Jennifer Joan Wilner

 

Jennifer Joan Wilner, November 11, 1970 (Washington, D.C.) -

VP candidate for Independent Democrat (1992)

Running mate with nominee: Russell Minos Baptiste Hirshon (b. 1961)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Russell Hirshon, a performance artist and bartender in the region of the nation's capital, began his perennial candidacy for DC Mayor and/or US President with instant press coverage. His method of electioneering was to perform flamboyant visual stunts to attract attention. In 1990 he paraded around Washington, D.C. with a flag wrapped around his waist while carrying a chain saw apparently making an environmental statement regarding old growth forests. In another caper he was suspended from a ceiling with live fish and in yet another he was a giant ice cream sundae.

For the 1992 national election he formed the Committee to Put Russell Hirshon in the Big House. His motive? "I want people to vote, to participate. If they don't vote, I might win. Maybe that'll scare them." A poster with Hirshon adorned in a loud suit and standing in a cornfield declared, "Not all presidential candidates are crazy. Just one. Russell Hirshon for President 1992."

In a Jan. 1992 report, Hirshon told the press, "You get looked upon as if you're kind of crazy. Now I'm one of the people I used to laugh at." The candidate managed to put together at least a couple 30-second TV spots that aired on local cable access. The ads included a shot of him sitting on a toilet in public, and he gave out his personal telephone number if voters wanted to ask questions.

Hirshon enjoyed some unplanned publicity in Jan. 1992 when the Bill Clinton campaign held a fund-raising event at the restaurant where he worked. Clinton's people asked that Hirshon not be present at that time. Hirshon responded, "I'm more than capable of being crazy but it's not like I'm a complete psycho."

In 1996 Hirshon filed as an Independent with the FEC under the banner of "Russell Hirshon's Committee of Thugs." He proposed settling the Bosnian wars by holding a huge party with a large open bar. In addition he promised to "blow up the Energizer bunny once and for all." In 2016 he again filed as an Independent using the organization name "Russell Hirshon's Committee to Save America" and used the slogan "Make America Sane Again."

Hirshon's website indicated he was also running for President in 2000 and 2004.

In 2016 his campaign website included this autobiography--

I still believe in a place called hopeful

Russell Hirshon is a Performance Artist/politician who feels the most important aspect of this campaign is making a least one good thing happen from all of the insanity. With two candidates who are as different as possible, we don’t need the kind of money that has been spent to determine who to vote for. Instead we should donate to charitable organizations rather than political campaigns.

As a registered Independent candidate for President, Russell’s mission is to ask as many people as possible to give to a better cause. This means asking ourselves how we can all give to make our world a better place and it starts with us.

A History of Insanity

They say great leaders are born but I beg to differ.  I believe great leaders come from a massive ego coupled with an insatiable demand for attention, acceptance and power. Oh, there is the rare occasion where someone is actually dedicated to hope and change but it is rare and fleeting as the other megalomaniacals manage to arrest any dreamers hope.

Russell Hirshon is the least qualified individual for President.

That being said here are some things to consider:

    Russell does not want your vote
    Russell does not want your money
    Russell Hirshon likes to ride his bike whenever possible and enjoys the wind blowing in his face.
    Russell believes that all Americans should get a Master’s Degree from the School of Hard Knocks.
    Russell is waiting for an interview with Megyn Kelly, preferably at a nice restaurant and where Fox picks up the tab
    Russell likes Pina Coladas.

In all of Hirshon's campaigning throughout the years the only evidence I found thus far of any Vice-Presidential nominee is from a photo published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 19, 1992. On the grounds outside the Republican convention in Houston, Hirshon is pictured sitting on a toilet, wearing a patriotic clown suit and reading the National Review. The caption includes: "Running mate Jennifer Wilner is in the background."

Wilner was actually identified as Hirshon's campaign manager in other sources. In the 2016 campaign she was called the campaign's press secretary. A mock investigative 2016 report was posted by Hirshon on Youtube, "Our campaign was rocked by allegations of a possible relationship between the candidate and his press secretary earlier today as an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) reporter slips in the 'gotcha' question to our press secretary, Jennifer Wilner. Luckily the interview was abruptly stopped and the reporter escorted out of our campaign office. Our statement at this time is the following:  'We are not aware that anything improper has occurred at this time between Russell Hirshon and the press secretary and as far as we know, no text messages exist to indicate the contrary.'"

In 1992 both Hirshon and Wilner were under the Constitutionally mandated age of 35 to hold office.

Election history: none

Other occupations: communications and public relations

Notes:
Hirshon also ran for Mayor of Washington, D.C. in 1990 and 1994. One of his posters read: "If you want to get screwed, elect a politician. If you want to get served, elect a bartender."
It would seem Jennifer Wilner is aka Jen Hirshon.

Peter Joseph Ross

 

Peter Joseph Ross, January 1961 (New York, N.Y.) -

VP candidate for Tomorrow Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Alexander Joseph Luthor (b. 1940)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Electing a President who is a sociopathic narcissist and a corporate executive with zero public sector administrative experience can only happen in comic books or movies/TV, right? I'm talking about Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor, of course.

This is the DC universe, a world where a top investigative reporter in a large city (Lois Lane) is unable to observe Clark Kent is merely Superman with glasses and a business suit. A world where Police Commissioner Gordon cannot connect the dots between Batman and Robin with millionaire Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward, Dick Grayson.

But then again, when I last left the world of DC and Marvel, comic books were still 12 cents. So the whole DC thing about "the Crisis Trilogy," "the New 52," "New Earth" etc. has me Elmer BeFuddled when I try to catch up on what has transpired in the last half century plus.

In one of these narratives in the DC house of mirrors (Adventures of Superman #581), Lex Luthor is elected President in the year 2000 almost in real time, as the leader of the Tomorrow Party. His running-mate, described as a former US Senator from Kansas, is Pete Ross, political party unknown.

Apparently the Pete Ross character was around when I was avidly reading Superman comics, but I have no memory of him. He was Clark Kent/Superboy's pal back in Smallville.

I won't even begin to attempt describing Luthor's presidency as I do not enjoy swimming in quicksand, but suffice to say it comes to a bad end and he leaves office in 2003 before his term is over. Ross assumes the mantle for a few weeks before resigning.

Interesting trivia connection here. There was another would-be DC Senator named Pete Ross. Not DC as in comics, but DC as in District of Columbia.

The same month in 1961 the DC comic version debut of Pete Ross was released to the world, the US Congress passed the 23rd Amendment, giving residents of Washington, DC the ability to vote for Presidential Electors. However, statehood status was not included in that legislation. Since 1990 DC has elected "Shadow Senators" and "Shadow Congresspeople" as mostly a symbolic effort. One of the unsuccessful perennial candidates for the job is a Democrat named-- Pete Ross.

Election history:
199? - US Senator (Kan.) (unknown party)
2001-2003 - US Vice-President (Tomorrow Party)
2003 - US President (Tomorrow Party)

Other occupations: fictitious character

Notes:
Kansas actually had a Senator Ross. Edmund Gibson Ross (1826-1907) was a Republican who served in office 1866-1871. He crossed party lines when he voted not to convict and remove President Andrew Johnson from office, earning himself a chapter in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.

William Thomas Riker

 

William Thomas Riker, September 28, 1987 (Hollywood, Calif.) -

VP candidate for Independent (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024)

Running mate with nominee (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024): Jean-Luc Picard (b. 1987)
Popular vote (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020): 0/538

The campaign (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024):

Star Trek: The Next Generation, a 1987-1994 spinoff from the original Star Trek television series from the 1960s, defined their purpose as, "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

The Trek franchise is huge and it seems only naturally American for the lead characters to be, in this age where entertainment and politics are so intermingled, merchandised as Presidential timber. Heck, when the show first aired the President at the time was a former movie and TV actor.

The Enterprise skipper, Jean-Luc Picard (portrayed by Patrick Stewart) and his first officer Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) have been marketed as a Presidential ticket in every election since 1992. They probably ran in 1988 as well but I didn't find a confirmation of that. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, buttons, coffee mugs, etc. abound every four years with a "Picard/Riker" declaration.

"Jean-Luc Picard" filed with the FEC on Aug. 20, 2015 with no party affiliation. His address was given as 877 Enterprise St., Buchanan, MI 49107 and the campaign committee was United Federation of Planets, 150 Galaxy Rd., Shirley, AR 72153.

The Next Generation not only explored space, but the writers broached a number of political and social subjects that were fairly progressive at the time. Intelligence, reason, tolerance, curiosity, and humanity were seen as virtues. The assumption was that not only would we survive ourselves, but a far better, almost utopian age awaited us.

In the event of their electoral victory there would be several problems. They are fictitious characters. They live in the future (Picard was born in the year 2305). Although Riker was born in Alaska, Picard is from France. They reside in outer space. The characters were created in 1987, which made them below the age of 35 but in 2024 they will be legal in this regard. And so forth.

Election history: none

Other occupations: fictional character

Notes:
Riker is a contender for holding the record for number of times someone has made a Vice-Presidential run.

Vacant

Vacant

VP candidate for Independent (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)

Running mate with nominee: Robert Bryant Winn (b. 1943)
Popular vote (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008): 0/538

The campaigns (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008):

Occasionally there are Presidential candidates who are very pointed about NOT having a running-mate, and I try to cover their reasons if possible.

Robert B. Winn is a perennial Independent candidate in Arizona who has run for Governor and US Senator always as a write-in. In 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2004 he ran in the same manner for US President. In 1984 he actually made the Arizona ballot, and received 3 votes for President.

A Vietnam veteran, welder and laborer, Winn had a religious background in the Church of the Latter Day Saints and in his resume are included the intriguing but unexplained entries "Prisoner, Maricopa County, Arizona, 1992 -- Prisoner, Veterans' Affairs Hospital, Psychiatric Ward, 1970." A long time advocate and activist for independent political parties, he has written a few books and has been a prolific online author.

Although Winn did have a political platform, he deemed it "irrelevant" and made the simple fact he was not running under the banner of one of the major parties the main focus of his campaigns. Some of the reviews of his published material suggest he has a conspiratorial-minded political outlook.

So far as I can tell, Winn never had a running-mate and that seemed to be the result of a deliberate decision.

Winn made the following comment on the Third Party Watch blog regarding the election and function of the Vice-President--

 Robert B. Winn Says:
January 1st, 2008 at 1:17 am

You third party people have not fully considered what it means to be independent. Why would anyone want to be a party wannabe. As an actual independent voter, I can register as a candidate for President with the Federal Election Commission the same way George Washington did, without a vice-President running mate. Party wannabes have not yet seen what an advantage this gives the independent voter who is registered as a candidate for President.

This splits the political party vote. Who will be vice-President if an independent voter is elected President?

Well, obviously, the party vice-Presidential candidate who gets the most votes will become vice-President of the United States, since the independent voter elected President has no running mate. The duties of the vice-President are to preside over the Senate. John Nance Garner said that this job was not worth a bucket of warm spit. It should go to a political party candidate. So we will have an independent voter as President and a party politician in the vice-Presidency, even though that party’s Presidential candidate lost the election.

Match that, political party wannabes.

Actually, the Republican-Democrat Party started this anomaly by running two candidates for President in the election of 1800. Now that makes more sense. Abraham Lincoln was elected because the opposing party ran more than one candidate. Two Democrat candidates in 1860 seemed to have a good effect, until it resulted in party primaries and all the political party wannabes of today.

A real independent runs without a running mate. This running mate thing has always seemed a little suspect to me. I would rather have a Political party vice-President who just tends to his job of presiding over the Senate, except in the case of an impeachment trial, when he would be replaced by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In any event, a political party wannabe candidate for vice-President will never defeat a political party vice-Presidential candidate because of the twelfth amendment to the Constitution. An independent vice-Presidential candidate running separate from all independent Presidential candidates could defeat a party vice-Presidential candidate, but there is no record I have seen of any independent voters running for vice-President outside of the party wannabe running mate method.

Winn also made a comment for the New York Sun along the same lines:

Robert B. Winn • Nov 13, 2007 at 08:04

The idea of a vice-Presidential running mate came from the election of 1800 when the Republican-Democrats ran two candidates for President, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, to prevent the Federalist followers of Alexander Hamilton from gaining the office of vice-President. When the electors of the electoral college met, all of the Republican-Democrat electors voted for Jefferson and Burr, resulting in a tie vote for President. Burr, who was supposed to be running for vice-President, started campaigning for Federalist support in the House of Representatives, and it took about 38 votes in the House before Jefferson was elected.

Members of Congress considered this to be so traumatic that they passed an amendment resulting in the present day running-mate system for Presidential and vice-Presidential candidates. The way for independent voters to break the hold that parties have on these two offices is to run Presidential and vice-Presidential candidates separate, several Presidential candidates and several vice-Presidential candidates on election day.

It costs the American people billions of dollars per election to put two corrupt sets of party running mates on the ballot. Put some independent candidates on the ballot using nomination petition signatures instead of money.

Robert B. Winn

In 2019 there as an effort called Vice.run that had a mission to "reclaim our constitutional right to democratically elect the vice president by creating separate ballot lines for vice presidential candidates in the 2020 election, as per the 12th Amendment. Vice.run will secure signature pledges to use standing ballot access laws in each state to initiate this change." I had contacted this group. They agreed to be interviewed. I put in the time to research for the questions and sent them in, and that was the last I heard. Actually, some political candidates have brushed me off the same way after they gave the green light and I put in all the effort to write the questions. But in the case of Vice.run it looks like the organization just ceased to exist about the same time I sent them my list of queries.

So, just for the heck of it, here were the questions I had for Vice.run, which I will dovetail off of Mr. Winn's thought-provoking comments--

Oct 3, 2019, 7:39 AM

Vice.run was created by Mikel and David Blake, education and workforce entrepreneurs currently based in San Francisco.

Their mission, as told on their website:

"Vice.run grows from a kernel of an idea: 'All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy' and that the vice presidency is an undemocratic anomaly in American politics. It’s an extremely important elected office whose occupant we do not choose.

Mikel & David launched vice.run to 'act anew' to fix this anomaly and reinstate the vice presidency as a democratically elected position. Vice.run’s goal is to create a vice presidential ballot line in the 2020 election in all 50 states.

Since national elections are managed at the state-level, we have state-level goals and are growing our state-level operations. Our very first organizing effort is collecting ballot-access pledges calling on states to create a separate ballot line for the vice president."

And here is what I would call their thesis statement:

"The Constitution gives the American people the right to choose the vice president of the United States. That right was taken from us by the party ballot. That lack of democracy has corrupted the office, turning it into a presidential lap dog, instead of a representative of 'We the People.'

It’s time for that approach to change. It’s time to reclaim the vice presidency for the American people. It’s time for us to elect the vice president.'"

David Blake, co-founder of vice.run

https://vice.run/

--------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What exactly provided the spark for this movement? Were the Blakes at all politically active before vice.run was created?

Q: If the presentation of a party ticket is the result of custom rather than legality, why has this been allowed to exist so long without being challenged? Or have there been other efforts similar to yours in the past?

Q: Devil's advocate here. Shouldn't the parties have a right to select their own solid ticket?

Q: Part of the 12th Amendment states "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ..." -- This has never really been tested. But in your model it could happen by chance. Then what?

Q: Do the recent efforts to eliminate the Electoral College complicate or help your mission in any way?

Q: In every political process there always seems to be an opportunity for mischief. In 1860 there was an alleged plot to deadlock the presidential vote in the House in the event of no electoral winner, and with the absence of a President the Senate would elect the pro-slavery running mate Joseph Lane of the Constitutional Democratic Party who would then ascend to the presidency. Have you identified any other sort of loopholes in the system regarding Vice-Presidents and what can be done about them?

Q: I recall that after the JFK assassination the US was without a Vice-President and then the 25th Amendment was enacted, allowing the sitting President to appoint a new VP, which was later the case with Gerald Ford in 1973 and Nelson Rockefeller in 1974. Should that process also be changed and if so, how?

Q: Half of the states have a baked-in system, part of election law, where the Governor and Lt. Governor are elected as a ticket. Do you have plans to try and change that as well?

Q: What part of the political spectrum are you getting the most positive response from? Have you been able to determine the demographics of your support? Do you find yourself building alliances with other organizations in this process and who are they?

Q: Are you experiencing any pushback and if so, from where?

Q: Gone are the days when Wilson's VP, Thomas Marshall said, "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and nothing was ever heard of either of them again." Some modern VPs have been able to involve themselves, basically under the public radar, in schemes that had enormous consequences for our country-- for example the VPs Nixon and Cheney getting their hands dirty with clandestine foreign operations and performing end runs around due process. How does your model make the Vice-President more accountable?

Q: How goes the battle with the state by state effort? Do you have benchmarks set for 2020? 2024?

Q: Is the vice.run project giving anyone in the central team ideas for broader political ambitions? Can we expect to see any of you running for office?

Q: Thanks very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Anything you would like to add?

Election history: none

Other occupations: none

Notes:
Winn was a Republican until 1973, when he left the Party due to Watergate.

Karen Byrne

Karen Byrne

VP candidate for Common Citizens of the United States of America (2000)

Running mate with nominee: David C. Byrne (b. 1964)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

David C. Byrne and his wife Karen moved from Miami to Atlanta in May 2000. Also in that year they ran for President and Vice-President of the United States. Byrne was a digital technician for BellSouth.

Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Constitution described the campaign:

David had a two-state strategy for taking the White House. "I tried for Missouri," he said. But upon petitioning that state to become a write-in candidate, David hadn't identified 11 electors for the electoral college. He didn't know 11 people in Missouri.

By then it was a week before the Election Day, and Alaska was the only state open to him. David spent $3 on a certified letter declaring his candidacy, their only campaign expense.

Their sole campaign swing was a trip to the local Kodiak Grill, in case someone there knew someone in Alaska.

Since 2000 Byrne has run for the office of Governor of Georgia five times and for President in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016-- always as a write-in.

Apparently a certified write-in in Alaska only, the Last Frontier did not itemize that category of vote.

Since both of the Byrnes were residents of the same state, there would have been a Constitutional problem in the event of their victory.

Election history: none

Other occupations: ?

Notes:
I could not identify Byrne's 2004 VP, if he indeed had one.

Leonard L. Foster

Leonard L. Foster

VP candidate for Independent (2000)

Running mate with nominee: James Wellington Wright (b. 1940)
Popular vote: 74 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Jim Wright, a retired and disabled truck driver in New Caney, Tex., filed as a write-in candidate for President in his home state. He had previously campaigned as a write-in for US Senator and Texas Governor. He ran for President in 1992 as a write-in in Texas as well. He was no relation to Texas-based former US Speaker of the House Jim Wright.

Wright spelled out his platform on his campaign website:

I support the following if elected:

To "Save Social Security" click.
Affordable health care for all Americans.
Remove discrimination of race and gender from Federal government.
Keep the internet free.
Overhaul the Justice Department, to respect the constitutions limits.
Equal education.
TERM LIMITS
Remove the IRS
Pro-life.
Campaign finance reform.
Balanced budget.
Sunset law for all Federal agency's.
Protection of the "Bill of Rights" from Congress.
Popular vote of the President. (Removal of the electoral congress)
Equal access to the ballot.

In addition, Wright advocated for the initiative and referendum process to be nationally applied:

States Constitutions,should have foundations of responsible government.
1. Initiative & Referendum to the Ballot by the voters.
2. Recall responsibility act. Covering all elected officials.
3. Knowledge by law. Requiring education of the election and judicial systems.
4. Requiring 30% of the voters to pass taxation.
5. Protection of the vote and equal access to the ballot for all candidates.
Does your state have this for your protection?? The answer is probably not.

The above answers if implemented across America will bring back responsibility to you the voter.
Respectfully submitted by James W. Wright, Independent Candidate for President.

In 1992 Wright's running-mate had been Levi Moore Cunningham. In 2000 it was Leonard L. Foster. Aside from his name, no other information about Foster can be found as of this writing.

The Wright/Foster ticket earned 74 votes in Texas on Election Day.

Wright ran as a write-in for the US Senate again in 2002 and began another brief run for the White House but changed his mind and ran for US Congress as a Democrat in 2004. In 2008 he ran in the Democratic Party primaries for President as a write-in.

Election history: ?

Other occupations: ?

Notes:
Another mystery VP.

Willard Dean Watkins

Willard Dean Watkins, February 14, 1931 (Canton, Ohio) -

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Earl F. Dodge (1932-2007)
Popular vote: 208 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Earl Dodge was making his fifth run for the Prohibition Party nomination and then the Presidency in 2000. But this time he almost didn't get past Step 1.

Dodge underwent a septuple bypass operation on May 28, 1999 but a month later was active in nabbing the Party's nomination at their convention. 39 Party members were present and a growing anti-Dodge faction had nominated a challenger, Gary Van Horn, a perennial candidate from Utah who had been the American Party VP nominee in 1996 and in 2000 was associated with the Independent American Party. Dodge defeated Van Horn in a close 9-8 vote.

The VP choice was W. Dean Watkins of Tucson, Ariz., a recent Party member with an interesting story. While researching his family history, he investigated the political career of his grandfather, Aaron S. Watkins. The elder Watkins had been the Prohibition Party VP nominee in 1908 and 1912, as well as the Presidential nominee in 1920. He also ran as a Prohibition Party candidate for the US House, US Senate, and Governor of Ohio. Discovering that the Party still existed, the grandson contacted Dodge and soon became the VP choice.

Some in the anti-Dodge faction felt the selection of Watkins was a publicity gimmick and the talents of this retired aeronautical engineer were not being used to full advantage. However, Watkins' precision and thoroughness was employed in his role as the chair of the committee to redraft and overhaul the Party's platform, and he wrote position papers.

As is turned out the 2000 platform changes were mostly cosmetic and it remained as consistently Right wing and bordering on Christian nationalism as it had been for decades. A few of the changes found in the 2000 platform worth noting--

Added under Taxation and Spending: Ending useless programs funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation -- Minimizing taxes which threaten private ownership of land and real estate -- Emphasizing excise taxes for the financing of government.

Added under Social Security: allowing workers the option of enrolling in private plans in lieu of Social Security;

At the very end The Alcohol Problem was completely rewritten and new section, Presidential Qualifications was added:

 The Alcohol Problem

Alcohol is still the number one drug problem in the United States. It is a major cause of poverty, traffic crashes, broken homes, juvenile and adult crime, physical and sexual abuse, political corruption, wasted manpower, disability, and premature death. We favor maintaining the nation-wide legal drinking age of 21.

  Historically, the Prohibition Party has led in offering programs of publicity, education, and legislation leading to the prohibition of the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of all alcoholic beverages. We continue to support this stand. Our society already practices prohibition in the form of enacting laws which promote the safety and well being of the society members. We will help Americans to realize that alcohol's harmful effects far outweigh those of all illegal drugs combined. We advocate that all tax monies collected from the sale of alcohol be used in aggressive media and educational campaigns to teach the American public the truth about alcohol. We support local option. We advocate the enactment and enforcement of strong drunk driving laws.

Presidential Qualifications

Leavening the Loaf
 "Nothing doth more hurt to a State than that cunning men pass for wise."
...Francis Bacon, statesman

The qualifications for President stated in the Constitution have to do with age and citizenship. We call attention to the fact that of greater importance are those not so stated referring to moral, intellectual, and spiritual endowments. The President of the United States in his daily life, his home and family relationships, and his official career is expected to typify the finest and best the country can produce. He is the leader of the nation. The moral force and power of his example are immeasurable.

Watkins wrote an essay entitled "Excise Taxes vs Income Taxes" and opened with the thesis statement: "The 2000 Prohibition Party platform advocates using excise taxes to pay for the operating costs of the federal government. It also advocates the abolishment of personal income taxes. Many people think this is a radical stand. However, let us examine the federal tax system ..."

On the ballot only in Dodge's home state of Colorado the Dodge/Watkins ticket placed dead last out of ten with 208 votes, 0.01% of the state total. Nationally they finished 15th out of 16 tickets on the ballot. This would be the worst result ever in the long history of the legitimate wing of America's oldest third party. 

In 2000 Dodge had faced rumblings within the Party, but it would explode into full revolution by the next election. Watkins joined the group that eventually ousted Dodge. In a 2002 article by Ernie Tucker, Watkins expressed his frustration: Concerns over fuzzy finances foamed over in 2000 ... Initially, Watkins supported Dodge's fifth presidential run, but he eventually grew frustrated with his lack of candor. "He's too secretive," Watkins says of Dodge. "His financial reports don't make sense. And there's an appearance of wrongdoing."

And this drama spilled over into the 2004 election.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army, Materials Testing Laboratory - Naval Avionics Center, design engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, 

Notes:
Grew up in Canton, Ohio and Indianapolis, Ind.
Baptist.
Plays the piano and organ.

William James Higgins Sr.

William James Higgins Sr., July 6, 1932 (Boston, Mass.) - January 29, 2017 (Bow, N.H.?)

VP candidate for Reform Party of the United States of America (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Patrick Joseph Buchanan (b. 1938)
Popular vote: 11,149 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

"Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it."
--a military captain in Hamlet, attempting to explain the cause of a battle

The Reform Party had become low-hanging fruit for carpetbaggers in 2000. Thanks to Ross Perot's appeal and the hard work of his activists, the Party was at the turn of the century an organized network with (and here the starting gun for the political equivalent of the Oklahoma Land Rush  is fired) over $12 million in matching funds.

There were two potential candidates who had an honest claim to the nomination. Ross Perot himself declined to run. Jesse Ventura, who had made history when he was elected Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party in 1998, would also have been a legitimate contender if he had  wanted.

John Anderson, the former Republican who had run as an Independent for President in 1980 and Ron Paul the Republican who was also briefly a Libertarian when he ran for President under that banner in 1988, were also names that were bandied about as potential Reform Party nominees. Another name that had come up was Lowell Weicker, an ex-Republican who had served as Governor of Connecticut as a member of the independent Connecticut Party.

But when announcements were made there only three big names that were put forward: Donald Trump, John Hagelin, and Pat Buchanan.

Trump had been encouraged to run by Ventura. A Democrat until 1987, he had toyed with the idea of running for President as a Republican in 1988.  In 1999 Trump campaigned for the Reform Party nomination on a conservative platform but did endorse universal public health care and was more liberal on some social issues than he would be later in his political career. He said he wanted Oprah Winfrey as his running-mate. Roger Stone was his campaign director. By Feb. 2000 Ventura left the Reform Party and Trump withdrew from the race. Trump re-registered as a Democrat in 2001 and then as a Republican in 2009.

John Hagelin was running for President as the Natural Law Party nominee for the third election in a row. He was attempting to merge with the Reform Party and came close enough that his delegates from the latter party held their own convention. Unfortunately for Hagelin, the courts sided with Buchanan but that didn't stop the NLP candidate from sometimes showing up on ballots under the Reform Party label. In some states both Buchanan and Hagelin were on the ballot under the Reform Party name.

In 1992 and 1996 Ross Perot tended to avoid taking strong stands on cultural or social issues that created deep divisions among Americans. His main focus was economic. Pat Buchanan, on the other hand, had established himself as a Right wing "cultural warrior" when he ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1992 and 1996. When he began his campaign for President as a member of the Reform Party, he changed the entire premise for the existence of the organization, making it more of an affluent version of the Constitution Party in 2000. Rather than attempting to unite people with issues they had in common, Buchanan hammered away on divisive hot button social problems such as opposing abortion, Gay rights, Affirmative Action. He held views some called racist on non-white immigration. Using the slogan "America First" (which had previously been employed by fascist sympathizer, anti-Semite, white supremacist, and Holocaust denier Gerald L.K. Smith in his Presidential campaign), Buchanan offered no original ideas that were not already in the platforms of other Right wing political parties concerning foreign relations or the economy.

In spite of this he was able to elicit the support of former New Alliance Party Presidential candidate Lenora Fulani (later withdrawn) as well as future Socialist nominee Brian Moore. Klansman David Duke also hopped on board the Buchanan campaign, as well as members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, bringing a contingent of White Nationalist support.

In New York he ran under the banner of the Right to Life Party and in Colorado under the American Party.

After considering James P. Hoffa and others, Buchanan selected Ezola Foster, one of his co-chairs from the 1996 campaign. The California-based Foster had made a name for herself as an extremely conservative African American activist. Foster was known for her views against immigration, abortion, and Gay rights. She defended the display of the Confederate flag. She said God brought slaves from Africa to America so "their descendants would know freedom." Her placement on the ticket confused several of Buchanan's more racist followers.

Foster became a controversial pick. Her membership with the John Birch Society was more than simply carrying the card, she was also part of their lecture circuit talent pool. She described the civil rights movement as a "revenge and reparations movement" and didn't think segregation was really all that bad even though she grew up in Louisiana as part of the oppressed community. Rev. Jesse Jackson and his ilk were "Leninist race-baiters" according to Foster.

Foster said "government schools," i.e. public education, were "socialist training camps." She opposed AIDS education in schools because she felt it promoted homosexuality. Foster was outspoken and hardline about illegal immigrant children. As a high school teacher she said she was persecuted for her conservative beliefs and was forced to accept worker's compensation 1996-1998 until she retired because of stress. She later said the "mental disorder" claim was faked but reporters uncovered she had suffered from depression since the 1970s and had recently been prescribed antidepressants.

The Buchanan/Foster team alienated many of the veteran Reform Party members including Perot himself. The 2000 ticket generally placed 4th around the country, behind Ralph Nader and the Greens. In Oklahoma and South Dakota they placed third but in both cases Nader was not on the ballot. There were 45 states with Foster as the VP. In Massachusetts for some reason the running-mate was William J. Higgins Sr., in Oregon no VP was apparently listed, and in Michigan Buchanan was a write-in.

Higgins was a former Democrat who became an active Republican later in life.

The Buchanan/Higgins ticket finished 5th out of 6 on the Massachusetts ballot with 0.41% of the popular vote in that state.

Election history:
2010 - Massachusetts State Senate (Republican) - defeated

Other occupations: US Air Force (Korean War), credit manager, postal worker, postmaster, Northborough (Mass.) Town Treasurer, Northborough (Mass.) Town Clerk, Northborough (Mass.) School Committee Chairman

Buried: Howard Street Cemetery (Northborough, Mass.)

Notes:
Disabled veteran
Was sued by the winner of the 2010 State Senate race for making false accusations during the
 campaign. Higgins later apologized.

Ezola Broussard Foster

Below: Florida's "Butterfly Ballot"

Ezola Broussard Foster, August 9, 1938 (Maurice, La.) – May 22, 2018 (Boulder City, Nev.)

VP candidate for Reform Party of the United States of America (aka Independent aka American Party aka Citizens First aka Independence Party aka Right to Life Party aka Freedom Party) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Patrick Joseph Buchanan (b. 1938)
Popular vote: 438,032 (0.42%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

"Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it."
--a military captain in Hamlet, attempting to explain the cause of a battle

The Reform Party had become low-hanging fruit for carpetbaggers in 2000. Thanks to Ross Perot's appeal and the hard work of his activists, the Party was at the turn of the century an organized network with (and here the starting gun for the political equivalent of the Oklahoma Land Rush  is fired) over $12 million in matching funds.

There were two potential candidates who had an honest claim to the nomination. Ross Perot himself declined to run. Jesse Ventura, who had made history when he was elected Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party in 1998, would also have been a legitimate contender if he had  wanted.

John Anderson, the former Republican who had run as an Independent for President in 1980 and Ron Paul the Republican who was also briefly a Libertarian when he ran for President under that banner in 1988, were also names that were bandied about as potential Reform Party nominees. Another name that had come up was Lowell Weicker, an ex-Republican who had served as Governor of Connecticut as a member of the independent Connecticut Party.

But when announcements were made there only three big names that were put forward: Donald Trump, John Hagelin, and Pat Buchanan.

Trump had been encouraged to run by Ventura. A Democrat until 1987, he had toyed with the idea of running for President as a Republican in 1988.  In 1999 Trump campaigned for the Reform Party nomination on a conservative platform but did endorse universal public health care and was more liberal on some social issues than he would be later in his political career. He said he wanted Oprah Winfrey as his running-mate. Roger Stone was his campaign director. By Feb. 2000 Ventura left the Reform Party and Trump withdrew from the race. Trump re-registered as a Democrat in 2001 and then as a Republican in 2009.

John Hagelin was running for President as the Natural Law Party nominee for the third election in a row. He was attempting to merge with the Reform Party and came close enough that his delegates from the latter party held their own convention. Unfortunately for Hagelin, the courts sided with Buchanan but that didn't stop the NLP candidate from sometimes showing up on ballots under the Reform Party label. In some states both Buchanan and Hagelin were on the ballot under the Reform Party name.

In 1992 and 1996 Ross Perot tended to avoid taking strong stands on cultural or social issues that created deep divisions among Americans. His main focus was economic. Pat Buchanan, on the other hand, had established himself as a Right wing "cultural warrior" when he ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1992 and 1996. When he began his campaign for President as a member of the Reform Party, he changed the entire premise for the existence of the organization, making it more of an affluent version of the Constitution Party in 2000. Rather than attempting to unite people with issues they had in common, Buchanan hammered away on divisive hot button social problems such as opposing abortion, Gay rights, Affirmative Action. He held views some called racist on non-white immigration. Using the slogan "America First" (which had previously been employed by fascist sympathizer, anti-Semite, white supremacist, and Holocaust denier Gerald L.K. Smith in his Presidential campaign), Buchanan offered no original ideas that were not already in the platforms of other Right wing political parties concerning foreign relations or the economy.

In spite of this he was able to elicit the support of former New Alliance Party Presidential candidate Lenora Fulani (later withdrawn) as well as future Socialist nominee Brian Moore. Klansman David Duke also hopped on board the Buchanan campaign, as well as members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, bringing a contingent of White Nationalist support.

In New York he ran under the banner of the Right to Life Party and in Colorado under the American Party.

After considering James P. Hoffa and others, Buchanan selected Ezola Foster, one of his co-chairs from the 1996 campaign. The California-based Foster had made a name for herself as an extremely conservative African American activist. Foster was known for her views against immigration, abortion, and Gay rights. She defended the display of the Confederate flag. She said God brought slaves from Africa to America so "their descendants would know freedom." Her placement on the ticket confused several of Buchanan's more racist followers.

Foster became a controversial pick. Her membership with the John Birch Society was more than simply carrying the card, she was also part of their lecture circuit talent pool. She described the civil rights movement as a "revenge and reparations movement" and didn't think segregation was really all that bad even though she grew up in Louisiana as part of the oppressed community. Rev. Jesse Jackson and his ilk were "Leninist race-baiters" according to Foster.

Foster said "government schools," i.e. public education, were "socialist training camps." She opposed AIDS education in schools because she felt it promoted homosexuality. Foster was outspoken and hardline about illegal immigrant children. As a high school teacher she said she was persecuted for her conservative beliefs and was forced to accept worker's compensation 1996-1998 until she retired because of stress. She later said the "mental disorder" claim was faked but reporters uncovered she had suffered from depression since the 1970s and had recently been prescribed antidepressants.

The Buchanan/Foster team alienated many of the veteran Reform Party members including Perot himself. The 2000 ticket generally placed 4th around the country, behind Ralph Nader and the Greens. In Oklahoma and South Dakota they placed third but in both cases Nader was not on the ballot. There were 45 states with Foster as the VP. In Massachusetts for some reason the running-mate was William J. Higgins Sr., in Oregon no VP was apparently listed, and in Michigan Buchanan was a write-in.

Top results for Buchanan/Foster ticket: North Dakota 2.53%, Alaska 1.82%, Idaho 1.52%, Montana 1.39%, Wyoming 1.25%, Utah 1.21%, South Dakota 1.05%, Minnesota 0.91%, Louisiana-Arizona 0.81% each, Arkansas 0.80%, Nevada 0.78%, Indiana 0.77%.

On Election Day the notorious Florida "butterfly ballot" was thought to be partly responsible for taking votes away from Al Gore and giving them to Pat Buchanan.

By the 2004 election Pat Buchanan was back in the Republican camp, leaving the Reform Party in a state of wreckage. Foster ran for US Congress in 2001 as a member of the Reform Party but in 2002 joined the American Independent Party, explaining, "I'm a Constitutionalist, and it's the only party that recognizes the kingship of Jesus Christ. I'm 100% for that."

Election history:
197- - California State Assembly (Democratic) - defeated
1984 - California State Assembly (Republican) - primary - defeated
1986 - California State Assembly (Republican) - defeated
2001 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Reform Party of the United States of America) - defeated

Other occupations: high school teacher, author, President of Black Americans for Family Values, lecturer

Buried: Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery (Boulder City, Nev.)

Notes:
Catholic
Winner of the 1984 and 1986 races was Maxine Waters.

Arthur Charles Olivier

Arthur Charles Olivier, August 24, 1957 (Lynnwood, Calif.) - 

VP candidate for Libertarian Party (aka Independent) (2000)

Running mate with nominee: Harry Edson Browne (1933-2006)
Popular vote: 384,532 (0.36%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

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. It was the first time the LP ever had the same nominee for two consecutive elections.

Browne would emerge as the official choice of the Party. In an equally spirited contest, Art Olivier was chosen by the Party as the running-mate. The Party was experiencing a bit of civil war and the Arizona chapter went so far as to nominate their own Presidential ticket of L. Neil Smith and Vin Suprynowicz.

Although his position was officially nonpartisan, Olivier was one of the few Libertarians to have actually been elected to public office. As a member of the Bellflower (Calif.) City Council and later Mayor, he was given a real life opportunity to put some of his political philosophy into practice, mainly in efforts to privatize government services and cut taxes.

The 2000 campaign seemed to generate more drama and interest within the Party itself than with the voters on the outside. The Libertarian Party was experiencing the inevitable growing pains of an expanding organization. Nearly 30 years old in 2000 and with a fairly consistent platform in all that time, it was obvious they were here to stay and it was now taken for granted they would be on the ballot of most, if not all the states in Presidential elections.

The Libertarian Party popular vote in 2000 was not the lowest point in their Electoral history but it was still a disappointment from Browne's stated goal of a million votes. In all fairness they were up against two other third party candidates with star power, Ralph Nader of the Greens and Pat Buchanan of the Reform Party. On the ballot in 49 states, the Browne/Olivier top results were: Georgia 1.40% (they placed third), Alaska 0.92%, Colorado 0.73%, Indiana 0.71%, Idaho 0.70%, Wyoming 0.66%, Massachusetts 0.61%, Virginia 0.55%, Nevada 0.54%, Washington-South Dakota-Oklahoma 0.53% each.

Olivier's political career became more interesting after he ran for VP. He made two attempts for Governor of California as a Libertarian, but in 2007 changed his registration to Republican in order to support Ron Paul in the Presidential primaries. In his most recent campaign, for California Assembly, he switched to running as a Democrat in 2010.

He became a 9/11 Truther and produced a motion picture entitled Operation Terror (2012) outlining his vision of how the 2001 terror attacks took place.

In 2013 Olivier stated the Boston Marathon Bombing was a staged event. It seems he regarded the Ukraine crash and Sandy Hook as false flag happenings as well.

Olivier wanted to make a movie about (Washington State trivia alert!!) Rachel Corrie in 2014 and went to Iran to seek funding because, as he told an Iranian journalist in an interview: "The movie houses are owned by Jewish entrepreneurs and many of them are Zionists." In the same interview he also said "America was founded by Freemasons" ... "Largely Jewish groups own the media" ... "You still have freedom of speech in the United States as long as too many people don't hear it" ... suggested Andrew Breitbart's untimely death was possibly a murder by some intelligence agency ... and, said there was an attempt on his life when he was a Bellflower City Councilperson but did not go into detail.

At the same time as the above mentioned interview he attended the 2nd International New Horizon Conference in Tehran, a gathering devoted to exposing the "Zionist control" of US media and politics. Among the attendees were other 9/11 Truthers, as well as a host of other conspiracy theorists.

As recently as Oct. 2019 Olivier gave an interview where he expressed a complex and esoteric cosmic view involving secret societies, the planet Niburu, the End Times, Ley Lines, numerology, Sandy Hook, secrets of Fátima, the Second Coming, astrology, the Great Tribulation begins May 9, 2020, and on Jan. 20, 2023 a third of all mankind will be killed probably in a nuclear war, the Illuminati, Saturn worship, Israel could be nuked Dec. 25, 2021, Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt, quantum levitation, UFOs, and the Denver Airport.

A look at Olivier's recent Facebook entries has examples of how he views Covid-19 through the same esoteric lens.

Election history:
1990 - California State Assembly (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1992 - Bellflower (Calif.) City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1994-1997 - Bellflower (Calif.) City Council (Nonpartisan)
1998-1999 - Mayor of Bellflower, Calif. (Nonpartisan)
2002 - Governor of California (Libertarian Party) - primary - defeated
2006 - Governor of California (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2010 - California State Assembly (Democratic) - primary - defeated

Other occupations: engineer, realtor, freelance Internet web site developer, film producer, screenwriter

Notes:
Was a write-in in the 2002 election.
2006 opponents included Arnold Schwarzenegger (winner), Peter Camejo, and James E. Harris
In case you were wondering about a conflict of interest here I am not the same Steve Willis who
 served as Harry Browne's Road Manager. The other Steve Willis also apparently lives here in the
 Pacific Northwest these days, down in Portland (PNW trivia alert!!)