Barbara A. Marlinski, January 16, 1944 -
VP candidate for Independent (aka Non-Partisan) (2004)
Running mate with nominee: Joseph Charles Schriner (b. 1955)
Popular vote: 142 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
A former journalist, substance abuse counselor, and "lay Catholic speaker," Joe Schriner has run for President in every election since 2000. In his debut campaign the man who bills himself as "Average Joe" originally began as a Republican and then switched to Independent. His main method of electioneering was criss-crossing the country in an old recreational vehicle, usually with his family.
In the 2004 campaign season he was back, except this time he started from Day One as an Independent and later acquired a running-mate (I could not identify one for his 2000 run).
Although he had position papers for each of the following planks, his platform in brief was--
Healing the Family
"We believe if you heal the family, you'd heal the country." --Joe, NBC News, Monterey, CA. ~ Stepped up community programs on relationship building, healthy parenting...
Agriculture
~ Return of the small family farm, all over.
~ Stop harmful chemical applications.
~ Farming classes from grade school, up.
Crime
~ Less.
~ More Community Oriented Policing and more Citizen Patrols.
~ Peace-time military to aid local police.
~ More creative prisoner rehabilitation; instead of 'dead-end' warehousing.
Gun Control
"High school shootings; inner city gang shootings; armed robbery... this stuff isn't happening in a vacuum." -- Joe
~ Eliminate poverty and heal families.
~ Teach conflict resolution in the schools.
~ Stiffer penalties for offenders.
Military
~ adhere only to "just war" criteria.
~ Make military more field proficient and cost effective.
~ U.S. takes the lead in nuclear disarmament.
~ More help for those who have served.
Immigration
~ No quotas, just compassion.
~ More help assimilating.
~ More foreign help to those who'd rather stay in their homeland, but because of poverty, or war, might not be able to.
Past Wrongs
~ Tangible amends to Native Americans and African-Americans.
Energy Policy
~ Use a whole lot less energy.
~ Develop "walkable communities" nationwide.
~ Dramatic shift to wind and solar.
Taxes
~ Abolish the income tax.
~ Abolish the IRS.
~ Switch to a National Sales Tax (with monthly "prebate" help for people near the poverty level).
"The tax code book in D.C. now has over 15,000 pages (honest). Hasn't the whole thing gotten, oh, a little out of control?" --Joe
National Debt :
~ Tighten our belts and pay it off so our children don't inherit it.
Work Life :
~ Push for a shorter work week and/or more job sharing. (This will provide more time for God, family, community.)
~ In tandem, promote the Voluntary Simplicity Movement, with a focus on cutting back lifestyle wise.
~ Improve work place environments.
~ Fair wage for all.
"A migrant worker picks food. A Wall Street broker pushes paper. In the scheme of 'the stuff of life,' which, ultimatley, is more important?" --Joe
Revitilization :
~ Promote Downtown Revitilization nationwide.
Sister Cities :
~ Nationwide Sister City Project with Russia.
~ Nationwide Sister City Project with the Third World.
Foreign Debt :
~ Push to forgive Third World debt to give the poor, worldwide, a much better chance for adequate food, health care...
Peace Corps :
~ More incentives for involvement in Peace Corps.
~ More Peace Corps programs tailored to retirees.
"There are currently 12,000 people in the Peace Corps. We'd like to see millions." --Joe
U.S. Department of Peace :
~ Establish a U.S. Department of Peace
~ Become much more proactive, worldwide, in promoting peace.
~ Use models like Atlanta's Jimmy Carter Center to promote peace internationally.
Terrorism :
~ Impact it at it's roots.
*Piqua, Ohio's, Ellen Johns told us her response to Sept. 11 was to financially adopt an orphan child near the Pakistan / Afghan border through Child Reach International.
"Kids in dead-end life situations in inner city America join gangs. Kids in dead-end life situations in the Third World join terrorist cells." --Joe
Life
~ No abortion.
~ Many more local safety nets for moms & dads in crisis pregnancy.
~ No death penalty, no euthenasia.
~ No embryonic stem cell research and no cloning.
~ Respect for God's sovereignty and natural order.
Environment
~ Promote tremendously increased production of non-polluting wind, electric and solar alternatives. Rows of wind turbines on farms in Kansas, Oklahoma, anywhere it's windy.
~ American energy use: cut back.
~ Recycle, almost everything.
~ Heal and restore America's eco-system.
Education
~ More in hands of states & parents.
~ More curriculum flexibility to match student needs.
~ One-third of curriculum: community volunteer work.
~ More classes on "race and culture" to promote better community building. ~ More classes about family life and relationship building.
Health Care
Prevention
~Much more focus on prevention strategies...
~Promote more employee fitness programs.
~Heightened focus and emphasis on school physical education classes
.~More school and community nutrition education.
Social Security
~ Dynamic programs to reestablish the elderly as active, and highly valued, members of their community.
~ Maintain Social Security fund
It isn't clear when and how Barb Marlinski of Lakewood, NY became Schriner's running-mate. In his online campaign diary, he mentions her on July 5, 2004:
We headed north to Jamestown, New York where The Post-Journal reporter Dennis Phillips asked why I was running. I replied: "We’re concerned about violence in society – including to the unborn – drug abuse, the break down of the nuclear family and the extremely overt and addictive sexual acting out in the media and society in general." Phillips also interviewed Barb Marlinski, who we had met earlier, for the article. Barb said: "He is for everything that's important to me and I think he is important for everything that should be important to everybody in the United States."
Later in October he provided a bit of biography for Marlinski:
Barb Marlinski, an "average Jane," if you will, from Lakewood, New York. Barb, who is a Catholic, puts her faith first in her life. In addition, she is on the same page with us on all the issues. She is a wife, mother and a piano teacher. What's more, she told me several years ago she mounted a drive to keep out a proposed "News Store" that was going to sell pornography in her small town of Lakewood, New York. She won. Barb is the type of unsung, "extra-mile" American who is so representative of what makes up the real moral fabric of our country.
Schriner was a certified write-in in Idaho, Maryland, Ohio, and Utah. Most of the votes for the Schriner ticket came from his home state of Ohio.
Election history: none
Other occupations: piano teacher
Notes:
Much of Schriner's platform anticipated the American Solidarity Party, a party which in fact he unsuccessfully sought the Presidential nomination in the 2020 election.
