From O.C. to D.C., It’s Downhill All the Way : Politics: Washington intrigue dismays, disgusts Janice Johnson, the wife of a top Clinton appointee.

When President Clinton tapped Roger W. Johnson of Laguna Beach to head the General Services Administration last year, it was with the idea that the Orange County businessman would help reinvent government by eliminating waste and trimming expenses.

His wife, Janice--reluctant to leave her position here as a prominent social and arts fund-raiser, but anxious to join her husband--moved to Washington eight months ago.

Last week, an angry and disillusioned Janice Johnson returned to Orange County to visit friends and lashed out at what she feels is a back-stabbing political climate that is trying to reinvent them .

“The harassers on Capitol Hill can all go jump in the Potomac,” she said in an interview with The Times while her husband was in Sacramento on government business. “When I flew into Orange County on Monday, I thought ‘Oh boy, what a sight for sore eyes, why in the devil did we ever leave?’ ”

Janice Johnson was reacting to recent allegations that her husband, the Administration’s highest ranking Republican--had misused tax-supported travel funds to visit his Laguna Beach home. Questions were raised about five of the nine official trips he scheduled during his first seven months in office. She was also upset that certain members of Congress and their staff, whom she declined to name, have told her husband they “would get him” because they are unhappy about his cost-cutting tactics.

Of the trips, she said: “One time the President asked him to come. Once, Al Gore asked him to come. He came home when I told him I was evacuating our house during the fires and he paid for that trip. During two other trips, he conducted a lot of GSA business. He has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Last week, Roger Johnson asked the GSA’s inspector general to examine his travel records and vowed to reimburse the government for any expenses deemed questionable. In the meantime, the agency’s chief financial officer issued a memo that Johnson’s “actions were consistent with federal travel regulations.”

Of threats about his cost-cutting measures, she said: “What has happened is he has taken a lot of the pork barrel away. That has prompted at least three congressmen to threaten him with, ‘I’m going to get you,’ which really means, ‘send you back where you came from.’

“Like Roger says, ‘You know who your friends are in Washington, because they stab you in the chest instead of the back.’

“Now, isn’t it funny that they are looking at his travel expenses, instead of looking at all the money he has saved the taxpayers? They don’t seem to care about that.

“We left Orange County because Roger really thought he could make a difference, help change things, and he is. But they--the far left wing and the far right wing--don’t want change. It’s too threatening.”

Despite the ongoing politics and their frustration at the slow-moving process, the couple plans to remain in Washington.

“I guess Roger and I were very, very naive. Very naive. We’re a little disillusioned. But, it’s un-American to let the bad guys win, isn’t it?

“So, we’ll stick it out. As long as the President wants Roger, as long as he can make a contribution. If it comes to the point where he can’t, where the congressional committees won’t let him, then we’ll come home.”

Unhappy with President Bush’s seeming disregard of the country’s economic woes, the Johnsons in 1991 joined forces with other Orange County Republicans to support Clinton, long before the Arkansas governor made his official bid for the presidency.

Soon after he took office, Clinton appointed Johnson, formerly chief executive officer of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine, to his post.

Janice Johnson said the forces aimed at toppling her husband are also aimed at the Clintons. They are being attacked via the Whitewater controversy because, she believes, Clinton has brought popular issues to the fore, with promising results. Clinton has fought for a crime bill, Hillary a health care package. “They have taken all of the good ammunition away from the Republicans,” she said.

“It’s power harassment and very distracting for the President. Can you imagine what it’s like? How can he go into a meeting, say with Hussein, and not be thinking about it?

“There’s a whole attitude in Washington that you’re guilty until proven innocent. Maybe they (the Clintons) should have been more up front about it, said, ‘Here’s what it is, take it or leave it,’ but I don’t think they realized they were” not being forthcoming.

“The Clintons were sent to Washington as a mandate for change and that’s the last thing anybody--the insiders--in Washington wants. They (insiders) are more interested in the power and the process because the process takes so long and involves so many jobs.” She has watched in disbelief as members of the Administration have dropped by the wayside.

“There’s such an old boy’s club here--a generation that’s about a half a generation older than we are--that control the Congress. They’re men and they just can’t wait to get her (Hillary).”

Janice Johnson has had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the First Lady. She has dined with her in the First Family’s private quarters. And it was Janice Johnson who helped organize a lunch for Hillary Clinton during a campaign swing through Orange County. From the moment they met, Johnson has been impressed by Hillary Clinton’s sincerity and intelligence.

“Hillary is extremely bright and capable,” Johnson said. “She wants to get her health care, or some health care package, through. Talk about powerful lobbies. Look at all of the people she’s threatening with these changes.”

In recent months, Johnson said she thought about trying to unseat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who is running for reelection this fall.

“I toyed with the idea,” said Johnson, who is known here for her organizational ability. But she has put the dream to bed. “Not after being in Washington for eight months,” she said with a sardonic smile.

“Pragmatically, the only way I could win would be to run as a Democrat. (Janice Johnson is now a registered Democrat; her husband remains a Republican.) There’s no way I could have beat him in a Republican primary. With the money he’s got? No way I could have done it. Plus, I would have had to move to that district. It would have been tough.”

Meanwhile, she has been appointed by the President to serve on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. Jane Alexander, chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has invited her to join the National Symphony board.

“I was vetted (evaluated) by the White House, though it’s not official yet. And the symphony position has not yet been ratified,” she said.

In recent weeks, she has helped Alexander find artwork for the offices of Cabinet members. “We’re calling it the Art on the Walls Project,” she said. “Atty. Gen. Janet Reno wanted some art, (HUD secretary Henry G.) Cisneros wanted some. I’ve had a good time with that. All of a sudden I am more into the visual arts than the performing arts.”

Generally speaking, Janice Johnson has been welcomed to Washington with open arms. “One of Hillary’s assistants has made sure I have met people. She has paved the way, made it easier for me. There are some really good people in town.”