Veteran Hill Staffer Ken Johnson Joins House Leadership Staff
House Policy Committee and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) today announced that Ken Johnson, the long-time adviser and aide to former Energy & Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA), would join his staff as Senior Adviser.
“Ken Johnson has earned a top reputation in Washington for helping reporters do their jobs, organizing effective Congressional oversight, and developing clear and coherent approaches to many of the most critical areas of our public policy,” Chairman Cox said. “His talents will be an integral part of organizing and communicating the broad policy agenda for this Congress and the next.”
Most recently, Mr. Johnson was Deputy Staff Director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In that capacity, he was at the forefront of the much-publicized Congressional investigations into Enron, Arthur Andersen, Ford-Firestone, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Qwest, Health South, Martha Stewart, and the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory. He served for eight years in Rep. Tauzin’s personal office before the Louisianan won the chairmanship of the full committee.
Mr. Johnson played a key role in the passage of major legislation in the House, including the TREAD Act, the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, the Can Spam Act, the Internet Freedom and Deployment Act, and the Energy Policy Act of 2003.
Mr. Johnson’s experience includes 20 years as a news director, anchor, and political reporter for CBS-TV affiliates in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Cincinnati. He won more than 50 local, state and national awards for journalistic excellence and won national accolades as the first reporter ever to go undercover as an inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Mr. Johnson has been honored by the Associated Press, United Press International, the American Film Institute, the National Association of Television Program Executives, the Louisiana Bar Association, and the New Orleans Press Club, among others.
“I eagerly look forward to employing Ken’s talents in behalf of the House Policy Committee,” Chairman Cox added. “His experience with Chairman Tauzin and then-Majority Leader Dick Armey in developing the national debate on fundamental tax reform will be invaluable as the House Leadership moves this issue to the top of the 2004 agenda. His knowledge of energy policy and health care issues, likewise, will serve both the House majority and the country as Republicans promote policies of energy independence, conservation, and consumer protection.
“Similarly, Ken’s experience will blend well with the high level of staff talent already serving the Homeland Security Committee. The dissemination of public information—before, during, and after a crisis—is one of the least appreciated aspects of Homeland Security,” Chairman Cox said. “My first House Leadership assignment after 9-11 was to lead a bipartisan working group on the continuity of Congress. We quickly realized how the media reaction to a major terrorist attack would impact the nation’s confidence in our national government institutions. The role of the media, and the importance of preparation and training for communicators both in government and in the media, is underappreciated as a means to respond to and mitigate the effects of terrorism. With Ken’s leadership we will address that national deficiency. Ken’s expertise is the perfect complement to the background of our Staff Director, Dr. John Gannon, whose extensive CIA experience has proven invaluable in congressional oversight of the new Department’s intelligence functions; to the media relations background of our Communications Director, Liz Tobias, whose experience in the nation’s capital has extended the reach of the committee throughout Washington and the country; and to the highly talented experts in terrorism, counter-terrorism, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, border control, infrastructure protection, public health and first response that have already made the Committee’s staff a who’s who of professionals in the discipline.”
A native of Galesburg, Illinois, Mr. Johnson graduated from Knox College there and later earned a Masters of Science degree from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. He and his wife, Barb, reside in Garrisonville, Virginia. He will carry the title Senior Adviser on both the Leadership staff and the Homeland Security Committee.
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