Brian M Johnson serves as a Federal Affairs Manager of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). ATR was founded by Grover Norquist at the request of President Ronald Regan in 1985 and opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.
He is also the Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), an organization that combats anti-worker legislation and promotes free and open markets.
Mr. Johnson is the author of the forthcoming 2009 Index of Worker Freedom: A National Report Card, and the previous 2007 edition. He is also a contributor to the American Spectator, The Examiner, and RedState.com
Mr. Johnson’s op-eds have been featured in several national and state newspapers and publications. He has appeared on several local and national television programs including Fox News, Fox Business News, “The Glenn Beck Show,” the “Lou Dobbs Show” on CNN and CSPAN.
Prior to joining ATR, Johnson was the 2004 Bush/Cheney North Carolina grassroots campaign manager and a contributor to the John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank in North Carolina.
Mr. Johnson has undergraduate degrees in Political Science, International Affairs and English, as well as a Certificate of Specialization in International Political Economics & International Trade from ICHEC in Brussels, Belgium. He recently completed a Masters in Public Administration from The George Washington University.
Brian Johnson is a registered federal lobbyist and resides in Washington, D.C.
Brian Johnson
Toyota and the Union-Backed, Government-Led Witch Hunt
by Brian JohnsonToyota, which employs over 35,000 workers in the United States with factories in eight states, is the target of a government-led and union-supported attack due to recent recalls.
In the U.S., it is estimated that 15,000 Lexus HS250h and 133,000 Prius models will be recalled due to gas pedal issues, with another 500,000 Prius and other gasoline-electric hybrids needing anti-brake software modification. As unfortunate and inconvenient as recalls can be, this not the first, or last time an automobile will need to be brought back to the shop for a quick fix.
One might think this is the first auto recall in decades from the way government officials and Congressional Committees have pounced on Toyota. However, as recent as last month, Honda announced a recall of 646,000 Fit models (or Jazz in some markets) due to a faulty master switch that could allow water to enter the electrical components resulting in fires. Ford, less than one year ago, was forced to recall more than 4 million cars based on 550 vehicle fires. The recall concerned cruise-control deactivation switches that were installed in 16 million Fords. Part of the recall included nearly 1.1 million 1995-2003 Ford Windstar family van models.
There was no government outcry and no demand for Congressional hearings over these recent recalls. So why has Toyota suddenly become the target of a government-led witch hunt?
Toyota’s U.S. operations are extremely successful, not saturated by inefficient union monopolies, and are in direct competition with the now government-owned General Motors.
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Why You Should Know About Craig Becker (and Why You Need to Be Worried)
by Brian JohnsonCraig Becker is President Obama’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and you should be afraid…very, very afraid.
According to the NLRB website, Congress established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the primary law that governs relations between unions, employees and employers in the private sector. The Act guarantees employees the right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers or to refrain from such activities. The Act, which generally applies to all employers involved in interstate commerce, implements the national labor policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining industrial peace.
The NLRB has two primary functions: one, to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices, whether committed by labor organizations or employers, and; two, to establish whether or not certain groups of employees desire labor organization representation for collective-bargaining purposes, and if so, which union.
Becker will be the third person on the five person Board and the second Democrat thus giving them majority on the Board. To say that Becker’s views are “extreme” would be an insult. His views of employer-employee relations invites thoughts of hammers and sickles.
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Leaked SEIU Card Check Cheat Sheet
by Brian JohnsonAs if Andy Stern and Anna Burger lobbying without being registered wasn’t enough for the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) to deal with, they are still trying desperately to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Unsuccessfully, I might add.
However, they have developed a new tool of misinformation — “Language Tips on Employee Free Choice.”
SEIU EFCA Tip Sheet_Page_2 PDF –
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A Lobbyist By Any Other Name: SEIU and the Obama White House
by Brian JohnsonSuccessfully demonizing Washington insiders on the campaign trail, President Obama needed to find a way to meet with lobbyists without appearing hypocritical. The administration’s advice to lobbyists? De-register.
For an administration that promised to renounce interest groups, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) certainly has the president’s ear and is sure to be a major player in the December jobs summit. In 2008, SEIU donated nearly $28 million to the Obama campaign setting the stage for SEIU President Andy Stern to become the White House’s most frequent visitor in 2009, according to White House visitor logs. Anna Burger, Treasure of the SEIU and Chairwoman of their Change to Win campaign was even appointed to Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board earlier this year and will represent SEIU at the December jobs summit held by the White House.
To the objective observer, it is clear that Andy Stern and Anna Burger are meeting with members of the White House to advance goals of the SEIU, they are lobbying. However, in 2008 both Stern and Burger de-registered as lobbyists providing the Obama administration cover to meet with them while avoiding cries of duplicity. Yet, neither Stern nor Burger changed positions or job responsibilities, they just stopped registering as lobbyists.
So who has to register?
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How Andy Stern Got Around Obama’s “No Lobbyist” Policy; He Just Didn’t Register
by Brian JohnsonPresident Obama has always made a pretty big deal about not working with “lobbyists”. Registered lobbyists can’t get stimulus money, can’t be White House advisors and are not allowed access to meetings and summits. So how does one get around that? It’s simple; you just don’t register as a lobbyist. That’s what Andy Stern did and it may come back to bite him.
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and me, as Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) formally requested an investigation by the acting United States Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Esq., into the potentially illegal lobbying activities of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern.
In a letter hand delivered today to Mr. Phillips, Senate Secretary Erickson and House Clerk Miller, we wrote:
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Union Embezzlement: From Auto Workers to Disney, Union Corruption Knows No Bounds
by Brian JohnsonThis is why we have the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), the only arm of the federal government to work on behalf of the rank-and-file union members to monitor union finances and catch fraud and abuse…too bad the left wants to cut their funding.
As Union Corruption Update reports:
At least Christine Pawlowski’s thefts will go into the record books as less than what they were. On September 28, Pawlowski, formerly financial secretary for Local 812 of the United Auto Workers, pleaded guilty in Huron County, Michigan (Bay City) District Court to embezzling between $1,000 and $20,000 during January 2007-December 2008. Prosecutors had charged that Pawlowski, now 42, a resident of Minden City, skimmed more than $20,000 from the Harbor Beach, Mich. union, which has 35 members. Sentencing is scheduled for November 9. The guilty plea follows a joint investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Harbor Beach police.
While it might not be shocking to some that members of the UAW are embezzling money (the car industry is suffering after all), the below allegation is associated with a company that has a more happy image.
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Big Labor’s Selfish Healthcare Motivation
by Brian JohnsonWith the health care debate raging and, what seems like, new bills being proposed everyday, it is easy to get bogged down in the details and corresponding rumors. One aspect of Democratic healthcare plan that will never change is whatever bill Democrats end up with, they intend to pay for it through taxes on so-called “Cadillac health care plans” (and several other tax increases).
While the “tax anything we can” rhetoric delights most on the Left, it doesn’t play so well with the party’s largest contributor and loyal ally, organized labor.
Unions have spent the past few decades bullying employers into giving them overly generous health care plans (think United Auto Workers) often to the detriment of the companies they work for. Unfortunately for labor, the healthcare plans they spent years negotiating are now considered “Cadillac plans” and are under attack by the same people they helped spent $450 million to put into office.
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Kansas Helps SEIU Using Taxpayer Funds and State Resources
by Brian JohnsonAt the beginning of September, we received several letters and emails from Kansas health care providers reporting on notices that Kansas state departments had sent them. The letters, printed on KS Department letterhead and bearing the name of the Governor, were asking for the providers “name, address and phone number” to hand over to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The SEIU had contacted the KS Department of Aging and the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services asking for state health care providers information for the purposes of unionizing them. These Departments did not have this information on hand. Rather than simply telling the SEIU “sorry, we don’t have that”, they spent thousands of taxpayer dollars and state resources to gather this information.
When we contacted Gov. Parkinson’s office to request correspondence between their Departments and the SEIU, and to determine how much this cost the taxpayers of Kansas, we were told “the Governor’s office is not in possession of any information.”
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