York — Praising him as a like-minded “citizen legislator,” Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson campaigned with GOP Senate hopeful Tom Smith during three Pa. stops Thursday.
The two were in York on the second stop of a three town tour. They started the day in Lancaster and will end in Murrysville.
“His mirrors my story. Here was a gentleman from the state of Wisconsin who was taking on a sitting incumbent who nobody thought could be beat. Well today it’s Senator Johnson, not Senator [Russ] Feingold,” Smith said.
That’s not the only thing the two have in common. Johnson also campaigned as a businessman new to politics, and like Smith contributed heavily to his own campaign.
“I’ve been on the ground here for a few hours, and this feels like November 2010 in Wisconsin,” Johnson said.
“We need leadership that understands that it’s growing the private sector, the productive sector, for long term, self-sustaining job creation. We’ve got two men here, Scott [Perry] and Tom, from the private sector,” he said, “that’s the vision of our founding fathers. Citizen legislators.”
Asked why he’d campaign against Casey, a colleague, Johnson said Casey was a nice man, but that he supported ineffective party leadership in the Senate.
State Rep. and congressional candidate Scott Perry (R-York) also spoke, saying Sen. Bob Casey had been ineffective in the Senate.
“Has anybody seen Bob Casey in York County?” Perry asked, to a chorus of “No!” from the 25 GOP volunteers in the room.
“Quite honestly, with the ideas and things he has espoused in Washington, DC, maybe we don’t want to see him here.”
Asked about the Senator’s involvement in saving the Harley Davidson motorcycle plant in York, something that Casey has boasted in TV ads and a claim the York Daily Record said was “mostly true,” Perry dismissed it.
“That was the first time I’ve heard of it was in his ads,” Perry said. “He almost claims that the reason the Harley plant is here in York is ‘cause of him. I want him to quantify that.”
The similarities between Smith and Johnson don’t end with their background, the Pa. Democratic Party noted. “Both Tom Smith and Ron Johnson support a radical Tea Party budget that is wrong for middle class Pennsylvanians,” they said in a press release, referring to a budget authored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). “Ron Johnson was one of only 16 senators to vote in favor of the Tea Party budget that Smith has referred to as a ‘good plan.’”
One of the Senators who voted no on that budget, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), also spoke up for Smith today. He cut this web video on Smith’s behalf:
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3 Responses
I love how politicians are actually attacked for wanting cut spending. It is labeled as “radical”. But there is nothing radical about adding trillions to our national debt. Nothing radical about making our country fiscally dependent on China. Nothing radical about sending our money to rich governments across the globe like Bob Casey supports. Believe me, nothing hurts the middle class more than this kind of recklessness in Washington. Lets oust Casey this election.
ditto Marci and Ron Johnson is most impressive in his grasp of budget issues. Pat Toomey, Ron Johnson, Tom Smith….hope begins to glimmer, faintly, in the dark.
We just came from the Tom Smith rally in Murrysville. This was his 3rd and final stop across PA today. It was a great rally and we got to meet both Tom Smith and Sen. Ron Johnson of WI. Both men are gracious and humble. I learned that Tom Smith and his wife adopted 4 children when he and Mrs. Smith were in their early 50’s. What was even more inspiring was that all 4 children were from the same family and they did not have to be separated. Both spoke of how Obama views small business with disdain and has a fundamental disrepect for the free enterprise system. Sen. Johnson spoke to me and said that Tom Smith is going to shock a lot of people when the votes are counted. He’s the underdog but is closing fast.