Mark Gerald Elworth Jr.

 

Mark Gerald Elworth Jr., August 6, 1976 (Omaha, Neb.) -

VP candidate for Legal Marijuana Now Party (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Daniel Robert Vacek (b. 1961)
Popular vote: 13,538 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

A bit of history-- The Independent Grassroots Party split from the Grassroots Party in 1995/1996. According to newspaper accounts at the time the division seemed to be the old single-issue vs. multi-issue platforms, a struggle over purity that is rather common in the history of third parties.

The Grassroots Party had been formed in 1986 to promote the legalization of marijuana and had already run candidates for President in two election cycles. In 1996 they decided to broaden their platform to include, according to the St. Cloud Times, "legalized prostitution, removal of all gun restrictions and a lower legal age for consensual sex." So a number of members who felt the original focus was being obscured walked out and formed the Independent Grassroots Party, making an effort to stay with the original focus.

In 1996 the IGP ran a Presidential ticket of John Birrenbach/George Lee McMahon. Two years later the Party changed their name to the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Although active in campaign politics at more local levels in the intervening years, LMNP would not wage another Presidential effort until 2016.

The Party campaign issues included erasing past and present court convictions as well as ending drug testing in the workplace. A side controversy, not so much in evidence in 2016 but surfaced later, was the charge that Republicans were secretly doing what they could to promote LMNP in order to siphon votes away from Democrats.

Also in 2016 Elworth was seeking a seat in the Nebraska State Legislature. He was officially nonpartisan but apparently ran under the auspices of the Green Party.

On the ballot in two states, the Vacek/Elworth ticket finished with 0.38% in Minnesota (6th out of 9) and 0.14% in Iowa (8th out of 10). Nationally they finished in 10th place, ahead of the Socialist Workers Pary.

Howie Hawkins/Angela Walker won the nomination of the Socialist Party USA in Oct. 2019. On July 11, 2020, Hawkins/Walker received the Green Party nomination in their Age of COVID online convention. In Aug. 2020 Hawkins/Walker were nominated (some sources say "endorsed") by the Legal Marijuana Now Party. In the case of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, Rudy Reyes became the Presidential nominee of the Legal Marijuana Now Party ca. Mar. 2020 when Presidential nominee Mark Elworth Jr stepped down to run for US Congress as a Democrat in Nebraska. After winning the primary Elworth switched back to the LMNP and resumed his top spot on the ticket while Reyes once again became the VP. In August 2020 the LMNP dropped their ticket entirely and backed Hawkins.

In Feb. 2021 Elworth attempted to form a new entity called the MAGA Patriots Party of Nebraska [!!!] while at the same time being successful in gaining official Cornhusker recognition for the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

Election history:
2014 - Governor of Nebraska (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2016 - Nebraska State Legislature (Nonpartisan) - primary - defeated
2017 - Omaha, Neb. City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2018 - US Senate (Neb.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - withdrew/disqualified
2018 - US House of Representatives (Iowa) (Legal Medical [Marijuana] Now Party) - defeated
2020 - US House of Representatives (Neb.) (Democratic) - defeated
2020 - US President (Legal Marijuana Now Party) - withdrew, reinstated, withdrew

Other occupations: state party chairperson of Nebraska Legal Marijuana Now Party, activist

Notes:
Rudy Reyes was interviewed on this blog in that window of time shortly after he first became the 2020 LMNP VP nominee
https://thirdpartysecondbananas.blogspot.com/2019/07/rudy-reyes-2020-vp-legal-marijuana-now_23.html

Arlin Dee Troutt Jr.

Arlin Dee Troutt Jr., January 15, 1950 (Tennessee) - 

VP candidate for Grassroots Party (1996)

Running mate with nominee: Dennis Robert Peron (1945-2018)
Popular vote: 5,378 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Grassroots Party was formed in 1986 to promote the legalization of marijuana and had already run candidates for President in two election cycles. In May 1996 the Party nominated Dennis Peron of California for President and Arlin Troutt of Arizona for VP in a teleconference. Both gentlemen had already entered the status of legal martyrs to the cause by this time.

Dennis Peron was a Vietnam War vet who settled in San Francisco and became an activist for Gay rights and medicinal marijuana. The loss of his partner to AIDS in 1990 added a sense of urgency to his efforts and he worked to change government policy via public referendum. He was one of the co-authors of California Proposition 215 which was also on the ballot in 1996. This was one of the early successful steps in decriminalizing the substance and starting the whole debate and problems of practical application of state law vs. federal law regarding cannabis that continues to this day. Less than a month before the election, the State of California arrested Peron on a variety of marijuana-related charges. It was not his first brush in court with the authorities.

Arlin Troutt's case was more severe. The colorful singer musician who was once associated with Willie Nelson had started a hempwear clothing line in Arizona called U.S. Hemp and had even received letters of thanks from Bill Clinton and Al Gore when he sent them samples of his product. But in 1993 Troutt found himself accused by the federal prosecutors of conspiracy to transport and sell massive amounts of marijuana. It took a couple years for authorities to catch up to him as he made himself scarce.

When they did catch him in early 1995, he was held without bail. At his trial in Minneapolis he was given eight years in prison. Troutt made a political speech right before he was sentenced, concluding with, "Our system of justice has been compromised and tainted by economic profit and the promise of political advancement provided by the drug war. Fear and ignorance guided by greed and blind ambition created the prohibition of hemp. I am morally and intellectually compelled to resist these forces. When the American people find out what hemp is and why it's really illegal may they deal with this government as harshly as it has dealt with me." His statement was met with prolonged applause from supporters who were present, but some felt the judge gave Troutt an extra year or more simply because of this rallying incident.

As an incarcerated candidate during an election season Troutt found his fellow prisoners to be less than interested in government affairs: "I'm trying to campaign, believe me, I'm trying. I'm talking to everybody I can. But the thing is, most of the people in here are younger than me. They don't seem to be, ummmmm, politically oriented. I talk to them and they say, 'What do you mean register to vote?' And then they go back to watching 'Baywatch.'"

In 1996 the Grassroots Party decided to broaden their platform to include, according to the St. Cloud Times, "legalized prostitution, removal of all gun restrictions and a lower legal age for consensual sex." So a number of members who felt the original focus was being obscured walked out and formed the Independent Grassroots Party, making an effort to stay with the original mission.

The Peron/Troutt ticket appeared on the ballot in two states and the popular vote result was Minnesota 0.22% where they placed 6th out of 11, and Vermont 0.19% where they finished 7 out of 10. Although they did not have a huge impact in the Presidential contest, the passage of California Proposition 215 would be a very historic change.

Election history: none

Other occupations: singer, musician, artist, clothier, Peace Corps, magician's assistant, restaurant owner, cockfighting promoter 

Notes:
Troutt has written about being left-handed in a right-handed world, and I know what he means.
Also uses the name Ulysses Samuel Hemp.
Served some prison time on a drug-related charge in the 1970s.

George Lee McMahon

Below: Jim Carlson

George Lee McMahon, July 22, 1950 (Algona, Iowa) - November 30, 2019 (Humboldt, Iowa)

VP candidate for Independent Grassroots Party (1996)
VP candidate for Grassroots Party (2012)

Running mate with nominee (1996): John Birrenbach (b. 1961)
Running mate with nominee (2012): James Robert Carlson (b. 1957)
Popular vote (1996): 787 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2012): 3,149 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1996, 2012): 0/538

The campaign (1996):

The Independent Grassroots Party split from the Grassroots Party in 1995/1996. According to newspaper accounts at the time the division seemed to be the old single-issue vs. multi-issue platforms, a struggle over purity that is rather common in the history of third parties.

The Grassroots Party had been formed in 1986 to promote the legalization of marijuana and had already run candidates for President in two election cycles. In 1996 they decided to broaden their platform to include, according to the St. Cloud Times, "legalized prostitution, removal of all gun restrictions and a lower legal age for consensual sex." So a number of members who felt the original focus was being obscured walked out and formed the Independent Grassroots Party, making an effort to stay with the original focus.

For President the new party nominated John "Sparky" Birrenbach (sometimes called Birrenback in a few sources), the founder of the Institute for Hemp. Based in St. Paul, Minn., Birrenbach's priorities appeared to be the use of hemp in agriculture and medicine.

The running-mate was George McMahon, who was the fifth patient out of 13 who had been approved to be treated and received medical marijuana under the federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. Diagnosed with nail-patella syndrome, he had been allowed into the experiment in 1990 and was issued 300 joints a month. In 1992 the program was shut down but the six remaining patients were grandfathered in. Actually over 50 patients had been approved but President Bush stopped the process before it hit full steam.

The Birrenbach/McMahon ticket placed 9th out of 11 on the Minnesota ballot with 0.04% of the popular vote in the only state where they were listed as a choice for voters. In 1998 the Independent Grassroots Party changed their name to the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

The campaign (2012):

2012 was a difficult year for the Grassroots Party national ticket. According to Jim Carlson, proprietor of a headshop in Duluth, Minn. called The Last Place on Earth, he was drafted into the position since his establishment had become something of a regional cause célèbre. He was nominated as the Grassroots Party candidate for President in the midst of raids and investigations by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

George McMahon jumped parties and was chosen as the running-mate. He was also running for a City Council position in Livermore, Iowa at the same time.

If the press covered the Grassroots Party Presidential ticket at all, it was in connection to Carlson's legal woes. Only on the ballot in Minnesota they placed sixth with 0.11% of the vote. In the local Livermore election, McMahon was defeated 98-61.

In 2013 Carlson was found guilty in a US District Court on 51 felony counts centered around selling and distributing illegal and banned synthetic substances. The last I could find, he was serving a 17.5 year sentence in a federal prison in the Milan, Mich. area.

Election history:
2006 - Livermore (Iowa) City Council - defeated
2012 - Livermore (Iowa) City Council - defeated
2015 - Mayor of Livermore, Iowa - defeated

Other occupations: auto body technician, author, lecturer, co-founder of Iowans for Medical Marijuana, board member for Patients out of Time

Buried: ?

Notes:
Defeated in the 2015 election by a write-in candidate.