Philip W. Johnston

Philip W. Johnston
Philip W. Johnston
	Official portrait, circa 1983
Secretary of Health and Human Services of Massachusetts
	In office; 1984–1991
Governor	Michael Dukakis
Preceded by	Manuel C. Carballo
Succeeded by	David Forsberg
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 4th Plymouth District
	In office; 1979–1984
Preceded by	Paul F. X. Moriarty
Succeeded by	Frank Hynes
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 10th Plymouth District
	In office; 1975–1979
Preceded by	Carl Ohlson
Succeeded by	Michael C. Creedon
Chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party
	In office; 2000–2007
Preceded by	Joan Menard
Succeeded by	John E. Walsh
Personal details
Born	July 21, 1944 (age 80); Chelsea, Massachusetts
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Marshfield, Massachusetts
Alma mater	University of Massachusetts Amherst; Harvard University
Occupation	Businessman, politician

Philip W. Johnston (July 21, 1944 in Chelsea, Massachusetts^[1]) is an American businessman, politician and former Secretary of Human Services in Massachusetts and Regional Administrator of Health and Human Services for New England.

Johnston received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master of Arts degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In 1996, Johnston founded and is president of Johnston Associates, a communications and public affairs consulting firm. He is Chair of the Board of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. He also sits on the Boards of the University of Massachusetts, the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps, the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, the Roosevelt Institute, and Stop Handgun Violence.

He was elected to the state legislature five times.^[2] From 1984 to 1991, he was Secretary of Human Services in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis. He was also executive director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington, D.C. In 1992, he was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton as the New England Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he served until 1996. Johnston was twice elected chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, in 2000 and 2004.^[3]

1996 Congressional election

In 1996, Johnston was a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 10th District of Massachusetts. Johnston was initially declared the winner,^[4] and an official recount in several contested towns preserved Johnston's victory, though by a narrower margin. Following the recount, Bill Delahunt sought judicial review in the Massachusetts Superior Court. Judge Elizabeth Donovan conducted a de novo review of the contested ballots and declared Delahunt the victor by a 108-vote margin. The case was appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld the lower court ruling. The case is also noteworthy for the issue of "hanging chads" in punch-card voting machines, and was later referenced as a precedent by the Florida Supreme Court in Gore v. Harris during the 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida.^[5]