It appears the Indiana Libertarian Party has found its candidate for Governor in 2012: Rupert Boneham, a former contestant on the reality TV show “Survivor.”
From the article:
Boneham, 47, is set to officially announce his intentions at an event Saturday, but told RTV6’s Todd Connor during a Friday taping of “Indianapolis This Week” that he’s excited to seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of my friends, my family, my donors for Rupert’s Kids, making sure that my world would not really change, that my programs will still be maintained,” he said. “(I’ve been) talking to a lot of the people on our website, RupertForGovernor.com, seeing those stories, people out there that are struggling, that are having a hard time, and I don’t see the candidates that we have to choose from really understanding what is going on with day-to-day Hoosiers.”
Boneham touted his experience as a small business owner and his years of work on behalf of troubled teenagers with his charity, Rupert’s Kids, as his primary qualifications.
The Indiana LP has been one of the party’s strongest affiliates in recent years. 2010 Senate candidate Rebecca Sink-Burris earned 5.39% of the vote, and in 2008 LP presidential nominee Bob Barr performed better in Indiana than in any other state. However, previous Indiana Libertarian candidates have been longtime party members who were not well-known outside Libertarian ranks. Now, the party has a minor celebrity to lead its ticket in the state, and state (and national) vice-chair Mark Rutherford couldn’t be happier:
Mark Rutherford, vice chairman of the Indiana Libertarian Party, said previously that Boneham was exactly the kind of candidate Indiana needs.
“paulie // Oct 23, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Really, he wants to use government to make the state “No. 1 in correctional facilities”?
Depends on what that means. Least expensive? Least abusive to inmates? Harshest?”
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I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Boneham at the LSLA Meeting in Ohio a few months ago.
Mr. Boneham’s current job is to rehabilitate troubled youth. Most of those youth have been in jail in the past, or they are in jail, and they volunteer for Rupert’s program.
I can assure you that Mr. Boneham wants our correctional system to perform the maximum amount of rehabilitation at a minimum amount of cost. That is quite consistent with libertarian principles.
Yeah, that would take about 5 minutes to fix. Too bad you and I don’t have server access!
Really, he wants to use government to make the state “No. 1 in correctional facilities”?
Depends on what that means. Least expensive? Least abusive to inmates? Harshest?
Starchild and Jeremy,
I have let the management know how to fix the author name issue. It’s really easy but it requires server access, which I don’t have.
I’ve pointed this out before and Trent said the tech guy would fix it. That was almost 2 years ago though….here it is again:
in the dashboard (only admins can see this file):
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php?file=/themes/cutline-3-column-split-11/single.php&theme=Cutline+3-Column+Split
This line (I?m changing angle brackets to square so it shows up)
[h4][?php the_time(‘F jS, Y’) ?][!– by < ?php the_author() ?> –]
The comment tags need to be removed (!?, ?).
It says ?You need to make this file writable before you can save your changes. See the Codex for more information.?
http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions
That would require server access, not just the dashboard, as far as I can tell.
My byline is on it. (You have to go to the main page to see it — a longstanding bug in this WordPress theme.)
Frankly, after reading this Indianapolis Star piece, I’m surprised even Boneham thinks he’s a Libertarian. Listen to his “key issues” as described to the reporter:
Really, he wants to use government to make the state “No. 1 in correctional facilities”? When a Libertarian starts sounding too statist even for me, you know something’s wrong.
“Don’t see any issues yet” — that would be on his website, RupertForGovernor.com.
What are his positions on the issues? Will he run a strongly libertarian campaign? That’s the most important question. Hope the answer is yes.
Don’t see any issues yet, but he does have a great photo of himself in a tie-dye shirt with a healthy beard. No doubt some of the “political professional” types will soon be trying to scare him into “cleaning up” his image if they haven’t already.
Don’t listen to them, Rupert. Be yourself. Be authentic. People ultimately value that more than a packaged commodity.
Who posted this piece, by the way? There doesn’t seem to be any byline on it.
I wish the best of luck to Rupert’s bid for Governor. Hope the W.A.R and the LNCC leadership can give him the necessary support to win.
The AP is carrying the story.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SURVIVOR_INDIANA_GOVERNOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-22-18-15-09
Bone ’em, Boneham!
The question is: will this be seen as a vanity campaign, or will Boneham be taken extra seriously because he’s not just a party activist but a party activist with celebrity? I think it should be the latter — he sounds like a longtime activist and party member. But I’m a bit worried that it will be the former, just because he was on Survivor.
YES, INDIANA LP is one of the BEST affiliates in the country. This is a bold move. Go for it guys! I travel Indiana and I hear them mentioned frequently in the media in the same sentences with the dreaded D’s and R’s.
LP in Indiana is becoming a BRAND.