Joseph F. Loughlin, March 26, 1923 (Philadelpha, Penn.) - August 5, 2014 (Pennsylvania?)
VP candidate for Down With Lawyers Party (1980)
Running mate with nominee: William Gahres (1913-2005)
Popular vote: 1,718 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
"Barefoot Bill" Gahres was a New Jersey electrical contractor and perennial candidate who invented one-issue political parties such as the Right to Die Party as a method of being heard. The Down With Lawyers Party started in 1978 when he ran for the US Senate. In that one he placed 4th in a field of 15, right behind the Politicians are Crooks Party but ahead of the Libertarian Party.
When he ran as the Down With Lawyers Party candidate for President he filed with the FEC under The Committee to Get Rid of Lawyer Legislators and Bureaucratic Bullshit. His running mate Joseph F. Loughlin of the Philadelphia area was a brother-in-law by marriage. Loughlin did not appear to have an active role in the campaign.
Some Gahres quotes from the 1980 campaign:
I'm not a lawyer-hater per se ... Anybody who had anything to do with lawyers knows they're in it solely for the money. They're in it for the buck and they have a death-grip on you.
They don't have enough brains to get in out of the rain.
I talk in flea markets, at yard sales. I don't go out of my way because I know I can't win. I do it to get my point across.
I don't believe that the two-party system gives voters enough of a choice. It's like the difference between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee. I feel like a trailblazer into changing that system. And this year, I think independent candidates are finally making some inroads. From now on it won't be so easy to ignore us.
My secret is I've got a hide like an elephant and I have the guts to come back after defeat.
I don't hate all lawyers. There are just too many of them in the Legislature and I don't think that's good. I wouldn't keep all lawyers from holding office. I would just try to make it as difficult as possible. I would prohibit lawyer-legislators from the private practice of law, though, because I believe it's a conflict of interest for them to make laws that are so complex that people have to go out and hire other lawyers to get them interpreted and enforced.
Among the other issues on his platform, Gahres was pro-choice, pro capital punishment, and pro right to die.
Only on the ballot in New Jersey they finished with 0.06%, 11th out of 13. The following year Gahres ran for Governor under the banner of the Down With Lawyers Party, finishing 3rd out of 13 with 0.20%, just ahead of the Suffering Majority Party. Gotta love the Garden State when it comes to unique political party names!
Election history: none
Other occupations: soldier (US Army Air Force, WWII), depot superintendent with Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
Buried: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham, Penn.)
Notes:
Called "J.F. Loghlin" by several sources.
Buried in the same cemetery as Frank Rizzo.
