An Open Letter to Gary Johnson

Recently, Gary Johnson received the endorsement of political consultant Roger Stone. Stone has a history of dirty tricks, including mailing pamphlets claiming Warren Redlich was a "sexual predator" when Redlich when for governor of New York as a Libertarian in 2008. Needless to say, if Gary is indeed aligning himself with Stone, I am absolutely furious. However, every now and then, a candidate gets an unwanted endorsement. Perhaps this is one of them. So, I sent the Johnson campaign an email, which you can read below. I will post any response when I get it.

Dear Gary,

I am a bit concerned about your affiliation with Roger Stone. Mr. Stone has a reputation for being a complete jerk, and you recently accepted his endorsement. This then made national media. However, Stone has a reputation for dirty campaign tactics, including mailing packets claiming New York Libertarian Party Gubernatorial candidate Warren Redlich was a "sexual predator". I do not think you want someone like that on your team.

However, I do recall the Saturday Night Live skit from 2008* where George Bush tries to endorse John McCain for President, but due to Bush's poor reputation, McCain runs away and Todd Palin and his "buddies" chase him down on snowtractors. I am wondering if perhaps this situation is something like that, minus the snowtractor of course. And of course, turning down Stone's endorsement is only going to turn him against you. However, I think at this point, now that the media has reported on your "affiliation" with Stone due to his endorsement, you need to do something or people are going to stop supporting you. I know most New York libertarians are still sore about what Stone did to Redlich. You're going to have a lot of trouble winning them over if you don't say something.

Of course, if you are deliberately and sincerely siding with Stone, then I hope you will change your mind. I do not like candidates who use dirty tactics, and one of the reasons I supported you initially is that you seem to be one of the "pure" candidates. I seek your reassurance that this is still the case, in spite of Roger Stone. Please clarify the extend of your dealings with him. Thank you.

-Gregory Koch

* You can watch that video on Hulu here. It's pretty funny.  

Commentary: So that's out of the way. As I mentioned, if Johnson and Stone are legitimately working together, Johnson will have lost all of my support. I previously said that Ron Paul would get my vote if he ran as a Republican, and if neither he nor Johnson got the nomination, I'd probably vote Libertarian. But now Johnson may be seeking the LP nomination. This could lead to a potential doomsday scenario with Romney or Gingrich running against Obama, with Johnson (allied with Stone) on the LP line. In that case, I'd have to find some other third party/write-in candidate, or not vote for that office.

However things turn out, come November 2012, I will still be supporting Sundwall for Senate. I won't publish an official post endorsing him until I get more details about his campaign, but I will post something in the coming months. Look for it. As for president, a lot of things still have to fall in place. And this shakes things up. I may wind up switching my allegiance from Johnson to Paul in the coming days. I don't know yet. But if Gary Johnson did stoop this low, I'm really surprised.