Alexander Benzion Magnus Jr., March 8, 1926 (Chicago, Ill.) - August 21, 2002 (Cook County, Ill.)
VP candidate for US Taxpayers Party (1992)
Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 0? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
If the old saying that religious converts turn into the most zealous believers is true, Howard Phillips might serve as a case study. Raised in the Jewish faith, he converted and became an evangelical Protestant as an adult in the 1970s and founded the US Taxpayers Party, known today as the Constitution Party.
Phillips had been a loyal Republican Party foot soldier and eventually worked in the Nixon administration as the director of two agencies but resigned due to what he perceived as the liberal drift of his party. It was during the era when the Watergate scandal was unraveling, so Phillips' timing was excellent for the purposes of finding an alternative. He briefly identified himself as a Democrat and ran for the US Senate as such.
As he felt no satisfaction with either major party, Phillips founded the Conservative Caucus in 1974. By the 1980s-early 1990s even the Reagan and Bush administrations were too liberal as well as fiscally irresponsible for him. He supported the Libertarian Party in the 1988 election but felt they were much too permissive in their social policies. In the meantime he had been busy networking with other conservative activists and in 1991 served as a co-founder of the US Taxpayers Party. Unlike the major parties, the US Taxpayers Party was more of a confederation than a union.
Phillips was the USTP Presidential nominee in 1992, his first of three runs. His running mate was Albion W. Knight, Jr., a retired US Army Brigadier General who resigned from his position as an Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America in order to run. Phillips had two other VPs, Stephen C. Graves in Louisiana and Robert Tisch in Michigan.
The USTP made an attempt, and failed, to gain ballot access in Illinois. When that didn't work they still did not obtain a certified write-in status there. Alexander B. Magnus, who ran a property management company in Arlington Heights, was the designated running-mate. He was even on file with the FEC.
The US Taxpayers Party made it to the ballot under variations of that name in 14 states. In addition some older political parties climbed on board and endorsed the USTP. The Independent American Party of Nevada (no relation to the national Independent American Party) had Phillips/Knight on their ballot line. Parts of two rival parties that hated each other, the American Party (Rhode Island and South Carolina) and American Independent Party (California), also joined up. In Massachusetts Phillips won the Independent Voters primary. In cases where he competed for votes, Phillips' main competitor was Bo Gritz.
One party the USTP failed to absorb was the Right to Life Party in New York. Instead of Phillips the RTLP endorsed president Bush for re-election.
The USTP platform included: Cut federal spending by $500 billion a year -- Abolish the IRS -- Support capital punishment -- Appoint only judges who oppose abortion -- oppose Planned Parenthood -- Repeal quotas -- Support the Electoral College -- Promote Biblical philosophy in government -- oppose gun control -- Sever US ties with the UN, World Bank, and IMF -- End foreign aid -- Oppose Gay rights -- No women in combat -- Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts -- Eliminate pensions for elected officials -- Eliminate the Public Broadcasting Service.
Magnus seemed a bit perplexed at the attention he received from a reporter as the VP, and mentioned that he thought Phillips was "a little extreme." It should be mentioned that Magnus helped fund the publication of several Right-wing conspiracy theory monographs regarding the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist bombing, Vince Foster's alleged murder and the Clintons, the Oklahoma City bombing, the pre-9/11 World Trade Center bombing, and "Truther" beliefs concerning 9/11. He also used his wealth to help fund conservative challengers to moderate Republicans in Illinois elections.
On the ballot in 21 states and write-ins in six others, the USTP finished with 43,400 votes (0.04%) on Election Day, somewhat under the 50,000 predicted by some pundits. 33,585 of those votes were for the Phillips/Knight ticket. They probably would have placed with a higher percentage but it is reasonable to conclude that a good number of their targeted base voted for Ross Perot or Bo Gritz. In Illinois there were 17 write-in votes and perhaps one or more of those were for the Phillips/Magnus ticket.
Election history:
1997 - Arlington Heights (Ill.) School Board - defeated
Other occupations: US Army soldier, engineer, property management company, activist with Taxpayers United and the Illinois Taxpayer Education Foundation, with his wife Maria created the Magnus Charitable Trust in 1995, involved with Americans for Responsible Media, operator of Manteks- a corporate management firm
Buried: Memory Gardens Cemetery (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
Notes:
Voted for John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
Held several patents on fuel pumps and supply systems.
