43
Wilson, Johnson trade barbs as race heats up
The campaigns of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson and Democratic challenger Charlie Wilson, who lost to the Republican in 2010, are throwing around accusations of misuse of taxpayer money, harassment and illegal campaign coordination.
It’s the latest back-and-forth between the campaigns in the 12-county 6th Congressional District race, which includes all of Columbiana County and southern Mahoning County. After this election, redistricting will add five counties to the 6th.
The latest criticism started with Wilson’s campaign contending Johnson, a Republican from Marietta, had improperly used a taxpayer-funded Ford Escape the congressman is leasing for $4,890 a year. Johnson used the government-leased SUV to attend an Aug. 23 campaign fundraiser in Newcomerstown, a village in Tuscarawas County.
Johnson’s campaign acknowledges that is true, but it happened only once and is permissible under U.S. House rules.
Johnson was “attending official office events in the northern part of the district, [and] he was using the car leased for him by the government,” said Mark Weaver, his campaign spokesman. “At the end of the day, while driving back to where Bill lives in the southern part of the district, he stopped by an event.”
Weaver points out the Committee on U.S. House Administration’s members’ handbook states: “Incidental personal use of equipment and supplies owned or leased by, or the cost of which is reimbursed by the House of Representatives, is permitted only when such use is negligible in nature, frequency, time consumed, and expense.”
Even so, Weaver said Johnson insisted on paying $35 out of his own pocket to the U.S. Treasury to cover “the mileage from the official trip route over to and back from the event.”
J.R. Starrett, Wilson’s campaign manager, said: “Johnson told the constituents of his district that the vehicle would be used for official purposes only and clearly this is not the case. If Congressman Johnson is incapable of planning a day of events without making this basic mistake, how can we rely on him to put the unemployed back to work in east Ohio?”
Johnson’s campaign has said the congressman leased the car to save taxpayers money. With the federal mileage reimbursement rate at 55 cents a mile, the 36,000 miles Johnson has traveled in the state’s largest district would cost nearly $20,000 rather than $4,890.
Johnson’s use of the SUV to drive to and from the fundraiser was captured on video by a campaign staffer for Wilson, a Democrat from St. Clairsville. The video is posted on a YouTube website channel — youtube.com/user/oh06rawfootage — run by Wilson’s campaign.
Johnson’s congressional staff filed two police reports against the “tracker” — hired by Wilson’s campaign to videotape his opponent — claiming he harassed them and followed them too closely while driving. Johnson’s staff didn’t follow up on either accusation with police or five other similar incidents they contend occurred.
No charges were filed.
“It’s no surprise that Congressman Johnson’s campaign is being critical of the tracker when the tracker caught him deceiving the public,” Starrett said. “It only became an issue when the [video] was brought up.”
But the first police report complaining of the tracker driving too close to Johnson’s vehicle was filed Aug. 16, a week before the Newcomerstown fundraiser, Weaver points out.
“This tracker is very aggressive,” he said. “Also, there is a heightened sensitivity about security when we had someone convicted of threatening to kill Bill Johnson.”
James Shuba of Canfield pleaded guilty in May in federal court for making interstate threatening communications for calling Johnson’s Washington, D.C., office, saying, “I wanna kill him.”
Shuba was given three years’ probation. During sentencing, Johnson asked the judge not to send Shuba to prison in a videotaped statement. He said the 63-year-old man was mad about “misinformation” that the congressman wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare.
The Johnson campaign also is accusing Wilson of illegally coordinating his campaign with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a violation of federal law and a charge strongly denied by Starrett.
A snippet of a video from Wilson’s “raw-footage” YouTube channel ends a DCCC commercial critical of Johnson that began airing Monday.
Also, several YouTube channels for other Democratic congressional candidates have very similar “raw-footage” web addresses, Weaver said.
“Clearly, this is an organized effort nationally and Charlie’s campaign is lying when they claim that this a site they created,” Weaver said.
The DCCC is not affiliated with Wilson’s YouTube channel and used a small piece of footage in its commercial as the channel is a public website, according to a committee spokeswoman.
Wilson’s campaign created the site, Starrett said.
“It’s a boilerplate channel name that most Democratic campaigns use,” he said. “Anyone can use it. There is absolutely no coordination.”
The DCCC television commercial criticizes Johnson for profiting when a company he worked for, before becoming a congressman, closed manufacturing plants in the United States and moved them overseas.
The DCCC ad is one of three TV commercials currently airing in the district, including on Youngstown network affiliates, regarding this race.