Gregory Thompson is the Constitution Party of Missouri candidate for governor. He was previously the Superintendent of the Humansville, Missouri R-IV School District, but was removed from that office by a Federal judge because his office displayed the Ten Commandments on the wall, he kept a bible on his desk, and a statuette of “praying hands” on his desk–all of which he refused to remove when ordered by the Supreme Court of Missouri. He was the Principle and Superintendent of Schools in Miami, Missouri from 1995-1998, Superintendent of Schools in Humansville, Missouri from 1998-2004, he was president of the Ozark School Superintendents from 2000-2004, chairman of the State Sportsmanship Committee from 2002-2004, and in 2005 he became an ordained minister. Some refer to Thompson as the “Judge Roy Moore of Missouri”. Dr. Thompson was interviewed for an hour on KSGF in Jefferson City and on was featured on the local television station in Springfield, MO recently also.
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Your support for this religious toad in a secular environment speaks so much about the previous posters.
And more zealots in the Show Me state:
posted by Kn@ppster @ 12:36 PM | Comments (13) | Trackback |
Monday, August 04, 2008
About Kevin Craig
Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. And now that it has, I guess it’s incumbent upon at least one Missouri Libertarian Party member / candidate / official / whatever to set the record straight:
The libertarian blogosphere has noticed Kevin Craig. Specifically, both CLS of Classically Liberal and Steve Newton of Delaware Libertarian have written posts on his candidacy and his … unusual … beliefs.
First, three disclaimers:
– Not only do I not share Kevin Craig’s religious beliefs, I believe that his use of them in his campaigns for public office are both bad strategy per se and potentially damaging to the Libertarian Party.
– I do, however, like Kevin Craig. He’s a reader, and occasional commenter, on this blog. He seems like a personable individual. He seems to be inclined to be helpful when possible (for example, correcting my directions to readers on the location of a great Greek restaurant, and offering to webcast a controversial MOLP executive committee conference call). Batshit insane as regards the gospel, IMO, but not a bad egg as a person.
– And finally, it is my belief that Kevin Craig is, indeed, a libertarian. Specifically, he’s a Rothbardian “anarcho-capitalist” if I am not much mistaken. And among the opinions on religion as it applies to politics that you’ll find on his campaign web site is this one: “True religion cannot be advanced through the use of government coercion, confiscation of property, or deprivation of life or liberty.” Unlike Sonny Landham, whom both bloggers have compared him to, I have no reason to believe that Craig advocates the use of a tax-funded military to conduct a war of genocide so that we can steal other people’s oil.
Now that those points have been covered, I’m just going to offer a few clarifications regarding the situation as it has been covered by those blogs I mention above.
First, according to CLS, “the Libertarian Party of Missouri is letting [Craig run a ‘religious revival meeting’ as opposed to a political campaign].” According to Newton, “several of the LP state parties [including, the context indicates, Missouri’s] have gone so far afield to find candidates that they’ve recruited pure whackjobs …”
Those statements reflect a hopefully correctable ignorance (“lack of knowledge”).
The Missouri LP isn’t “letting” Craig run for office. Under Missouri’s election laws, any constitutionally qualified individual can pay a “filing fee” and run in any established party’s primary. If that person wins the primary (and any voter can take any party’s ballot in it), he or she becomes that party’s candidate. The MOLP has no say in the matter (under the law, anyway — more on that below).
Nor, to the best of my knowledge, did anyone in the Missouri LP “recruit” Kevin Craig to run for any office. He moved to Missouri from California, where he had previously been an LP candidate, and apparently decided on his own to continue said avocation.
Finally, to my certain knowledge, attempts were made by at least one Missouri Libertarian (me) to recruit a candidate other than Craig to run in the primary for Missouri’s 7th District seat in the US House of Representatives this year. Those attempts were unsuccessful, but they were made — I approached at least two LP activists, to my recollection, about running. They both declined.
Moving on … the Missouri LP’s executive committee is not empowered to make negative statements about Libertarian candidates. Such statements would constitute “censure” or “disavowal,” and those kinds of actions require a super-majority vote of the party’s state committee, which usually meets only once a year. The executive committee is only permitted, per its bylaws, to take actions which the state committee could take on a simple majority vote.
Now, there is a twist here. I’ll try to make it as simple as possible to understand.
Back in 2006, Missouri’s Secretary of State got it into her head somehow that she’s permitted to re-write the state’s election laws at will (apparently that’s a common misconception — a US District Court in Ohio recently had to disabuse another Secretary of State of the notion). Specifically, she decided that even though the law only requires that filing fees be “paid,” she would personally require that they be “accepted” by the political parties to whom they were made out (yes, you read that right — filing fees in Missouri are converted into contributions to the political parties on whose tickets the candidates are running).
The Secretary of State presumably reached this conclusion because it was convenient for her party (the Democratic Party), which wanted to reject the candidacy of a neo-Nazi in its own primary for, you guessed it, Missouri’s 7th District US House seat. That neo-Nazi then attempted to file on the LP’s ticket, and we (to my everlasting regret, I supported the action) took advantage of the Secretary of State’s lawlessness to keep that neo-Nazi from running against … wait for it … Kevin Craig! … in the primary.
The chicken of our connivance in crime with the Secretary of State has since come home to roost. This year, the MOLP’s executive committee revolted against not only Missouri’s election laws, and not only against its own party’s bylaws, but against the explicit instructions of its superior body, the state committee, and “refused the filing fee” of the party’s best-performing candidate in a three-way race in 2006 (Chief Wana Dubie, who ran for State Senate that year) when he tried to enter our party’s gubernatorial primary. That abomination took place over my strenuous objection. I’ve learned my lesson, albeit obviously too late — the genie is out of the botle and the MOLP exec comm appears to have re-envisioned itself as the Unquestionable All-Being Supreme Master of Time, Space and Dimension.
Frankly, I was surprised that Kevin Craig didn’t get the same ax that Chief Wana Dubie did. Some members of the executive committee were visibly drooling over the possibility that they’d get to pull the same scam on a two-time prior LP gubernatorial nominee for the effrontery of having shown up at a 2004 candidate forum in a Hawaiian shirt … but he foiled them by not filing this time. Damn the bad luck. And, for whatever reason, they ignored Craig.
So, as you can see, the situation is a bit more complex than either CLS or Steve Newton credited it with being. Kevin Craig was not recruited — he recruited himself. His primary candidacy was not universally unopposed — I tried to recruit a primary opponent. The MOLP did not “let” Craig have its ballot line — legally, the MOLP has zero control over who gets its ballot line. And the MOLP executive committee’s silence on the matter is a simple function of its bylaws, by which it occasionally (if seemingly randomly) deigns to abide.
Selah.
Yes, G.E., I get it, just being snarky – picked that up from you!
I don’t like the ahistorical use of terms like fascism and socialism. The same could be done to “constitutionalist” and “libertarian (capitalist)”. But, it’s not very useful.
“Socialism” has many historical veins and tendencies, where as fascism is pretty much fascism.
Libertarian socialists, for instance, are very different in their world view from social democrats or Marxist-Leninists. Lib socialists/councilists, anarchists, etc favor maximum horizontality of any structures of authority/power.
Cut him a break? What? I don’t understand. DOES NOT COMPUTE>
Trent,
There have been two articles in local papers since the primaries on how many Steelman (Conservative Republican who lost the primary to the establishment candidate.) supporters would not support the establishment candidate. They stated they would be looking at alteratives to support. I would say 12-15%. We have some really BIG plans coming up in October that could take the state by storm. I would be glad to talk to you about them in private.
Who are the alternatives?
Paulie,
He’s definetly my idea of a great candidate, and he’s no Ron Paul–but he’s better than the alternatives as far as im concerned.
Truly Missouri’s Roy Moore.
Haha. GE, cut the guy a break. He probably just didnt know enough about Keyes. Also, I believe Keyes was one of his major supporters right after he was tossed out of office by the Federal courts.
I despise Keyes as much, if not more, than you–but still.
Gregory was the former Superintendent, he was also in hot water for encouraging parents to take children out of government schools and homeschool them.
Great!
Also yes he came to the convention supporting Keyes …
Oh… The guy’s obviously no good, then.
Travis,
Make a prediction then! Where will he poll?
Gregory was the former Superintendent, he was also in hot water for encouraging parents to take children out of government schools and homeschool them. Has a written a great book on the corruption in the schools and has a second one coming out later this month. From the response he’s getting I think 2-3% is very low. He already has a large state and national network because of orgaizations he’s founded and chairs, he’s well known and loved here in MO.
Also yes he came to the convention supporting Keyes but he is strongly supporting Baldwin. He was also one trying to get a comprimise from Keyes, Baldwin Keyes ticket. He strongly supports the CP. I should know all this he’s a close friend and we have been campaigning together a lot lately. If anyone has a chance of winning in the CP it’s him.
I mean like the current government-indoctrination / brain-wash concentration camps, funded by coercive taxation and directed by the central state for the purpose of producing obedient slaves for the regime.
Wow! A socialist school system?! You mean like the old labor colleges, or bread and roses schools? Cool! Where G.E., where!
LMAO. Paulie,you singlehandedly made that the best moment of my day. I laughed for like 5 minutes straight.
lol like porky @ 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_VVVTmiWFo&feature=related
….seriously,did you hit your head?
Ah Missouri! Only by accident did I find a non rock, non Country Western radio station! Only by accident did I notice that OTHER states had regular third parties —-not just occasional independent non Dems and non GOP!
San Diego has three pubic/ public access television stations. Joan ‘MacDonald’s Hambergers’ Kroch gave KPBS five million dollars. LAUSD has its own TV station to join the half dozen other local public access!
And religion! It seeps into almost every aspect of SECULAR public life. Prayer in PUBLIC school. Prayer in political campaign[s]!
And Kansas is even more Bible Thumping in Secular arenas! May be folks are wising up. My athletic hero and saying- some- of- the- dumbest- things- Kansas congress member was tossed out of the House of Representatives for lie after lie. This year Jim Ryun barely lost to a [so called] GOP moderate in the primary.
Days after I had finished my schooling I had found the tear in the fence that surrounds the American Heart Land , crawled through, AND RAN LIKE HELL!
Tom Knapp – Does the MO constitution mandate a separation of church and state or in any way prohibit this guy’s behavior? I’d be interested to know, but not interested enough to look it up myself.
GE,
Listen to the interview and watch the TV thing. When I spoke with him at the convention, he was very Ron Paul-esque, although he seems more interested in religion than Chuck Baldwin.
He told me specifically at the convention that Educational spending was not authorized in the Constitution, and thus shouldn’t exist. His current website says to “end unconstitutional spending” and to “stop federal intrusion into states rights”
Trent – Not really a valid comparison. Ron Paul does not object to the existence of Congress, nor congressional pay, both of which are authorized by the Constitution. The socialist school system, with its federal funding, is not. Furthermore, the government has a monopoly on government, leaving Ron Paul with no other choice. Conversely, private schools exist.
I do not like the federal government running schools. Nor do I like MY tax dollars being used to fund this guy’s salary. So a few questions arise: (1) Does this guy think the schools should receive federal funding? (2) Does he think school should receive state funding? (3) Does the state constitution mandate separation of church and state?
Nope. Baldwin made it on the ballot in WV, but Paugh didnt.
I suspect Paugh would have pulled 6-7% in WV.
And I think Thompson will pull 2-3% in MO.
Butch Paugh didn’t make it? That is a shame.
GE,
Thats like asking why Ron Paul accepts his congressional pay–even though he thinks the position should still be voluntary?
Both Thompson and Paul have resolved themselves to working within the system they want to change.
As an atheist who believes in the Original Intent, I will say this man’s firing was unjust.
However, why is he working for the socialist school system in the first place?
Also,
Thompson was a BIG supporter of Keyes prior and during the CP National Convention–but to his credit–stayed in the CP.
Prediction: This guy will likely be the CP’s best gubernatorial candidate this election. If Butch Paugh had gotten on the ballot in West Virginia, it’d been him.