Joanne C. Roland, April 3, 1934 (Chicago, Ill.) -
VP candidate for Third Party (aka Independent) (1992)
Running mate with nominee: Eugene Arthur Hem (1933-2006)
Popular vote: 405 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Eugene A. Hem, a Chilton, Wis. high school teacher and something of a perennial candidate, ran for President on his Third Party having a platform with a focus on preserving Social Security and repealing the Medicare tax.
Hem became interested in running for public office in 1986. By 1988 he had filed with the FEC and had started his first Presidential campaign when he was sidetracked by falling asleep at the wheel and spent over a month recovering from the crash. He felt he owed it to his 1988 backers to make another try in 1992.
In what must be a first in Presidential campaigning, Hem asked his widowed sister, Joanne Roland, to serve as his running-mate. "Eugene says he can trust me," when asked why she was selected. Roland was based in Hemet, Calif. Hem originally wanted to make his wife the VP but then became aware of the Constitutional issue arising with two candidates from the same state.
Roland's take on some issues:
Women in government: "Perhaps if there were more of them, we wouldn't have as many wars."
On her experience: "I don't have a political background, but I do have personal opinions and concerns, like what can be done about the nation's homeless and the hungry."
On NASA: "Why are they wasting all that money to go to the Moon? No one is going to live there. Why not care for the people here who have no homes or who go without food?"
But it was Hem who did all the footwork. "She's done nothing about the campaign," he said matter of factly about his running-mate.
In promoting the Third Party, Hem said, "Right now, people have ambivalent feelings about Bush and Clinton. There is a feeling of not trusting them. This isn't good for the country." He was optimistic about the future of the Third Party, "I believe that by the year 2000, this party will have the potential to upset the Democrats and Republicans. The Third Party will be a growing party."
Later in the campaign he philosophically tempered his enthusiasm, "If I don't get 1% of the votes [in Wisconsin] to gain access to the ballot in 1996, I will stop ... I don't look at it numerically. It doesn't matter if I get one vote or thousands. Rather, it's that I have done something for mankind."
On the ballot only in Wisconsin, the Hem/Roland ticket earned 405 votes (0.02%). They were also registered write-ins in Kansas, Missouri, and Utah but with no result.
As good as his word, Hem did not run for President again but he continued to run for other public offices until at least 2004 as an independent.
Election history: none.
Other occupations: teacher?
Notes:
Raised in Chicago.
Roland lived in Hemet, Calif. In Latin their ticket was Hem et Roland. Get it? Well, I thought it was
worth mentioning anyway.
