What Do We Know about Gary Johnson?
QUOTE FROM GARY JOHNSON’S APPLICATION:
“Although I have not been directly active in Helotes politics, I have been an indirect supporter of the city as well as the current city council. I enjoy staying abreast of the current issues and can honestly say that it seems there is a lot of common sense on the council today and am proud to be able to say that I live in Helotes. I believe that I, too, can bring both common sense as well as a good practical business sense to the table.”
On July 9, 2009, Gary Johnson was appointed by the Mayor and the current City Council to serve on the Council in Place 3, replacing Jeff Ellis who resigned in May. He will serve on Council until the next general election in May 2010, at which time he will have to run for the position he has been serving in, if he wants to remain on Council.
Council announced that night that four citizens had been interviewed for the vacancy. The Herald has learned that those citizens were Norbert “Bert” Buys, Jr., Paul Friedrichs, Ardith Garner, and, of course, Gary Johnson, who was the least known of the four candidates.
Bert Buys has lived in Helotes for 19 years, and he is currently serving on the Parks and Recreation Committee.
Paul Friedrichs has lived in Helotes since 2004, and is currently serving on the Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors.
Ardith Garner did not state on her application how long she has lived in Helotes, but in 2002 she started volunteering for the City when she was appointed to the Architectural Review Board. She served on this Board until current Mayor, Tom Schoolcraft, dissolved the Board a couple of years ago. She is currently serving as the president on the Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. While the three other applicants did not mention how or why they came to submit applications for the Council vacancy, Mrs. Garner stated that Mayor Schoolcraft asked her if she’d be willing to fill the vacant seat on Council.
The information below is taken from the application submitted to the City by Gary Johnson. We feel that it is important to provide this information about Mr. Johnson, because so few of us know anything about him.
GARY JOHNSON
HELOTES, TEXAS
I have lived in the Helotes area for the past 16 years (13 in the ETJ and the last 3 in the city limits). My wife and I currently live in the Estates section of Iron Horse Canyon with our two children. We are members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church and have been since moving into the area in 1993.
I care a great deal about this community though have not considered directly participating in politics in the past. My only prior “political” experience was as Vice President/Treasurer of the Helotes Ranch Acres – Unit 6 Home Owners Association. I was one of three individuals that were instrumental in creating the HOA and entering into a settlement agreement with the Estate of John D. Smith. The settlement agreement consisted of the Estate building a new bridge across Los Reyes Creek and providing “seed” money for the new HOA.
I am a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas with over 20 years of experience in both industry and public accounting. My entire career has consisted of working in the tax arena with a concentration in the corporate and partnership areas from both international and domestic perspectives. I currently serve as Sr. Executive Director in the San Antonio Tax Department of AT&T and am responsible for the federal and state income tax audits as well as the tax aspects of all mergers and acquisitions. I have been with AT&T since 1994 and previously worked in the tax departments for both Ernst & Young in San Antonio and KPMG in Houston. (More detailed work experience is listed below. Editor).
I received a Bachelors of Business Administration-Accounting degree in May 1988 from the University of Houston. I received my CPA certification in 1990 and currently am a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the San Antonio Chapter of Certified Public Accountants.
Prior to attending the University of Houston, I worked as a certified welder in the construction business from 1980 to 1984. The work included building cranes to working in oil refineries and chemical plants.
Although I have not been directly active in Helotes politics, I have been an indirect supporter of the city as well as the current city council. I enjoy staying abreast of the current issues and can honestly say that it seems there is a lot of common sense on the council today and am proud to be able to say that I live in Helotes. I believe that I, too, can bring both common sense as well as a good practical business sense to the table.
CAREER SUMMARY:
CPA with 20 years of experience in both industry and the public accounting environment. The majority of my career has been spent in the research and planning area from both an international and a federal taxation view point, specifically in the corporate and partnership areas. I have also spent a great deal of time with income tax accounting responsibilities, which included working through SEC reporting issues, the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley as well as the adoption of FIN 48. From 1988 to November 2002, my primary focus was in the international area from compliance to research and planning, mergers and acquisitions, IRS audits and income tax accounting. From December 2002 to the present, my role has been focused on the domestic side but with a much broader, global view point, which currently includes all domestic mergers and acquisitions, a portion of income tax accounting, income tax audits and employee benefits. In addition, I have been responsible for managing several very significant special projects throughout my career that have gone beyond tax issues.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
AT&T Inc., San Antonio, TX – Sr. Executive Director – Planning, Audits & Benefits, June 2006 to the present; Sr. Executive Director – Tax Accounting & Compliance, November 2002 to June 2006; Director, International Tax, December 1999 to November 2002; and Corporate Manager, International Tax, December 1994 to December 1999.
Ernst & Young, San Antonio, TX – Manager, Tax, July 1993 to December 1994; and Senior, Tax, August 1991 to July 1993.
KPMG, Houston, TX – Senior, International Tax, October 1990 to August 1991; and Staff, International Tax, August 1988 to October 1990.
EDUCATION – University of Houston – Bachelors of Business Administration – Accounting, May 1988
SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS – Mergers and Acquisitions
Member of the tax due diligence and planning teams for the acquisitions of Ameritech Corporation (1999), AT&T Corporation (2005), and BellSouth Corporation (2006), as well as several smaller acquisitions;
Structural planning and due diligence on the AT&T Wireless acquisition in 2004 which was the largest cash acquisition in the U.S.;
Responsible for all tax aspects related to the acquisition of a South African telecom company, including due diligence, modeling and ownership structuring to accommodate a Malaysian partner;
Foreign tax credit planning and structuring for the acquisition of a very large telecom company in Canada.
Special Projects -
Managed four very significant restructuring transactions during 2000 to 2008. These projects required coordination of several groups, both internal and external, as well as third party investors;
Planning with an internal captive insurance company; and
Several different entity elimination/rationalization projects, involving mergers, liquidations, spin-offs and conversions.
Income Tax Accounting -
Responsible for all aspects of tax accounting from 2002 to 2006, which included implementation of Sarbanes Oxley rules within the tax accounting function as well as the adoption of FIN 48; and
During that same time frame, I was responsible for the income tax footnote included within AT&T’s SEC quarterly and annual filings.
Income Tax Audits -
Currently have responsibility for both federal and state income tax audits which at this time includes four very large examinations and many more state audits at various stages; and
Handled settlement negotiations with both California and Illinois tax authorities for two very substantial controversies.
Oh boy! Watch out Helotians. He knows South African telecoms?? Malaysian partnerships?? Mergers and acquisitions?? Tax and AT&T business practices?? Council now has an experienced warrior on board. Look for eminent domain land seizures and other new tricks up the sleeves of our so-called “common sense” council members that are, in my opinion, already out of control.