Willard Dean Watkins

Willard Dean Watkins, February 14, 1931 (Canton, Ohio) -

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Earl F. Dodge (1932-2007)
Popular vote: 208 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Earl Dodge was making his fifth run for the Prohibition Party nomination and then the Presidency in 2000. But this time he almost didn't get past Step 1.

Dodge underwent a septuple bypass operation on May 28, 1999 but a month later was active in nabbing the Party's nomination at their convention. 39 Party members were present and a growing anti-Dodge faction had nominated a challenger, Gary Van Horn, a perennial candidate from Utah who had been the American Party VP nominee in 1996 and in 2000 was associated with the Independent American Party. Dodge defeated Van Horn in a close 9-8 vote.

The VP choice was W. Dean Watkins of Tucson, Ariz., a recent Party member with an interesting story. While researching his family history, he investigated the political career of his grandfather, Aaron S. Watkins. The elder Watkins had been the Prohibition Party VP nominee in 1908 and 1912, as well as the Presidential nominee in 1920. He also ran as a Prohibition Party candidate for the US House, US Senate, and Governor of Ohio. Discovering that the Party still existed, the grandson contacted Dodge and soon became the VP choice.

Some in the anti-Dodge faction felt the selection of Watkins was a publicity gimmick and the talents of this retired aeronautical engineer were not being used to full advantage. However, Watkins' precision and thoroughness was employed in his role as the chair of the committee to redraft and overhaul the Party's platform, and he wrote position papers.

As is turned out the 2000 platform changes were mostly cosmetic and it remained as consistently Right wing and bordering on Christian nationalism as it had been for decades. A few of the changes found in the 2000 platform worth noting--

Added under Taxation and Spending: Ending useless programs funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation -- Minimizing taxes which threaten private ownership of land and real estate -- Emphasizing excise taxes for the financing of government.

Added under Social Security: allowing workers the option of enrolling in private plans in lieu of Social Security;

At the very end The Alcohol Problem was completely rewritten and new section, Presidential Qualifications was added:

 The Alcohol Problem

Alcohol is still the number one drug problem in the United States. It is a major cause of poverty, traffic crashes, broken homes, juvenile and adult crime, physical and sexual abuse, political corruption, wasted manpower, disability, and premature death. We favor maintaining the nation-wide legal drinking age of 21.

  Historically, the Prohibition Party has led in offering programs of publicity, education, and legislation leading to the prohibition of the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of all alcoholic beverages. We continue to support this stand. Our society already practices prohibition in the form of enacting laws which promote the safety and well being of the society members. We will help Americans to realize that alcohol's harmful effects far outweigh those of all illegal drugs combined. We advocate that all tax monies collected from the sale of alcohol be used in aggressive media and educational campaigns to teach the American public the truth about alcohol. We support local option. We advocate the enactment and enforcement of strong drunk driving laws.

Presidential Qualifications

Leavening the Loaf
 "Nothing doth more hurt to a State than that cunning men pass for wise."
...Francis Bacon, statesman

The qualifications for President stated in the Constitution have to do with age and citizenship. We call attention to the fact that of greater importance are those not so stated referring to moral, intellectual, and spiritual endowments. The President of the United States in his daily life, his home and family relationships, and his official career is expected to typify the finest and best the country can produce. He is the leader of the nation. The moral force and power of his example are immeasurable.

Watkins wrote an essay entitled "Excise Taxes vs Income Taxes" and opened with the thesis statement: "The 2000 Prohibition Party platform advocates using excise taxes to pay for the operating costs of the federal government. It also advocates the abolishment of personal income taxes. Many people think this is a radical stand. However, let us examine the federal tax system ..."

On the ballot only in Dodge's home state of Colorado the Dodge/Watkins ticket placed dead last out of ten with 208 votes, 0.01% of the state total. Nationally they finished 15th out of 16 tickets on the ballot. This would be the worst result ever in the long history of the legitimate wing of America's oldest third party. 

In 2000 Dodge had faced rumblings within the Party, but it would explode into full revolution by the next election. Watkins joined the group that eventually ousted Dodge. In a 2002 article by Ernie Tucker, Watkins expressed his frustration: Concerns over fuzzy finances foamed over in 2000 ... Initially, Watkins supported Dodge's fifth presidential run, but he eventually grew frustrated with his lack of candor. "He's too secretive," Watkins says of Dodge. "His financial reports don't make sense. And there's an appearance of wrongdoing."

And this drama spilled over into the 2004 election.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army, Materials Testing Laboratory - Naval Avionics Center, design engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, 

Notes:
Grew up in Canton, Ohio and Indianapolis, Ind.
Baptist.
Plays the piano and organ.

Ezola Broussard Foster

Below: Florida's "Butterfly Ballot"

Ezola Broussard Foster, August 9, 1938 (Maurice, La.) – May 22, 2018 (Boulder City, Nev.)

VP candidate for Reform Party of the United States of America (aka Independent aka American Party aka Citizens First aka Independence Party aka Right to Life Party aka Freedom Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Patrick Joseph Buchanan (b. 1938)
Popular vote: 438,032 (0.42%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

"Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it."
--a military captain in Hamlet, attempting to explain the cause of a battle

The Reform Party had become low-hanging fruit for carpetbaggers in 2000. Thanks to Ross Perot's appeal and the hard work of his activists, the Party was at the turn of the century an organized network with (and here the starting gun for the political equivalent of the Oklahoma Land Rush  is fired) over $12 million in matching funds.

There were two potential candidates who had an honest claim to the nomination. Ross Perot himself declined to run. Jesse Ventura, who had made history when he was elected Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party in 1998, would also have been a legitimate contender if he had  wanted.

John Anderson, the former Republican who had run as an Independent for President in 1980 and Ron Paul the Republican who was also briefly a Libertarian when he ran for President under that banner in 1988, were also names that were bandied about as potential Reform Party nominees. Another name that had come up was Lowell Weicker, an ex-Republican who had served as Governor of Connecticut as a member of the independent Connecticut Party.

But when announcements were made there only three big names that were put forward: Donald Trump, John Hagelin, and Pat Buchanan.

Trump had been encouraged to run by Ventura. A Democrat until 1987, he had toyed with the idea of running for President as a Republican in 1988.  In 1999 Trump campaigned for the Reform Party nomination on a conservative platform but did endorse universal public health care and was more liberal on some social issues than he would be later in his political career. He said he wanted Oprah Winfrey as his running-mate. Roger Stone was his campaign director. By Feb. 2000 Ventura left the Reform Party and Trump withdrew from the race. Trump re-registered as a Democrat in 2001 and then as a Republican in 2009.

John Hagelin was running for President as the Natural Law Party nominee for the third election in a row. He was attempting to merge with the Reform Party and came close enough that his delegates from the latter party held their own convention. Unfortunately for Hagelin, the courts sided with Buchanan but that didn't stop the NLP candidate from sometimes showing up on ballots under the Reform Party label. In some states both Buchanan and Hagelin were on the ballot under the Reform Party name.

In 1992 and 1996 Ross Perot tended to avoid taking strong stands on cultural or social issues that created deep divisions among Americans. His main focus was economic. Pat Buchanan, on the other hand, had established himself as a Right wing "cultural warrior" when he ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1992 and 1996. When he began his campaign for President as a member of the Reform Party, he changed the entire premise for the existence of the organization, making it more of an affluent version of the Constitution Party in 2000. Rather than attempting to unite people with issues they had in common, Buchanan hammered away on divisive hot button social problems such as opposing abortion, Gay rights, Affirmative Action. He held views some called racist on non-white immigration. Using the slogan "America First" (which had previously been employed by fascist sympathizer, anti-Semite, white supremacist, and Holocaust denier Gerald L.K. Smith in his Presidential campaign), Buchanan offered no original ideas that were not already in the platforms of other Right wing political parties concerning foreign relations or the economy.

In spite of this he was able to elicit the support of former New Alliance Party Presidential candidate Lenora Fulani (later withdrawn) as well as future Socialist nominee Brian Moore. Klansman David Duke also hopped on board the Buchanan campaign, as well as members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, bringing a contingent of White Nationalist support.

In New York he ran under the banner of the Right to Life Party and in Colorado under the American Party.

After considering James P. Hoffa and others, Buchanan selected Ezola Foster, one of his co-chairs from the 1996 campaign. The California-based Foster had made a name for herself as an extremely conservative African American activist. Foster was known for her views against immigration, abortion, and Gay rights. She defended the display of the Confederate flag. She said God brought slaves from Africa to America so "their descendants would know freedom." Her placement on the ticket confused several of Buchanan's more racist followers.

Foster became a controversial pick. Her membership with the John Birch Society was more than simply carrying the card, she was also part of their lecture circuit talent pool. She described the civil rights movement as a "revenge and reparations movement" and didn't think segregation was really all that bad even though she grew up in Louisiana as part of the oppressed community. Rev. Jesse Jackson and his ilk were "Leninist race-baiters" according to Foster.

Foster said "government schools," i.e. public education, were "socialist training camps." She opposed AIDS education in schools because she felt it promoted homosexuality. Foster was outspoken and hardline about illegal immigrant children. As a high school teacher she said she was persecuted for her conservative beliefs and was forced to accept worker's compensation 1996-1998 until she retired because of stress. She later said the "mental disorder" claim was faked but reporters uncovered she had suffered from depression since the 1970s and had recently been prescribed antidepressants.

The Buchanan/Foster team alienated many of the veteran Reform Party members including Perot himself. The 2000 ticket generally placed 4th around the country, behind Ralph Nader and the Greens. In Oklahoma and South Dakota they placed third but in both cases Nader was not on the ballot. There were 45 states with Foster as the VP. In Massachusetts for some reason the running-mate was William J. Higgins Sr., in Oregon no VP was apparently listed, and in Michigan Buchanan was a write-in.

Top results for Buchanan/Foster ticket: North Dakota 2.53%, Alaska 1.82%, Idaho 1.52%, Montana 1.39%, Wyoming 1.25%, Utah 1.21%, South Dakota 1.05%, Minnesota 0.91%, Louisiana-Arizona 0.81% each, Arkansas 0.80%, Nevada 0.78%, Indiana 0.77%.

On Election Day the notorious Florida "butterfly ballot" was thought to be partly responsible for taking votes away from Al Gore and giving them to Pat Buchanan.

By the 2004 election Pat Buchanan was back in the Republican camp, leaving the Reform Party in a state of wreckage. Foster ran for US Congress in 2001 as a member of the Reform Party but in 2002 joined the American Independent Party, explaining, "I'm a Constitutionalist, and it's the only party that recognizes the kingship of Jesus Christ. I'm 100% for that."

Election history:
197- - California State Assembly (Democratic) - defeated
1984 - California State Assembly (Republican) - primary - defeated
1986 - California State Assembly (Republican) - defeated
2001 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Reform Party of the United States of America) - defeated

Other occupations: high school teacher, author, President of Black Americans for Family Values, lecturer

Buried: Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery (Boulder City, Nev.)

Notes:
Catholic
Winner of the 1984 and 1986 races was Maxine Waters.

Robert Leo Beck

 Above: The claim ; Below: The source

Below: Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), Sept. 14, 1989

Robert Leo Beck, June 5, 1934 (Centerfield, Utah) - February 12, 2013 (Yuma, Ariz.)

VP candidate for Unaffiliated (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Louie Gene Youngkeit (1936-2003)
Popular vote: 161 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Louie G. Youngkeit of Provo, Utah was making his third run for the Presidency in 2000. Although he had previously made campaigns in 1988 and 1996, this was the first one where a running-mate was named.

Prior to his national runs, Youngkeit had been in the news in the mid-1970s for being active with the American Party, then later in the late 1970s for being one of the claimants to the fortune of the Howard Hughes estate. Youngkeit and his mother produced a photo of Hughes and Noah Dietrich they said was taken by their now deceased father/husband, but it seems the snapshot might have actually been lifted from Dietrich's 1972 book, Howard : the Amazing Mr. Hughes.

In 1988 Youngkeit made it to the ballot (without a Vice-President) in Utah where he finished with 372 votes, 0.06% of the state total. During that campaign he said he and his brother were tortured by the CIA in a theater in Anaheim, Calif. in 1948 and it was connected to the 1963 assassination of JFK. He also said many of the other Presidential candidates had been "bought" by the Contra rebels.

In 1996 he ran as write-in candidate, earning 19 votes. The Wall Street Journal carried this short blurb about his effort:

"I'm hoping that Perot will name me his vice president," Louie Youngkeit tells me outside the Long Beach Convention Center. Anything's possible, but Mr. Youngkeit's only qualification seems to be his obsession with Howard Hughes. He hands me a monograph he and his mother wrote in 1978, which claims that in 1949 Mr. Youngkeit's father looked after Hughes's car for a few days and allowed Hughes to drill an oil well on his property. In repayment for these kindnesses, the monograph says, Hughes promised to leave half his estate to the younger Mr. Youngkeit. When Hughes died in 1976, Mr. Youngkeit, to his dismay, was not named in the will. The monograph draws the obvious conclusion: Someone altered the will after Hughes's death. "This is the reason JFK was assassinated," Mr. Youngkeit adds, inexplicably.

When Youngkeit announced he was running in 2000, the Our Campaigns website commented:

Youngkeit -- a rather eccentric candidate -- claims he is "the Heir Apparent of the [late billionaire] Howard R. Hughes' Estate." You see, Hughes was secretly murdered in 1970 -- and his body was frozen for several years until his death was announced in 1976 -- and JFK was assassinated in 1963 because of Hughes's money -- and it was also the reason for the Watergate break-in -- and President Bush and Hillary Clinton are part of the scheming -- all that and lots more can be found in Youngkeit's conspiracy theory (see his website for more details). As a write-in candidate in the 1996 Presidential race, Youngkeit earned only 19 votes. Having secured ballot status in his homestate of Utah, he is guaranteed to score a better performance in 2000. Youngkeit's Vice Presidential runningmate is Robert L. Beck.

In a 2000 interview, Youngkeit told a reporter, "I want to be the first LDS President of the United States ... I am standing on the principles I have learned as a member of the LDS Church ... The church teaches us to 'choose the right,' that's the most important thing to remember – presidential campaign or not."

His brother-in-law Robert Leo Beck of Yuma, Ariz. was his VP choice. "He is an impressive person," Youngkeit said. I could not ascertain any campaign activity undertaken by Beck.

On the ballot only in Utah, the Youngkeit/Beck ticket placed 9th out of 9 with 0.02% of the state vote. In the event of their victory, Beck would have assumed the Presidency upon the death of Youngkeit, May 12, 2003.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Marines

Buried: ?

Notes:
Brush with Fame. Rival Hughes claimant Melvin Dummar was a regular guest at the Clown Motel in
 Tonopah, Nev. When I stayed there awhile back I was hoping to run into him but the manager said
 my timing was off. Dummar has since died.
Brush with Fame 2: When Hughes was hiding in the Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, BC in 1972, I
 recall visiting that city and seeing the top floors with all the drapes pulled and men in business suits
 patrolling the balconies.

Albert B. Moore

Albert B. Moore, July, 1939 (Warrenton, Va.) -

VP candidate for American Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee (2000): Donald Augustine Rogers (1928-2018)
Running mate with nominee (2004): Diane Beall Templin (b. 1947)
Popular vote (2000): ? (0.00%)
Popular vote (2004): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2000, 2004): 0/538

The campaign (2000):

Century 21 would not be kind to the American Party in terms of Electoral politics. Starting in election year 2000 they failed to gain ballot access in any state for all the subsequent Presidential elections to date. Yet they still nominated tickets 2000-2008, and 2016.

39 delegates assembled in Oklahoma City in late March 2000 and nominated controversial former Republican California legislator and oil man Don Rogers for President and Virginia Shaklee distributor Al Moore for VP.

Consistently in the hard Right and embracing numerous conspiracy theories, the group described itself in 2000: "The American Party is a political party of God-fearing people who are pro-life and revere the Constitution. The American Party recognizes that the right to keep and bear arms is the defense of the nation and that the New World Order is a world government to replace the Constitution ... The Campaign announces that its chief goal is to make each citizen safe and secure in their person and property and to reestablish the Constitution as the law of the land. The Campaign slogan is: NO MORE CLINTON-GORE! VOTE FOR ROGERS-MOORE! and REPLACE AL GORE WITH AL MOORE!"

The Party was quite transparent about who they considered to be the best and the brightest to occupy the highest levels of government--

ROGERS-MOORE CABINET NOMINATIONS!
State -- G. Edward Griffin
Treasury -- Byron Dale
Defense -- Robert Dornan or (USCG Ret) Capt. G. Russell Evans
Commerce -- Gov. Evan Mechum
Agriculture -- Tom Anderson
Justice -- John Ashcroft
HUD -- Bob Boyd
OMB -- Doris Feimer
HHS -- Kay Cole James
Interior -- Helen Chenoweth-Hage
Education -- Ezola Foster
Energy -- Walter Myers
Labor -- Linda Patterson
Transportation -- Douglas Joy
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff -- (USAF Ret) Gen. Benton K. Partin
VA Secretary -- Elmer Vaughan
UN -- Arly Pedersen
EPA -- Diane Templin
National Security Advisor -- Pat Buchanan
FBI -- Riley Donica
Fed Chairman -- G. Edward Griffin
Surgeon General -- Dr. Leonard Horowitz
Chief Justice -- Antonin Scalia
Supreme Court Nominees -- Diane Templin; Judge Roy Moore, Alabama; Robert Bork

Not only was the Rogers/Moore ticket not on any ballot, they apparently did not register as write-in candidates as well.

The campaign (2004):

At their convention on July 11-12, 2003 the American Party nominated Robert N. Boyd of Fortville, Ind. for President and Walter C. Thompson of Culpeper, Va. for VP. Before the month was over Boyd withdrew from the race, followed a bit later by Thompson.

The Executive Committee met at a Travelodge in Kenner, La., on Jan. 10, 2004 and selected Diane Beall Templin over Albert Moore by a vote of 7-6. Moore became the VP nominee once again. Templin had been the Presidential nominee for the Party in 1996.

Once again the American Party failed to gain ballot access or become certified write-ins in any state. Templin was running for the US Senate in California at the same time under the American Independent Party, and that appears to be where her energies were directed.

A meeting called by the Clarion Call for Convergence Committee in Aug. 2004 had attendees from America First Party, Independent American Party, and American Party. The topic was the idea of merging the parties on the far Right into one organized political entity. But the largest of them all, the Constitution Party, was not present and nothing came of it.

Here are some selections from the American Party's lengthy platform for 2004-2008:

Preamble

Members of the American Party believe that the original Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights were prepared and adopted by men acting under inspiration from Almighty God, that they are solemn compacts between the people of the states of this nation which all officers of government are under oath to obey, and that the eternal moral laws expressed therein must be adhered to or individual liberty will perish.

--From the Constitution of the American party

The purpose of the American Party is to field candidates who will restore the proper role of government as defined in the Constitution of the United States and interpreted in the tradition of our Founding Fathers. We therefore call for all citizens to inform themselves and enter the political arena with time, money, and dedicated service in order that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people may not perish from the earth.

The proper role of government is limited to those spheres of activity within which the individual citizen, in the absence of government, had the right to act. By deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed, government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm, theft, and involuntary servitude. It cannot claim the power to redistribute money or property, nor to force citizens to perform acts of charity against their will.

The American Party offers this platform in the sincere belief that these positions on the most important issues of the day are both right and necessary for peace, prosperity, justice, and domestic tranquility.

Education

The present crisis in education must be solved in stages and at several levels. First, so that no parents need defy the law by refusing to send their children to schools of which they disapprove, compulsory attendance laws should be repealed. Second, the control of schools should be returned to the local system by congressional limitation of the jurisdiction of federal courts and by an end to busing for racial balance. Third, the federal government should be eliminated entirely from interference in local schools by putting an end to federal aid. There should be no federal government control of textbooks. The selection of textbooks and approval of their content must be the responsibility of parents and local boards of education. We oppose the federal government's role in education including, but not limited to, the Federal Department of Education, "Goals 2000", "No Child Left Behind", and the total National Education Association agenda.

Fourth, the only permanently satisfactory solution to the many problems of general education - busing, curricula, discipline, drugs, the ban on prayer in schools - is decentralization of the educational system and the adoption of free enterprise methods. The education of children is the God-given responsibility of their parents, and private schools should be available without the additional burden of public (government) school taxes. Control over school policy and subject matter must be vested in the parents. To this end the American Party applauds those parents who are courageously offering their children academically superior education in private schools or at home, and extends the grateful thanks of the nation to them for refusing to relinquish the education of their children to the state.

Executive Orders

The Constitution specifies that only Congress may enact laws and that it may not delegate its legislative powers. Therefore, though the President may issue executive orders to administer the executive branch of government, neither the President nor any other officer may create laws decreed by executive agencies such as OSHA and the IRS. All such existing so-called laws should be declared void and further executive orders forbidden.

Homosexuality/Lesbianism

Homosexuality and lesbianism are a plague sweeping the nation and creating a wave of disease and immorality. Normal sex is an intimate relation between a man and a woman. All homosexual relations are acts of sodomy. People engaging in such acts should have no special rights or privileges and those living in such relationships have no familial rights or privileges such as adoption of children and legitimacy of marriage.

Labor

Labor rates must be established by the marketplace and not by government. Union membership and dues must be entirely voluntary. We favor the repeal of the National Labor Relations Act. We support Right-to-Work laws.

The use by unions of labor, donations, equipment, and money obtained from union dues and pension funds to control the candidates of political parties is both immoral and illegal. Those guilty of giving or receiving such funds should be prosecuted just as certainly as corporations which break the laws concerning campaign contributions.

Government workers hold their jobs as a privilege, not a right, and essential government services must not be interrupted by strikes by public employees. Collective bargaining by public employees must therefore be made illegal.

Public Morality

Neither Congress nor the federal courts should infringe the rights of state and local governments to enact constitutional laws restricting public obscenity, pornography, and illicit sex acts, especially prostitution and homosexuality.

Tax dollars must not be used to finance immoral art, literature, speech or actions.

Regional Government

Regional and metro government run by appointed bureaucrats is a device to impose direct federal control on metropolitan areas and to bypass State and local sovereignty performing an end run around the Constitution and backers of such schemes themselves admit it. As such, it is a blow against local control of representative government and should be abolished. No appointed official should have authority equal to that of elected officials within the same jurisdiction. The creation of regional government is in violation of the principles of the Constitution and is a brazen act of treason against our country.

New World Order and World Government

"New World Order" means world socialist government. This great evil is promoted as a way for the United Nations to function as envisioned by its founders.

Necessary companions of world government are world taxation, centralized world regulation of commerce, international control of the production and consumption of oil, a single world currency, and a world army to enforce the above.

A casualty of implementing the "New World Order" will be national sovereignty and the Constitution of the United States. The American Party is unalterably opposed to world government and to the "New World Order."

It is for this reason we oppose such treaties as NAFTA, GATT-WTO and other UN conventions as destructive of national sovereignty and as attempts to circumvent the Constitution of the United States.

War

Our military involvements in Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Persian Gulf were undeclared wars. We, therefore, would require that foreign military actions cannot be pursued more than 72 hours without a declaration of war by Congress. We denounce any no-win policy as treasonous. It is immoral to draft anyone to fight in an undeclared war. 

Election history:
1999 - Virginia House of Representatives (Independent) - defeated
2004 - American Party nomination for US President - defeated

Other occupations: Shaklee distributor, employee Virginia Dept. of Taxation, employee Philip Morris Tobacco, computer analyst, C.E.O. of Get Moore For Your Money Enterprises

Notes:
Virginia Tech 1963 B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Physics.
Born in the same city as William C. Payne, VP for the National Negro Liberty Party 1904.

Gary Richard Van Horn

Gary Richard Van Horn, October 12, 1935 (Spokane, Wash.) - July 27, 2018 (Sterling, Utah)

VP candidate for American Party (aka Independent American Party aka Utah Independent American Party) (1996)

Running mate with nominee: Diane Beall Templin (b. 1947)
Popular vote: 1,847 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Diane Templin was a candidate in search of a party in 1996. Templin, an attorney based in Escondido, Calif. had previously run for offices as an independent and Republican. In this election she sought the nomination of the Reform Party, and was apparently a contender for the US Taxpayers Party. In earlier elections Templin had expressed the view that land mines should be used at the border to stop illegal aliens and that the Bible be included as a document upon which all of our laws should be based.

She found a venue with two parties that year, gaining ballot access in Colorado with the American Party and in Utah with the Independent American Party. Her running-mate in both states was perennial candidate Gary Van Horn. There was brief period of time in the mid-1990s when the two parties were affiliated.

Templin felt the US troops should be recalled from Bosnia and instead used to control crime in urban areas and the border to protect Americans from "the invasion of illegal drugs, substances, diseases and aliens." She pushed for the elimination of the Federal Reserve and the IRS as well as the departments of Energy, Education, and Housing. She wanted to sell much of the federally owned lands. Templin supported ending all foreign relations with China. Van Horn told the media that the major two parties were "just different wings of the Socialist Party."

The Templin/Van Horn ticket finished 7 out of 14 in Utah with 1,290 (0.19%) and 11 out of 13 in Colorado with 557 (0.04%), 

Election history: 
1992 - Governor of Utah (American Party) - defeated
1994 - US Senate (Utah) (American Party) - defeated
1998 - US Senate (Utah) (Independent American) - defeated
1999 - Prohibition Party nomination for President - defeated
2000 - Utah State Senate (Independent American) - defeated
2004 - US Senate (Utah) (Constitution Party) - defeated
2006 - Utah State Senate (Constitution Party) - defeated
2010 - Utah State House of Representatives (Constitution Party) - defeated

Other occupations: rocket engineer, electronics engineer, sales, inventor 

Buried: Manti Cemetery (Manti, Utah)

Notes:
Washington State trivia alert! Born in Spokane and raised in Bellingham.
Scuba diver.
Held several patents.
LDS Church.
Buried in the same cemetery as Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who I actually had a connection with as we shared the same publisher, Starhead Comix.
Moved to Utah in 1964.
One of his opponents in the 1992 race was Merrill Cook.
1994 opponents included Orrin Hatch (winner) and Lawrence Rey Topham.
Very nearly became the Prohibition Party nominee for President in 1999.

Albion Williamson Knight Jr.

Albion Williamson Knight Jr., June 1, 1924 (Jacksonville, Fla.) - May 22, 2012 (Gaithersburg, Md.)

VP candidate for US Taxpayers Party (aka Taxpayers Party aka Amercan Independent Party aka Independent Voters Party aka Independent American Party of Nevada aka American Party) (1992)

VP candidate for US Taxpayers Party (aka Taxpayer Party aka Constitutional Party aka Independent) (1996)

Running mate with nominee (1992, 1996): Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote (1992): 33,585 (0.03%)
Popular vote (1996): 41,996 (0.04%)
Electoral vote (1992, 1996): 0/538

The campaign (1992):

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 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.

There are not a lot of examples of Knight taking an active role in the 1992 electioneering, although he did appear on a C-SPAN discussion with Nancy Lord (Libertarian) and Barbara Garson (Socialist).

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.

The Phillips/Knight team had their strongest results in: South Carolina 0.22%, Mississippi 0.17%, Alaska ; Arkansas 0.15% each, Nevada 0.13%, California ; New Mexico 0.11% each, Washington 0.10%. In Arkansas they finished in 4th place.

The campaign (1996):

The 1996 Presidential campaign for the US Taxpayers Party really begins with columnist, pundit, and speechwriter Pat Buchanan's bid for the Republican nomination. His surprisingly popular insurgent effort sounded the call for the forces of the rapidly growing hard Right and evangelical wings of the Republican Party. He called them his "Pitchfork Army" in the best of Populist demagogue traditions. Some of his critics called him "David Duke without the sheets" but the US Taxpayers Party really wanted Buchanan on their ticket and made no secret about it.

Howard Phillips, who basically was the US Taxpayers Party and had been the first Presidential nominee of the new party in 1992, watched as Buchanan gave Sen. Bob Dole a big scare early in the season but then bombed out on Super Tuesday in Mar. 1996 and suspended his campaign. This made Buchanan a free agent in the eyes of Phillips, who told a reporter, "My first choice is Pat Buchanan as an active candidate. My second choice is Pat Buchanan as an inactive candidate." The plan, if Buchanan was tied up, was to run someone else for President and still electioneer as the Party of Buchanan. Then, after they won the election, instruct the Electors to brush aside whatever name was officially in the ballot and cast their lots for Pat Buchanan.

For his part, Buchanan was playing coy and openly considered running in the third party if they gained ballot access in all 50 states (they didn't make it). He used that leverage to influence the Republican ticket, saying if Dole did not select a strong pro-life running-mate, then maybe a Party of Buchanan wouldn't be such a bad idea. Dole's subsequent selection of Rep. Jack Kemp was apparently sufficient and Buchanan came on board and endorsed the Republican ticket. So that was the end of that.

So once again the new party turned to Howard Phillips as the Presidential nominee. It would be the second of three runs for him. He described his long range plans for the US Taxpayers Party: "Our main constituencies are pro-lifers, home-schoolers and those concerned with the expansion of government. We want to establish a firm enough position so that as the Republican Party dissolves, as I believe it will, ours will be seen as an alternative."

Platform issues included: Balancing the Federal budget "immediately" -- abolishing the IRS, Dept. of Education, NEA, HUD, ATF, CIA -- Pull the US out of the UN, NATO, NAFTA, GATT -- Impose a moratorium on immigration -- Oppose abortion -- Support states' rights

Phillips opposed what he called the "Satanzation of America." He wrote, "The goal of the New World Order is to remove God from His throne and replace Him with power-seekers who desire not freedom UNDER God, but freedom FROM GOD." He also said, "My comprehensive object is to restore American jurisprudence to its biblical presuppositions and the federal government to its constitutional boundaries."

The campaign had some support from other third parties. The American Independent Party in California had become an affiliate and would remain so for the next decade. The Right to Life in New York, which had endorsed the Republicans in 1992, backed Phillips in 1996. The Concerned Citizens Party, based in Connecticut, signed on as well.

The US Taxpayers Party drafted Herbert W. Titus as the VP in 1996, but Phillips was on the ballot with four other running-mates as well, all considered stand-ins: Albion Knight his 1992 running-mate was on the ballot in Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia -- Joseph A. Zdonczyk in Connecticut and Illinois -- Samuel Blumenfeld in Kentucky -- and Robert J. Meucci Sr. in Mississippi. In Arizona no VP was listed.

The Phillips/Knight ticket finished with: Virginia 0.57% (best percentage for the USTP in 1996), Pennsylvania 0.43%, South Dakota 0.28%, Iowa 0.18%, Minnesota 0.16%, Vermont 0.15%, Tennessee 0.10%

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army Brigadier General, management consultant, Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America, co-founder Church of England (Continuing), author

Buried: Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as third party VPs Merritt Barton Curtis and Edward Moore Kennedy.

Doris E. Feimer

Doris E. Feimer, October 23, 1933 (New Leipzig, ND) - November 5, 2003 (Bismarck, ND)

VP candidate for American Party (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Robert J. Smith (b. ca1934)
Popular vote: 292 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

As the American Party subdivided itself into ballot oblivion, a number of members split off in 1990 and formed the Christian Party (which in itself went nowhere fast). The South Carolina and Rhode Island contingents of the American Party also bailed and supported Howard Phillips of the fast growing new US Taxpayers Party.

In May 1992 the American Party in Utah filed suit against the Independent American Party. The IAP had been founded by anti-porn activist Joy Beech in 1987. The AP claimed the IAP had performed trademark infringement through their name and had lifted part of the AP platform.

But it was all just fighting for scraps. The American Party, which was basically the John Birch Society Party, was quickly becoming a relic of the past and was out-spent and out-manned by other political groups who had absorbed some of the traditional supporters of the AP. The Republicans had co-opted the Christian Right, the Populists were attracting the racists, and the Libertarians had the Jeffersonian small government crowd. On top of that, the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union was extinct.

After a late start, the AP nominated Robert J. Smith, a retired physicist from Taylorsville, Utah, for President. He had experience running as an American Party candidate for the US Senate (1988) and US House (1990). His running-mate was Doris E. Feimer of Bismarck.

Feimer was a very prolific letter-to-the-editor writer. The Bismarck Tribune published this one from her on May 11, 1992. Interesting she modestly does not mention her role as VP:

As an independent candidate for president, Robert J. Smith, a businessman from Utah, heads the ticket for the American Party of the United States. As an independent candidate, he will need 4,000 signatures on petitions for the name to appear on the November ballot in North Dakota.

Robert Smith has a clear stand on the issues. He supports the Second Amendment, so that there will be no Tiananmen Square in this country. Smith believes that federal money must not be used to finance immorality. He opposes abortion and euthanasia.

He advocates that we must put our nation's interests ahead of any "New World Order." The "New World Order" was Adolf Hitler's dream -- it should not be ours.

Robert Smith, as president, will not launch undeclared, no-win wars. A war should never be waged by Americans without a congressional declaration of war.

Voters will be seeing petitions for Robert Smith for president. They can help put this man of principles on the ballot by signing.

Isn't it time we had a man of principles in the White House?

In other letters during the campaign Feimer supported the use of nuclear power, opposed sending more foreign aid, and warned of the dangers of socialized health care. But oddly she never actually identified herself as a candidate for office, or at least I couldn't find such an example.

In their lowest popular vote tally for President, the AP earned 292 votes (0.04%) in Utah, the only state where they were on the ballot.

Election history:
1976 - North Dakota State Treasurer (American Party) - defeated

Other occupations: teacher, office manager, library volunteer, Chair of North Dakota branch of the American Party

Buried: Zion Cemetery (Elgin, ND)

Notes:
Birth surname: Bierwagen.
Taught school in Alaska for several years.
Member of the John Birch Society.
Was held up by two men at gunpoint while working in a hotel office in Oct. 1988.

Kenneth Earl Jeppson

Kenneth Earl Jeppson, December 12, 1928 (Utah) -

VP candidate for American Party (1988)

Running mate with nominee: Delmar Dennis (1940-1996)
Popular vote: 3,474 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The American Party once again selected Delmer Dennis as their Presidential nominee at their June 1987 convention. Former Republican Congressman George Hansen of Idaho was also a contender but his connection the Republican and Populist parties was a minus. Dennis professed to not wanting the nomination and said he would step aside if Hansen renounced his allegiance to other political parties. The Populists had also absorbed a large chunk of the hated rival American Independent Party. In addition there was the small problem of Hansen being in prison for numerous ethics and financial crimes but that didn't seem to bother the American Party.

The running-mate was Earl Jeppson from Utah who had been in a leadership position in the Party since the 1970s. Compared to past American Party campaigns this one was very low-key. The Reagan administration had managed to co-opt many aspects of the American Party's Right-wing agenda, eating into the third party's base.

In Utah the Dennis/Jeppson ticket placed 4th out of 9 with 0.33%, and Minnesota they placed 10th out of 11 with 0.06%. Jeppson had spent time campaigning in Wyoming but the American Party did not make the Presidential ballot in that state.

"We were only on ballots in Utah and Minnesota, I think," Jeppson said after the election. "We just didn't have much money to do any campaigning. That hurt, as did the lack of cooperation from the media to give us any coverage at all. I'm not throwing stones at the media, though. I guess if we had given them some news, they would have printed it."

Election history: none

Other occupations: American Party National Executive Director, heating and air conditioning business, inorganic chemist, real estate agent

Notes:
Mormon
"God loves this country, and God is behind the American Party, and to that I can testify"--Earl Jeppson, 1976
"If you want to know what's wrong with America, go to Washington, because that's where it's at. If anybody wants to know what's right about America, they ought to come to Utah."--Earl Jeppson, 1976
"Our intention is to build on the Constitution. Not as it is known today, but as it was framed by our founding fathers ... a divinely inspired document given to us."--Earl Jeppson, 1976

Traves Virgil Brownlee

Traves Virgil Brownlee, April 24, 1947 (Keokuk, Iowa) - April 2, 2016 (Lexington, Ky.)

VP candidate for American Party (1984)

Running mate with nominee: Delmar Dennis (1940-1996)
Popular vote: 13,154 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

When it comes to high drama, the 1984 American Party ticket is hard to beat.

After their episode in the 1980 election that resulted in a fracturing party and low poll numbers, the American Party returned to their hot button issue roots with policies influenced by the Bible and Brother John Birch. Their bitter rivals the American Independent Party merged with the Populist Party in the 1984 election, eliminating a certain degree of confusion for extreme Right wing voters and election officials who had previously easily mixed up the American and American Independent parties. At first blush the AP and AIP might seem like anti-federal government Tweedledum and Tweedledee but upon closer examination they really had two very different base groups. Since the Presidency was already occupied by someone from the far Right you know the American Party had to be pretty hardcore.

Roughly, generally, shotgun approach speaking here-- the AP seemed to me to be more concerned about philosophical purity and had a foundation of being an anti-Communist, survivalist, Christian nationalist, John Birch Society group. The John Schmitz wing. The AIP, on the other hand, appeared to be more a regional Dixie party for the diehards who refused to accept the fact that desegregation was the law of the land. By 1984 the AIP ceased being a national party.   

The American Party Presidential selection was Delmar Dennis, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan turned FBI informer. To most political parties that would be a double negative whammy, but not for the American Party. I would have loved to heard the nomination speech for that one. Dennis' story is pretty engaging, but we are going to focus on his even more interesting running mate, Traves V. Brownlee of Frederica, Del., nominated in Dec. 1983.

The Delaware newspapers called Brownlee a "perennial nonconformist." And as we shall see, he would not have much time for campaigning.

Starting around 1980 Brownlee would smugly inform tax protester (Brownlee liked the term "tax patriot" better) crowds that he had not paid any income tax since 1976. That method of political agitation is bound to attract the kind of attention most people would prefer to avoid, but Brownlee almost dared the government to do something about it as he promoted his group, Americans for Constitutional Taxation. A simple search on Internet reveals that dozens of tax protester court cases include plaintiffs or defendants involved with ACT.

He became a public figure and appeared willing to shoulder the burden of legal consequences that seemed almost inevitable. Brownlee told the press he believed the concept of public schools and income tax came directly from the Communist Manifesto. He contended the US Constitution and the Bible supported his acts of civil disobedience.

In Apr. 1981 Brownlee was arrested for failing to appear in court on a charge of operating a business without a license (convicted in 1982). In May 1981 he was sued by the local school district for home schooling his five children, around ages 9-14, without certification (the judge ruled against him). In Nov. 1981 their local municipality got on his case for having livestock within city limits and the Brownlees were arrested. In Jan. 1982 he was convicted for building a stable without a permit. Brownlee also did not believe in cooperating with the US Census, possessing a driver's license, renewing license plate tabs, or registering a vehicle. He gave up being a Baptist minister in order to be a full time tax protester .. excuse me, tax patriot.

In Jan. 1984 federal agents and state police raided the Brownlee's home and the local American Party headquarters, taking away boxes of documents and "an armload of rifles."

During the campaign it was made public the Brownlees were in the process of divorce.

Brownlee wrote a letter to the editor of the Morning News (Wilmington, Del.), published Feb. 24, 1984. It summarizes his mission but interestingly omits any mention of his Vice-Presidential campaign:

Taxation by state is theft

The U.S. Supreme Court said that the power to tax is the power to destroy. However, the policies of every modern state equate the power to tax with the power to create social progress.

But the command of God to exercise dominion and to subdue the earth is not given to institutions but to man himself. Man, by means of God's law, by work, thrift, is called to establish God's Kingdom in every area of life and thought. The state, by its system of taxation apart from Scripture, assumes independence from God. A non-biblical form of taxation by the state becomes theft.

Taxation is a means whereby man seeks to create a false Kingdom of God, in reality the Kingdom of Humanism, by means of theft. The American tax revolt evades the basic theological issue.

Patriots should arm themselves with repentance and weapons. God may grant us Liberty of soul and social order.

Traves Brownlee
Frederica

The editor attached a note about Brownlee's VP status. Brownlee joins many other candidates in declaring God is on their side.

A bit of trivia. On Apr. 21, 1984 Brownlee was part of a "No-Tax Seminar" in Almonesson, NJ on a panel that included 1972 America First Party VP nominee Irving Homer.

Brownlee on other issues:

--We could eliminate millions of [government] jobs, put a freeze on hiring and move to start eliminating people who were worthless. For example, there are hundreds of people working for the Tennessee Valley Authority who wouldn't be missed if they did not show up for work.

--I don't think we should feed murderers. I'd just as well have his head cut off and get it over with.

During the entire campaign Brownlee watched as his ACT colleagues, one by one, were arrested. Some were also American Party candidates for public office in Delaware. His disciples wanted Brownlee to act as their defense attorney but the courts would not allow it since he was not an attorney although he acted as his own. Brownlee would attend their trials and appear to silently direct them from the audience.

In Sept. 1984, while other candidates were in full electioneering mode, Brownlee was arrested on the tax charges and held in Gander Hill Prison. Initially the bail was $500,000 but reduced to $100,000. He finally made bail right after the election by putting up his house and with help from "a Texas lawyer" (Joseph Izen?).

A former associate of Brownlee's who testified against him at the trial later told the press, "Traves Brownlee was a combination of P.T. Barnum and the Rev. Jim Jones. He believed in Barnum's philosophy that there is sucker born every minute and he had the mania of Jim Jones to control people's thoughts and emotions."

In Dec. 1984 Brownlee was convicted in a US District Court of conspiracy to obstruct the IRS from assessing and collecting taxes.  Prior to sentencing he was held without bail as the Court felt he was a flight risk due to alleged evidence that Brownlee had set up safe houses and in addition could be considered an instigator of anti-government violence. In Jan. 1985 he was sentenced to five years in prison, but walked from a prison camp in Kansas less than two months after being incarcerated and made his way out of the country with the help of his father, who later served time for aiding in the escape.

Brownlee had eventually found his way to the Dominican Republic, had another family or two, and was finally apprehended Jan. 1, 1991 at the town of his birth, Keokuk, Iowa. 13 months was added to his prison sentence. At the end of 1991, Brownlee's father, the one who had helped him escape, was murdered in Keokuk in what is politely called a crime of passion.

Apparently in Century 21 Brownlee was involved in some kind of operation called the Guardian Equity Group or Guardian Equity Fund and he used the name Robert or Roberto Ledesma. Alleged to have been an enormous scam by clients who lost their money, Brownlee's operation was ended with a government raid in 2010.

The Dennis/Brownlee ticket was on the ballot in five states: South Carolina 0.36%, Indiana 0.34%, Utah 0.21%, Delaware 0.11%, and Kentucky 0.03%. In Delaware and Indiana they placed third although in the former it was by only one vote ahead of the Libertarian Party, 269-268.

In the event the Dennis/Brownlee ticket would have won, the VP would have been in prison but there is nothing on the Constitution that would have prevented him from taking office even behind bars.

Election history:
1982 - Delaware Attorney General (American Party) - defeated

Other occupations: US Air Force, Baptist minister, self-employed contractor, founder of Americans for Constitutional Taxation, alleged insurance agent

Buried: Camp Nelson National Cemetery (Nicholasville, Ky.)

Notes:
Was raised in the area of Peoria, Ill.
Basically had four families within his life.
Was a "Colonel" in the local Posse Comitatus.