Johnson said he was misrepresented in several New Hampshire newspapers that earlier this week reported he was pondering resigning his seat in the wake of new House Speaker W. Douglas Scamman’s reshuffling of committee appointments.

Johnson, who recently won re-election to his third term in the House, was booted from the Finance Committee and reassigned to Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs. The latter committee makes policy, but it’s meaningless without the former, which funds it. Finance can undo anything Health and Human Services does.

"I think people may have taken things out of context, or elaborated on them," Johnson said Tuesday. "That wasn’t my comment. What I said was, ‘If they don’t want me there, then why am I there?’"

Johnson began his career in health care in 1982 as an actuary underwriter. Since then, he’s worked as a consultant and a regional specialist, and now looks at health care for entire countries, he said. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration at the University of New Hampshire.

"To understand how health care works, you have to understand how to pay for it," Johnson said. "What (Scamman’s actions) tell me is that, notwithstanding all the education I have, they think I’m better on the policy committee than on the finance committee.

"If you don’t value my knowledge base, what you’re telling me is you don’t value me."

Rogers Johnson

Johnson did not care to guess why Scamman reassigned him, and said he has not heard from Scamman, his Stratham neighbor, since Scamman was elected speaker.

"He hasn’t called me, and I don’t know anything about it," Johnson said.

He has heard from the people of New Hampshire, he said, both within his constituency and statewide, as well as from other legislators on both sides of the aisle.

"What they’ve all told me is, whatever you do, don’t leave, because we need you there," he said. "This is self-serving, but they’ve told me my knowledge base is important. The people put me there because they want me to hold the line on expenditures."

Speculation for Scamman’s actions ranged from political retribution for Johnson’s support for Michael Whalley, who ran against Scamman for the speaker seat, to Scamman’s first step toward meeting his goal of bringing moderation back to the Legislature. Johnson tends to be on the conservative side of even his own party.

"I can assure you, there was no retribution in any of the appointments," Scamman said. Whalley himself was appointed chairman of the Election Law Committee.

"I appointed everyone to where I thought they would fit into," Scamman said. "Policy is where you think about how you’re going to have some long-term controls in spending. I felt pretty strongly that it was the right place for his considerable experience."

For his part, Scamman said he thinks Johnson would have done a fine job on finance.

"He would have done well there, too," he said. "I just wanted someone with his skills on Health and Human Services. It was nothing personal."

Johnson said despite his disappointment, he’s looking forward to the free time he’ll have without the fiscal committee obligation.

"I’ll have more free time to do what I need to do," he said. "Like spend time with my family."