Arthur Charles Olivier, August 24, 1957 (Lynnwood, Calif.) -
VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent) (2000)
Running mate with nominee: Harry Edson Browne (1933-2006)
Popular vote: 384,532 (0.36%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Harry Browne, the 1996 Presidential nominee of the Party, was making a try in 2000 as well. Although Browne was viewed as part of the Establishment Libertarians (for want of a better term) he still had some spirited challengers within the LP. It didn't help that some of the divisions from 1996 had erupted into outright civil war four years later. Accusations of conspiracies and unethical behavior directed toward the Party leaders and staff by the insurgents flew thick and fast. It was the first time the LP ever had the same nominee for two consecutive elections.
Browne would emerge as the official choice of the Party. In an equally spirited contest, Art Olivier was chosen by the Party as the running-mate. The Party was experiencing a bit of civil war and the Arizona chapter went so far as to nominate their own Presidential ticket of L. Neil Smith and Vin Suprynowicz.
Although his position was officially nonpartisan, Olivier was one of the few Libertarians to have actually been elected to public office. As a member of the Bellflower (Calif.) City Council and later Mayor, he was given a real life opportunity to put some of his political philosophy into practice, mainly in efforts to privatize government services and cut taxes.
The 2000 campaign seemed to generate more drama and interest within the Party itself than with the voters on the outside. The Libertarian Party was experiencing the inevitable growing pains of an expanding organization. Nearly 30 years old in 2000 and with a fairly consistent platform in all that time, it was obvious they were here to stay and it was now taken for granted they would be on the ballot of most, if not all the states in Presidential elections.
The Libertarian Party popular vote in 2000 was not the lowest point in their Electoral history but it was still a disappointment from Browne's stated goal of a million votes. In all fairness they were up against two other third party candidates with star power, Ralph Nader of the Greens and Pat Buchanan of the Reform Party. On the ballot in 49 states, the Browne/Olivier top results were: Georgia 1.40% (they placed third), Alaska 0.92%, Colorado 0.73%, Indiana 0.71%, Idaho 0.70%, Wyoming 0.66%, Massachusetts 0.61%, Virginia 0.55%, Nevada 0.54%, Washington-South Dakota-Oklahoma 0.53% each.
Olivier's political career became more interesting after he ran for VP. He made two attempts for Governor of California as a Libertarian, but in 2007 changed his registration to Republican in order to support Ron Paul in the Presidential primaries. In his most recent campaign, for California Assembly, he switched to running as a Democrat in 2010.
He became a 9/11 Truther and produced a motion picture entitled Operation Terror (2012) outlining his vision of how the 2001 terror attacks took place.
In 2013 Olivier stated the Boston Marathon Bombing was a staged event. It seems he regarded the Ukraine crash and Sandy Hook as false flag happenings as well.
Olivier wanted to make a movie about (Washington State trivia alert!!) Rachel Corrie in 2014 and went to Iran to seek funding because, as he told an Iranian journalist in an interview: "The movie houses are owned by Jewish entrepreneurs and many of them are Zionists." In the same interview he also said "America was founded by Freemasons" ... "Largely Jewish groups own the media" ... "You still have freedom of speech in the United States as long as too many people don't hear it" ... suggested Andrew Breitbart's untimely death was possibly a murder by some intelligence agency ... and, said there was an attempt on his life when he was a Bellflower City Councilperson but did not go into detail.
At the same time as the above mentioned interview he attended the 2nd International New Horizon Conference in Tehran, a gathering devoted to exposing the "Zionist control" of US media and politics. Among the attendees were other 9/11 Truthers, as well as a host of other conspiracy theorists.
As recently as Oct. 2019 Olivier gave an interview where he expressed a complex and esoteric cosmic view involving secret societies, the planet Niburu, the End Times, Ley Lines, numerology, Sandy Hook, secrets of Fátima, the Second Coming, astrology, the Great Tribulation begins May 9, 2020, and on Jan. 20, 2023 a third of all mankind will be killed probably in a nuclear war, the Illuminati, Saturn worship, Israel could be nuked Dec. 25, 2021, Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt, quantum levitation, UFOs, and the Denver Airport.
A look at Olivier's recent Facebook entries has examples of how he views Covid-19 through the same esoteric lens.
Election history:
1990 - California State Assembly (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1992 - Bellflower (Calif.) City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1994-1997 - Bellflower (Calif.) City Council (Nonpartisan)
1998-1999 - Mayor of Bellflower, Calif. (Nonpartisan)
2002 - Governor of California (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2006 - Governor of California (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2010 - California State Assembly (Democratic) - primary - defeated
Other occupations: engineer, realtor, freelance Internet web site developer, film producer, screenwriter
Notes:
Was a write-in in the 2002 election.
2006 opponents included Arnold Schwarzenegger (winner), Peter Camejo, and James E. Harris
In case you were wondering about a conflict of interest here I am not the same Steve Willis who
served as Harry Browne's Road Manager. The other Steve Willis also apparently lives here in the
Pacific Northwest these days, down in Portland (PNW trivia alert!!)
