Drew Johnson

Jason Andrew “Drew” Johnson (born 1979 in Johnson City, Tennessee) is a political commentator who was the founder and first president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a free market think tank and watchdog organization based in Nashville, Tennessee. The center is a member of the State Policy Network.

§Early life

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Belmont University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Pepperdine University. Prior to founding the Tennessee Center for Policy Research in 2004, Johnson served as a policy analyst at the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

§Career

As a libertarian and fiscally conservative pundit, Johnson frequently authors columns and commentary pieces that have appeared in such newspapers and magazines as Wall Street Journal, Human Events, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Tennessean.

Johnson has been a guest on such television programs as The Situation Room, Hannity & Colmes, CNN’s Glenn Beck and The Big Story with John Gibson. He has appeared on radio programs such as the Mike Gallagher radio show, the Sean Hannity Show, the Glenn Beck Program, the Andrew Wilkow show and NPR’s All Things Considered.

In February 2007, Johnson’s charges that environmental activist and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore consumed more electricity in his home every month than the average American household uses in an entire year received widespread media attention.

Johnson left TCPR at the end of 2009. In May 2011 the Taxpayers Protection Alliance announced that he would join that organization as a senior fellow. During the two and a half years he spent with the Taxpayer Protection Alliance in both Nashville and Washington, D.C., he also wrote a weekly column for Newsmax.

In June 2012, the Chattanooga Times Free Press announced that he would be joining its staff on July 1 as opinion editor for the Free Press editorial page, writing editorials and a weekly column. On August 1, 2013 the newspaper announced that Johnson was terminated for violating the newspaper's standards in altering an editorial headline. The conservative outlet stated the alteration was "inappropriate" and that Johnson did not follow normal editing procedures.

§Fellowships and appointments

• Commissioner, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (1997-2006). Nashville, Tennessee.
• Board of Academic Advisors, Center for Competitive Politics. Alexandria, Virginia.
• Fellow, Davenport Institute for Public Policy. Malibu, California.
• Koch Fellow, Institute for Humane Studies (2002). Arlington, Virginia.

§References

§External links

• Bio at Tennessee Center for Policy Research