Jonathan Johnson, Republican Challenger to Utah Governor Gary Herbert announced Thursday the actions he plans to take in his first 100 days in office should he be elected governor.
Johnson says he’ll work with state lawmakers to put term limits on the governor’s office. He’ll end the Common Core and replace it with new standards and he’ll file a $14 million lawsuit to gain control of public lands in Utah. Johnson says the state will either win the lawsuit, gain leverage to negotiate, or lose the lawsuit and be no worse off.
“Without any leverage, they’re basically doing the best they can using the please, please, please method of negotiation,” Johnson says.
Johnson says he’ll repeal the count-my-vote compromise, which gives political candidates an alternative path to the ballot by gathering signatures. He plans to eliminate decades-long tax incentives for corporations and establish an office to investigate anonymous reports of public corruption, which would be housed in the state auditor’s office.
“We need to make it easier for all Utahns to submit complaints that will be reviewed so that our government runs more efficiently and we root out fraud and malfeasants,” Johnson says.
The governor’s campaign manager, Marty Carpenter says Johnson has spent an excessive amount of time trashing Governor Herbert instead of talking about policies.
“I think it’s disingenuous to all of the sudden show up five days before the election and try to roll out a 100-day plan when the governor has a plan, has a track record of proven results and has been working in all of these policy areas,” Carpenter says.
Earlier this month, Johnson released an internal poll showing him trailing closely behind incumbent Gary Herbert in the June 28 primary election. An earlier poll conducted for UtahPolicy.com had Herbert leading Johnson by a much wider margin.
