As the director of this powerful construction trade group, Johnson is a registered state lobbyist. When a branch of the trade group held its 75th birthday party in Austin in ’99, top state officials from Bush on down made an appearance. One topic that would have been out of place at such a festive event was the industry’s safety record. Construction is Texas’ most dangerous industry, regularly accounting for one-fifth of the state’s fatal, work-related accidents. Johnson got so mad at a 20 percent jump in the appraised value of his house overlooking Austin in ’95 that he wrote a book, Fighting Back—A Practical Guide to Reducing Your Property Taxes. After suing the county, Johnson got his appraisal lowered from $491,979 to $435,000.