Vincent Anthony Suprynowicz Jr., April 26, 1950 (New Haven Conn.) -
VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Arizona Libertarian Party) (2000)
Running mate with nominee: Lester Neil Smith III (b. 1946)
Popular vote: 5,775 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Although L. Neil Smith of Colorado and Vin Suprynowicz of Nevada were a Libertarian Party national ticket in 2000, they were not THE Libertarian Party ticket in 2000. Both of these gentlemen, who are well known writers, were on the ballot only in Arizona. The candidates and locale gave the entire campaign a Far West regional flavor.
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.
Browne would emerge as the official choice of the Party-- except in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State was home to two LP factions.
L. Neil Smith had been involved with the Libertarian Party since the early 1970s, but by 1999 he followed his own path. On July 4 of that year he announced his intention to run an independent campaign for President if his supporters could gather a million online signatures which he said would "convince me I'm not wasting everybody's time and energy." In the end he apparently gathered less than 1,500 participants.
Smith had said in his July 4 announcement, "I've been asked about my independent candidacy -- whether I'd refuse the nomination of the Libertarian Party, which I joined in 1972. (I've learned only recently of a group who want to draft me as the LP candidate for President.) I believe the LP has reached a point where, if I were to walk into its convention with a million petition signatures, or five million, or ten million, the clique that owns the party would still find an excuse to reject my candidacy."
Even so, his name was offered as a potential LP Presidential nominee anyway, but Browne had the game sewn up.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Libertarian Party, which had a contentious relationship with the national Libertarian Party, was in a state of turmoil. On August 6, 2000 the Arizona LP nominated Smith over Browne. The national LP made a legal challenge but the courts decided with the Arizonans and said Browne would have to run under the "Independent" label, but time had run out in order to file. Browne decided not to run in that state, even as a write-in, and on Sept. 25 told Arizona voters to vote for Smith.
Smith's running-mate was Vin Suprynowicz, at the time a newspaper columnist in Nevada who championed libertarianism. Suprynowicz's name would not appear on the ballot since it was Arizona practice to list only the Presidential candidates and not their Vice-Presidents.
Harry Browne weighed in on the Arizona situation on Sept. 13, 2000 in his Campaign Journal:
On the road to La Crosse I hear by cell phone that the Arizona Supreme Court has rejected our plea to have me listed on the Arizona ballot as an independent candidate. The "official" Arizona Libertarian Party is not the organization affiliated with the national Libertarian Party, and it decided to put L. Neil Smith's name on the ballot as the Libertarian candidate for President. We filed petitions containing more than enough names to qualify as an independent candidate, but the signatures had to be filed before I was the LP's nominee. We applied for an extension, a procedure that almost all court precedents have upheld — but the judge hearing the case misread the precedents and the state Supreme Court refused to hear our appeal.
It's unfortunate that some Libertarians are more concerned with proving they're superior to other Libertarians than they are with bringing about a Libertarian America. But this sort of posturing and back-biting happens in almost any large organization, and we should not expect to be exempt from the norms of human nature.
The Smith/Suprynowicz ticket placed 5th out of 7 in Arizona, with 0.38% of the popular vote in that state. Smith began a second Presidential campaign in late 2003 but quickly abandoned the idea.
Election history: none
Other occupations: journalist, editor, novelist, columnist, lecturer
Notes:
In subsequent years Suprynowicz would support the Free State Project.
