National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 14 * July 20, 1998

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(Editor's note: For his final column, County News asked President Johnson to reflect on his year as head of NACo.)

CN: How would you describe your year as NACo president?

R.J.: Exciting and challenging and mind expanding. Past President Harvey Ruvin advised me, "Only one person in the entire nation each year has this opportunity to learn how local government in America really works." Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

CN: What do you think were your greatest successes or accomplishments this past year?

R.J.: Politicians are always accused of taking credit for every good thing that happens during their term - and many good things happened at NACo this year that quite probably would have happened whoever was leading our association. But there are three areas where I think I helped NACo make a difference.

First, NACo opened the door to China when I sought and accepted the invitation of the Chinese government through their Friendship Association to lead the first delegation of locally elected officials to China. This year NACo hosted a similar group of locally elected Chinese officials to the United States.

This annual exchange will continue and expand to include more and more groups of county officials every year. This, I believe, is the single most important "signature" accomplishment of my years of work for NACo. I will propose that we establish a separate nonprofit fund for these continuing initiatives.

Second, when the conventional news media reported that the president would sign the proposed national tobacco settlement last fall, I asked to meet with the president and his top domestic advisor on the issue to explain how counties with significant health care responsibilities were excluded from the settlement. One week later the president announced that he would not sign the bill and gave our county concerns as an important reason for his decision.

In March, a standing-room-only crowd of reporters attended NACo's news conference at the National Press Club as we announced our resolve to establish a national clearinghouse of legal information to help local government sue the tobacco companies if there was no acceptable national settlement.

In April, I keynoted Hennepin's National County Week Celebration by pointing out that the tobacco companies were "greedy and cynical corporate merchants of death" and reaffirmed our commitment that any settlement reimburse counties for our tobacco-induced health care costs. I recognize that my views are not universally acceptable to all NACo members.

Third, we finally broke the barrier in moving the exciting digital technologies out of the realm of the techies and into county boardrooms with the GIS Starter Kit, Y2K tool kit and hands-on workshops for elected officials at all NACo conferences. This has tremendous implications for improving service in both our Large Urban Counties Caucus and those who work with our Rural Renaissance Task Force.

CN: What was the most difficult part of your role as president?

R.J.: It is challenging to manage the dynamic tension of dealing with NACo staff who work inside the beltway on behalf of a trade association whose members, by definition, all represent constituents outside of Washington, D.C.

My family, NACo Past President Michael Hightower, my Hennepin Commissioner colleagues and staff have been extraordinarily supportive of my work as NACo president. If I could start again, I would definitely implement my original plan to assign a Hennepin staff member to work in the NACo office to ease the transition of management.

CN: What did you find to be unique as you visited state associations?

R.J.: Forget the sage political advice here. It's the food. Cajun, seafood, crabcakes, crab legs, monkey brains (well, that was China!), clams, prime rib, angistinos, pasta, gumbo, ètouffèe, crawfish, steamers, Rocky Mountain Oysters, Buffalo Burgers, etc., etc. I consider it a life-time health accomplishment that my weight increased by only four pounds as NACo president.

CN: What advice would you give your successors?

R.J.: Plan your time, prioritize what's important, persist in your mission, pace your body ... and pray for guidance. Do it again. Then, take Nike's advice: "Just do it!"

CN: What's next for Randy Johnson?

R.J.: I am running for re-election for my seventh term with Republican and labor endorsements (yes, Minnesota politics is different), the pundits report that I am a "shoo-in." That is why I continue to door-knock every night!

With two daughters soon heading for college, I may well be looking to return to practicing law. Some have suggested that I start a business to handle sudden crisis management for companies and politicians.

CN: What is NACo's biggest future challenge as an organization?

R.J.: As an organization, NACo is probably healthier today than at any time in its 63-year history. But much of our financial turnaround is the result of royalty payments from Nationwide-PEBSCO for endorsing their deferred compensation program. Those payments now constitute more than one-third of our revenue. Many of our state associations have become increasingly dependent on these royalties too.

Although NACo agreed to enter into a 10-year "no bid" contract with the company in 1995, PEBSCO is now aggressively seeking to amend the contract to "restructure" (i.e., "reduce") our royalties. If we are not careful, NACo will quickly move into the financial intensive care unit ... once again.

CN: Any issues you would handle differently?

R.J.: With my human rights background, I thought a lot about how NACo and counties might deal with the continuing racial issues in our nation. I did not come up with any grand ideas.

Of course, when the president announced his Race Reconciliation initiative, I made sure that NACo actively participated. But we are still not dealing clearly and honestly with these issues in our society. Too many people are not being dealt with fairly, and that is not productive.

CN: Any surprises?

R.J.: It is very important that NACo continue as a non-partisan, bipartisan organization, but it is no secret at home in Minnesota that I am a pretty conservative Republican. Therefore, I was pleasingly surprised by the great lengths the president, vice president and Cabinet worked with me on issues where we generally agreed.

The White House staff work was, in a word, splendid. The Administration did not always do what we wanted, of course, but they went to great lengths to seek our county views. Now, we have worked harder to establish similar relationships with the majority in Congress.