Showing posts with label Amanda Lepore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Lepore. Show all posts

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Jack Sparrow

 



Jack Sparrow, ca1956 -

VP candidate for Independent (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Martin John Hahn III (b. 1967)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Martin John Hahn III of Milwaukie, Or. [PNW trivia alert!!!] filed as an Independent with the FEC for President in Mar. 2015.

Hahn's running-mate was Jack Sparrow, a moniker that seems to indeed be his legal name. Sparrow had sort of a cottage industry impersonating Captain Jack Sparrow, the character portrayed on film by actor Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. He lived in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast.

Hahn's platform was vague but did bemoan the two-party gridlock, opposed Trump's anti-immigration stance, and felt most allied with Bernie Sanders of the major candidates. Claire Holley of Willamette Week described Hahn thusly--

Hahn, 48, who lives in Milwaukie, says she's the first transgender presidential candidate and is currently transitioning from male to female. On disability, she's a former bill collector who served as minister at St. Valentine's Christian Church, a traveling congregation that meets in Portland-area public parks near bodies of water.

One previous transgender candidate I can find on a Presidential ticket is Amanda Lepore, who ran as VP with Sharon Needles in 2012 in the Wig Party. There might be others, but she is the first who springs to mind.

In June 2015 Sparrow resigned from the ticket and filed as an Independent with the FEC for President in his own right, June 2015. His wife Two Owls Sparrow who had been serving as Hahn's campaign treasurer also resigned. Sparrow told one TV station that he could be persuaded to wear a suit on the right occasion, but felt it would be OK if the President was dressed as a pirate.

As far as I can ascertain, both the Hahn and Sparrow campaigns failed to obtain running-mates after June 2015 and by the time of the 2016 primary season both candidates by coincidence basically ceased their electioneering due to very serious health issues.

If the Hahn/Sparrow ticket had somehow stuck together and emerged the victors on Election Day, there would have been a Constitutional issue with them being residents of the same state.

When Sparrow ran for his local City Council in 2018, he gave a mini-history of his 2016 candidacy to the  News Guard--

I guess you could say that the "Political Bug" bit me back in High School. I always enjoyed my American History class in 7th & 8th grades, so I continued my studies in High School. More recently, though, a friend of 20 years was making a run for President (in 2015), and asked me to be his running mate. After a falling out, I thought I'd make a stab at the Oval Office myself, only to fall into a coma in early 2016... so that didn't really work out. So, after living in Lincoln City for 20 years, I decided to dedicate some service to Lincoln City, as I have come to love it here, and run for something a little more realistic.

In his 2018 voters pamphlet statement, Sparrow said, "Jack did make a declaration to run for President in 2016, but contracted Neutrapentic Fever, falling ill into a coma, later that year."

Hahn again filed with the FEC for President as an Independent in July, 2018. In Dec. 2018 she changed her filing name to Tina Jayne Hahn.

Election history:
2016 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2018 - City Council, Lincoln City, Or. (Nonpartisan) - defeated

Other occupations: house cleaner, data entry operator, security guard, typesetter, school bus driver, laser tag referee  

Notes:
"Pirates were the first democracy. You do a day’s work — plunder — and head back to the ship for payday. There’s extra compensation if you lose an eye"--Jack Sparrow of Lincoln City.
Member of the Pirate Party.
Cancer survivor.

Monday, December 14, 2020

Amanda Lepore

 

                                                                                 Needles and Lepore


Amanda Lepore, November 21, 1967 (Cedar Grove, N.J.) -

VP candidate for Wig Party (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Sharon Needles (b. 1981)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In a campaign that seemed a bit like an echo of Joan Jett Blakk's 1992 run in the Queer Nation Party, drag performer and singer Sharon Needles announced her run for the Presidency in the summer of 2012 as part of the Wig Party.

2012 had been an eventful and busy year for Needles. In April she was the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, and was crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar." Pittsburgh [one of my favorite cities, I must say] where Needles resided, had a City Council that declared June 12 to be "Sharon Needles Day." She had become a spokesperson for PETA and vegetarianism. In October Needles landed a gig as a horror host for the Logo TV network. Also in 2012 she was working on her debut album, which was released shortly after the election.

Although there were unsourced reports that Needles' running-mate was reality TV star Alana Frances "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson (born 2005), a more accurate document pointed instead to New York-based transgender celebrity and performance artist Amanda Lepore. When asked by College Magazine in late Oct. 2012 who she wanted as VP, Needles responded, "Amanda Lepore. Dedicated, seasoned, and age appropriate." Ouch.

Here is a sample from that interview--

What in your opinion is the single greatest threat to the global environment and how can you help solve it?

Though I love the environment and have such a big heart for animals, I have to admit drag queens are one of the worst things for the environment. We are slathered in nothing but Chinese-made plastics adhered by toxic adhesives. But when the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred, it was the drag community that showed up in with stockings and panty hoses to sift the oil from the gulf. It’s ups and downs, it’s gives and takes.


If the Needles/Lepore ticket had won on Election Day, the "inappropriate" under-35 age of the standard bearer would have made her ineligible to attain office per the Constitution.

Election history: none

Other occupations: nail salon worker, dominatrix, cosmetics salesperson, singer, performance artist, actor, author

Notes:
Born Armand Lepore.
In 2014 Needles wrote and performed I Wish I Were Amanda Lepore, with Lepore herself featured in the video. A few lyrics--
Silicone
Tiny waist
Red carpet lips
Porcelain face
A mannequin
She's got it all
She's built for men
A blow up doll