[Peace-discuss] Rep. Tim Johnson's anti-war views

Wed Apr 18 20:15:36 UTC 2012

[We have to hope that one of the major party candidates for Congress  
in the new 13th Illinois CD holds these views. --CGE]

"Reporter: Your anti-war views haven’t changed...?

"Tim Johnson: Same deal. There’s always a justification - some alleged  
crisis, some reason why the Congress needs to authorize the President  
to go forward - and then we’re trapped in another war, and it’s just a  
never-ending cycle. It’s like Groundhog Day. We’re already beyond  
broke, losing thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of other  
citizens due to a war that can’t be won."

===================
Tim Johnson Quits Congress with Parting Shots at Eric Cantor and the  
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 18, 2012 at 10:50 AM By Carol Felsenthal

After reading the Tribune’s blast at 15th District Congressman Tim  
Johnson in Monday's editorial, “I really must be going," I called the  
quirky 65-year-old Urbana Republican for a response. I first  
interviewed Johnson a couple of years ago when The Hill named him one  
of the hardest workers in Congress. The legislator, whose best friend  
in the House is Ron Paul, announced earlier this month (after winning  
the Republican primary against two opponents and on his way to a  
seventh term) that he was leaving Congress to spend more time with his  
family. The physical fitness buff talked with me via telephone as he  
walked through a local mall in his district, accompanied by his press  
secretary, Phil Bloomer. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.

CF: The Tribune really let loose on you for announcing your retirement  
after the primary instead of before—so your replacement in the general  
election will now be selected by 14 Republican county chairmen.
TJ: I didn’t see it. Was there an editorial in the Tribune today,  
Phil? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember, I don’t live  
in Chicago, so it’s not like Chicago media is part of my everyday  
existence. [Pat Brady, chairman of the Illinois Republican party, who  
had read the editorial, told me that it’s “spot on.” Johnson “put us  
in a bad place,” Brady explained, leaving Republicans open to  
insinuations of “back room dealing.” The “weighted vote”—weighted  
according to Republicans who voted in the primary on March 20—will  
take place, Brady says, in the next three or four weeks.  Candidates  
include Pat Brady’s cousin, State Rep. Dan Brady; Rodney Davis, a  
staffer for Congressman John Shimkus; and Jerry Clarke, Johnson’s  
former chief of staff, now in the same position for Rep. Randy  
Hultgren.]

CF: So why are you leaving, and why didn’t you announce it before the  
primary?
TJ: It’s 100 percent a family decision—lack of ability to do things  
with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren [he has 9  
children, 11 grandchildren, and two great grandchildren; he is single  
after three divorces], and specifically a couple of family critical  
matters. [Those] are of far more recent vintage, those were the  
tipping points. The Tribune is absolutely wrong. I haven’t seen it,  
but they are wrong.

CF: Do your children live in your District?
TJ: They live all over the country, one’s moving to Oregon, one just  
moved to Chicago, one’s in D.C.

CF: Redistricting made your district more blue. Were you worried about  
losing?
TJ: No, I was running against [Bloomington Democrat] David Gill, this  
would have been the fourth time. He’s not going to win. Whoever is the  
Republican nominee will win the seat. I would have had to serve my  
existing 15th District, and I would have had to campaign in a district  
that’s two-thirds new and stretches all the way to St. Louis.

CF: If the Democrats had nominated a fresh candidate, would they have  
a shot at winning this time?
TJ: I think they would not win it, but they could have made it a  
contest, unlike the current district where a Democrat just can’t win.

CF: Do you have a favorite among the Republicans vying to replace you?
TJ: No, I haven’t endorsed anybody. I know them all, I respect them  
all, and how that all plays out in terms of the selection is up to the  
county chairmen.

CF: I read that state Sen. Bill Brady, who ran against you in 2000 and  
lost, might run for the seat.
TJ: Bill’s not interested. He may run for governor again, but I’m sure  
he’s not going to run for Congress. [Pat Brady confirmed that Bill, no  
relation, who lost to Pat Quinn in the 2010 gubernatorial race, is not  
running. A call to Bill Brady’s office for confirmation was not  
returned by post time.]

CF: You’re known as a workout fanatic. I’ve read that the stroke of  
Sen. Mark Kirk shocked you and was a consideration in your stepping  
down.
TJ: I don’t know where anybody got that idea. I consider Mark a friend  
and a confidante, …but I have not talked to him since his stroke, and  
his illness had nothing to do with my decision.

CF: You’re famous for spending three to 12 hours a day calling your  
constituents, making 50-250 calls a day. Come January 3, 2013, when  
you’re out of Congress, how are you going to fill that time?
TJ: I’m certainly not going to stay home and watch As the World Turns.  
I [will] spend a whole lot more time with my family. I will have a  
little bit of a law practice. I plan to do some teaching. I’ve not  
ruled out the possibility of either elective or appointed office. I’m  
not going to lobby, that is unequivocal. No way. I’m not going to  
lobby in any form, unless lobbying means calling public officials and  
telling them I’m for or against a particular bill. I’m not going to  
lose sight of the fact that I made this decision for family reasons.  
Just in the last week I went to one of my grandson’s baseball games,  
the first in four years, in Philo, a little town near Urbana. I’m  
going to meet a son of mine who’s from Sidney [Illinois] in Ogden  
[Illinois] tonight for dinner, which is a very, very unusual venture  
on my part.I’m going to go out and see my daughter who’s a doctor and  
lives in Bolingbrook. I haven’t ever been to her home.

CF: You mentioned before that you won’t say “never” to another run for  
elective office. Would you run for a U.S. Senate seat?
TJ: Oh, no, no, no. I don’t want to go from the frying pan to the  
fire. I’m doing this to free up my time for prioritization, and going  
to the Senate would be counterintuitive. [Maybe] the City Council or  
some board or commission that met once a month.

CF: You endorsed Ron Paul for the Republican nomination. Will you  
support Mitt Romney in his run against President Obama?
TJ: Yes I’ll support Romney…. But I have an incredible amount of  
respect for Ron Paul. He’s leaving Congress, too, and I’m confident  
that he’s going to continue on the freedom train. I just talked to his  
chief of staff and told him that, come January, I want to continue to  
be active with him in dealing with issues like war and currency and  
government reform, to be his boots on the ground in downstate Illinois.

CF: Your anti-war views haven’t changed since I talked to you last in  
August?
TJ: Same deal. There’s always a justification—some alleged crisis,  
some reason why the Congress needs to authorize the President to go  
forward—and then we’re trapped in another war, and it’s just a never- 
ending cycle. It’s like Groundhog Day. We’re already beyond broke,  
losing thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of other citizens  
due to a war that can’t be won.

CF: You introduced Ron Paul at a rally at the U of I last month. Tell  
me about it. It didn’t get much coverage.
TJ: That’s the very point, Ron Paul has been a victim of the media  
deciding he’s not going to win. This guy drew 5,000 people in a small  
community like Champaign-Urbana. The next day, Newt Gingrich was in  
Rosemont in a metropolitan area of 6 million people and drew less than  
a hundred, and yet more people knew about Newt Gingrich than Ron Paul.  
He’s rock star here.

CF: Do you have an opinion on the contribution that House Majority  
Leader Eric Cantor made to a PAC that worked against incumbents,  
including Rep. Don Manzullo, in Manzullo’s race against freshman  
Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger?
TJ: Yes I do, I think Cantor’s role was entirely inappropriate. He’s  
the Majority Leader of the U.S. House…and I think to impose himself,  
and then to contribute, in a race between two highly regarded  
colleagues and to actually spend money to effectively negatively  
attack one of those individuals is unacceptable, and I condemn him for  
doing that. The Majority Leader of the House from Virginia chooses to  
not only get involved in an Illinois race, but to directly and  
indirectly fund attacks on Don Manzullo, who’s been a good solider…  
and is a highly regarded individual.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/April-2012/Tim-Johnson-Quits-Congress-with-Parting-Shots-at-Eric-Cantor-Chicago-Tribune/

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