vol. 1 issue 12
POTUS 45 with Kelly Johnston, former Secretary of the Senate appointed by former Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole.
Photo: courtesy of Kelly Johnston
Greetings,
Air conditioning, Newt Gingrich’s naked ambition, and especially post-Watergate rules that created a power vacuum special interests rushed to fill. All that, plus the never-ending, high stakes fundraising that takes a third of our federal lawmakers’ time, are among the key ingredients in the special brew that has poisoned relationships in Congress.
That’s according to Kelly Johnston, former Secretary of the Senate under the Republican majority leader, Bob Dole. Johnston is my guest on this episode of Washington Remembers, presented by docu-mental.
Johnston should know. He just retired from more than 40 years of service on Capital Hill, where he has enjoyed a stellar reputation for civility, collaborating with members of both parties on a variety of initiatives across several administrations. Before working in government affairs for the processed food industry, Johnston, a conservative Republican and Oklahoma native, spent a quarter of a century working in various leadership capacities for members of either the legislative or executive branches.
One of these roles was as former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole’s secretary of the Senate. In all, Johnston’s perspective, which reaches back to the Jimmy Carter era, is helpful if we are to understand—and move beyond—Washington’s current level of incivility.
