Sam Johnson

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Sam Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 3rd district
In office 1991–present
Preceded by	Steve Bartlett
Born	October 11, 1930 (1930-10-11) (age 77) Dallas, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Shirley Johnson
Religion	Methodist

Samuel Robert "Sam" Johnson (born October 11, 1930) is an American politician. He currently is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 3rd District of Texas (map). The district includes much of northeastern Dallas, as well as Plano, where he lives.

[edit] Biography

Johnson grew up in Dallas and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and Southern Methodist University.^[1] He served a 29-year career in the United States Air Force, where he served as director of the Air Force Fighter Weapons School and flew with the Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying demonstration team.

He is a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars as a fighter pilot. In the Korean War, he flew F-86s in 62 combat missions. In the Vietnam War, Johnson flew F-4s.

In 1966, while flying his 25th combat mission in Vietnam, he was shot down over North Vietnam. He was a prisoner of war for seven years, including 42 months in solitary confinement. During this period, he was repeatedly tortured.

Johnson recounted the details of his POW experience in his autobiography, Captive Warriors.

A decorated war hero, Johnson was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals, and three Outstanding Unit Awards. He walks with a noticeable limp, due to an old war injury.

After his military career, he established a homebuilding business and served in the Texas State Legislature. On May 8, 1991, he was elected to the House in a special election caused by eight-year incumbent Steve Bartlett's resignation to become mayor of Dallas. He won a full term in 1992 and has been reelected seven times. He has never faced substantive opposition in what is arguably the most Republican district in the Metroplex; the 3rd has been in Republican hands since 1968. In fact, the Democrats did not even field a candidate in 1992, 1994, 1998 or 2004.

Johnson is married to the former Shirley L. Melton, of Dallas. They are parents of three children and ten grandchildren.

[edit] Political positions

In the House, Johnson is an ardent conservative. By some views, Johnson had the most conservative record in the House for three consecutive years, opposing pork barrel projects of all kinds, voting for more IRAs and against extending unemployment benefits. The pork barrel watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste has consistently rated as being friendly to taxpayers.

Johnson is a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and was one of three Republicans who refounded it in 1994 after Newt Gingrich yanked its funding.

On the Ways and Means Committee, he was an early advocate and, then, sponsor of the successful repeal in 2000 of the earnings limit for Social Security recipients. He proposed the Good Samaritan Tax Act to permit corporations to take a tax deduction for charitable giving of food. He chairs the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations, where he has encouraged small business owners to expand their pensionand [1] benefits for employees.

Johnson is a skeptic of calls for increased government regulation related to global warming whenever such government interference would, in his mind, restrict personal liberties or damage economic growth and American competitiveness in the market place. He also opposes calls for government intervention in the name of energy reform if such reform would hamper the market and or place undue burdens on individuals seeking to earn decent wages. He has expressed his belief that the Earth has untapped sources of fuel, and has called for allowing additional drilling for oil in Alaska.

[edit] 2004 campaign

Johnson ran unopposed by the Democratic Party in his district in the 2004 election. Paul Jenkins, an independent, and James Vessels, a member of the Libertarian Party ran against Johnson. Johnson won overwhelmingly in a highly Republican district. Johnson garnered 86% of the vote (178,099), while Jenkins earned 8% (16,850) and Vessels 6% (13,204).

[edit] 2006 campaign

Johnson ran for re-election in 2006, defeating his Republican opponent Robert Edward Johnson in the Republican primary, 85% to 15%. [2] [3]

In the general election, Johnson faced Democrat Dan Dodd and Libertarian Christopher J. Claytor. Both Dodd and Claytor are West Point graduates. Dodd served two tours of duty in Vietnam [4] and Claytor served in Operation Southern Watch in Kuwait in 1992. [5] It was only the fourth time that Johnson had faced Democratic opposition.

Johnson retained his seat in a decisive victory, taking 62.5% of the vote, while Democrat Dodd received 34.9% and Libertarian Claytor received 2.6%. However, this was far less than in years past, when Johnson won by margins of 80 percent or more.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] WMDs

On February 19, 2005 at a veterans' pancake breakfast at Suncreek United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, Johnson relayed a conversation he had with President George W. Bush in which he claimed the WMDs may still exist, that he expressed concerns that such weapons might be in Syria. The decorated Vietnam combat pilot even joked that he would personally volunteer to fly a jet over Syria and drop two nuclear bombs. [6]

[edit] See also

• List of Korean War veterans who are recipients of the Bronze Star

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson official House site
• Sam Johnson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Samuel Robert Johnson campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Sam Johnson issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Sam Johnson campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Samuel Robert 'Sam' Johnson (TX) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Sam Johnson profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Sam Johnson voting record
• Sam Johnson for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• USA Today Profile
• The Smithsonian Institute's Tribute To Sam Johnson
• Texas Nonprofit Is Cleared After GOP-Prompted Audit: Group Says Probe Was 'Political Retaliation' by DeLay Allies, Washington Post, February 27, 2006