By: Bill Hurst
The “Troublesome” Conservative
Walt Minnick, posing as a conservative, needed to give some credibility to his felonious attack ads against Raul Labrador. The attack ads falsely accuse Labrador as favoring illegal immigration and profiting from illegal activity. So Minnick recruits political opportunist Mike Johnson. Johnson has ridden the coat tails of the Idaho Republican party for years.
Johnson’s first civil servant job was as a deputy coroner in the early 70’s for Ada County. Then he was a “part-time” boat cop for Ada County. He had some connections up in the little sleepy area of Boise County and secured a place as a “full-time” Deputy Sheriff in the mid-1970’s. This was for a very brief time.
Back to Ada County where in 1978 he was able to run unopposed as that counties elected Coroner; this position was also secured by his friends in the Republican Party. In 1984 Mike had an opportunity to run unopposed as an Ada County Commissioner. When Johnson was up for re-election this time he drew an opponent and lost his bid for commissioner.
This will be a good place to regress a little and tell you why Mike was able to hop around and never really had to work through the ranks. Mr. Johnson has always tried to situate himself, not for a job, but for a “position.” Mike has relatives and friends in high places, people including high-ranking state and federal government officials to judges.
