February 17th, 2010

Sunday, February 14, 2010

By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
Former Gov. Gary Johnson scaled Mt. Everest and seems to thrive on extremes, so I wasn’t surprised when he showed up for a series of meetings in Washington last week during one of the fiercest snowstorms in the city’s history.
The New Mexico Republican, who now lives near Taos, has launched a public policy organization called “Our America: The Gary Johnson Initiative” that espouses a free-market, smaller government philosophy.
Federal law prohibits him from announcing a presidential campaign while his nonprofit is in gear, but it’s pretty obvious he’s eyeing a 2012 run.
I assume that’s why Johnson has trimmed the shaggy hair he grew after leaving office in 2002, and why he’s traded the ski bum’s jeans and T-shirts for suits and ties. He’s also showing up in Washington more these days, and hitting the slopes at Taos less.
Despite last week’s epic blast of snow, Johnson made a slew of meetings with influential Washington opinion-makers. They included conservative columnist George Will, Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist, and the brass at ABC News.
Johnson also held court Tuesday night at the Dupont Circle offices of Reason, a libertarian think tank that publishes a magazine of the same name. About a half-dozen reporters showed up, including myself, and well as scribes from Politico and U.S. News and World Report. Several dozen other wonky Washington types also crowded into the event curious to hear what Johnson had to say.
It seems the iconoclastic Republican, who favors legalizing marijuana and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is drawing at least some interest. One group of voters whom a Johnson candidacy might appeal to are so-called “tea-partiers,” the raucous, sometimes paranoid, anti-big government types.
Johnson said he’s not sure if he’s a tea-partier, or not. He’s doesn’t pay attention to the incendiary rants of Glenn Beck, the group’s de facto leader, and he is not among those who are clamoring to see President Obama’s birth certificate for proof of his legitimacy. But Johnson does ascribe to the movement’s core philosophy of smaller government.
“I don’t really know who the tea party folks are,” Johnson said. “But maybe I’m one of them.”
It remains to be seen if the media is interested in Johnson as a political novelty, or as a potential candidate to be taken seriously. Obviously, the competitive former governor hopes it’s the latter. He’s enlisted the help of Jeff Myron, a Harvard economics professor, to help him fine-tune his economic plan, which Johnson unveiled at the Reason event.
It’s a one-page plan that essentially says scale back entitlements, cut taxes and government subsidies and let the free market do its thing. Anyone familiar with Johnson’s reign as governor of New Mexico — where he vetoed more than 750 bills — knows the drill.
“When it comes to the economy, stop the spending,” Johnson told the Reason crowd.
He then went on to read the following statement from his plan:
“Free markets and limited government are linchpins of prosperity. Economic policy should foster entrepreneurship, innovation and individual choice, not direct economic activity to satisfy political interests in Washington. Americans should be free to make their own economic decisions because individuals, not government, know what is best for themselves and their families.”
A majority of Americans might agree with those statements on their face. In fact, I think a lot of Americans — including Democrats — would agree with much of what Johnson says. He not only wants to end American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, but scale back overall military spending dramatically. Forty-four percent of Americans are with Johnson on his plan to legalize and tax marijuana, according to a recent Gallup poll.
But when it comes to his economic plan, the devil is in the details. For example, would New Mexicans, who are among the poorest in America, really advocate slashing Medicaid for low-income people?
“At the heart of all of this is cutting the entitlements,” Johnson said at Reason.
Johnson left New Mexico’s finances in the black when he left office — a laudable achievement. But many Democrats in New Mexico tend to recall Johnson’s tenure as a time when government turned its back on those who need help most. I asked Johnson about criticism that his economic philosophy is heartless.
“What would really be heartless is to see this country bankrupt,” Johnson said. “What we have on the table is runaway inflation going forward. And that’s the worst tax of all. This is really a return to freedom, liberty and personal responsibility. This country is no good to any of us if it’s bankrupt.”
E-mail: mcoleman@abqjournal.com