John Mertens, an engineering professor, is running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut in 2010 on a platform of abolishing federal subsidies for ethanol. He says such a step would save $70,000,000,000 per year and also help the environment. He says he is an independent candidate, but that he also is seeking the nomination of the Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Connecticut for Lieberman Parties. See this story.
Connecticut would permit him to appear on all those party lines, but the Green, Libertarian and Independent Parties are not ballot-qualified for U.S. Senate in 2010. They are qualified for certain other races. In Connecticut, a party is ballot-qualified for each race for which it polled 1% in the last election (it is also ballot-qualified for all office if it polled 20% for Governor in the last gubernatorial election).
The Connecticut for Lieberman Party is ballot-qualified for U.S. Senate in 2010. Mertens would need 7,500 signatures to appear for as the nominee of any of the other parties.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Ross Levin // Oct 28, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Is he really running on that platform alone, or is that just a major part of his platform?
2 Third Party Revolution // Oct 28, 2009 at 2:33 pm
We here at Third Party Revolution endorse John Mertens in his campaign for the Connecticut US Senate Seat, along with many other third party and independent candidates seeking public offices nationwide, ranging from local to federal levels.
3 Gene Berkman // Oct 28, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Abolishing ethanol subsidies is certainly a good proposal. How do Green Party members feel about that? I know Libertarians oppose subsidies in general, and ethanol subsidies in particular.
4 Ross Levin // Oct 28, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I’m not a Green but I think most environmentalists are against ethanol subsidies and corn subsidies in general. Don’t take my word for it, though.
5 Gene Berkman // Oct 29, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I just spent time looking at the campaign blog for John Mertens @ http://mertens2010.blogspot.com/
He is for ending the war on drugs, he opposed the Iraq War and wants to bring the troops home from Afghanistan, he is critical of TARP and deficit spending, he favors a ban on torture, and he supports reasonable immigration reform.
Looks like John Mertens would be a good candidate for Libertarians to back, if Peter Schiff loses the Republican primary.
6 Nicholas Hensley // Oct 29, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I like him sort of. Maybe the Modern Whigs will back him.
7 Nicholas Hensley // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:31 pm
The Modern Whig Party is very particular about who it endorses or otherwise supports. All endorsements and official support under the Modern Whig Party or Whig National Committee (WNC) are thoroughly vetted and voted on by various state and national leaders.
Please do not use my words out of context or attempt to use that statement above as the word of fact. I was simply thinking out loud.
8 Dr. John Mertens // Nov 4, 2009 at 11:53 am
It’s nice to see factually accurate coverage about the campaign. Thank you!
As one of the commenters pointed out, my ethanol position is one of many. I present 30 detailed position statements on my website:
http://www.Mertens2010.com
Stay tuned for more.
Sincerely,
John
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