Ron Johnson - $10 million parting gift from his company potentially violates campaign laws

[PeaceNikki]

Cross-post from GD

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/ron-johnson-ducks-tpm-questions-on-his-10-million-payday-its-a-private-company.php?ref=fpblg

Legal experts say that whether Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-WI) $10 million parting gift from his company potentially violates campaign laws depends on when it was negotiated. But asked by TPM to directly address the timing, Johnson repeatedly ducked the question.

Johnson's collected $10 million in deferred compensation from his former company, Pacur, a figure that Wisconsin papers have noted lines up conveniently with the $9 million he spent on his Senate campaign in 2010 against incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold. The freshman lawmaker has offered few details on how or when the company worked out the $10 million number, but legal experts told TPM that if the package was negotiated after his Senate run it could potentially count as an illegal corporate donation to his campaign.

...

Johnson's office also ignored multiple questions about the windfall payment on Monday. He has yet to produce a written deferred compensation agreement that was signed and dated before he launched his campaign. Election law attorneys say a written agreement critical, and without one, Johnson could face serious charges that he violated campaign-finance laws barring direct corporate funding of federal candidates.

"It depends on whose money it was," Arent Fox's Kappel told TPM. "If there was a deferred compensation agreement before he ran for office, that would be a legitimate corporate payment . If there was no deferred compensation agreement at all, and the company is paying for his campaign, that would be a problem."

More at link.

[dragonlady]

1. He negotiated the payment with the CEO of the firm (himself)

What could be wrong with that? (Just to be clear: :sarcasm: ) And the amount is enough to reimburse him for the campaign costs plus the taxes on the income.

I have wondered how comfortable he would feel in the Senate, where instead of being the master of the entire organization he is at the bottom of the pecking order and controls nothing except his own staff. And that situation will continue for quite a few years. His apparent disinterest in complying with the laws that apply to him may do him in.

[midnight]

3. I wonder if that detail of deciding on this payment at the last minute will

be an exception?

"Unlike most deferred package deals, however, it appears that the company had not set aside a specified amount annually that would be paid out when he left the firm. Instead, Johnson said the $10 million payment was "an agreed-upon amount" that was determined at the end of his tenure with the company.

Agreed upon with whom?

"That would be me," he said."http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/ron-johnson-negotiated-10-million-payoff-himself

[mojowork_n]

2. But it was a legitimate business expense, wasn't it?

Johnson was compensated for taking the initiative, executing a plan, and achieving a positive business outcome...

The firm now has a very highly placed, professional lobbyist looking out for the best interests of the corporate bottom line.

And they didn't pay him up front for it, they tactfully and graciously waited to give him the "deferred compensation" until
AFTER he'd purchased his electoral victory. (With a little help from a few out-of-state, Citizens United-enabled, affiliated election
organizations. (Whose best interests he will also be professionally representing.)

....This is the same guy who's boasted he "hasn't taken a salary" from the company since he bought it. His income has ALL
been in the form of capital gains, earnings income and "Limited Liability Pass-Through Income."

BUT Noooooo Salary. (Not a dime. Got it?)

So there's NOTHING unusual, illegal or unethical about any of this.

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/124468318.html

Edit Correction:

I forgot to list that non-salary compensation. Between 2005 and 2008 Senator Johnson earned between 1.3 and 2.3 million
dollars annually. But every nickle was non-salaried income. In the finest tradition of our capitalist system, that
implies that he took some sort of plucky, creative RISK -- as opposed to the "sure thing" ( s a l a r y ) that us mere
mortals rely on for survival.

[Sabien]

4. "citizen legislator"

Leave the guy alone, he is just a citizen legislator!

Do I really need a sarcasm tag on this?

[undeterred]

5. He's representing all those multi-millionnaire citizens of Wisconsin

who up till now have only had Sensenbrenner to represent them.

[Yon_Yonson]

6. Another NEOCON that has a problem with the laws of the land

Oh I forget ... this slug is also innocent! Nothing absolutely nothing I hear about maggot NEOCONS surprises me anymore! NOTHING!