Former GSA administrator tells how

Barbara Diamond

There is nothing wrong with the federal government that can’t be

fixed, according to Laguna Beach resident Roger W. Johnson, author of

“It Can Be Fixed! Your Unmanaged Government.”

“The reason most government operations are screwed up is not

because politicians are lazy or crooked; it’s because they don’t know

how to manage,” said Johnson, a Republican businessman drafted by a

Democratic president to help “reinvent government.”

He writes with the authority of his experiences as top-level

management in the technology industry on the way to the chief

executive’s office of a Fortune 500 company and as the top gun of the

General Services Administration, which provides the buildings,

services, technology and essentials needed by all other federal

agencies except the Defense Department.

“Washington insiders are smart, and they think they know how to

manage the government, but they don’t and they won’t like this book,”

Johnson said.

He is not advocating running the government like a business. It

isn’t a business, and those who would run it that way would do the

government and the governed no favors, he said.

Johnson’s resume gives him a broader sight line. He was chief

executive of Western Digital, a leader in nonprofit cultural

organizations such as the Orange County Performing Art Center and the

Pacific Symphony Orchestra and a Republican when he was tapped by

President Bill Clinton to head the GSA, serving from 1993-96.

It was not the happiest period in his life. He said personal

attacks and misunderstanding of his proposals hampered his ability to

streamline the administration, based on best management practices --

skills he found lacking in almost every department in the government.

“I came to the realization that opposition was not because people

disagreed with what I was trying to do but because they had no idea

of what I was trying to do.” Johnson said.

A light-bulb moment occurred when he asked for attrition figures

for the GSA, looking for ways to reduce the 20,000 employees without

costing anyone a job.

An assistant gave him a figure he simply couldn’t believe,

virtually zero. Well, said the assistant, as they leave, they are

replaced. Johnson explained that attrition is the number of employees

who voluntarily leave -- period.

The lack of management skills and the insulation he saw inside the

beltway and in subsequent years prompted him to write his book,

beginning it in 1998. It was twice set aside by two “turn-around

jobs,” one as chief executive of an international not-for-profit

organization and the second as chief executive of a small public

company.

“In 2001, I looked around and said, ‘This is getting awful’ --

9/11 had happened -- and nothing was changing.,” Johnson said. “If we

know the problems, and commissions and committees have hundreds of

reports, why hasn’t it changed?”

Johnson believes that nothing will change until the governed put

the government’s feet to the fire.

“It takes a while for Americans to get mad or to get our

attention, but when it happens, we fix the problem,” Johnson said.

“The problem with the federal government is not that it is

mismanaged, but that it is unmanaged. It’s way past money, although

money is a significant factor. It’s screwing up decision-making from

education to defense.

“Right up to today, I don’t see any understanding of the issues.

The closest we came was the Clinton administration’s attempt to

‘reinvent government.’”

Johnson said the attempt might have succeeded if Al Gore had been

elected.

“I think he would have brought in people he trusted, like me,”

Johnson said. “If he didn’t get it, he knew I would.”

Johnson has been both Democrat and Republican. Son of a union

president, Johnson said he became a Republican after he was exposed

to income taxes, maintaining that affiliation even while serving in a

Democratic administration, until he campaigned for Bill Clinton’s

second term.

“I will remain a Democrat as long as the current administration is

in office,” he said.

However, Johnson has seen nothing in either political convention

or in campaign rhetoric to make him feel sanguine about the chances

of near-term course corrections, although he entertains hopes about

certain politicians.

“John McCain has the intellect and the receptiveness to take the

issue on,” Johnson said. “Joe Lieberman has the same qualities. I’d

like to get to [Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger, too. I think he might

get it.”

Johnson dedicated the book to his wife, “my inspiration and my

partner in all things for 48 years.”

The book is available on https://www.amazon.com. Sticker price is

$21.95. It will be in bookstores later this month, and Johnson has

donated several copies to the Friends of the Laguna Beach Library for

its annual silent auction. All proceeds from sales will be donated to

charity, either the buyer’s choice or to the Johnsons’ endowed chair

at UC Irvine.