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Published Friday, June 04, 2010 in Local

Johnson expects "air war" with Oxendine in governor's race

By Jeff Bishop

The Newnan Times-Herald

Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Johnson stopped in Newnan Wednesday evening to rally support for his campaign.

The architect for North Point Real Estate recently resigned his Senate seat after serving 17 years in the Georgia General Assembly.

"This race is not about who can beat John Oxendine or who can beat Roy Barnes," Johnson told the crowd of Republican supporters at the home of Litt and Cindy Glover on Woodlane Drive. "This is about who can be the next governor of Georgia."

He predicted that the Republican primary race will come down to an "air war" between Oxendine and himself. Johnson said his campaign war chest is fully stocked and ready for that battle.

The primary is extremely important, he said, "because the Republican nominee is all but certain to be the next governor."

With seven Republican candidates and seven Democratic candidates currently running, along with some independents, "there's a whole covey of birds out there," he said.

Johnson said that his experience sets him apart. Johnson was first elected as a House member in 1992 and elected as the State Senator in 1994, then re-elected to the State Senate in 1996. His colleagues voted him as the Minority Leader in 1998 and he served in that capacity until 2001.

In 2002, when Georgia elected the first Republican governor in over 130 years, the state Senate also came under Republican control, and Johnson was elected as the Senate President Pro Tempore -- essentially serving as the de facto lieutenant governor, he explained, until Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was elected in 2007.

"So I have been toe-to-toe with Roy Barnes before," he said.

He said Republican have been working together to "build a better Georgia" since gaining power six years ago.

"We have developed a reputation as a pro-business state," he said. "We're a right-to-work state. We have approved billions of dollars in tax relief. We haven't been perfect, but we have basically governed as conservatives."

The current state of the economy isn't current Gov. Sonny Perdue's fault, he said.

"We live in a global economy," he said. "We're working to make sure Georgia comes out of this recession stronger than ever before."

Georgians have been "watching Washington in horror" in recent years he said, as waves of bailouts were approved by Congress and companies like AIG and GM came under government control.

"Is the government supposed to be in the business owning a car company? No," he said.

What the government should be doing instead is "providing the infrastructure that the private sector needs to flourish."

The tangle of regulations that businesses must deal with are "just incredible," he said.

"We've got to get government off the backs of businesses," said Johnson.

Georgia also needs to work to keep its own talent, he said.

"The second-largest Georgia Tech alumni association is in Silicon Valley," he said.

Education will be a major focus of his administration, said Johnson.

"Before we had these traffic and water problems, education was our number one priority in Georgia," said Johnson. "I want us to get back to that."