WASHINGTON—Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, first met a young Mike Johnson “way back when” in their home state of Louisiana. He helped Mr. Johnson gain his footing as an attorney and said he still talks regularly with the now-Speaker of the House.
“He jokes that when I was in office, he used to carry my briefcase. I can’t vouch for that, but I’ll take him at his word,” Mr. Perkins told The Epoch Times with a chuckle, referring to his years as a Bayou State Republican legislator, starting in 1994.
It was in the state legislature that Mr. Perkins said he first learned that achieving fundamental public policy changes almost always “takes years and years of incremental gains.”…