Ron Johnson's "Victim of Government" Nothing More Than a Really Stupid Real Estate Developer

[Scuba]

http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/ron-johnsons-victim-government-nothing-more-really-stupid-real-e

In 1990, Lathrop bought a tract of swamp land, in a floodplain, on the cheap, with visions of turning it into a real estate development. The area he bought was called the Dobrey Slough and, as the name of this parcel implies, it was a low lying marshy land on the outskirts of one of the Mississippi River's favorite flooding areas: Granite City, Illinois. Did I mention it was in a floodplain?

...

Lathrop, however, then claimed that he didn't have the money for the project because, he says, financial backers that had been on board had backed out because of a conspiracy against him from the Granite City mayor and other city officials. A few years later, Lathrop (serving as his own attorney) sued the Granite City officials. The judge threw out Lathrop's suit and called the conspiracy theory claim "absurd" in the decision. The city engineer counter sued Lathrop, saying he “did not have the business sense and/or resources to properly run his own business".

Flash forward to 2013: U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, desperately searching beyond the borders of his own state for a posterchild for his "Victims of Government" project, claims that he-- not the National Association of Home Builders-- had discovered the Stephen Lathrop story and jumps into it head first. Johnson named Lathrop as his first "victim" and described the situation as, "an unbelievable example of the type of bureaucratic insanity that goes on day after day and effects millions of Americans."

"Victim of Government"? Seriously? This is the same Lathrop that asked for $750,000 in TIF money, a low interest goverment loan for $400,000 and got the city to annex his proposed developement area so that it would have city (government) services. And, ironically, Johnson wasted a gazillion taxpayer dollars producing a ridiculously distorted video that martyrized the Lathrop's "victim of government" story.

RoJo is victim of dumbassitis.

[hatrack]

1. And who's happy to trot out the poor, poor victim on national TV? Kudlow, of course . . .