VP candidate for Boston Tea Party (2008)
Running mate with nominee: Charles Jay (b. 1960)
Popular vote: 795 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
As the short-lived Personal Choice Party began to fade from their 2004 run with the Charles Jay/Marilyn Chambers Taylor ticket, another new party also offering a home for disgruntled Libertarians sprang up. Thomas L. Knapp created the Boston Tea Party and explained once in an interview many years later, "I founded the Boston Tea Party in 2006 when there was a fairly serious schism in the Libertarian Party. I saw people preparing to leave the LP, and decided that it was important to give them a place to go that they might come back from (as a matter of fact, at our first convention, I proposed that the BTP become a caucus within the LP rather than a separate party, but I got voted down) ... Hey, we had some fun, got our message out as best we could, and gave libertarians who couldn't stomach Barr/Root 2008 a ticket to vote for. I don't regret any of that. It wasn't until 2010 that I gave up on voting and electoral politics, and I still have friends who are involved."
Charles Jay resurfaced in 2008 as a Presidential candidate, but this time for the Boston Tea Party. Knapp became the official running-mate but Jay had several alternative VPs: Barry Hess, Dan Sallis Jr., John Wayne Smith, Thomas J. Marino, and Marilyn Chambers Taylor. The party also endorsed the rogue Libertarian ticket of Phillies and Bennett in New Hampshire.
The platform of the party was quite short:
Platform of the Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.
However, they also had something called a "Program," which was basically a platform--
Program of the Boston Tea Party
Program of the Boston Tea Party
Adopted in Convention, October 26th, 2008
[Note: The Boston Tea Party's 2008-2010 program consists of the Campaign For Liberty's four points, endorsed by US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and presidential candidates Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party), Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), Ralph Nader (Independent), Bob Barr (Libertarian Party) and Charles Jay, the Boston Tea Party's 2008 presidential nominee.]
1. Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
2. Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, elimination of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.
3. The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
4. The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.
Past Programs
2006-2008 Program
Adopted in Convention, August 21st, 2006
1. The Boston Tea Party calls for a complete and unconditional withdrawal of US troops from, and a cessation of US military operations against or within, Iraq.
2. The Boston Tea Party supports repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act.
3. The Boston Tea Party calls for an end to the federal prohibition of marijuana and hemp.
4. The Boston Tea Party calls for the immediate repeal of the REAL ID Act and any and all National ID plans.
5. The Boston Tea Party calls for legislation adopting an annual, regularized increase in the personal exemption to the federal income tax of $1,000 or more, and the additional application of said personal exemption to all FICA/Social Security taxes paid by employees and employers.
Jay finished with 2,425 (0.00%) reported popular votes but no doubt his tally was much higher since many states do not segregate write-in votes. He was on the ballot in Colorado, Florida, and Tennessee but also a registered write-in in 17 other states.
Jay's running-mate in Florida was John Wayne Smith, a former Republican who joined the Libertarian Party in 1974. A perennial candidate, Smith made these admissions on his website during his 2006 run for Governor--
I have never been an angel and claim my mistakes as well as my successes. I have been divorced 3 times, fathered 4 children, and raised many more. I have been arrested for bigamy once (adjudication withheld-$502 in court cost). My only other arrest has been for civil disobedience, too many times to tell. I spent 6 months in the Marion County Jail for refusing to buy a taxicab permit. I declared bankruptcy in 1978 and have over the years refused to pay some bills that I thought were unjust. I have made my share of mistakes and have tried to learn from all of them. I hope I have.
Smith was a polarizing activist who always seemed to be involved in major political drama and as such had strong supporters and major detractors. It is safe to say the BTP would not have been on the Florida ballot without Smith's efforts. On the other hand, one comment made on the Independent Political Report website summed up the view of Smith's critics--
Florida Libertarian
September 13, 2013 at 10:05
Look somebody HAS to say this. I have known John Wayne Smith for years and he is unstable and violent. He keeps leaving the LP to start new political parties…..the American Libertarian Party in 2006 and the Boston Tea Party in 2008. They eventually kick him out and he comes running back to the LP and plays nice for a while before going on the attack again. He screamed at the audience and called them “a bunch of retards” at a debate with Wyllie. He was kicked out of the convention last year because he threatened to KILL the treasurer and secretary. Anybody who supports this guy either doesn’t know him……or is just as insane as he is. I’m not giving my name because I don’t want him to come after me. This guy is NOT a Libertarian!
Social media accounts and Youtube channels were even established to attack Smith as a "fake Libertarian." Meanwhile, following Smith's death in 2014, a John Wayne Smith Society was formed on Facebook that is highly critical of the Florida Libertarian Party so a legacy of controversy lives on.
One of the sparks igniting the inferno that would burn down the Boston Tea Party started with John Wayne Smith. In Oct. 2008 a voter in Florida named Dagny Barnes alleged that Smith, her father, had sexually molested her when she was a child (as far as I can determine this never translated into a formal legal case). The way this information was handled revealed a party with some major internal differences in communication style and expectations of transparency within the leadership ranks. By Election Day the Presidential candidate and National Chair were insulting each other in public, the Florida chapter had voted to disaffiliate, and John Wayne Smith stepped down as the running-mate.
In his farewell statement in a Yahoo group on Oct. 19, Smith wrote--
In my haste to get even with Bob Barr, it seems that I have stumbled into a den of fools.
Folks I quit, I never liked the idea of being a running mate with Charles Jay and never liked him from the start. He is not half the man Bob Barr is and that is not very much. Charles Jay is a fool and should not receive any more support from the Boston Tea Party.
I did put many hours into campaigning for us. I sent out over 15,000 Emails and made a number of telephone calls just so we could bleed votes from Barr. I was a fool and admit it.
I joined the BTP because Tom Knapp ask me to. I am resigning as chair of the Florida affiliate to the BTP as of the time you read this e mail.
November 5th I will change my registration and inform the state that I am no longer affiliated with the BTP.
I am shutting down this list. The ballots have been printed and cannot be undone.
So, Charles Jay, you do not have any real experience or knowledge to be President of the US. Your ego is more than your substance. Of all the mistakes I have made in my life teaming up with you is just about the worst.
Thomas Knapp, who was the official Vice-Presidential nominee of the national Party, commented on a BTP website--
It is my understanding that once Mr. Smith resigned as chair of the Florida BTP and destroyed the Florida BTP's Facebook group, which had fortunately been archived and will be resurrected, Mr. Jay decided to seek a substitution of myself for Mr. Smith on the Florida BTP's ticket. I don't know how much effect such a substitution will have (the ballots have presumably already been printed, but the Secretary of State's web site candidate listings my be changed), but I have accepted Mr. Jay's invitation to be the substitute VP candidate.
The Jay/Smith/(Knapp) ticket finished 9th out of 13 + 1 write-in ticket in Florida with 0.01% of the popular vote.
If the Jay/Smith ticket had won enough Electoral votes to claim the White House, there would have been a Constitutional problem since they were residents of the same state.
Election history:
1969 - Leesburg City Commission, Fla. - defeated
1970 - Leesburg City Commission, Fla. - defeated
1983 - Ocala City Commission, Fla. - defeated
1985 - Mayor of Ocala, Fla. - defeated
1986 - Florida House of Representatives (No Party Affiliation) - defeated
2000 - Florida House of Representatives (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2002 - Governor of Florida (Independent) - defeated
2001 - Leesburg City Commission, Fla. - defeated
2004 - Florida House of Representatives (Libertarian) - defeated
2006 - Governor of Florida (No Party Affiliation) - defeated
2010 - Governor of Florida (Libertarian) - failed to make the ballot
2012 - Boston Tea Party nomination for US President - defeated
2014 - Governor of Florida (Libertarian) - failed to make the ballot
Other occupations: US Army, construction, transportation, awning installer, CEO of 1000 Planets Inc.
Buried: ?
Notes:
Was a write-in in the 1986 election.
Winner of the 2002 election was Jeb Bush.
Winner of the 2006 election was Charlie Crist.
