from the Print Article Archive
THE DAILY BULLETIN (Ontario, CA)
Libertarian Candidate
Tries to Chart Course
by David Bradvica | Staff Writer
February 16, 2003

The panel discussion in the third-floor conference room at the Marriott on Saturday afternoon was supposed to be about the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and its aftermath.

Somehow, one panelist went a little off-course.

He started talking about an international child abduction ring and how the CIA was involved in it. Congressmen were sleeping with kidnapped children, he said.

While another panelist simply shook his head in dismay, the moderator of this discussion -- Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Nolan -- kept his cool and listened politely.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist," Nolan said a few minutes later. "I don't think there are as many conspiracies out there as some people think. Conspiracy theories are not what Libertarians are all about."

Nolan, a twice-divorced former talk radio host from Cleveland, OH will try to tell the state Libertarian Party convention taking place at the Ontario Marriott this weekend what the party should be about during the keynote speech at 2 p.m. today (2/16/03).

His address will be taped by C-SPAN's "Road to the White House" series as part of its ongoing coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign. Nolan resigned from his nationally syndicated talk show to run for the Libertarian nomination, an honor that will garner only a fraction of the popular vote come November 2004.

Nolan is not dismayed about that.

"I don't feel like I'm a voice in the wilderness," he said. "I am a voice for the philosophy of Libertarians. I feel like once more people understand what we're about, they will come to the party."

When asked what Libertarians are about, his answers are concise -- and decisive.

Less government. Nolan favors abolishing the Internal Revenue Service -- "the government can do what it needs to do on federal excise taxes and duties" -- and ending the War on Drugs by legalizing them.

More liberty. Nolan says the Patriot Act -- passed in the wake of the 9-11 attacks and, among other things, loosened restrictions on surveillance of citizens -- was "not a bit of good."

"Congress didn't read it," he said. "They were in a situation where they wanted to appear to be doing something good. So they didn't read it."

Nolan believes his experience in talk radio will help his fledgling campaign.

"You learn that you have to be entertaining," he said. "This will be an interesting run."

(Original article ©2003 LOS ANGELES NEWSPAPER GROUP)