Johnson is known as a government waste expert and government watchdog. He writes frequently about tax and budget issues, technology and telecommunications policy, and the environment, and is credited with popularizing the use of investigative journalism by think tanks.[4][5]
Johnson founded the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) in 2004. Under his leadership, the organization used the Tennessee Open Records Act of obtain Al Gore's home energy bills the day after the former Vice President won an Academy Award for the climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth.[17] The records showed that, in 2006, Gore's Belle Meade, Tennessee home consumed nearly 221,000 kWh of electricity—more than 20 times the national average.[18] In 2006, Gore spent an average of $1,359 per month to power the home.[18]
After releasing Al Gore's home energy consumption, Johnson and other TCPR employees received death threats, harassing emails and threatening phone calls from Gore supporters and environmental activists.[19][20][21] The Nevada Independent wrote that "Much of his research highlights waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government — he is most famous for using public records to calculate climate champion and former Vice President Al Gore's home energy use in Tennessee."[13]
Johnson left TCPR at the end of 2009.[22] In May 2011, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance announced that he would join that organization as a senior fellow.[23]
On August 1, 2013, the newspaper announced that Johnson was terminated for violating the newspaper's standards in altering an editorial headline to tell Barack Obama to "Take Your Jobs Plan and Shove It," a play on the classic country music song "Take This Job and Shove It."[25] The newspaper stated the alteration was "inappropriate" and that Johnson did not follow normal editing procedures.[26] Johnson later claimed that his firing was a result of the criticizing Chattanooga's electric company, EPB, one of the newspaper's largest advertisers.[27] "When I explained how EPB scammed taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars... EPB pulled its ads from the paper," Johnson said. "I know the paper was frustrated with losing money because I was willing to speak the truth about bad actors in the community."[27]
Media and think tanks
Johnson then joined The Washington Times as a columnist, editorial writer and author of the newspaper's weekly "Golden Hammer" column, which exposed an egregious example of wasteful spending of tax dollars.[28][29] Johnson also hosted a weekly "Golden Hammer" television segment based on the column that was available on some Sinclair Broadcast Group stations' local news broadcasts.[30]
Johnson again investigated Al Gore's home energy use in a 2017 report written for the National Center for Public Policy Research.[17] According to information obtained through the Nashville Electric Service, energy consumption at Gore's Nashville-area house increased from 2006 to 2017, despite installing 33 solar panels on the home following the initial criticism.[17] In 2017, Gore's home used 21.3 times more energy per month than a typical American household.[17]
In 2016, Johnson called Trump a "socialist" and in 2020 called his presidency an "embarrassment" after a federal execution. But in 2024, Johnson endorsed Trump's 2024 presidential run. Johnson has said he wants to be in Congress to help move the Republican Party beyond Trump.[13]
In June 2024, he told The Nevada Independent if elected he would vote against government funded-abortion services and against a national abortion ban, believing that the Dobbs decision left the issue "appropriately" up to the states.[13]
He currently serves as the public member of the Nevada State Board of Optometry.[38]
Personal life
He is married to marketing consultant and travel blogger Sarah Reeves Johnson and they live in Las Vegas. They moved there in 2015 when seeking a friendly environment to start a small business.[13]
