Racist Vote Suppressor is U.S. Senator Ron Johnson’s Latest ‘Victim of Government’
Taxpayer Financed Video Attempts to Portray Head of Extremist Group Investigated for Racially Charged Voter Intimidation as 'Victim'
MADISON, Wis. — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) today released his latest taxpayer-funded video featuring individuals he believes have been “victimized” by the government. The so-called “victim” is Catherine Engelbrecht, head of the Texas -based King Street Patriots and True the Vote, Tea Party groups investigated for racially charged voter suppression campaigns.
“Promoting someone like Ms. Engelbrecht, who organized and engaged in racially motivated voter suppression campaigns, as a victim of government is nothing short of grotesque,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross.
According to news reports, the sordid record of the King Street Patriots and True the Vote includes having ethics complaints filed against them for illegally coordinating with the Texas Republican Party and being the subject of a United States Department of Justice investigation of racially motivated voter suppression tactics in Houston polling places.
In addition, Engelbrecht’s group hosted an event featuring Matthew Vadum who declared in a column in the American Thinker that it is “un-American” to help register poor people to vote.
“There is nothing more vile or un-American than trying to deny someone the franchise based on their race or income. Yet that is exactly the kind of behavior in which the subject of Sen. Johnson’s latest video is alleged to have overseen and funded. The victim here is democracy and the perpetrator in Ms. Engelbrecht,” commented Ross.
Sen. Johnson has refused requests to disclose how much the production of this video series is costing, however his spokesperson did reveal that it is the public that will be picking up the tab.
Ross said given the scurrilous attacks on the right to vote in Wisconsin documented in One Wisconsin Now’s comprehensive report “Protecting the Right to Vote in Wisconsin,” Sen. Johnson’s lauding of Englebrecht was more evidence he has little knowledge of what is going on in the state he purports to represent.
Ross concluded, “As disgusting as the racists, un-American actions of the subject of Johnson’s latest video is the fact that he feels it’s appropriate to use taxpayer dollars and force us to pay for it.”