Johnson Fires Back At Feingold On Outside Campaign Spending

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson continues to deflect calls by Wisconsin Democrats to sign a pledge limiting outside spending in next year’s Senate race.

Democratic challenger and former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold has asked Johnson to sign the so-called Badger Pledge. But at the Wisconsin State Fair on Sunday, Johnson attacked Feingold, whom he unseated in 2010.

“Sen. Feingold first has to explain what was he doing literally a month or two after he left office. The first thing he did was set up his own PAC,” Johnson said, referring to the acronym for political action committee.

Former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, campaigning with Johnson, acknowledged that he signed a similar pledge in 2012 but said it doesn’t compare because Johnson is already being targeted.

“Outside groups that have come in, hammering Sen. Johnson and he hasn’t said one thing about it,” Brown said.

The Feingold campaign says a bipartisan agreement like the Badger Pledge is the only proven way to allow the candidates to focus on the issues and prevent third party groups from flooding Wisconsin with tens of millions of dollars in political ads.