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Jerry Johnson

Fifty-year General Assembly veteran Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, will have both Republican and Democratic opponents this fall.

The Democrat, at least, is not a surprise: Lewis Medlin ran unsuccessfully against Putney in 2007 and 2009, and he’s back again this year.

But I don’t think many people expected Putney — who joined the House Republican Caucus in 1998 — to have an opponent from the GOP.

Enter Jerry Johnson, who has a history of taking on political institutions.

He ran against Herman Talmadge — a former Georgia governor — for U.S. Senate in 1974. Talmadge, who was in the midst of a 24-year stint as a U.S. Senator, easily defeated Johnson.

Johnson moved to Virginia in the early ’90 and in 1995 tried to run as a Republican against then-Democratic Virginia Sen. Virgil Goode of Franklin County. I say “tried” because the Franklin County Republican Party blocked him from doing so.

Click through for the 1995 story on Johnson’s failed attempt to challenge Goode, as well as the 1998 account of Putney’s joining of the House GOP caucus, which includes a great scene of then-Speaker Tom Moss becoming so flustered he almost walked into a women’s restroom.

A couple of quick notes on the 1995 Johnson story:

* Johnson’s biggest proposal then, as now, was to amend the U.S. Constitution to shift more power to the states. With the rise of the Tea Party, that’s become a much more common proposal — but Johnson was basically pushing the same idea 16 years ago.

* The 1995 story is centered mostly on Carthan Currin, a Ferrum College graduate who seems to have a Forrest Gump-like tendency to keep showing up around the edges of Virginia politics.

After serving as head of the Franklin County Republicans — where he survived an attempt to oust him, telling a reporter, “Just like in medieval times, if you’re going to overthrow the king, you better make sure you get him the first time.” — Currin went on to be appointed as director of the Virginia Tobacco Commission, work as a lobbyist in the state capitol and work for former Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder as that city’s director of economic development.

Most recently he’s been hired as director of business development for MB Contractors (formerly Martin Brothers) of Roanoke. I saw him on Thursday at the mayor’s state of the city speech.

The 1995 account of Johnson’s non-run against Goode and the 1998 story on Putney’s shift to the GOP caucus (written by current RT editorial page editor Christina Nuckols) follow the jump:

Saturday, March 18, 1995

TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER

Dateline: ROCKY MOUNT

GOP MAY HAVE CANDIDATE FOR REJECTION

FRANKLIN COUNTY REPUBLICANS may find themselves in the unusual position of trying to prevent someone from running under the GOP banner.

There he was Friday, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with customers at the Canton Restaurant on Tanyard Road.
It’s months away from Election Day, but Franklin County’s new – but not so new – Republican Party chairman is already in political form.
Fresh off his appointment as chairman Thursday night at a party mass meeting, Carthan Currin was wasting no time, and for good reason.
Franklin County voters will be some of the busiest in the state this year. The county will elect seven members of the Board of Supervisors, eight members of the School Board, three state legislators and four constitutional officers. With the potential of 22 contested races, voters may need to bring a snack with them to the polls.
But Currin – general manager of the Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount – has another issue to tackle as well. Ironically, in a year when both parties are scrambling to field candidates for state races, the Franklin County GOP may try to prevent someone from running.
Jerry Johnson, a self-proclaimed strict constructionist of the U.S. Constitution, has announced he wants the Republican nomination to challenge state Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount.
Johnson, 56, attended the party’s mass meeting Thursday night and supported Currin’s nomination as party chairman. But Currin, and other party officers, aren’t returning the favor.
Currin believes Johnson’s views are outside of the mainstream – so far outside that Johnson isn’t qualified to be a member of the Virginia Senate.
Johnson outlined some of his political philosophy at a recent news conference.
His proposals include:

Repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which requires popular election of U.S. senators;

Mandatory “slave” sentences for convicted criminals;

Federal action to establish a “Constitutional Convention” where selected representatives from all 50 states would meet to produce “drastic beneficial changes in the control and application of government.”
Johnson said Thursday he has contacted most Republican leaders in the 20th Senate District. The district comprises Franklin, Floyd, Henry and Patrick counties, Martinsville and a slice of Carroll County.
He said he hasn’t received a warm reception from anyone.
And Johnson readily admits it will be tough to get the party’s nomination without the support of Franklin County Republicans, because county voters are the largest group in the district.
Johnson vows to continue his fight, though, and hopes to sway some opinions.
Currin said Friday that a districtwide mass meeting will be held to nominate – or not nominate – a candidate to challenge Goode. Johnson, in all likelihood, will have the opportunity to speak and ask for the nomination at that meeting.
Currin is hoping another scenario develops in which Republicans would take control of the legislature and Goode would see fit to switch his allegiance.
Said Currin: “Virgil is a political animal. It’s his life. If it’s in his best interest, I think he would consider it.”

Friday, January 16, 1998

CHRISTINA NUCKOLS THE ROANOKE TIMES

Dateline: RICHMOND

BEDFORD INDEPENDENT JOINS GOP CAUCUS

Lacey Putney’s move gives the GOP more power in what is now an evenly divided House of Delegates.

Bedford independent Lacey Putney joined the House of Delegates Republican Caucus on Thursday, telling Democrats they could consider the House a 50-50 split as both parties tried to negotiate a new organizational structure that would give the GOP more representation on major committees.
“I hope this helps in working out the proportional assignments in committees,” Putney said. “It can be better done if you have two groups of 50 each.”
Putney attended a caucus meeting Thursday morning before the General Assembly convened for the day and asked to join.
“It didn’t take long to accept him,” observed Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount.
Putney said he still considers himself an independent and said he would run as an independent candidate in any future elections. House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst, said caucus rules allow independents as members.
But the distinction created some confusion.
“If it looks like a dog and barks like a dog and wags its tail like a dog, what is it?” asked Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County.
Putney announced his decision to House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, shortly before delegates split up to attend separate party caucuses Thursday morning.
Hours later, Putney found himself at the center of a cluster of curious Black Caucus members who told him they had been informed that he had joined the Republican Party, not just its caucus. Putney rushed off in search of Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, to clarify his actions.
“What’s the difference?” Moss asked as he turned away and nearly walked into a women’s restroom by mistake. Laughing, he turned back to Putney and said, “See what you’ve done to me?”
Putney and Moss are the two most senior members of the House of Delegates. Putney became a member in 1962 and Moss arrived three years later. Although delegates’ license plates are numbered by seniority, both men have the number “1.” Moss’ says “Speaker” at the bottom, and Putney’s is labeled “House of Delegates.”
The roles could easily have been reversed. Putney was originally elected as a Democrat, and he would have been the ranking member of the House Privileges and Elections Committee and thus a contender for Speaker if he had remained in the party.
But Putney left the party in 1967 after being told he had to sign a paper binding himself to vote only for Democrats in all elections. Many Bedford County Democrats did the same, and shortly after Putney’s withdrawal from the party he got a call from U.S. Sen. Harry Byrd Jr. hinting that he intended to do the same.
Byrd did leave the Democratic Party, but he remained on the caucus and kept his seniority on Senate committees.
Putney, who often sides with Republicans on party-line votes, sees his position now as similar to that of Byrd’s.
Republicans intended to nominate Putney for Speaker on Wednesday if they could have counted the votes of three newly elected delegates who had not yet been certified by the State Board of Elections. At the same time, Moss suggested to Putney that he could lose his committee assignments – including his spot on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee – if proportional representation was adopted.
Putney’s move may give him a better chance of retaining his seat because he won’t get lost in the partisan fight to get more Republican representation. “There was no need to join the caucus before. We couldn’t do anything for him. We could only hurt him,” Wilkins said.
Democrats had mixed reactions to Putney’s decision. Cranwell said he believes Putney has been more active in the Republicans’ opening-day efforts to block Moss’ re-election than the Bedford legislator has admitted, to which Putney responded, “I’m not orchestrating anything.”
Other Democrats said they doubted Putney is attempting a power grab.
“He just happened to be there when things came to this point,” said Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke.