MADISON, Wis. – Last week, two new reports revealed that Ron Johnson has completely lost touch with Wisconsintes and is in the Senate to serve himself and his special interest donors.

The first report detailed how Ron Johnson actively tried to block an investigation into Teva Pharmaceuticals, a company accused of deliberately contributing to the opioid epidemic through deceptive marketing practices of their drugs. After Johnson’s efforts to protect Teva, the company gave him thousands of dollars in political contributions.

 

  • “Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, while serving as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in 2018, declined to subpoena Teva Pharmaceuticals as part of a Democrat-led investigation of the drugmaker’s role in the opioid epidemic. In the months to follow, Teva would donate to both Johnson’s campaign and an affiliated PAC.”

  • “Teva, an Israeli company, is one of the largest generic drug manufacturers in the world and produced more prescription painkillers during the height of the opioid crisis than more well-known manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson, the New York Times reported.”

  • “In the year and a half after the public disagreement between Johnson and McCaskill, Teva’s political action committee made two donations, totaling $3,500, to Johnson’s campaign and an affiliated PAC…On Dec. 5, 2018, Teva donated $2,500 to Johnson’s leadership PAC, Strategy PAC…Nine months later, on Sept. 30, 2019, Teva then donated $1,000 directly to Johnson’s campaign.”

On top of that, another report showed that Johnson continuously called for reforms of the USPS, yet voted against bipartisan legislation that would address the slowdowns. One Wisconsinite described how her small business personally suffered from the slowdowns at USPS and her dismay at Ron Johnson for paying “lip-service” to her and others who rely on the postal service.

  • “‘He’s not looking out for small businesses like mine,’ Pohlman said of Johnson. ‘He’s not looking out for smaller and mid-level businesses that are using the US Postal Service on a regular basis.’”

  • “By 2020, Johnson was acknowledging the problems and saying changes ‘should have been implemented years ago.’ But rather than remove the artificial $50 billion liability, Johnson suggested rolling back overtime pay for carriers.”

  • “‘I was pretty disgusted that he voted no. I mean, he pays a lot of lip service to us, but he says one thing and then does another,’ she [Pohlman] said. ‘I’m a businesswoman, and he’s not looking out for small businesses like mine.’”

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