Leroy John Pletten, November 29, 1946 (Tyler, Minn.) - April 23, 2015 (Tracy, Minn.)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka Concerns of People) (2004)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (2008)
Running mate with nominee (2004, 2008): Gene C. Amondson (1943-2009)
Popular vote (2004): 1,944 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2008): 655 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2004, 2008): 0/538
The campaign (2004):
2004 was one of the more interesting election years for the Prohibition Party. It all came down to personality as the Party experienced a serious public schism that was a long time coming. Some of the details and exact sequence of events have differing and conflicting accounts, so I will tread carefully here.
The figure at the center of the controversy was Earl Dodge. He had been the Party's VP nominee in 1976 and 1980, and the Presidential nominee since 1984. Whether Dodge had kept the flame barely alive when it otherwise would have been extinguished, or ran the Party into the ground with the worst showing in their entire history in 2000 through self-serving behavior will forever be a topic of debate. In that year he barely overcame a challenge for the nomination.
In addition to being a lackluster vote-getter, Dodge was accused of running a nontransparent, secret personality-driven operation and, according to one news report of "inadequate accounting and even thievery."
In the summer of 2003, the timing being the traditional quadrennial time the Prohibition Party meets to nominate their national candidates, Dodge held what today's official Party webpage calls "A private, invitational conference of (some) Prohibition National Committeemen" held in Dodge's living room in Denver. Media reports said only 8 or 9 people were present, including Dodge and two of his daughters.
The running-mate selected was Texas attorney Howard Lydick, a 73-year old heart transplant recipient and lifelong Republican until he joined the Prohibition Party in 1995.
The reformers in the Party rejected the Dodge nomination and when they subsequently met in Fairfield Glade, Tenn. they considered themselves the true and official deal and the Dodge faction to be invalid. They nominated Gene C. Amondson for President with Leroy John Pletten of Michigan as the VP. Some accounts say they attempted to pacify Dodge by awarding him with a "chairman emeritus" title and offering to make Lydick the official running-mate. But it didn't take. Lydick proved himself to be solidly in the Loyalist faction when he said he would not run with anyone but Dodge.
Dodge himself dismissed the Reformer faction, "It's not a split from our party. It's just a couple of people. Sort of like a flea on an elephant that's trying to use our name to get some attention." He also said the publicity garnered by the internal conflict generated more attention than usual for the Party and he deemed that a positive thing.
Amondson was an evangelical preacher and anti-alcohol activist who was a product of rural (Washington State trivia alert!!!) Lewis County, Wash. I talked with him in a lively telephone interview in May, 2007 -- https://thirdpartysecondbananas.blogspot.com/2019/05/loggers-dont-mind-good-fight-gene.html -- and as I pointed out in the resulting article:
He is probably the only person running for President who dresses up as the Grim Reaper to make a political point, whether it is picketing a winery or just walking in front of bars with a bottle in hand asking tavern customers, “Still drinkin’ this stuff?”
Amondson also had something of a career giving presentations as he impersonated the famous preacher Billy Sunday. He seemed to be a controversial character on affluent Vashon Island and one his neighbors told me he was considered by locals to be totally crazy. But boring he wasn't.
Pletten was regarded by the press and by some in his own party, as an opinionated "hairsplitter" with a low tolerance for ambiguity but essentially a decent person. He had once been a whistleblower while a civilian employee of the US Army which was said to have ended his career there. In addition to opposing alcohol he was also an activist against tobacco use. He was rapidly anti-Dodge. In talking with Amondson I had the impression he felt some empathy for Dodge's "sad situation," but Pletten's published remarks were in the warrior category.
Although not an attorney, Pletten's legal experience helped the Reform faction when they contested the Party funds with Dodge. Pletten's previous whistleblower complaint and resulting retaliation went all the way to the US Supreme Court years earlier (No. 90-5961, IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER TERM, 1990, LEROY J. PLETTEN, PETITIONER vs. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, and JOHN O. MARSH, JR., Secretary, Department of the Army, RESPONDENTS). Interesting to note his complaint involved workplace air quality, specifically the hazards to nonsmokers by secondhand tobacco smoke.
Turns out Pletten was really ahead of his time regarding tobacco in the workplace. In my 2007 interview with Amondson I reported:
He is pleased to see smoking has become less and less socially acceptable. “We need to look at drinking as dumb as smoking,” and is disappointed at the right wing for dropping the ball on the smoking issue. “It should have been the Christians, the Republicans, but it was the Democrats” who cracked down on tobacco, he says with disgust. One is left with the impression he is attempting to shame his fellow conservatives into joining the fight rather than reach out to moderate voters.
Of the 16 national tickets that had ballot access in 2004, the Dodge/Lydick duo placed 16th. They also finished last in the only state where they appeared as an option, in Dodge's Colorado with 0.01% of the popular vote. The Amondson/Pletten ticket, under the Concerns of People banner, were also on the Colorado ballot, where they finished with more than twice the popular vote than Dodge/Lydick. From the Reformer faction point of view, the Colorado results vindicated their effort and they felt the issue of who comprised the real Prohibition Party was settled.
Amondson/Pletten finished with 0.08% of the vote in Louisiana, 0.02% in Colorado.
Amondson indicated several times in the campaign he might vote for George W. Bush.
The campaign (2008):
The Dodge/(and now bearded) Lydick team were gearing up for the 2008 election, having formed their ticket in June, 2007. The Amondson/Pletten campaign solidified shortly after, and the stage was set for another Loyalist faction vs. Reformer faction election battle with the same personalities. As an aside, Amondson told one reporter his first choice for a running-mate in 2008 was Newt Gingrich but it seems he never took steps to make that happen.
On the morning of Nov. 7, 2007 Dodge suddenly dropped dead at the age of 74 in the airport in Denver while waiting to board a flight to Pennsylvania in order to attend a button show.
Rather than fill the void left by Dodge and assume the Presidential nomination, the 77-year old Lydick made an effort for reconciliation. "We want to heal the division," he said, "Amondson is acceptable to me, and he has a long history in the temperance movement." Even though Pletten had already been tagged as Amondson's 2008 running-mate, Lydick apparently offered to take his place.
Some in the Party were wary. According to a Mar. 2008 news piece by Raphael Ahren:
But the reconciliation may not happen if Lydick insists on running. Before Dodge’s death, Amondson’s 2004 running mate, Leroy Pletten, had been nominated to run with him once more in 2008. And he still intends to do so. Pletten strongly opposes Lydick and the Dodge faction, calling them “crooks and liars” and speaking bluntly about the prospects of reconciliation: “That’s what Hitler always said, that he wants peace.”
According to one secondary source (thegreenpapers.com) Lydick was named as Amondson's running-mate for a ballot access attempt in Nevada. It is possible this effort was spearheaded by what remained of the Dodge faction. An Amondson/Lydick button was even produced.
As a point of trivia, Amondson all but endorsed Sen. McCain during the campaign.
The Amondson/Pletten ticket were on the ballot in three states with the result being: Louisiana 275 (0.01%), Florida 293 (0.00%), and Colorado 85 (0.00%)
In the event of an Amondson/Pletten victory, Pletten would have ascended to the Presidency upon the death of Amondson, July 20, 2009.
Election history:
2003 - School Board of Utica District in Macomb County (Mich.) (Nonpartisan) - defeated
Other occupations: personnel management specialist (civilian employee) of the U.S. Tank Automotive Command, tax advisor, President of the Andover Heights Condominium Association.
Buried: Tracy Community Cemetery (Tracy, Minn.) "Inurnment will be at a later date since he chose to donate his body to the University of Minnesota Medical and Science Department in hopes of helping future generations through medical research."--Obituary
Notes:
Died at age of 68 of "liver toxicity due to an allergic reaction to dietary supplements on Thursday,
April 23, 2015."
