Sunday, September 19, 2010

Ron Johnson attacks stimulus program while pursing stimulus dollars

Ron Johnson, the Republican Senate candidate who has built his campaign on opposition to federal spending and the stimulus program sought stimulus funds for renovations to Oshkosh's Grand Opera House when he was president of the Grand’s board in March 2009.

Johnson's hypocrisy is detailed in this article from hometown paper, the Oshkosh Northwestern.

2 comments:

the other side of the coin said...

I read the entire article twice and nowhere did I find the word 'hypocrite" or "hypocrisy". So it must be in your interpretation of the article.

Let me propose another interpretation for your consideration.

Johnson Is the CEO of a non-profit organization. It is his FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY to act in the best interest of the organization.

The fiduciary responsibilities of a corporation's board members includes:

* Avoiding conflicts of interest
* Acting in the interest of the company rather than the member's personal interest
* Providing oversight to assure that all company business is transacted legally
* Making decisions to protect the assets of the corporation.

I believe we should expect and demand that responsibility from all public officials. In fact, in recent Supreme Court hearings, it was quite clear that the Senate expected the judicial nominees to act in compliance with the law, not their personal interest.

Michael Rosen said...

You make my point. Johnson’s campaign for Senate has been based on opposition to the economic stimulus, characterizing it as wasteful spending. Yet in his capacity as CEO of a non-profit organization the only responsible position he could take was to pursue stimulus dollars. You are correct Johnson pursued stimulus dollars because it was in the public interest. A U.S. Senator is elected to represent the public interest not his own. Johnson can't have it both ways-attacking the economic stimulus as wasteful spending while at the same time pursuing it to benefit his non-profit and his community. That is the essence of hypocrisy which yes is my characterization not the Oshkosh Northwester’s.