Prominent patriot movement figure moves to Las Vegas, may run for sheriff

Monday, Nov. 17, 1997 | 12:47 p.m.

J.J. Johnson, a former utility company worker who co-founded the Ohio Unorganized Militia in 1993, said Las Vegas is a good place for him to be active in.

"Clark County has the highest rate of IRS raids in the country," Johnson said. "Perhaps Clark County needs a new sheriff."

Johnson said he has committed no crimes and supports the U.S. Constitution but is disgusted with federal policies.

"Clinton complains to the Chinese premier about Tiananmen Square, but nobody mentions Waco," he said.

Johnson, 35, works as an investigator in the law office of his wife, Nancy Lord. She is a physician and a lawyer who in 1992 was the Libertarian Party candidate for vice president. Their practice is national, according to Johnson, and Lord frequently represents patriot leaders.

They moved to Las Vegas last May, but Johnson said he has not contacted any local militia groups.

Despite Johnson's statement that he has left his militia days behind him, the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., places him on its list of the most prominent patriot leaders in America. The poverty center publishes a Klanwatch newsletter and monitors militia, hate groups and anti-government movement leaders.

Mark Potok, center spokesman, said that in a September speech, Johnson called for the naming of a street in New Hampshire after Carl Drega. In August, Drega killed a judge, a weekly newspaper editor and two police officers. The New Hampshire militia quickly disassociated themselves from Drega, who was killed in a shootout with police.

Potok's organization also is watching Johnson's ties to Aaron Russo, the former Hollywood producer who is a Republican candidate for Nevada governor.

"There are two faces to J.J. Johnson: The nonviolent patriot who testified to Congress and the activist who calls for naming streets after mass murderers," said Potok, a former USA Today reporter who covered the Waco standoff and the Oklahoma City bombing.

Johnson was one of the handful of patriot leaders who testified before the U.S. Senate in 1995 in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in which 169 died.

His critics have labeled him the token black of the patriot movement, a political faction they say attracts mostly white supremacists.

Both Russo and Johnson are incensed by the Southern Poverty Law Center's charges that there is something wrong with their relationship.