Ron Johnson

TPM Takes A Closer Look At Ron Johnson's Business Success

Brian Beutler | October 15, 2010, 9:11AM

Candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Johnson (R-WI)

Ron Johnson's campaign for Wisconsin Senate is premised largely on the notion that he's a successful businessman who knows how to create jobs.

Johnson owns a plastics company called PACUR in Oshkosh, WI. According to a recent report by the business research firm Investext, PACUR enjoyed estimated annual sales of $36 million, and employeed 100 people in 2009. His spokeswoman, Sara Sendek says it's a bit bigger than that -- about 120 employees.

With unemployment sky high, Johnson's been able to capitalize, politically, on his success, and has been leading his opponent, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), in the polls since July. "I'm not a politician," Johnson says in a recent ad. "I'm an accountant and a manufacturer. I know how to balance a budget, and I do know how to create jobs.'

However, Johnson's usually mum about the fact that one of his largest clients is Bemis, a publicly traded company founded by his now-deceased father in law, and currently run by his brother in law, Jeffrey Curler.

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