Johnson ascension quick, remarkable rise to top

Within the past two weeks, Louisiana conservatives have hit the jackpot. First, Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry won the governorship impressively without a runoff. Days later, GOP state Sen. Cameron Henry, in a career marked largely with fiscal conservatism, laid claim to the state Senate presidency starting next term. Now, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson, from Louisiana’s Congressional District 4, has become Speaker of the House of Representatives.

It took congressional Republicans three weeks to sort it out, but finally they settled unanimously on Johnson to take up the gavel after three other alternatives fell a few votes short in a chamber where the GOP has but a narrow edge. It all began when a handful of fiscal conservatives, using a procedure inserted by former Republican speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a condition of his retaining the job at the year’s beginning, to vacate his position because he didn’t live up to one of his pledges to vote on appropriations bills separately.

Let’s match some questions to answers about Johnson’s rise to prominence, becoming the first Louisianan ever to hold the top spot in a chamber of Congress:

A: Humble
Q: What is the best description of Johnson’s origins? His mother delivered him in a teen marriage, and his firefighter father was seriously injured on the job when Johnson was 12 that brought considerable hardship to his family.

A: Charlie Cook
Q: Who is the second-most famous alumnus of Shreveport's Captain Shreve High School in the world of politics? Cook, longtime commentator and editor of the Cook Political Report, has to take a backseat now to alumnus Johnson.

A: John Breaux, J. Bennett Johnston, and Russell Long
Q: Who are the second-most prominent Louisiana politicians who graduated from Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center? Although all having held important positions in the U.S. Senate with lengthy careers in Congress, they also now are pushed into second place by the 1998 graduate Johnson.

A: The longest-lasting, almost a quarter-century.
Q: How long-lasting has been the covenant marriage between Mike and Kelly Johnson? They were the first couple in the state to commit to this at marriage. Only about one to two percent of couples choose this, which asks for agreement by the couple for counseling and a six month delay prior to any divorce.

A: Several
Q: How many court cases did Johnson work on for the Alliance Defense Fund (now named the Alliance Defending Freedom) that were successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court? Although he worked for the northwest Louisiana Kitchens Law Firm, he affiliated with the ADF, a leading constitutional rights law firm specializing in religious First Amendment issues, preparing legal briefs and case material and also worked as their spokesman. He also briefly worked for the Liberty Institute, now known as the First Liberty Institute, that litigates on much the same kinds of cases.

A: KBCL-AM
Q: On which Shreveport radio station did Johnson host a talk show? He did so in the early 2000s as he began to make a name for himself in First Amendment law, when it had a news/talk/music format. It’s still on the air, 1070 on your dial (note: from 1996-2000 I hosted a talk show on it, and appeared as a guest on its morning program typically weekly throughout the 1990s).

A: Dean of a law school
Q: Which job did Johnson take but ultimately resign? Louisiana College in the latter aughts attempted to open a law school in Shreveport. But internal politics – part of what led to a high-profile deposing and eventual firing of the school’s president – and perhaps unrealistic expectations led him to depart after a few years as the effort collapsed.

A: 60 percent
Q: What is the least amount of the vote Johnson has received in any contest that elected him? Twice in 2015 he won without opposition the Louisiana House District 8 seat in Bossier Parish (as a resident of Benton) and then a year later won his first of four terms to Congress, with last year’s election also uncontested.

A: Liberty University’s Helms School of Government
Q: What university has Johnson taught at as adjunct instructor? He has taught at this Christian-based school in Virginia near Washington, DC a class about the Constitution and free enterprise.

A: Charles Crisp, in 1891
Q: Who was the least experienced speaker of the House prior to Johnson? Crisp, a Democrat from Georgia, had served in the House for four terms and nine months before ascending to the post, a month fewer than Johnson.

A: Apoplectic
Q: How has the mainstream, largely leftist, media responded to Johnson’s elevation? A useful summary is here, and other headlines use the words “creep,” “troubling,” “tragedy,” and “far-right extremist.” Observing them coping with his speakership is going to be great.