President Clinton on Wednesday announced his intention...

President Clinton on Wednesday announced his intention to appoint Janice M. Johnson, long a prominent Laguna Beach patron of the arts, to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

Johnson, the wife of General Services Administrator Roger W. Johnson, would serve on the committee that reports to the President and advises the National Park Service about the preservation and interpretation of the museum character of the White House. The committee is primarily concerned with the principal corridor on the ground floor of the presidential mansion, as well as the main public rooms on the first floor.

A former music teacher and lifelong patron of the arts, Johnson moved to Washington with her husband last year when he was appointed by Clinton to head the GSA, making him the highest-ranking Republican in the Administration.

Johnson could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the White House said her appointment is imminent, the paperwork needing only to be processed.

Now a resident of Georgetown, Johnson is already a member of the Board of Directors of the National Symphony Orchestra and Stratford Hall Board. She has also served on the boards of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Planned Parenthood, South Coast Repertory, the Pacific Symphony Assn. and the Board of the Art Institute of Southern California. She also was a founding member of Opera Pacific. In 1990, she was named the YWCA’s “Woman of the Year for Arts.”

Although a registered Republican, Johnson and her husband supported Clinton in 1991. Her husband is the former CEO of Irvine-based Western Digital, a Fortune 500 company.