Perry Lawrence Johnson (born January 23, 1948) is an American businessman, author, and political candidate from Michigan.

Johnson has written several books on international quality control standards and certification. He was a Republican candidate for governor of Michigan in 2022, but was disqualified due to fraudulent ballot signatures. In 2023, he launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination for president of the United States.

Early life and education 

Perry Johnson was born to Dorothy and Carl Johnson on January 23, 1948, in Dolton, Illinois. He has a younger sister, Valerie, born in 1949. At age 14, Johnson started attending Thornridge High School. He holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a minor in economics, and completed coursework in the graduate program for psychology at the University of Detroit, but never received a graduate degree.

Career 
Johnson has a background in the area of quality and has published several works related to the subject, including ISO 9000: Meeting the International Standards. He is the president of Perry Johnson International Holdings.

Johnson is also the author of Two Cents To Save America, a political work discussing fiscal and sociological issues from a right-wing perspective.

ISO Standards 
Johnson is a speaker and author of books and training materials on numerous ISO standards, including the ISO 9000 Series, the ISO 14000 Series, and the AS9100 standard for aerospace. He authored the textbook ISO 9000: Meeting the New International Standards, followed by its second and third editions, with the latest published in 2000. Johnson also wrote Keeping Score: Strategies and Tactics for Winning the Quality War, which was first published in 1989. He also authored various other textbooks, including:
 ISO 14000 Road Map to Registration
 ISO 14000: The Business Manager’s Complete Guide to Environmental Management
 ISO/QS-9000 Yearbook: 1997

ISO 9000 and QS9000 
In 1983, Johnson founded Perry Johnson, Inc. which presented seminars on quality standards, and since its inception, the ISO 9000 standards. In 1994, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford Motor Company—the "Big Three," switched to QS9000, requiring all suppliers to receive QS9000 certification. Johnson's firm was one of the first to supply QS9000 certifications.

The development of QS9000 standards helped prevent the "Japanese invasion," i.e. the production of highly efficient and cheap cars that arose from Japan's ubiquitous, rigid quality standards, said Carla Bailo, CEO of the Center of Automotive Research.

Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. 
Johnson founded Perry Johnson Registrars in 1994 to certify and register companies' compliance with various ISO standards. Since 1994, PJR has expanded internationally, and , it has offices in 12 countries.

Following a complaint from Boeing alleging conflict of interest violations, PJR was suspended by the U.S. Registrar Accreditation Board, which prevented it from issuing aerospace certifications. The firm was also suspended by the Japan Accreditation Board of Conformity Assessment. It sued over this suspension in 2004, but the board never responded in court.

Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, Inc. 
Johnson is the founder and owner of Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, Inc., a private accrediting body that "validates the competency of testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, reference material producers and sampling organizations through the use of international and national standards." He also owns Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation NP, Inc., a nonprofit accreditation organization to be used in place of the PJLA in cases where a nonprofit organization is requisite.

Consulting firm 
On October 9, 2000, a lawsuit against Johnson's consulting firm, Perry Johnson, Inc. was filed for sending 'junk faxes' en masse. This was a result of the FCC citing Perry Johnson Inc. for violating the TCPA by mass faxing. Johnson's firm agreed to pay up to $424.75 in compensation to any company or person who had received a 'junk fax.' His firm was also required to place an ad in USA Today detailing the compensation rules and create a website inviting recipients of unsolicited faxes to receive compensation. A previous lawsuit had been filed alleging that Johnson's firm had sent 11.7 million unsolicited faxes for nine years, but it was dismissed as the plaintiffs had sued Johnson himself instead of his company.

Politics

2022 Michigan gubernatorial campaign

In 2021, Johnson announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the governor of Michigan. He launched his campaign in January 2021 with a $1.5 million advertising campaign that was featured during the 2021 Super Bowl. Johnson did not meet the requirement of 15,000 valid signatures necessary to appear on the ballot after it was found that 9,400 of the signatures his campaign submitted were invalid and fraudulent. He filed suit in federal court to halt the ballot printing so he could argue why he should be included on the ballot, but he and two other candidates, Michael Markey and James Craig, had their appeals to remain on the ballot rejected by the state Supreme Court, which reiterated their fraudulent nature, with signatures harvested by paid circulators. In total, Johnson spent $7,000,000 of his own money in his failed bid for the Republican nomination. Following his disqualification, Johnson expressed interest in running for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat in 2024.

Nearly a year after his failed gubernatorial campaign, Shawn Wilmoth, Jamie Wilmoth, and Willie Reed faced over 20 charges from a Detroit court for their role in the fraudulent signature scheme. Johnson "applauded the charges."

2024 presidential campaign

On March 2, 2023, Johnson announced his bid for president in 2024. He has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to form a committee for his presidential campaign. Johnson also ran a Super Bowl commercial in Iowa for his campaign. At the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, he received five percent of the presidential straw poll vote, coming in third behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Johnson has almost exclusively been campaigning in Iowa, hoping to win a large enough percentage in that state's caucus to be eligible for future events. His campaign slogan is "Two cents to save America", referencing the centerpiece of his campaign, a policy to cut 2 cents off every dollar of federal discretionary spending "year after year." Johnson believes that this policy will solve the US debt crisis. If elected, Johnson has promised to wholly "eliminate" the FBI, calling it a "corrupt" agency that is "beyond saving." He also announced that if elected, he would press for "bonuses" to any government agency that saves 2% of its annual budget, such that "its manager [sic] would receive a portion of the savings."

In an attempt to increase the number of people donating to his campaign (to help him qualify for the debates), Johnson has been selling $1 t-shirts on Facebook saying "I stand with Tucker" and counting each sale as a donation to his campaign. The specific rule is that to be eligible to attend the debate, a candidate must have 40,000 unique donors from 20 distinct states. Johnson has been polling near 0% since the start of his campaign. Seeking to improve his standings, Johnson has branded himself as Donald Trump "without the baggage." However, Johnson has also vowed, that if elected president, he would pardon Trump from federal prosecution. Johnson has spent over $2,000,000 in campaign ads, yet NBC has assessed that he is highly unlikely to qualify for the Republican debates. Johnson also attended a July 4 parade in New Hampshire ahead of the primary in the state. Ron DeSantis was the only other candidate in attendance.

Johnson expanded his efforts in late July, selling $1 t-shirts saying "fire Biden," with each sale counting as a donation to his campaign. Additionally, the Johnson campaign handed out $10 gas-cards to anyone willing to make a $1 donation to his campaign. Johnson also gave a speech at the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Lincoln dinner, an important platform for candidates in the state.

Johnson was accused of paying media companies to pay attention to his campaign, namely by Semafor, namely engaging in a "pay-to-play" agreement with Newsmax, an agreement which was also offered to Vivek Ramaswamy, who turned it down and brought attention to the alleged activity of Newsmax'''s policy of purchasing article space for candidates, effectively running them as ads. Newsmax has denied both the claim from Ramaswamy and the claims about Johnson.

Johnson claimed to have qualified for the first debate on August 18, 2023 and claimed to have had a meeting with Fox News'' to do a rehearsal and walk-through of the debate process on the 22 August, only to receive a call on the 23 August stating he didn't qualify. The only accredited poll that Johnson saw a 1% return, would be disqualified due to the RNC stating that the pollster, Victory Insights, did not meet their criteria. As such, Johnson did not appear at the debate. In response to this, Johnson called the qualifying process "corrupt", and said he will arrive in Wisconsin for the debate regardless. He announced legal action against the RNC, alongside Larry Elder who also failed to qualify, despite claiming to have, not long after and demanded the resignation of RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Personal life 
Perry Johnson resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is married, and has three sons. He holds the position of president in Perry Johnson International Holdings and several other companies.

As a bridge player, Johnson has achieved notable success, with five victories in National Bridge Championships. He has also participated in the World Championships on six occasions, with a notable eighth-place overall finish during the 1998 Championship in Lille, France.

References

External links 
 Campaign website

Businesspeople from Michigan
21st-century American politicians
Living people
Michigan Republicans
Candidates in the 2024 United States presidential election
Candidates in the 2022 United States elections
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
People from Dolton, Illinois
1948 births