Last night, Wes Messamore interviewed former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson about his new 501 (c)(4) and desire to speak out on national issues, which have prompted Presidential speculation.
The audio is here. It's an hour-long interview, and you'll have to listen to 16 minutes before getting to the 2012 stuff.
But if you're curious about Johnson, the rest is good, too.
WES: Are you going to run for President?
JOHNSON: Wes, part of this 501 (c)(4) that I have now formed and again -- online, within 24 hours -- you're going to be able to go to OurAmericaInitiative.com, and actually see our website, which I'm really proud of.
But under the auspices of this 501 (c)(4), I cannot state a desire or a want to run for any office. [Again], it's an advocacy group on the issues of the day, but I'm very excited to be able to speak out.
WES: Can you express a willingness or openness to the idea of rising to the challenge if the opportunity arises?
JOHNSON: I can't actually even do that. This is one of those campaign laws or political laws that we have that I think I would have vetoed. This is what it is, and again, I'm glad with the former opportunity, which is again to speak out on the issues of the day.
Access to Johnson's Our America Initiative website is still denied, but should be up soon.
As a relevant aside, in April, Bill Kauffman stumbled into Johnson, who seemed open to the idea of a run.
At breakfast the morn of the rally, I sat across the table from a friendly dude wearing a peace-sign T-shirt and looking like an affable old surfer. He introduced himself as Gary Johnson, the former two-term governor of New Mexico. Over the next day, I spent a fair amount of time chatting with Governor Johnson: mountain-climber, triathlete, vetoer of 750 bills.
He told me that he may take a shot at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 as an antiwar, anti-Fed, pro-personal liberties, slash-government-spending candidate—in other words, a Ron Paul libertarian.
For more on Johnson, check out JohnsonforAmerica.com -- a good spot for his view on issues etc.,
