As a single issue group that spans the entire political spectrum, PROTECT asks just one thing about candidates for public office: where do they stand on protecting children?

In the case of Ron Johnson, a Republican teaparty activist running for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, there's not much of a public track record. Johnson, owner of a specialty plastic manufacturing business, has never held political office. His website says his "quiet, but extensive work within his community had had a deep impact," but doesn't go into much more detail.

Johnson's campaign lists seven issues the candidate cares about: cutting taxes and spending, jobs, health care, energy, values, education and illegal immigration. Again, nothing about child protection, but that's a common omission among political campaigns.

The one thing we do know about where Ron Johnson stands on child protection comes from his prominent opposition to the Wisconsin Child Victims Act, a bipartisan bill that would have extended the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

In 2009, Johnson, a private citizen, traveled from Oshkosh to the capitol in Madison to deliver testimony (see page 27) opposing the bill. There's not much of serious substance in his testimony, other than his argument that lawsuits by abuse victims would hurt "non-profit organizations." Johnson then listed eight nonprofits he was involved with, including some affiliated with the Catholic church, who fought the legislation strongly (Johnson is a Lutheran).

PROTECT's Alison Arngrim was recently a guest on a Wisconsin radio show, where she discussed Johnson's campaign to limit the rights of child sexual abuse victims to sue in court. Arngrim, best known as mean girl "Nellie Oleson" from the television show Little House on the Prairie, lived up to her reputation.

Here's that audio: