Governor Johnson, who has been referred to as the ‘most fiscally conservative Governor’ in the country, was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003.A successful businessman before running for office in 1994, Gov. Johnson started a door-to-door handyman business to help pay his way through college. Twenty years later, he had grown the firm into one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico with over 1,000 employees. Not surprisingly, Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.
Johnson is best known for his veto record, which includes over 750 vetoes during his time in office, more than all other governors combined and his use of the veto pen has since earned him the nickname “Governor Veto.” He cut taxes 14 times while never raising them. When he left office, New Mexico was one of only four states in the country with a balanced budget.
Term-limited, Johnson retired from public office in 2003. An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.
In 2009, after becoming increasingly concerned with the country’s out-of-control national debt and precarious financial situation, the Governor formed the OUR America Initiative, a 501c(4) non-profit that promotes fiscal responsibility, civil liberties, and rational public policy. He traveled to more than 30 states and spoke to over 150 conservative and libertarian groups during his time as Honorary Chairman.
He has two grown children- a daughter Seah and a son Erik and currently resides in a house he built himself in Taos, New Mexico.
Scaled the highest peaks of 4 continents, including Everest.
Competed in the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 25 mile desert run in combat boots wearing a 35 pound backpack.
Participating in Hawaii’s invitation-only Ironman Triathlon Championship, several times.
Mountain biked the eight day Adidas TransAlps Challenge in Europe.
Spending and deficite:
1
Balance the Budget
THE U.S. IS BORROWING OR PRINTING MORE than 40 cents of every dollar the government spends today. The math is simple: Federal spending must be cut not by millions or billions, but by trillions. And it must be done today.
It's time to:
- Submit a Balanced Budget to Congress, not five or ten years down the road, but in 2013.
- End excessive spending, bloated stimulus programs, unnecessary farm subsidies, and earmarks.
- Reassess the role of the federal government and identify responsibilities that can be met more efficiently by the private sector.
- Recognize that you can't have limited government at home, but big government abroad.
2
Enact Responsible Entitlement Reform
MOST PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON SEEM TO THINK that we can control spending and balance the budget without reforming Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This is lunacy.
- Identify and implement common-sense cost savings to place Medicare on a path toward long-term solvency.
- Block grant Medicare and Medicaid funds to the states, allowing them to innovate, find efficiencies and provide better service at lower cost.
- Repeal President Obama's healthcare plan, as well as the failed Medicare prescription drug benefit.
- Fix Social Security by changing the escalator from being based on wage growth to inflation. It's time for Social Security to reflect today's realities without breaking trust with retirees.
3
Audit the Federal Reserve
THE FEDERAL RESERVE SHOULD BE TRANSPARENT and its actions held to the same level of scrutiny as any federal department.
- The American people deserve to know the extent to which the Fed has purchased private assets at home and abroad.
- Many Americans have become interested in the Federal Reserve in recent years. America's representatives in Washington, D.C. need to also become a lot more interested in how this government institution affects the American economy.
- The role and the activities of the Federal Reserve are long overdue for examination, reassessment, and ultimately, thoughtful reform. Can the Federal Reserve pursue both stable prices and full employment, or does its currency manipulation cause malinvestment, inflation, and prolonged unemployment?
- Conduct an audit to provide true transparency of the Federal Reserve's lending practices.
- Establish clear Congressional oversight.
- Get the Federal Reserve out of the business of creating money, quantitative easing and other efforts to override the free market.
1
Cut Spending
THIS RECESSION HAS FORCED FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES across America to make hard choices and limit their expenditures. We must now expect our elected officials to make the tough calls that will keep our government on a sustainable path moving forward. We must restrain spending across the board:
- Revise the terms of entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which threaten to bankrupt the nation's future.
- Eliminate the costly and ineffective military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan; limit defense spending to actions that truly protect the United States.
- Stop spending on the fiscal stimulus, transportation, energy, housing, and all other special interests. The U.S. must restrain spending across the board.
2
Cut Taxes
THE U.S. TAX SYSTEM IMPOSES AN ENORMOUS toll on productivity through high marginal rates, absurd complexity, loopholes for the well-connected, and incentives for wasteful decisions. A better, fairer system will be:
- Abolish the Internal Revenue Service.
- Enact the Fair Tax to tax expenditures, rather than income, with a 'prebate' to make spending on basic necessities tax free.
- With the Fair Tax, eliminate business taxes, withholding and other levies that penalize productivity, while creating millions of jobs.
- Suggested Reading: www.FairTax.org
3
Reduce Federal Involvement in the Economy
MUCH FEDERAL INTERVENTION IS A PAYOUT TO special interests or counterproductive meddling that stifles competition, innovation, and growth.
We should:
- Reject auto and banking bailouts, state bailouts, corporate welfare, cap-and-trade, card check, and the mountain of regulation that protects special interests rather than benefiting consumers or the economy.
- Restrict Federal Reserve policy to maintaining price stability, not bailing out financial firms or propping up the housing sector.
- Eliminate government support of Fannie and Freddie.
- Reduce or eliminate federal involvement in education; let states expand successful reforms such as vouchers and charter schools.
- Legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana, rather than wasting money on an expensive and futile prohibition.
- Eliminate needless barriers to free trade and make it easier for would-be legal immigrants to apply for work visas.
1
End the assault on privacy
THE FREEDOMS ON WHICH AMERICA WAS FOUNDED are now under attack from the very people charged with protecting and upholding them.
- The PATRIOT Act should be repealed, which would restore proper judicial oversight to federal investigations and again require federal investigators to prove probable cause prior to executing a search.
- Habeas corpus should be respected entirely, requiring the government to either charge incarcerated individuals with a crime or release them.
- The TSA should take a risk-based approach to airport security. Only high-risk individuals should be subjected to invasive pat-downs and full-body scans.
- The TSA should not have a monopoly on airport security. Airports and airlines should be encouraged to seek the most effective methods for screening travelers, including private sector screeners. Screeners outside of government can be held fully accountable for their successes and failures.
2
Government must be neutral on personal beliefs
WE ARE A NATION OF MANY PEOPLES and beliefs. The only way to respect all citizens is to allow each to make personal decisions themselves.
Life is precious and must be protected. A woman should be allowed to make her own decisions during pregnancy until the point of viability of a fetus.
Stem cell research should only be completed by private laboratories that operate without federal funding.
Government should not impose its values upon marriage. It should allow marriage equality, including gay marriage. It should also protect the rights of religious organizations to follow their beliefs.
1
Treat 2nd Amendment Rights
TREAT 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS AS THE INDIVIDUAL constitutional rights they are.
Many argue that the 2nd Amendment doesn't really apply to individuals. Would those same people suggest that rights to free speech, association or religious freedom don't apply to individuals?
2
Our Freedom
DO NOT NEGOTIATE AWAY OUR FREEDOMS IN the name of safety.
From the United Nations to city council chambers across the nation, gun rights are constantly under attack from those who believe, mistakenly, that restricting our right to own firearms legally will somehow make us safer.
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