Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, former Governor of New Mexico, and candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 election.[2][3] He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, and is known for his low-tax libertarian views and his regular participation in triathlons. Founder of one of New Mexico's largest construction companies,[4] Johnson entered politics for the first time by running for Governor of New Mexico in 1994 on a conservative, low-tax, anti-crime platform.[5] He beat incumbent Democratic governor Bruce King by 50% to 40%. He cut the 10% annual growth in the budget by using his gubernatorial veto on half of bills in the first six months.[4] His use of the veto over his two terms gained him the nickname "Governor Veto".[6][7] He sought re-election in 1998, winning by 55% to 45%. In his second term, he concentrated on the issue of school v! oucher reforms,[8] as well as campaigning for marijuana decriminalization . During his tenure as governor, he adhered strictly to an anti-tax, anti-bureaucracy program, and set state and national records for his use of veto powers:[4] more than the other 49 contemporary governors put together.[9][10] Term-limited, Johnson could not run for reelection at the end of his second term. A fitness enthusiast,[11][12] Johnson has taken part in several Ironman Triathlons, and he climbed Mount Everest in May 2003.[13] He announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2012 election on April 21, 2011.[14] Contents 1 Early life 2 Governor of New Mexico 2.1 First term 2.2 Second term 2.3 Legacy 3 Post-gubernatorial life 4 2012 presidential campaign 4.1 CPAC 2011 5 Political positions 6 Personal life 6.1 Family 6.2 Sports 7 Bibliography 8 References 9 External links [edit] Early life Johnson was born in 1953 in Minot, North Dakota, the son of Lorraine B. (n�! �e Bostow) and Earl W. Johnson.[15] His father was a public sc! hool tea cher, while his mother worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[16] Johnson graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque in 1971, where he was on the school track team.[17] He attended the University of New Mexico from 1971 to 1975 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree.[18] It was there that he met his future wife, Denise "Dee" Simms. While in college, Johnson earned money as a door-to-door handyman.[19] His success in that arena encouraged him to start his own business, Big J Enterprises, which was founded in 1976. When he started the business, which focused on mechanical contracting, Johnson was its only employee.[20] His major break with the firm was receiving a large contract from Intel's expansion in Rio Rancho, which increased Big J's revenue to $38 million.[16] Over-stretched by his success, Johnson enrolled in a time management course at night school, which made him heavily goal-driven.[16] He eventually grew Big J into a multi-million dollar corporatio! n with over 1,000 employees.[21] By the time he sold the company, in 1999, it was one of New Mexico's leading construction companies.[22] [edit] Governor of New Mexico [edit] First term Johnson entered politics for the first time in 1994, with the intention of running for governor and was advised by "Republican Elders"[16] to run for the State Legislature instead.[16] In spite of their advice, Johnson spent $500,000 of his own money and entered the race with the intent of bringing a "common sense business approach" to the office.[23] Johnson's campaign slogan was "People before Politics".[24] His platform emphasized tax cuts, job creation, state government spending growth restraint, and law and order.[5] He won the Republican nomination, defeating state legislator Richard P. Cheney by 34% to 33%, with John Dendahl and former governor David F. Cargo in third and fourth. Johnson also won the general election, defeating the incumbent Democratic Governor Bruce King by 50% to 40! %. Johnson was elected in a nationally Republican year, althou! gh party registration in the state of New Mexico at the time was 2-to-1 Democratic. As governor, Johnson followed a strict small government approach. According to former New Mexico Republican National Committee member Mickey D. Barnett, "Any time someone approached him about legislation for some purpose, his first response always was to ask if government should be involved in that to begin with."[25] He vetoed 200 of 424 bills in his first six months in office – a national record of 48% of all legislation – and used the line-item veto on most remaining bills.[4] In office, Johnson fulfilled his campaign promise to reduce the 10% annual growth of the state budget.[citation needed] In his first budget, Johnson proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a repeal of the prescription drug tax, a $47 million income tax cut, and a 6 cents per gallon gasoline tax cut. However, of these, only the gasoline tax cut was passed.[26] During the November 1995 federal government shutdown, he ! joined 20 other Republican governors who called on the Republican leadership in Congress to stand firm in negotiations against the Clinton administration in budget negotiations; in the article reporting on the letter and concomitant news conference he was quoted as calling for eliminating the budget deficit through proportional cuts across the budget.[27] Although Johnson worked to reduce overall state spending, in his first term, Johnson raised education spending by nearly a third.[11] When drop-out rates and test scores showed little improvement, Johnson changed his tactics and began advocating for school vouchers – a key issue in budget battles of his second term.[11] Like other southwestern states, New Mexico must deal with a scarcity of fresh water and threats of drought,[citation needed] and these issues were acute in the late 1990s. In 1998, Johnson established a state drought task force; the result was a coordinated effort among state and federal officials to anti! cipate drought conditions and disseminate information ahead of! an actu al shortage.[28] [edit] Second term In 1998, Johnson ran for re-election as governor against Democratic Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. In his campaign, he promised to continue the policies of his first term: improving schools; cutting state spending, taxes, and bureaucracy; and frequent use of his veto power.[29] Fielding a strong Hispanic candidate in a 40% Hispanic state, the Democrats were expected to oust Johnson,[11] but Johnson won by a 55% to 45% margin:[30] making him the first Governor of New Mexico to serve two four-year terms after term limits were expanded to two terms in 1991.[23] Johnson made the promotion of a school voucher system a "hallmark issue" of his second term.[31] In 1999, he proposed the first state-wide voucher system in America, which would have enrolled 100,000 students in its first year.[11] That year, he vetoed two budgets that failed to include a voucher program and a government shutdown was threatened,[11] but ultimately yielded to Democrat! ic majorities in both houses of the New Mexico Legislature, who opposed the plan. Johnson signed the budget, but line-item vetoed a further $21m, or 0.5%, from the legislative plan.[32] In 1999, Johnson became one of the highest-ranking elected officials in the United States to advocate the legalization of marijuana.[33] Saying the War on Drugs was "an expensive bust," he advocated the decriminalization of marijuana use and concentration on harm reduction measures for all other illegal drugs. "He compared attempts to enforce the nation's drug laws with the failed attempt at alcohol prohibition. Half of what government spends on police, courts and prisons is to deal with drug offenders."[20] He suggests that drug abuse be treated as a health issue, not as a criminal issue. His approach to the issue garnered supportive notice from conservative icon William F. Buckley,[34] as well as the Cato Institute and Rolling Stone.[16] In 2000, Johnson proposed a more ambitious voucher p! rogram than he had proposed the year before, under which each ! parent w ould receive $3,500 per child for education at any private or parochial school.[31] The Democrats sought $90m extra school funding without school vouchers, and questioned Johnson's request for more funding for state-run prisons, having opposed his opening of two private prisons.[35] Negotiations between the governor and the legislature were contentious, again nearly leading to shut down the government. In 2000, New Mexico was devastated by the Cerro Grande Fire. Johnson's handling of the disaster earned him accolades from the The Denver Post, which observed that he: was all over the Cerro Grande Fire last week. He helped reporters understand where the fire was headed when low-level Forest Service officials couldn't, ran herd over the bureaucratic process of getting state and federal agencies and the National Guard involved, and even helped put out some of the fire with his feet. On a tour of Los Alamos last Wednesday, when he saw small flames spreading across a lawn, he had ! his driver stop his car. He jumped out and stomped on the flames, as did his wife and some of his staffers.[12] Johnson's leadership during the fire was praised by Democratic Congressman Tom Udall, who said: "I think the real test of leadership is when you have circumstances like this. He's called on his reserves of energy and has just been a really excellent leader under very difficult circumstances here."[12] He rebuffed efforts by the Libertarian Party to draft him in the 2000 presidential election.[36] [edit] Legacy The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2011) In an interview in Reason Magazine in January 2001, Johnson's accomplishments in office were described as follows: "no tax increases in six years, a m
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