Surprise! "Fortunate Son-In-Law" Ron Johnson Took Government Help To Expand Business Set Up By Father-In-Law and Also Failed To Graduate From High School

"Tea party" favorite Ron Johnson, who is trying to leverage his marriage to the "shrink-wrap princess" to unseat Senator Russ Feingold, had better be kept away from microphones for the rest of the campaign. WKOW-TV yesterday broke the story that, despite Johnson's insistence that ""I have never lobbied for some special treatment or for a government payment," his company (Pacur, Inc., named for Pat Curley, Johnson's brother-in-law and the real founder of Johnson's business) took a $2.5 million loan at a highly favorable interest rate in the form of an industrial revenue bond from the City of Oshkosh in 1985.  D'oh!

The whole WKOW interview is here. No real surprise that Johnson is saying one thing and actually did another; that's normal for this candidate. Here's the curious part:

He attended Edina High School but he did not graduate, saying he was told by officials there that he could go straight to college. According to school records he did graduate with distinction from the University of Minnesota in 1977 with an accounting degree.

Since when did the University of Minnesota eliminate the requirement that its students graduate from high school? Did Edina education officials really say "Don't bother completing your high school requirements; go straight to college" to young Johnson?  Or is this another example of Ron Johnson's version of "American Exceptionalism" where exceptions are made for those with connections?

UPDATE: There was also a federal grant that helped build a rail line to the Pacur plant. WKOW had this today:

A railroad line to Senate candidate Ron Johnson's plastics factory was built with the assistance of a federal grant.

According to documents from the Oshkosh city clerk's office, an Urban Development Action Grant in the amount of $75,000 was used to build a rail spur to Pacur, a plastics manufacturing company owned by Johnson.

The city resolution approving the grant was passed on March 15, 1979, the year the Oshkosh factory was built.

The money for the line went to Wisconsin Industrial Shipping Supplies, owned by Johnson's brother-in-law, Pat Curler. Months later, WISS changed its name to Pacur and the plant opened.

A federal grant this time, not a local government bond or loan. The Fortunate Son-In-Law took a terrible "government payment."

So some federal money to build a rail line is good, as long as it helps the private sector and doesn't carry those inconvenient people.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[Ben Masel]

Was there a requirement to eliminate?

a couple of my highschool classmates managed admission to college after junior year, and UW didn't rescind my admission when I failed to graduate high school after the Board of Ed added a requirement that one pass drivers ed. (I was the only member of Class of 1971 not to have passed.)

[Barry Orton]

Uh-oh. Now you're really in trouble. The UW might rescind your degree.

[Ron R]

Wow, he took a government loan 25 yrs ago. Did his company pay it back? I assume that since there is no mention of this that the answer is yes or you don't have a f**king clue. If he had not taken this loan would have his company employed more or less hard working Wis. taxpayers? Again I'm pretty sure you don't have a clue.

[Tim M.]

I had a situation much similar to Ben's, too long and too long ago (1965) to detail here, but the real point of this post, I believe, is that Johnson is a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, who seems to seek out piles of doo to step in. If he ran "his" business like he runs his campaign, he'd be bankrupt. And who says public policy should be run like a business??? Sunspots, railroad lines, "federal grants", UDAG's,etc. But, gee, he's got a cute family.....

[antpoppa]

Ron Johnson
Bankrupt elite

“A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial,” Orwell wrote,” that is when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds by force or fraud.”
The Republicans and many Democrats have become cabals of privilege and wealth.
I’m sure that Ron Johnson, in self delusion, after years of explaining this massive blood sucking, con game we call an economy can no longer be held responsible for his words or actions in supporting an ideological lie. The term ‘punch drunk’ would explain his rhetoric. Dodging and weaving economic catastrophe and an empty social conscious, Ron has been forced to look at his role in preserving his function as an elite. His notions have failed.

[Brian]

Ron R. Way to keep it civil. Sure, he probably paid it back. Much like I would have to. The point is that he claimed to not to ever need the government for aid, yet he did at some point (as many of us do) he did. His rhetoric doesn't match his actions. I don't have a problem with business getting moderate aid from the government, but I better not hear these same businesses (and their neo-con allies) whine about the average person also getting aid.

[christine]

I am no fan of Johnson (actually I came here hoping to find he didn't have a HS or college degree), but it sometimes happens that a person can go to college without a HS diploma. My HS boyfriend went to University of Chicago on scholarship without graduating high school. I think he missed the gym or drivers ed requirement.