Sen. Johnson doubles down on not pushing for Oshkosh jobs

MADISON (WKOW) -- Sen. Ron Johnson on Thursday maintained he refuses to put pressure on the Oshkosh Corporation following the company's decision to place 1,000 jobs in South Carolina instead of Wisconsin.

Johnson drew criticism from Democrats on Monday for saying over the weekend Wisconsin already had enough jobs.

Suggesting without any evidence the initial question from a reporter was "coordinated," Johnson defended his position during an interview with "The Morning Answer," a conservative talk radio show on AM 560 in Chicago.

"I just was honest and said 'listen, it's not like we don't have enough jobs in Wisconsin,'" Johnson said of his initial comments.

The Oshkosh company last February landed a multibillion dollar contract to produce a new fleet of delivery vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service. 

Wisconsin's other U.S. senator, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, slammed Johnson over his ongoing refusal to advocate for the jobs to be placed in Wisconsin, where workers are part of the United Auto Workers union.

"I'm very disappointed that Senator Johnson doesn't support creating jobs in his own hometown instead of South Carolina," Baldwin said.

Johnson said in the Thursday radio interview he understood the company's decision because the Wisconsin location wasn't able to sustain the workload.

"They don't have production capacity in Wisconsin or in Oshkosh so they had to look around the country," Johnson said. "They have a building in South Carolina; they can outfit it, they can produce the contract on time."

Jori Hartwig, a spokesperson for Oshkosh Defense, said in an email Friday the military contractor said Oshkosh's existing facilities in Wisconsin were fully occupied by defense programs.

"Wisconsin did not have a single available building that could meet the requirements," Hartwig wrote. "The manufacturing space needed for Next Generation Delivery Vehicle – a minimum of 825,000 square feet, is more than twice the size of our largest Oshkosh, Wisconsin facility."

Hartwig said building a new facility was not feasible because of timing requirements in the USPS contract.

Johnson added, philosophically, he opposed the idea of pressuring Oshkosh Corp. to relocate the jobs.

"I just wasn't going to demand that a private company that won a contract with the postal service, I'm not gonna go in there and tell them how to do their job, how to produce to the contract," Johnson said.

The leading candidates in the Democratic primary to challenge Johnson for his U.S. Senate seat this fall have since called on Oshkosh Corp. to move the jobs to Wisconsin, slamming Johnson along the way.

"I've had enough," Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes said earlier in the week on Twitter. "Wisconsinites are ready to elect someone who will actually do the job."

State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski said it was an example of how she and Johnson couldn't be more different.

"[Johnson] refuses to fight for more jobs and tells struggling parents to fend for themselves," Godlewski wrote on Tuesday.

Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson posted a picture of himself holding up a sign saying 'Make it in Oshkosh' outside of Johnson's Oshkosh office.

Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry shared a tweet Baldwin had sent calling for the postal trucks to be made in Wisconsin.

"If you want it done right, you make it in Wisconsin," Lasry wrote.