands in taxpayer dollars to fly to and from his family vacation home in Florida, Ron Johnson’s priority is his self-serving agenda, not Wisconsinites,” Shulman said.

• Jacquelyn Lopez, a partner with the Elias law firm in Washington, said tax dollars are intended for official business, not personal trips. 

• “The rules are clear,” Lopez said. “A senator may not use taxpayer dollars to fund personal travel to or from a family vacation home.  As a matter of federal law and Senate ethics rules, senators may only use official funds for travel that is essential to the transaction of official business.” 

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