Bruce Johnson

Bruce Edward Johnson (born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and Republican politician who was appointed the State of Ohio's 63rd lieutenant governor on January 5, 2005, to complete an unexpired term.

Johnson concurrently served as Director of the Ohio Department of Development.

Johnson graduated from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio with a bachelor of arts degree in economics before attending law school at Capital University in Columbus where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1985.

While at Bowling Green, he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.

He was admitted to the Ohio bar on November 4, 1985.

Johnson entered politics in Columbus, becoming Greg Lashutka's chief of staff after he managed Lashutka's successful 1991 campaign for mayor of Columbus.

In 1991, Johnson was the campaign manager for Greg Lashutka's successful mayoral run in Columbus and became his chief of staff when Lashutka was sworn in.

Johnson served in City Hall from 1992 to 1994.

During this time, he helped abolish the city's Human Services Department and reorganize the city's operations.

He is presently a resident of the Columbus suburb of Westerville.

He and his wife, Kelley have four children.

Johnson ran for a full term that year and was unopposed in the May 3 primary, after Linda S. Reidelbach, an unsuccessful independent candidate for Congress in the 15th District in 1992, withdrew from the race despite filing nominating petitions.

Johnson received 15,271 votes in the primary.

On November 8, he faced Democratic nominee Christina L. Cox, a trustee in Blendon Township.

Cox was also unopposed in her primary.

She filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission because Johnson ran television advertisements calling for voters to "re-elect" him.

"A key issue in this campaign is the fact that Bruce Johnson has never been elected to anything."

Cox told The Columbus Dispatch.

"He was appointed by the Downtown influence peddlers, but he's trying to make the people think they elected him."

However Johnson won the endorsement of the Dispatch.

Johnson won the general election, 53,290 (61.78%) to 38,974 (38.22%).

Johnson left that post when he was appointed to the Ohio Senate in 1994.

Johnson was appointed by the Senate Republican caucus to the Third District Ohio Senate seat in the 120th General Assembly effective March 1, 1994, replacing Theodore W. Gray, a Republican of Upper Arlington who resigned after forty-three years in the Senate.

The seat represented the eastern third of Franklin County, the suburbs of Columbus and the municipalities of Bexley, Canal Winchester, Obetz, New Albany, Whitehall, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg and Westerville, part of Worthington, and a sliver of the northern edge of the county.

Johnson took the oath from Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer.

(The latter was authorized by a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1994.) The legislation passed the Senate and House easily and was signed by Governor George V. Voinovich.

Johnson in 1995 called for reform of tax incentives and financing for corporations, saying it was political and unfair.

"Why do we want to subsidize one competitor over another?"

he asked... "I believe the market should dictate where the jobs will be," he told The Columbus Dispatch.

He sponsored legislation that would limit prisoners given a sentence of death to a single appeal and to speed up the appellate process by eliminating review by the district courts of appeal.

Johnson in 1996 chaired a special committee examining tort reform.

The resulting bill which passed the Senate, would in the words of The Columbus Dispatch, "cap noneconomic and punitive damages, impose additional time limits for filing lawsuits and protect defendants in multidefendant cases from being liable for unpaid portions of a judgment."

The minority party was unhappy, the paper reported, "Democrats blasted Republicans, saying they were catering to business at the expense of the victims of their negligence."

Senator Jeffrey D. Johnson, a Cleveland Democrat said "Somewhere along the way we have shifted away from concern for the victim to concern for business," but Bruce Johnson defended the legislation.

"What we've done is tried to strike a balance. Lawsuit abuse threatens to close the doors of many small businesses in our state."

To make it easier for cities to take property owners to court for violations of zoning and building codes, Johnson in 1997 introduced legislation to let zoning officers issue tickets similar to traffic tickets from the police.

After being elected to two terms and rising to the second highest post in the Senate, in 2001, Governor Bob Taft asked Johnson to join his cabinet as Director of the Ohio Department of Development.

After a year as an assistant city prosecutor in Columbus, he joined the firm of Chester, Willcox, and Saxbe in Columbus working there until 2001.

In 2005, Taft appointed him lieutenant governor.

In December 2006, Johnson resigned a month before his term ended.