From dishwasher, to Oshkosh manufacturer, to Wisconsin problem solver

Walgreens

In Ron’s new ad, “Dishwasher,” he talks about how he started out as a dishwasher at a Walgreens grill working for minimum wage and then helped build a successful manufacturing company in Oshkosh. Now he’s a problem solver working to keep Wisconsin prosperous and America safe. Read how people are reacting to the ad:

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

In the upbeat spot, which emphasizes economic and national security, Johnson mentions his first job as a minimum-wage worker at Walgreens and his career as a manufacturer.

But the one job that goes unmentioned is the one he now holds as a member of the U.S. Senate.

“Not many people start at the top – most of us start at the bottom. I sure did. At age 15, I started washing dishes at a Walgreens grill for $1.45 an hour. Minimum wage,” Johnson says in the ad.

Johnson, seen at Pacur, the Oshkosh manufacturing company he helped start, says: “Not only did I help install this machine, I also operated it, working 12-hour shifts at night. As the business grew, we added machines and created more jobs. And now I’m working hard to keep Wisconsin prosperous, and America safe.”

From Plastics News:

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is back with another new campaign commercial this morning, starring the senator himself — and an extrusion machine.

Though entitled “Dishwasher,” as a reference to Johnson’s humble pre-plastics beginnings washing dishes at a Walgreens lunch counter at age 15, most of the ad comes straight from the factory floor of Pacur LLC.

“Not only did I help install this machine, I also operated it, working 12-hour shifts at night,” says the senator and former CEO of the Oshkosh, Wis.-based sheet extruder, holding up a photo from the 1970s and pointing at his bearded younger self, leaning against an extruder.

From the Cap Times:

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson returns to the floor of his Oshkosh plastics company for his second ad of the 2016 campaign.

The ad, part of a $1.3 million buy for the month of June, is set to run statewide on TV and online. It tells a bootstraps-style story of Johnson, who says he ‘start(ed) from the bottom’ washing dishes in 1970 at a Walgreens grill for $1.45 an hour at age 15.