American Independent Party Information
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice presidential candidate. Wallace ran on every state ballot in the 1968 presidential election, though he did not represent the American Independent Party in all fifty states; in Connecticut, for instance, he was listed on the ballot as representing the "George Wallace Party." The Wallace/LeMay ticket received 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes.
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Party history
In 1969, representatives from 40 states established the American Party as the successor to the American Independent Party. In some places, such as Connecticut, the American Party was officially constituted as the American Conservative Party. (The modern American Conservative Party, founded in 2008, is unrelated to the Wallace-era party.) The official party flag adoption took place on August 30, 1970. The flag depicts an eagle holding a group of arrows in its left talons, over a compass rose, with a banner which reads "The American Independent Party" at the eagle's base. In 1972, the party nominated former Congressman John G. Schmitz of California for president and Tennessee author Thomas Jefferson Anderson for vice president. In 1976, the American Party split into the more moderate American Party, which included more northern conservatives and Schmitz supporters, and the American Independent Party, which focused on the Deep South. Both of the parties have nominated candidates for the presidency and other offices. Neither the American Party nor the American Independent Party has had much national success.
The American Independent Party has had ballot status in the state of California since 1968 and is still active there. As of early 2008, AIP's registration total was 328,261.[1]
In the early 1980s, Bill Shearer led the American Independent Party into the Populist Party. Since 1992, the American Independent party has been the California affiliate of the national Constitution Party, formerly the U.S. Taxpayers Party. However, in 2008 one faction of the AIP broke with the Constitution Party and gave the ballot line (which it controlled) to Alan Keyes, candidate of the similarly named America's Party.
Many political analysts have theorized that the Party, which has received very few votes in recent California elections, maintains its state ballot status because people join the Party mistakenly believing that they are registering as an "independent," also known as a "non-partisan" or "decline-to-state" voter.[2] One such voter was Jennifer Siebel, fiancée of San Francisco's liberal Democratic mayor Gavin Newsom; in 2008, Siebel attempted to change her party affiliation from Republican to Non-Partisan, but "checked the American Independent box thinking that was what independent voters were supposed to do," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.[3]
2008 split
A split in the American Independent Party occurred during the 2008 presidential campaign, one faction recognizing Jim King as chairman of the AIP with the other recognizing Ed Noonan as chairman. Noonan's faction claims the old AIP main website while the King organization claims the AIP's blog. King's group met in Los Angeles on June 28-29, elected King to state chair.[4] Ed Noonan's faction, which included 8 of the 17 AIP officers, held a convention in Sacramento on July 5, 2008. Issues in the split were US foreign policy and the influence of Constitution Party founder Howard Phillips on the state party.[5]
The King group elected to stay in the Constitution Party and supported its presidential candidate, Chuck Baldwin. It was not listed as the "Qualified Political Party" by the California Secretary of State and Baldwin's name was not printed in the state's ballots.[6] King's group sued for ballot access [7] and their case was dismissed without prejudice.[8]
The Noonan group voted to pull out of the Constitution Party and join a new party called America's Party, put together by perennial candidate Alan Keyes as a vehicle for his own presidential campaign.[5] Since Noonan was on record with the California Secretary of State as (outgoing) party chairman, Keyes was added to the state ballots as the AIP candidate.[9] This group elected Markham Robinson as its new chair at the convention.
The King faction website is now billed as the Constitution Party of California, stating "Vote Constitution Party--the only party fighting for a return to Constitutional government!"; but continuing with a list of "2010 California Candidates: We endorse the following candidates who are running under the "American Independent" banner in California for 2010!"[10]
Presidential candidates
1969 AIP party card, showing annual dues of $3.00 for the organization.- 1968 George C. Wallace/Curtis LeMay
- 1972 John G. Schmitz/Thomas J. Anderson
- 1976 Lester Maddox/William Dyke
- 1980 John Rarick/Eileen Shearer
- 1988 James Griffin/Charles Morsa
- 1992 Howard Phillips/Albion Knight, Jr. – U.S. Taxpayers Party
- 1996 Howard Phillips/Herb Titus – U.S. Taxpayers Party
- 2000 Howard Phillips/Curtis Frazier – Constitution Party
- 2004 Michael A. Peroutka/Chuck Baldwin – Constitution Party
- 2008 Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle – Constitution Party (disputed) (write-in candidate)
- 2008 Alan Keyes/Brian Rohrbough – America's Independent Party (disputed) (ballot candidate)
California gubernatorial candidates
The American Independent Party has nominated the following candidates for governor of California since becoming the California affiliate of the Constitution Party:
- 1990 Jerome McCready
- 1994 Jerome McCready
- 1998 Nathan E. Johnson
- 2002 Reinhold Gulke
- 2003 Diane Beall Templin
- 2006 Edward C. Noonan
- 2010 Chelene Nightingale[11]
Chairmen/Vice-Chairmen
- Bill Shearer: 1967–1999
- Nathan Johnson: 1999–2002
- Jim King/Reed R. Heustis: 2002–2004
- Nancy Spirkoff: 2004–2006
- Edward C. Noonan/Mark Seidenberg: 2006–2008
- Disputed: Chair is either Jim King or Markham Robinson: 2008–present
References
- ^ Winger, Richard. "EARLY 2008 REGISTRATION TOTALS", Ballot Access News, March 2008.
- ^ Voting at the Political Fault Line: California's Experiment With the Blanket Primary (2002), page 219. ISBN 0-520-22834-0.
- ^ Newsom's girlfriend stumbles into wrong party
- ^ Quirk, Cody. "AIP holds its State Convention, endorses Chuck Baldwin and reaffirms CP affiliation", Third Party Watch, June 30, 2008.
- ^ a b Bock, Alan. "American-Independent split". Orange County Register Horserace '08. Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008.
- ^ California Secretary of State - Elections & Voter Information - Quaified Political Parties
- ^ Quirk, Cody. "Statement from Jim King, AIP Chairman", Third Party Watch, July 22, 2008.
- ^ Winger, Richard. "Keyes Wins California Lawsuit on Procedural Issue", Ballot Access News, August 26, 2008.
- ^ Garris, Eric. "California Ballot: Alan Keyes Replaces Chuck Baldwin on American Independent Party Ticket", Third Party Watch, July 22, 2008.
- ^ Blog of "King faction" now billed as the Constitution Party of California accessed August 11, 2010
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=394327
External links
- American Independent Party King faction.
- American Independent Party of California Noonan faction.
- American Independent Party at JoinCalifornia
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Categories:
- Political parties established in 1967
- American Independent Party
- Constitution Party (United States) by state
- Far-right politics in the United States
- Conservative parties in the United States
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