Greg K already posted his own take on the allegations made today that bribery and coercion led to the endorsement of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson at the Republican Party of Wisconsin convention last month, but I wanted to add a few thoughts of my own on the situation, because I think there’s far more to this story than what’s already been reported.
As reported by both the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WisPolitics.com, while appearing this morning on WTDY-AM in Madison, former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terrence Wall made allegations that bribery and coercion led to the endorsement of Ron Johnson at the Republican Party of Wisconsin state convention last month. Ron Johnson’s campaign was quick to deny the allegations, accusing Wall of “sour grapes,” but what I can’t help but wonder is why Wall decided to make the allegations in the first place. Why would Terrence Wall try to intentionally damage the RPW’s preferred and endorsed U.S. Senate candidate? After all, Wall left the U.S. Senate race shortly after losing the RPW’s endorsement at their convention, so why would he level these allegations and damage the Republican Party’s chances of picking up the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold?
I’ve been pondering that question since I first heard of Wall’s allegations this morning, and I’ve come to one conclusion: Terrence Wall may not actually be finished as a Republican U.S. Senate candidate here in Wisconsin. In leveling his allegations against Ron Johnson, Wall said he didn’t think Johnson is up to the task of beating Sen. Russ Feingold, and given the difficulties Johnson has had in the past couple of weeks, what with the scathing reviews of Johnson by the folks over at RedState.com, as well as his avoidance of Tea Party groups after a vetting session turned into a train wreck, not to mention Johnson’s unwillingness to explain if he supported a $500,000 earmark given to the Oshkosh Opera House as a part of the 2009 Wisconsin state budget, despite the fact that the state was attempting to close a budget deficit.
During his interview with WTDY-AM, Wall also questioned the fact that Johnson hasn’t turned in his required financial interest statement in the month following his declaration of candidacy. Johnson has received an extension until July 15 to file his statement, and Wall questioned the need for an extension, noting that despite having many more financial interests than Johnson, he managed to complete his financial disclosures within the required 30 days, adding, “it ain’t complicated; it’s checking boxes on a form.”
Wall also noted Johnson’s need for an extension for filing his financial disclosures might be for another reason, noting, “Maybe it’s that he doesn’t have as much money as he claims to have.” I’ve heard from multiple sources that I trust that Ron Johnson may not have enough liquidity to put ten or fifteen million dollars or his own money into the U.S. Senate race, negating to some extent the argument that Johnson is a more viable candidate than someone like fellow Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave Westlake.
Here’s the audio of Wall making his allegations against Ron Johnson:
(Audio courtesy of Sly in the Morning)
The more I listen to Terrence Wall’s interview with WTDY-AM, the more I’m convinced we haven’t heard the last of Terrence Wall in this election cycle.
UPDATE: Dave Westlake, Ron Johnson’s opponent in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, issued a statement on Terrence Wall’s allegations:
“Earlier today former U.S. Senate candidate Terrence Wall alleged that ballot tampering occurred at the state GOP convention. While these allegations are troubling, we are focused on meeting people to talk about jobs, the economy and cleaning up the oil spill. However, if these charges have merit we will stop at nothing to eliminate fraud and abuse in the Wisconsin State Republican Party.”
How come you never go after Westlake and always Johnson? Seems kind of odd for a liberal blog. Aren’t they both on the wrong side?
Over on the left hand side of the blog there’s a list of tags. Find the one for Dave Westlake and click on it; there’s no shortage of entries criticizing Westlake.
Well I looked and I don’t see much really negative stuff on him. Must be in the older stories…
We have a certain fondness for grass roots guys no matter which side of the aisle they sit on. And we have a certain disdain for guys who have not a clue but feel impowered by their wallets. When Mr. Westlake cleans up in the primary, he will become a target. I am not Dave Westlake!
And the fact that Westlake has absolutely no chance against Feingold while Johnson does has definitely has nothing to do with it. 🙂
At this point no…but it may have had something to do with the fact that Mr. Westlake is actually willing to talk to us where Mr. Johnson’s followers suggest he banish the @%^& liberal.
Well thanks for clarifying. I thought you guys were thinking about jumping over the aisle. Wink wink. What in the world makes you think Westlake will win in the primary? Many do not know of him at all.
I don’t expect that Mr. Westlake will win. But it is obvious that Mr. Johnson and the party aren’t taking him serioiusly and I think he will have a much better showing than anticipated. He’s working his campaign full time and making contact directly with the people.
Actually, I’ve met Dave Westlake, and I’ve had beers with him on more than one occasion. While I don’t presume to know everything about him, I do know that politics aside he’s a good guy who’s really passionate about politics and public service.
I believe you’re being genuine when you say this. But tell me honestly – if Westlake were either leading the primary or polling even with Feingold, would your coverage of him be as positive? Would you truthfully be saying as many nice things if he were a legitimate threat to unseat Feingold?
On a related note…I like how Terrence Wall was a lying slimeball egomanac around here. That is until he made some nasty accusations towards Johnson and suddenly he’s gained credibility.
I still think Terrence Wall is an egomaniac, but that doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth. Further, I could be wrong, but I don’t recall calling Terrence Wall a lying slimeball.
Sure, I’ve been critical of his tax-dodging, but I don’t recall calling him a lying slimeball.
“Either Terrence Wall thinks Wisconsin’s voters are really really stupid or he really doesn’t care what they think, but either way he needs to learn that talking out of both sides of one’s mouth isn’t going to win the hearts and minds of many voters.”
In otherwords, he’s a liar.
“Yeah, T. Wall is the epitome of class.”
Roughly, he’s a slimeball.
Of course as always, you’re much less inflammatory than other posters and when I said around here, I meant in the general sense, not just posts & comments by you.
Ah, parsing words…
I don’t consider talking out of both sides of one’s mouth to be lying; I consider that to be shameless pandering.
As for the “epitome of class” line, you may consider that to be roughly, “he’s a slimeball,” but when I consider someone a slimeball, I’ll call him a slimeball.
I think there’s a different explanation for Terrence Wall’s tantrum. One of his employees was a delegate at the convention and voted for Ron Johnson (he probably had his own reasons for voting against his boss). After the convention, Wall confronted the employee about his vote. The employee weaseled out of it by making up a story about being pressured by the Johnson campaign and the party bosses. Wall believed the face-saving bullshit, because it feeds his ego to be the target of a corrupt back-room conspiracy rather than just an unappealing candidate (like the last time he ran for office, in the Village of Maple Bluff).
You could be right…it’ll be interesting to see how this whole story plays out.
I think Jill Nailed it. I played the Sly commentary the first thing Wall claims is he’s a Registered member of the TEA Party.. Sorry pal there is no “Registry” for the TEA Party. Second he discusses the issue of his “hired guy” who was being paid $35K, who was offered nearly “triple” by the Johnson campaign. That Sir is not a “Bribe” nor is it corrupt. Especially if this aide realized Wall’s train was going nowhere, and Johnson was the only place to go forward. (I’m sure the buzz at the convention was all about Johnson, Lienie saw the writing on the wall, pun intended:).
I suppose it’s possible this “aide/ staffer” could’ve told many others he was switching his allegiance…(I am just speculating here)… But that still wouldn’t be “corrupt”. I’ve met Wall.. nice enough guy just not a personality that’s gonna put the energy behind him he would need to win. If the scenario above played out I could sympathize with Wall at being mad..But his allegation of corruption is a Flat out LIE. Terry if you have evidence (And I quote Tom Barrett); Give us the names!! Otherwise Shut up Terry..and lets get back to winning in November. Clean up your act, and run in 2012 against Kohl, or Baldwin.