High Noon

          

 For NJ Gubernatorial Candidate Gary Stein, It’s All About the “Little Guy”
 contrbuted by: Frances Martel | posted: October 30, 2009 7:40 pm

          

 Much like in student council elections, gubernatorial candidates are expected to write candidacy statements to go on the ballots, which no one will read. Candidates seem fully aware of the lack of audience for their statements, and that’s where the fun begins. Take a look, for instance, at candidate Gary Stein’s—an independent running with a different slogan in every county— campaign statement.|

          
 
 I couldn’t help finding the extreme solution to illegal immigration somewhat contradictory......And while I’m usually good at shrugging off criticism, something about this particular “up yours” to the media struck me personally. I decided to find Mr. Stein and give him some of the media attention that had seemingly eluded him for quite some time.

          

Besides getting some satisfaction by proving Mr. Stein wrong in his belief that the media didn’t cover him, I was also curious to find out more about his actual campaign platform, the morale at Stein HQ, and the method behind the madness that his website, peppered with alt-rock band bios, personal stories from the Mexican border, and an exhaustive analysis of his longstanding feud with liberal blog DailyKos.

          
          


What I found is a man with a profound expertise on his topic of choice—illegal immigration from Mexico—using every tool in the democratic toolbox to get his message across (Stein ran for Congress in 2008 and is planning another run in 2010)

          


Even he admits that if voters are thinking of the election with a horserace mentality, there is no real compelling reason to vote for him. “You’ve got to have real leadership qualities for that; I don’t have those” he deadpans when asked if he feels ready to be CEO of a state.



          


His strengths do not lie within the scope of crude bureaucratic skill, he explains, but with a surplus of what most frontrunners, Democrat Jon Corzine particularly, suffer a major lack of: passion for one of New Jersey’s major problems.


          

Here is the interview in ten parts, divided by subject matter:

Part 1: Stein talks about how he defines his partisanship, admits that experiences harboring illegal immigrants have shaped his political stance.

          

Part 4: Stein has some bones to pick with DailyKos, Bill O’Reilly, and sees himself as the real Joe the Plumber

Part 8: A rapidfire round on social issues pressing for NJ voters.


          

Thanks again to Mr. Stein for sitting down with us for an extensive interview. For more information on his project (or some Neil Young cover bands), please visit his website, Steinforgovernor.com.