Issues

Many people deride me for my style, but no one can call me a one-issue candidate. The first time I ran for office (1999), I mentioned more issues in my statement in the Voters Pamphlet than all three of my opponents combined. I also mentioned Accountability, which is one of my dominant themes. There can never be genuine reform until rich and powerful people are punished for their misdeeds, just as the rest of us are punished when we break the law.

Corporate corruption is a related theme I continuously harp on. It’s arguably the most urgent political issue, for none of the major issues can really be addressed as long as our major institutions are controlled by corporations.

Rather than just talk about corporate corruption and accountability in the abstract, I’ve gone on the war path against George W. Bush and his pal Bill Gates. I’ve used my website Jail4Bush to promote the idea that Bush deserves the ultimate punishment the law can dispense for treason and war crimes. In 2008, I launched Billysoft just a few days after I asked Hugo Chávez to add Bill Gates to his hit list. Of course, I’ve now added Obama to my hit list.

I’m presumably the only candidate in the nation who’s preaching execution for Bush and Obama, not just impeachment (which will obviously never happen now, anyway). As far as I know, I’m the only candidate in the nation who has campaigned against Bill Gates and Microsoft and the only candidate who has supported Hugo Chávez.

I’ve always considered the environment the most important issue, though I’ve focused much more on education. My earlier careers in wildlife biology and teaching make me more than an armchair activist. My main focus regarding education is giving corporations the boot and giving derelict school officials and teachers unions a taste of accountability.

During my first campaign for public office (1999), I became the first candidate for any office in Seattle to make derelict school principals a campaign issue. Amazingly, one of the biggest derelicts in Seattle history, Garfield High School Principal Al Jones, blew up in the school district’s face during my campaign. (Jones was accused of soliciting sex from students, stealing money from the school, running from the IRS and on and on, after which a teacher from the same school committed suicide after apparently being framed by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but that’s a story I’ll discuss in more detail on my Seattle Schools website.)

I’ve never really had much to say about the economy, aside from promoting socialism, in the broadest sense of the term. However, I’m not interested in pure socialism so much as a mixed economy combining both capitalism and socialism. I’m a huge fan of the socialist tsunami that’s currently sweeping Latin America.

Media corruption is another issue I’m all too keenly familiar with. I always use my campaigns for public office to bash the media. I’m not aware of any other candidate in Seattle who has spoken out against the media as part of their campaign, let alone boycott endorsement interviews, as I do. In fact, I’m not aware of any candidate who has done so nationwide, though I imagine someone has.

Corrupt unions are another common theme in my campaigns. I blasted the National Education Association (or its local affiliates) when I first ran for office in 1999. In 2008, I added the Teamsters to my hit list.

I’ve also used my campaigns to speak out against the wars in Iraqistan, which reminds me of another issue—spineless liberals who protest against senseless war by saying “I support the troops.” I say fuck the troops.

You can learn still more about my issues on my Fifth Repubic Party website.