Barbara Johnson: Your Personal Candidate

By Michael Pahl
October 2002 Print Edition

Made a few phone calls recently…

"Hello…?"

"Yes, may I please speak to Warren Tolman?"

"Could you hold a moment?"

"Well, I…"

And now I'm holding. A few minutes pass. There's a list in front of me of potential candidates I'd like to get to before the day is up. Finally, I hear…

"Would you like to make a donation to the campaign?"

"Actually, no, I wish to speak to the candidate regarding his platform."

"Oh. Would you hold a second?"

"I just…"

Holding again. A few minutes pass. Still holding. More time elapses. Holding. You get the drift. After almost ten minutes, I hung up the phone.

Being a fairly fresh face to the Commonwealth, I'm still learning the way politics work in the area. I first experimented with this little stunt, phoning each of the candidates, in my own hometown with as much equal success as I'm attaining here. The counter argument from my collaborative peers has always been, "how could you expect a potential governor hopeful to be at your beck and call?" A fair assessment I suppose. But why not expect that? The candidates work for me, don't they? I cast my ballot, right? It would be impossible for a hopeful to return a million phone calls a day, obviously. However, let's face it - that's not happening. The public generally concedes to traveling to where the candidate is, accepting the fact that their only participation until election day is one of listening. My phone calls are not breaking the proverbial camel's back, so to speak. I've always felt that trust is built through personal conversation. It's rather difficult to trust a speech, rally, debate, interview, etc., because these forums are blatantly staged. All of them. Never do they actually conjoin with our personal questions, opinions, or needs. What most people look for in a candidate is sincerity, genuineness. One who, if given the chance, would be willing to write their own speeches. One who would be willing to talk without a forum. You try calling the Governor, or acting Governor, if you have a dire political problem. Not much luck getting through, is there?

Half-way down my list without a sniff of good fortune. I come across a name - Barbara C. Johnson. Never heard it before. You probably haven't either. An Independent candidate (already a strike against her).

"Yes, I'm looking to speak with Barbara Johnson."

"Speaking."

Speaking? Are you serious? In one ring, no less. I had to catch my breath.

"How can I help you?", she asks in her raspy, welcoming voice.

"Well, I…I," I stumbled over my words is what I did.

"Are you in legal trouble?"

It turns out Barbara's a lawyer. A quite successful one at that, I later found out.

"No. You're running for governor, correct?"

"I'm on the ballot."

"I'm interested in your platform."

"Okay. What do you want to know?"

It was music to my ears.

Here's a story involving Barbara Johnson that sums up her character. A few months ago a young man more naïve to Massachusetts than myself, was accused by a young woman of sexual assault. The boy claimed he was innocent. Both were students at a prestigious school located in downtown Boston. The boy had no family, no friends. And now he needed a lawyer at little or no cost. A court appointed attorney would no doubt have left him dead in the water. Makes sense - a girl is allegedly attacked by a stronger man, she needs protection. In many cases, it's open and shut - the man is guilty. Or that's what most assume. I know I did as Barbara relayed the story to me in relation to part of her platform.To me, the boy was guilty or I was missing a big part of the story. However, now I was intrigued. I asked to speak with the boy (to possibly detect if maybe the governor hopeful was being dishonest). We hung up. Three minutes later, I received a phone call.

First impression, the boy was polite, sincere, and grateful to support Barbara. But this doesn't make him innocent. The boy elaborated on the fact that he phoned a myriad of defense attorneys one March afternoon, pleading his story with conviction. At the end of the day, he was still without representation. The next morning, he tried Barbara. She answered on the first ring. After an in-depth discussion, Barbara believed the boy to be innocent and accepted the case. Pro-bono. The boy "trusted her more than anyone or anything," he told me. Fine. He had a friend now. But was he guilty?

Simply being a curious party now, I asked for the name of the detective on the case. After taking a few moments to remind the detective of the exact situation (he handles hundreds of similar cases with an extreme success rate), he discreetly informed me, off the record, that he felt the boy was wrongfully accused. There were apparently numerous holes in the accuser's story. The boy's main problem wasn't with the police, however, but rather the institution both students attended. Against the detective's suggestion, and without substantial evidence, the school opted for a hearing to decide the fate of the boy based on verbal testimony. Suspension and expulsion were the ultimate consequences. The boy was scared, with good cause. Expulsion is a logical punishment for the guilty. But in this case…? Imagine having your son call home from college and say, "mom, dad, I've been accused of sexual assault."

You what?!

But your child didn't do it. My heart would sink if my son ever told me that.

Barbara heroically came to the boy's aid, spending a full day in court (among numerous phone calls and emails) attempting to prevent what she felt was an "unconstitutional" hearing by the school. It wasn't until they threatened the college with a hefty lawsuit that they finally backed off the boy. He's currently preparing for the fall semester. This properly portrays Barbara Johnson, governor hopeful. She fights for the innocent. With her legal background, she will quickly realize if a Massachusetts Congress is breaking the law. And I believe she will prevent it. She will battle against a failing legal system, pushing for the use of court facilities on the weekends so dockets will cease from being pushed back months at a time. This will stop workers from losing a day's pay due to a court date. She'll work to bring down the costs of the appellate courts. Far too often, citizens who feel they were wronged have no way to seek justice. With costs down, they would. All of this equates to more judges exhibiting due process for all - a process that has been reeling for some time now.

Next, Barbara spoke to me on the issue of abandoned housing. "Tenants should be given ownership," a point she feels very strongly about. "There is pride in ownership. Give a family a house or an apartment to call 'theirs', a can of paint will quickly replace a six- pack at the end of the day," she states wholeheartedly. Offering tenants ownership only seems fair. Barbara also mentioned a desire to lower rates on credit cards, something we all could benefit from. "There is no reason that the banks are charging such high rates of interest when the real interest rates are so low." Hm. Who doesn't agree with that?

What I found most impressive during our conversation was Barbara's desire to keep families together (or make it easier for them to reunite) without over-interference from the courts. "The financial rewards of many, many millions of dollars from the Federal government to the State and it's many institutions are destroying families at an enormous rate." The idea of sole custody in unfair proceedings are horrifying to Barbara and she is an advocate of shared parenting whenever possible. All of this could be accomplished through simplifying the legal system - one of Barbara's main objectives.

When our conversation ended, I hung up the phone with a slight smile on my face. I know what you're thinking. I failed to ask about abortion, the environment, religion, or taxes. Maybe I should have. With these issues, I've found hypocrisy is at an all time high when an individual is personally affected. But you're welcome to ask her, and I'm sure she'll speak as candidly about these issues with you as she did with me. Go ahead. Try it. Look her up. Give her a call. I did. You might like what you hear. You might even end up trusting her with your vote.