Drew Johnson

Jason Andrew “Drew” Johnson (born August 5, 1979 in Johnson City, Tennessee)^[1] is an American political commentator and former think tank executive. He was the founder and first president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, now known as the Beacon Center of Tennessee.^[2] He later edited the editorial page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He is a former columnist at The Washington Times.^[3][4]

Early life

Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Belmont University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Pepperdine University.^[5] Prior to founding the Tennessee Center for Policy Research in 2004 at age 24, Johnson served as a policy analyst at the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Taxpayers Union Foundation.^[6]

Career

Johnson has been a guest on the The Situation Room, Hannity & Colmes,^[7] CNN’s Glenn Beck^[8] and The Big Story with John Gibson.^[9] He has appeared on radio programs including the Mike Gallagher radio show, the Sean Hannity Show, the Glenn Beck Program, the Andrew Wilkow show and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Johnson left TCPR at the end of 2009.^[10] In May 2011 the Taxpayers Protection Alliance announced that he would join that organization as a senior fellow.^[11] During the two and a half years he spent with the Taxpayer Protection Alliance in both Nashville and Washington, D.C., he also wrote a weekly column for Newsmax.

In June 2012, the Chattanooga Times Free Press announced that he would be joining its staff on July 1 as opinion editor for the Free Press editorial page, writing editorials and a weekly column.^[5] On August 1, 2013 the newspaper announced that Johnson was terminated for violating the newspaper's standards in altering an editorial headline to tell Barack Obama to "shove it". The newspaper stated the alteration was "inappropriate" and that Johnson did not follow normal editing procedures.^[12]

References

External links

• Drew Johnson on Twitter