Plastics and politics combine as Johnson seeks re-election
Joe Wilssens
Ron Johnson left a family-owned extruder business when he won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2010.
Washington — As the primary season winds down, don't think that means relief if you're already had your fill of politics for 2016. While Bernie, Hillary and The Donald have been tearing up the airwaves all over the United States for months, some races are just getting started —including a Senate race where plastics, and the jobs the industry has to offer, will feature prominently.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released his first ad of the season Tuesday as part of a reported $1.3 million advertising buy in his race against Democrat Russ Feingold.
"Career politicians manufacture hogwash. I manufacture plastic," Johnson says in the 30-second spot entitled "Pallets," as he strolls among the pallets on the shop floor of Pacur LLC, forklifts buzzing behind him.
Johnson was CEO of Pacur, an Oshkosh, Wis.-based sheet extruder, before heading for the Beltway after beating Feingold in the 2010 election. Johnson had helped found the company in 1979.
"Some companies export jobs," he says. "We export our products."
Job growth, and keeping U.S. jobs stateside, will continue to be a major issue in Johnson's campaign, with many comparisons between Johnson's efforts to create jobs back home in Wisconsin, control government spending and enact policies to keep business moving forward in the heartland and Feingold's 18 years in Washington and 30 years in politics rather than business.
With that in mind, I very much doubt this is the last time we see Johnson standing next to film and sheet rolls bound for Mexico and China between now and November.