page_title: Gary Johnson
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: Gary Johnson / Governor of New Mexico / Reception
caption_attribution_description: Gary Johnson.
context_page_description: Gary Earl Johnson is an American businessman, author, politician, and presidential candidate who served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections. He was also the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in the 2018 New Mexico senate election.
  Johnson entered politics for the first time by running for governor of New Mexico in 1994 on a low-tax, anti-crime platform, promising a "common-sense business approach". He defeated incumbent Democratic governor Bruce King, 50% to 40%. He cut the 10% annual growth in the budget, in part by using the gubernatorial veto 200 times during his first six months. He was unable to convince the state senate to pass any of his motions.
  Johnson sought reelection in 1998, winning by 55% to 45%. In his second term, he concentrated on the issue of school voucher reforms as well as campaigning for cannabis decriminalization.
context_section_description: According to anonymous sources, Governor Johnson was known for a lack of interest in policy details and those who worked with Johnson at the time "recall a chief executive who would speed through meetings and often preferred to discuss his fitness routine than focus on the minutiae of policymaking." In his first term, he frequently clashed with the legislature, but in the second term, he "became more comfortable with the limits of his executive power" and took a more conciliatory approach.
  Commentator Andrew Sullivan quoted a claim that Johnson "is highly regarded in the state for his outstanding leadership during two terms as governor. He slashed the size of state government during his term and left the state with a large budget surplus." In an interview in Reason in January 2001, Johnson's accomplishments in office were described as follows: "no tax increases in six years, a major road building program, shifting Medicaid to managed care, constructing two new private prisons, canning 1,200 state employees, and vetoing a record number of bills." According to one New Mexico paper, "Johnson left the state fiscally solid" and was "arguably the most popular governor of the decade... leaving the state with a $1 billion budget surplus." The Washington Times reported that when Johnson left office, "the size of state government had been substantially reduced and New Mexico was enjoying a large budget surplus." In a 2016 National Review article, Johnson was criticized for claiming to have balanced New Mexico's budget every year. The Constitution of New Mexico requires that the state budget be balanced, with its debt in a separate "capital outlay" budget. The article stated that under Johnson New Mexico's debt increased from $1.8 billion to $4.6 billion and its budget increased from $4.397 billion to $7.721 billion.
  According to a 2011 profile of Johnson in the National Review, "During his tenure, he vetoed more bills than the other 49 governors combined—750 in total, one third of which had been introduced by Republican legislators. Johnson also used his line-item-veto power thousands of times. He credits his heavy veto pen for eliminating New Mexico's budget deficit and cutting the growth rate of New Mexico's government in half." According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, Johnson "said his numerous vetoes, only two of which were overridden, stemmed from his philosophy of looking at all things for their cost–benefit ratio and his axe fell on Republicans as well as Democrats."
  While in office, Johnson was criticized for opposing funding for an independent study of private prisons after a series of riots and killings at the facilities. Martin Chavez, his opponent in the 1998 New Mexico gubernatorial race, criticized Johnson for his frequent vetoing of programs, suggesting that it resulted in New Mexico's low economic and social standing nationally. Journalist Mark Ames described Johnson as "a hard-core conservative" who "ruled the state like a right-wing authoritarian" and only embraced marijuana legalization in his second term for populist gain. This was mainly in reference to a commercial from Johnson's reelection campaign featuring Johnson saying that a felon in New Mexico would serve "every lousy second" of their prison sentence. Johnson insisted, however, that the commercial was directed at "the guy who's got his gun out" rather than nonviolent drug offenders.
caption: Johnson at Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic" in 2008
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