Green Party candidate David Massie, who is rarely invited to these head-to-head matchups among the candidates, talked about taxing dandelions.When a candidate says something stupid like this in a major party, it doesn't do the party much harm. Candidates say silly things all the time (just look at Don Young!). But when a minor party candidate says something like this, it reflects badly on the party. Never mind that the Green Party of Alaska has tried to get Massie off the ballot (he wasn't registered Green until the last day of filing, and didn't qualify as a legitimate candidate by our bylaws, and hasn't participated in GPAK meetings). Massie is most emphatically not endorsed by the Green Party of Alaska, but he's the fruitcake who gets quoted.
Why? The first reason would be to satirize the way government is always taxing things, he said. "Second, is if you actually did that, people would have dandelions in their yards, and if they did, they could make dandelion wine, and be taxed on that."
The interesting thing here is that Andrew Halcro was threatened with removal from the ballot if he didn't get a running mate, but the Green Party is saddled with a nut they've tried to get removed--even though he has no running mate--because, says the Office of Elections, we could, if we wanted to, provide the nut with a lieutenant governor candidate.
Right. So if no Green except Massie voted for Massie, would that still make him our candidate on a one-choice primary ballot? Massie got a grand total of, lessee, 926 votes. I suspect this total has more to do with the party line he ran on than with him personally.
But of course, I've never met him. Maybe he's not a nut. But the delightful quote above sure doesn't inspire much confidence.
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