Johnson praises Paul, speaks about his tenure as guv

Former Gov. Gary Johnson summed up his eight years in office concisely today during a speech in which he also spoke glowingly about U.S. Rep. and former presidential candidate Ron Paul.

“I had the most contentious relationship of any governor to their Legislature in this country. They thwarted me on dozens of my issues. I vetoed 750 bills while I was governor of New Mexico over an eight-year period,” Johnson said today. “To put that in perspective, that was vetoing more bills than the other 49 governors in this county combined… à la Ron Paul, huh?”

Johnson was speaking at Paul’s Rally for the Republic, an alternative to the GOP convention currently underway in Minnesota. The rally is also being held in Minnesota and is timed and located to coincide with the Republican event.

The rally wrapped up tonight with Paul’s own speech. Johnson, who endorsed Paul in this year’s GOP presidential primary, was one of several who warmed up the crowd before Paul took the stage.

Johnson gave a sometimes meandering speech in which he recounted his tenure as governor and praised Paul. He began by answering his own question — What’s it like to be a former governor instead of a governor? — by saying, “now people wave at me with all five fingers, not just one.”

During the first half of that sentence, Johnson waved to the hundreds in attendance. During the second half, he appeared to give the crowd the finger.

Johnson listed several accomplishments from his tenure as a Republican governor, including cutting the number of government employees, avoiding tax increases, privatizing prisons and improving roads. He also mentioned his highly publicized view against the war on drugs — Johnson pushed for the legalization of marijuana — and his unsuccessful push for a school-voucher program.

Johnson, never one to mince words, also spoke about his opposition to requiring those who ride motorcycles to wear helmets, saying he wears one but doesn’t believe the government should force him to do it.

“We have an organ-donor shortage in this country,” he said. “And if you want to ride without a helmet, go ahead.”

Johnson praised Paul’s proposal to abolish the Federal Reserve and his stances on foreign policy and other issues. He said the United States’ military presence in 155 nations is one cause of terrorism against America.

“We need to embark on a process of getting those 155 countries unoccupied, à la Ron Paul, thank you very much,” Johnson said.

He called for those in attendance at the rally to “adopt a Republican” and try to build the movement for limited government.

“Let’s see if we can’t build some bridges here,” he said. “Nothing to lose, right? Nothing to lose, everything to gain.”