Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson cleared of wrongdoing in ethics probe of flights to Florida
MILWAUKEE – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been cleared of any wrongdoing for using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of flights between a Florida family vacation home and Washington, D.C.
"Based on all available information, the Committee found no evidence that your actions violated federal law, Senate Rules or standards of conduct," Shannon Hamilton Kopplin, staff director of the Senate Ethics Committee, wrote in a June 23 letter. "Accordingly, the Committee has dismissed the complaint."
Last month, a Democratic activist, working with the state Democratic Party, filed a complaint against Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, with committee Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., and Vice-Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla.
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The complaint said senators may use government funds to pay for official business, but it contended Johnson has "flouted this rule," by repeatedly using official funds to subsidize personal travel.
Johnson officials, however, rejected the criticism, saying the flights from Florida to Washington were legitimate expenses that were all approved by auditors and the Senate Rules Committee.
In a statement, a Johnson official said the senator was pleased with the ethics committee's decision.
"The senator was confident that this frivolous complaint would be dismissed because he has done absolutely nothing wrong and, in fact, has been a faithful steward of taxpayer dollars," Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning said. "And that’s exactly what happened."
"This was another failed attempt by the Democrats and their allies in the media to smear him with falsehoods."
Philip Shulman, a state Democratic Party official, kept up his criticism of the second-term senator, even though the complaint had been rejected.
“The facts are simple," Shulman said. "Ron Johnson, a multimillionaire who has doubled his fortune since joining the Senate, used taxpayer money to travel to and from his family’s vacation home in Florida — not Wisconsin.”
Federal records show Johnson has been reimbursed for 19 flights from Fort Myers, Florida, to Washington between 2013 and May 2021, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last month. The trips cost taxpayers somewhere between $5,418 and $18,781.
Johnson's family bought a 3,400-square-foot waterfront house in Fort Myers, near Sanibel Island, for $1.6 million in October 2013. Johnson lives in Oshkosh.
Johnson, first elected in 2010, took no trips to or from Fort Myers before the Florida house was purchased.
By contrast, Wisconsin's senior senator went to Fort Myers at least nine times between Jan. 1, 2021, and May 10, 2021. Those flights between Florida and Washington cost taxpayers anywhere from $227 to $1,152.
Johnson is running for reelection to a third term in the Senate this fall, a race that could help determine which party controls the body next year.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson cleared of wrongdoing over tax dollars for Florida flights
