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5.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2 9 True to the 21 st Diligent, farsighted, loyal, rash, stubborn, boastful, irascible — they're all terms used by backers and detractors to describe controversial Metro Councilman Dan Johnson. C arolee Allen had a big problem last year. She woke up on a weekend morning to fnd that someone had put a half-skinned deer carcass in her garbage can. Not knowing what else to do, the longtime South End resident contacted 21st District Councilman Dan Johnson. Tat Monday morning, Johnson had his staf call- ing ofcials at Public Works and Solid Waste, only to be told repeatedly that the city was not obligated to haul away the remains. So, on Tuesday morning, Johnson loaded the mess into his pickup truck and handled it person- ally. Talk about active governance. "Tat is the thing about Dan — if he can't get it done through the city he'll do it himself," remarks Barbara Nichols, president of the Iroquois Civic Club & Neighborhood Association and a longtime Johnson ally. "He generates loyalty in people because he is so good at the meat-and-potatoes stuf — keep- ing streets paved and having sidewalks fxed. If you have a tree that's about to fall onto your house, he'll at least look at it." Tis personal commitment to his constitu- ents has allowed Johnson, 55, to become the longest-continuously-serving legislator in Louisville Metro government. Initially elected to the old pre-merger Board of Aldermen in 1992, he has served the same district (origi- nally known as the Sixth Ward) for more than two decades. Over that time, Johnson has used Capital Infrastructure funds allotted to him by the city to repave every street in District 21 at least once, and he is about to do Tird Street for a third time. He also estimates that he has laid 20 miles of sidewalks and planted thousands of trees. His biggest overall accomplishment might be a 1992 law he sponsored that established the city's Drainage Backfow Program, which allowed the Metropolitan Sewer District to install free backfow valves in homes in the food plain, of which Johnson's district has many. Prior to his successful bill, Johnson says, drainage issues in the Iroquois neighbor- hood were being totally ignored. His attention to pocketbook issues has made him a hard incumbent to steal any votes from, much less beat. "Nobody has come close to me in an elec- tion in years," he unabashedly declares during an interview in his Metro Council ofce. "It's not been close. I've won with a large majority no matter who ran against me. Tat is because all I've done is provide good service to the 21st District." Te councilman has not faced serious opposition since 2006, when he garnered 66 percent of the vote against Republican Betty Drexler and John A. Witt, an independent candidate. Johnson did not have a challenger in 2010, and has only a nominal opponent in the upcoming May 20 primary. He is facing Erich V. Shumake, an ordained minister and retired railroad employee who has lived in District 21 for fve years. Shumake has been running an unorthodox campaign, to say the least. He hasn't raised money, held campaign events or even granted interviews. He declined to comment for this article. Shumake's only campaign activities have been walking the district talking to voters and creat- ing a Facebook page. Understandably, Johnson is not worried. He says that someone would have to hate him to vote for an untested candidate. District 21 stretches from North Audu- bon south almost to Okolona. It includes the neighborhoods of Beechmont, Iroquois, Kenwood, Edgewood, Lynnview, Hazelwood and Preston Park, along with the Fairgrounds and Louisville International Airport. When the city of Louisville and Jeferson County merged in 2003, Johnson circulated a petition demanding that his Sixth Ward bailiwick stay intact. It did. B orn near the area he represents, though a graduate of Jefersontown High School, Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the Univer- sity of Louisville, after which he and his wife Sherry bought a home near Iroquois Park, on Rollingwood Trail. Its hillside location actually sparked the beginning of his political career. After a heavy late-'80s snowstorm, the John- sons arrived home to fnd their car couldn't make it up their steep street because it had not been plowed. Tis angered him because nearby, and less steep, Kenwood Hill Road, home to a state senator, had been plowed. As Johnson carried his young son and helped his pregnant wife up the hill, he vowed to correct the situation. In 1989 he ran against incumbent Sixth Ward Alderman Jerry Kleier, losing by less than 200 votes. A third candidate, Ray Man- ley, who would become Johnson's longtime legislative assistant, drew votes from both of them. Johnson ran again in 1991 and defeated Kleier. "One of the frst things I did after I became an alderman was write a law that said hill streets had to be cleared," Johnson says. "Today, because of that, all hill streets are priority number one during a snowstorm. Tat's important, and not because I had to walk up a hill. If I had to walk up a hill, then no emergency vehicle could get up that street to help any of the families there." Today, Johnson is vice chair of the Demo- cratic Caucus and is a member of the Budget Committee and the rather humorously named Committee on Committees. He also is the chair of the Public Works, Bridges and Trans- portation committees. Surprisingly enough, when he's not in meetings or voting on legisla- tion, the councilman can be found selling vin- tage pocketknives and pocket watches at area fea markets. He estimates that he's had 1,000 knives, and some residents report buying them from the trunk of his car after neighborhood meetings. Te sideline's fexible hours give Johnson plenty of time to walk his district and discuss issues with constituents. An early proponent of city-county merger, Johnson even composed his own merger plan in the mid-'90s. He also campaigned for a downtown arena years before the KFC Yum! Center was considered a viable idea. But his most enduring goal has been to bring a National Basketball Association team to Louisville. "Dan dreams big," says District 15 Council- woman Marianne Butler. "It was announced recently that there is an NBA exhibition game coming to town. I'm sure he was elated." Butler says the scope of Johnson's vision makes it fun to work with him, but not all of his colleagues would agree. He can be im- mensely stubborn when he thinks he's right By Michael L. Jones Photos by Gail Kamenish 23-31 Dept.indd 29 4/17/14 2:15 PM