Ron Johnson touts universal school choice as the remedy for rising crime
In commercials and on the stump, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has sought to make combating crime a major issue in his reelection campaign against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
On Friday, Johnson brought the campaign to God Touch Milwaukee, a nonprofit group on the city's south side, where he convened a roundtable discussion on the issue.
"My macro solution, renewed faith, stronger families, more supportive communities," Johnson said during the discussion.
Later, he added: "The blunt public policy prescription for me is school choice."
Johnson backs universal school choice that would allow parents to receive taxpayer-paid vouchers to attend church-based and other private schools without any income limits.
Meanwhile, after weeks of being pounded on criminal justice issues, including his call to end cash bail, Barnes' campaign is attempting to push back.
PolitiFact Wisconsin: Mandela Barnes says under his plan to end cash bail "the Waukesha perpetrator wouldn’t have been released "
The Barnes campaign said that in his nearly two terms in the U.S. Senate, Johnson has voted more than a half-dozen times against increasing the number of cops, firefighters and criminal justice programs that would have benefited Wisconsin.
Most of the bills cited by the Barnes campaign were omnibus legislation that contained many provisions beyond being related to the police. Also included was Johnson's vote against the 2021 American Rescue Plan. Among the many items in President Joe Biden's signature bill was an allocation of $10 billion to law enforcement.
More: Wisconsin U.S. Senate election updates: Mandela Barnes agrees to second televised debate
Johnson backed a 2013 gun owner privacy amendment that "would withhold 5 percent of law enforcement grant funds to states and localities that release gun-ownership data, with an exception for the release of data necessary for a criminal investigation or legal proceeding."
In 2011, Johnson helped block President Barack Obama's plan to provide $35 billion in funding to retain or hire teachers, police and firefighters. The measure never got an up or down vote.
Asked about his record, Johnson said: "First of all I support law enforcement, that's a big thing ... just going up to a cop and saying thank you for your service. Not supporting the defund efforts that so dispirit law enforcement, which has driven down their recruitment numbers."
He added: "Have I voted against spending? Yeah. We're $30.08 trillion in debt."
Johnson explained: "I vote against mortgaging our children's future. And when you vote against a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill that's probably spending a trillion dollars, there's going to be good things in there they're going to spend money on. But somebody has to have the courage to say no, we have to stop this. We're seeing at least the beginning of a major debt crisis."
The Barnes campaign was critical of Johnson's record.
“Ron Johnson fought for millions of dollars in tax breaks for himself and his biggest donors, but he couldn’t be bothered to fight for funding to keep communities safe," Barnes said in a statement issued by his campaign. "We shouldn’t be surprised he played politics with our safety — this is the same man who encouraged an insurrection that injured 140 police officers. He can’t be trusted to keep us safe.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson touts universal school choice as remedy for rising crime
