Don't mess with your plutocrat daddy

There's at least one Republican uncomfortable with attacks on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke for being a millionaire and for the way her family's bicycle firm pays taxes and uses outsourcing.

That would be U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Johnson indicated that instead of hitting Burke on her wealth and the outsourcing by Trek Bicycle Corp., Gov. Scott Walker, a fellow Republican, and his campaign should promote the successes of his first term before the November election.

"I think there are far better areas to address," Johnson said Tuesday during an interview with editors and reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "From my standpoint, we ought to be talking about...how do you make Wisconsin a more attractive place for risk-taking, business investment, business expansion."

He lauded Walker for declaring early and often that Wisconsin was "open for business."

"I think that's a powerful statement," Johnson said.

But when asked specifically what he thought of Republicans tagging Burke as "Millionaire Mary," Johnson said, "I would prefer they not do it."

"Far too often in the political realm, we demonize success, we demagogue against it," he added. "What we should be doing is incentivizing success."

Johnson said: "I don't want to demonize or demagogue against" outsourcing at Trek Bicycle Corp., which manufactures 99% of its bicycles overseas. Walker's campaign has criticized Burke for profiting from those overseas operations.