Perry Johnson is the newest competitor in the Michigan Governor race. He has just filed, plans to officially announce in the coming days, and he’s already drawing comparisons to the 45th President.
His hair might be the most obvious similarity when first meeting him, but it’s far from the only trait that makes them alike. Johnson is in his 70’s but has more energy than most millennials. His speaking style is motivational, engaging and honest. He has an extraordinarily impressive resume, starting multiple businesses that employ hundreds in Michigan and thousands across the country and the world.
Michigan Speaker of the House Jason Wentworth and others offered statements of support after his announcement.
“I am neutral in the primary but if you searched the country for the best expert to hire to make dramatic improvement in quality in state government, the perfect person you would come up with is Perry Johnson,” Wentworth said.
Representative Matt Hall called Johnson a “national expert” who will bring valuable experience to improving the bureaucracy of the state government.
Conservative activists have called him ‘Michigan’s Donald Trump’.
Johnson is by far the wealthiest candidate in the race, and will likely self fund a large part of his primary campaign. This will allow him to focus more of his time and energy on policy, engaging the grassroots, and prevent the need to make sacrifices to please potential donors.
Johnson’s success in business was a result of him being a world authority on quality, writing over 15 manuals, multiple books, and giving speeches and seminars on Statistical Process Control and ISO/QS-9000.
He is credited with bringing quality standards to the American automobile industry, during a time when America was lagging behind. His quality standards helped make American automobiles the gold standard across the globe and revolutionized the industry.
He is the founder of Perry Johnson Companies Group which includes Perry Johnson, Inc., Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc., Perry Johnson & Associates, Inc., Perry Johnson Registrars Food Safety Inc., Perry Johnson Mortgage Company, Inc., Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, Inc., and other entities.
His companies operate across 61 countries worldwide and they are headquartered in Troy, Michigan.
Johnson is already being branded as the “Quality Guru” and he is committed to bringing quality to Michigan’s government just as he’s done his entire career in the private sector.
Johnson released a statement that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address on Wednesday “completely ignored the horrendous quality that taxpayers receive for their money from state government.”
“A commitment to quality with proper statistical methods and transparency might well have prevented the $8.6 billion unemployment (insurance) fraud, nursing home death scandal, Benton Harbor water crisis, kept schools open, and helped small businesses survive the pandemic.”
“Implementation of statistical methods with a commitment to quality saved the automotive industry and American manufacturing and can save Michigan government today,” Johnson said.
Despite all the comparisons that can be drawn between Johnson and President Trump, there are some major differences as well…
For example, Johnson has far from the following on Twitter that President Trump had when he was in office. In fact, Johnson had no social media accounts at all until a campaign Twitter and Facebook page were launched for him when he filed earlier this week.
And although Johnson and President Trump have very engaging speaking styles, we should expect much different rhetoric from Johnson. He is a strong, confident leader, but he has a much kinder and positive style. For example, his company Christmas Party in 2019 can be found on Youtube and the subject was the “Power of Optimism.”
“You’re Fired” is also not a commonly used phrase in Johnson’s vocabulary. A high level member of Perry Johnson Registrars (PJR) management team who has been employed by Johnson for 28 years told Conservative Intel that most of the upper management team has worked for PJR for 15-20 years. Johnson understands the value of people, is loyal to them, and created a culture where his employees want to continue working for him.
Don’t confuse Johnson’s optimism for being unable to stand up for conservative values and call out Governor Whitmer for her destructive policies. In fact, Johnson gave a speech at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference in September blasting the current governor.
MIRS News covered the speech and reported that Johnson gave an impassioned and intense speech about the greatness of America and the absurdity of Whitmer’s Covid-era restrictions.
