Libertarian Candidate for State Sen. - Is it just me or is he nuts?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Homebrew started a thread worried about a candidate for the House in his district, and I just had to share my worry about a candidate for State Senate in my district (not that there’s a chance in hell a Libertarian candidtate would win this seat). This is the “biography” section of his campaign web site. I had no idea there were creationist, litigious, alternative-medicine doctor Libertarians. I was so shocked and surprised, and being a former Libertarian, I felt I had to write the head of our State Libertarian Party about this travesty.

This is my e-mail (kind of long but bear with me):

"Dear Mr. :

I am a former Libertarian (you’d find me on the list with my ex-husband, XX, who is now deceased) who lives in ___. I am absolutely appalled and astounded at Mark Hayden’s campaign web site, www.markhayden.com.

First, in his “biography,” he runs on and on about Bible verses, God, and “the false theory of evolution in school based on the lies of men.” I thought Libertarians stood for a strict separation of church and state, as well as an informed, learned viewpoint. This man is supposed to be a medical doctor. He certainly likes to talk about his superior intelligence, evidenced by his pointless discussion of his ACT scores and being in the 99th percentile of his high school class. One might think that was the last excellence he achieved since he doesn’t discuss medical school or other higher learning except to say he graduated from UAB at 24 years old. And he “clept” Calculus II. Well if he’s so smart why did he say “clept?” You and I know it is earned college credit through a CLEP test. I passed one myself in college. His poor writing style (switching willy-nilly from first person to third person), grammatical errors, and knee-jerk characterization of evolution do not indicate a superior intelligence to me.

Second, I thought Libertarians stood strongly for less government in all aspects of life. Yet in his “legal experience” section of his “biography,” he discusses in excruciating detail a lawsuit he instigated apparently as part of some vendetta against Larry Dixon, who is his Republican opponent for District 25. Have you or any of your party investigated these court proceedings? If anyone were a master of legal finagling and glutting up the court system with frivolous lawsuits and motions, it is he. He has been attempting to use the court system to his advantage in his vendetta against Larry Dixon and BlueCross/BlueShield for years now. He also filed suit against a doctor in Elmore County and again against BlueCross in Elmore County. He filed a motion for the Montgomery County Judge to be recused because her insurance carrier was BlueCross! He appears to suspect some great conspiracy, with BlueCross at the center of it. And this was only one of numerous nonsensical, poorly written motions and other legal falderal. This is all public record; all you need to do is ask the Elmore County Circuit Court and the Montgomery County Circuit Court for case documents with Steven Mark Hayden as the Plaintiff. The Complaint alone in the Montgomery County case is 28 pages of rambling, vague allegations (with the same self-important discussion of his ACT scores). When his case in the Montgomery Circuit Court was dismissed, he appealed to, I’m not sure about this, either the District Court or the Court of Civil Appeals. When that case was dismissed, he appealed to the Supreme Court! Now, this man is using our governmental resources on a personal vendetta. Is this really a good person to have as an example of Libertarians?

Third, his allegations against Larry Dixon, the Board of Medical Examiners, and BlueCross/BlueShield simply smack of personal dissatisfaction and a desire for revenge. A campaign web site is no place for wild accusations stated as fact. In fact, Mr. Dixon, the Board of Medical Examiners and BlueCross/BlueShield perhaps would not be unsuccessful if they chose to pursue a libel lawsuit.

Fourth, given the rest of what you now know about “Dr.” Hayden, I think you will agree that all of his statements are suspect. I just don’t know if I believe his assertions about various family members getting “mustard gassed on the battlefield of World War One,” being “killed on a covert operation in Cuba called the Bay of Pigs,” and who “stood up against graft and corruption in military contract purchases.” These are all very vague assertions that perhaps could be proven wrong but only after extensive investigation, and who wants to invest the time and money in disproving the statements of someone who has already been seen to be, at best, prone to exaggeration?

This web site and the drivel thereon reflect very poorly upon the Libertarians. I believe you should look very closely at “Dr.” Hayden, including actually reading some of the court documents I referenced, and perhaps advise him that using the government in a personal vendetta and citing the Bible ad nauseum is about as far from Libertarian ideals as you can get.

I would like to know your stance on this candidate and whether you approve of his campaign web site.

Sincerely,"

I got a reply five days later, saying (edited by me for length):

"I want you to know that I have read your letter and will take this seriously. I will look into this over the next few weeks and let you know what I find. Our national convention is the first week of July in Indianapolis, perhaps I’ll see him there.

We are still a small party, and growing. I consider all of the LPA’s members to be my family, and I’ve never heard much about Dr. Hayden, positive or negative. He has helped us financially for years and consider him an asset to our cause.

My forty hour weeks are filled with endless paperstuffing, grueling timeframes, legal wrangling and lawsuits, deadbeat volunteers, and an apathetic public. This year we added four dozen candidates (many of whom I do not know,) reapportionment, a primary at the convention, and half of my executive committee is green because the other half is running for office. I am disappointed that APT, WHNT, and the Montgomery Advertiser are setting “critera” for the governor’s debate as a 10% poll showing. Since no poll is including the LP candidate, we are at ZERO right now. I know it’s not fair, but since there are exactly three candidates, we are pretty sure which one will be left out:

(inert letter from Alabama Public TV telling Libertarians they’re not invited to gubernatorial debates)

And I get not one thin dime for my effort, it’s all volunteer. I have little time for anything else, much less web surfing political sites!!! I’ll visit and let you know what I find. I don’t think I have time to look for the legal suits, but would be willing to read them. Perhaps you could forward me a copy? My fax number is xxxx.

I’ve got to prepare for the rewrite of the LP platform, I’ve got less than two weeks and then I get to spend a week in committee in Indianapolis. If you don’t hear from me by the second week in July, please write back, I may have forgotten or lost this email, OK? We’re starting candidate trainign classes toward the end of July, the materials need to be re-written (again!) and I’m afraid I’ll run out of time if we don’t do this soon.

Thank you."

Which sounded to me like, whine whine whine I don’t have time to check this out.

Are there any Libertarians around here? Are any of you appalled at this man’s campaign web site?

2

Sounds like a valid complaint against the candidate. You tried to call it to the attention of the party officials, which is proper since you think he is not a good representative of the party. I suppose the official’s response sounds whiney, though he is trying to explain why he might not be familiar with the details you mention.

Not being a Libertarian, and not being an active party participant familiar with proper procedures, I don’t really have much more to add.

3

Is there something in the Libertarian party platform that says that you shouldn’t be a fundamentalist christian?

4

Arnold: No. But there is a strong party platform that calls for the strict seperation of church and state. If Mark thinks evolution is bunk, he very likely wants it out of the schools. If he wants it out of the schools, I’ll go dollars to doughnuts he wants to replace it with some form of Creationism, a myth firmly grounded in religion, thereby violating the seperation of church and state.

In my experience, Libertarians tend not to be very religious. Most Libertarians I have met are atheists or nonpracticing members of their faith. A Fundie (seperate from the nonperjorative fundamentalist) Libertarian sounds like someone who wants to replace the secular authority (government) with a more religious society. Libertarians are allowed to be as religious as they want as long as they don’t try to push it on others, and using a political office as a bully pulpit is an effective means of doing just that.

5

Here’s a representative quote for anyone who doesn’t believe AlaItalia:

That man would go far, I think, if he joined a certain other political party.

6

Nice bit of work there, AlaItalia. Thanks!

7

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

It’s like they don’t want to win.

I vote Libertarian. Zing.

But it’s all too apparent that the party is filled with people who believe that being ‘right’ (by their definition) is more important that winning elections.

So I offer them a tip.

Politics is the art of compromise. Never, in all of time, will Libertarians get everything they want. So win some elections and see what parts of the platform are palatable enough to:

A) The American people
B) Some Democrats
C) Some Republicans

that they can be passed into law.

But this constant “My way or the highway” just leads to us being continually viewed as lunatics.

And it pisses me off.