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I was outspent 19 to 1 in a 65-35% vote for the incumbent. VanderJagt spent over $300,000 gathered from corporate political action committees. His television, radio, and newspaper ads dominated the Ninth District while my media buys were limited to a few newspaper and radio ads. The perverse golden rule, “He who has the gold wins” was well-proved in that 1988 campaign.
I am a writer, a poet, a philosopher, an organic gardener, and a lover of Nature, especially, of Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes region. In 1996, I married the love of my life, Marguerite Curran, an artist and graphic designer. She drew the logo for the Golden Rule Patriot that came to me in a dream in 2005. I am the father of an adoptive son and a biological daughter and of two stepdaughters. I am the grandfather of a boy and a girl.
I have been a community organizer, spokesperson, and campaign manager and a candidate. My first involvement at 17 was in the McGovern campaign and the local peace group, the Priorities Council. I organized a guerrilla theater that portrayed the brutal regime in South Vietnam. At age 19, while studying local government at Muskegon Community College, I founded and coordinated Operation Bus-Scream (1973-1974), a successful effort to restore Muskegon’s bus service. During the 70s massive recession I campaigned locally for the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act (1975-76). I worked for the Welfare Rights Organization (1976-77) assisting low income people with obtaining benefits. In 1980 I co-founded and coordinated Citizens for Global Peace and Justice to locally promote the nuclear weapons freeze/disarmament, peace in Latin America, and peaceful conflict resolution (1980-88). While active with the Muskegon-Ottawa National Organization for Women I co-produced ERAlive, a variety show fund raiser for the Equal Rights Amendment and was active in the ERA extension effort (1982). 1982-86 I edited and published The West Michigan Plowshare, a congressional district journal promoting economic justice, peace, human/civil rights, equality, ecology and workplace safety. From 1985 to 1988 I co-coordinated the local Ground Zero Pairing Project for cultural exchange between Muskegon, USA and Brest, USSR. I was co-organizer of West Michigan PeaceWatch, a network of 9th Congressional District Peace groups (1984). In 1984 I managed the Muskegon campaign of Senger for Congress. I was a member of Every Woman’s Place Domestic Violence Committee, (1996-97) and the local Domestic Violence Coordinating Committee (1996-2000).
Education: 1986 Muskegon Community College, Associates of Arts Degree; 1988 Grand Valley State University, Bachelors of Science Degree, Political Science and History, Summa Cum Laude, Presidential and Honors Scholarships Recipient, 1988 Outstanding Student in Political Science GVSU Department of Political Science. Phi Kappa Phi National Honors Society.
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