He writes frequently about tax and budget issues, technology and telecommunications policy, and the environment, and is credited with popularizing the use of investigative journalism by think tanks.

Under his leadership, the organization used the Tennessee Open Records Act of obtain Al Gore's home energy bills the day after the former Vice President won an Academy Award for the climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

[19][20][21] The Nevada Independent wrote that "Much of his research highlights waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government — he is most famous for using public records to calculate climate champion and former Vice President Al Gore's home energy use in Tennessee.

[26] Johnson later claimed that his firing was a result of the criticizing Chattanooga's electric company, EPB, one of the newspaper's largest advertisers.

"[27] Johnson then joined The Washington Times as a columnist, editorial writer and author of the newspaper's weekly "Golden Hammer" column, which exposed an egregious example of wasteful spending of tax dollars.

[30] In April 2016, Johnson was named National Director of Protect Internet Freedom, a group formed to push back on new net neutrality rules and federal preemption of state laws limiting municipal broadband buildouts.

[17] Johnson again investigated Al Gore's home energy use in a 2017 report written for the National Center for Public Policy Research.

[17] According to information obtained through the Nashville Electric Service, energy consumption at Gore's Nashville-area house increased from 2006 to 2017, despite installing 33 solar panels on the home following the initial criticism.

[13] He has opposed the death penalty and the Patriot Act, spoken out against anti-Muslim bias and criticized Republicans for increasing government spending.

[13] In June 2024, he told The Nevada Independent if elected he would vote against government funded-abortion services and against a national abortion ban, believing that the Dobbs decision left the issue "appropriately" up to the states.