Well, the folks at the California Secretary Of State office have culled the 247 applicants down to 135 actual candidates for the office of governor. Some of the interesting ones were dropped off the list, alas, but most of the best ones stayed on and some new names have been added. Still, here are your 135 selections:
- Iris Adam: Natural Law Party (who seem to dance around the fact that they are primarily about Transcendental Meditation)
- Brooke Adams: BA in Communications from the University of Southern California, 2000
- Alex-St. James: born in Liberia, studied for the priesthood
- Douglas Anderson: Republican
- Angelyne: Age is “ageless”, occupation is “billboard model”
- Mohammad Arif: During the 1980s, was organizer for the Pakistan People’s Party
- Badi Badiozamani: Navy veteran — Iranian navy, that is.
- Vik S. Bajwa: from North Hollywood
- John W. Beard: education ends with Los Angeles Baptist High School in 1980
- Ed Beyer: P.I.; his website name, www.electedbeyer.com may confuse some people. He’s not already Elected Beyer, he is merely telling you to Elect Ed Beyer
- Vip Bhola: attorney from North Hollywood
- Cheryl Bly-Chester: an environmental engineer, post-doc’d at MIT
- Audie Elizabeth Bock: was the first Green Party candidate to win a statewide office (CA Assembly), but running as a Dem.
- Joel Britton: non-partisan
- Art Brown: “I started for publicity, but now I kind of want to win”
- John Christopher Burton: civil rights attorney from Pasadena
- Cruz M. Bustamante: thinks he’s “lieutenant governor”. May be right.
- Peter Miguel Camejo: ran for president in 1976 as Socialist (lost, apparently), but now running as a Green
- Todd Carson: member of the Western Carwash Association for three years
- William “Bill” S. Chambers: a switchman/brakeman for the railroad
- Michael Cheli: in the Indian gaming business
- D. (Logan Darrow) Clements: Claims to have a plan, definitely has a name
- Gary Wayne Coleman: got his G.E.D.; when he asks “what yoo talkin’ about, Willis?”, it’s probably during discussions of trig or natural biology
- Mary “Mary Carey” Cook: porn star
- Robert Cullenbine: retired, but apparently willing to step out of retirement if the right elected position comes along
- Scott Davis:”I’m the real Davis for governor.”
- Robert “Butch” Dole: not the Bob Dole
- Bob Lynn Edwards: divorce lawyer
- Warren Farrell: author of Why Men Are The Way They Are
- Dan Feinstein: not Diane
- Larry Flynt: spent six months in prison for contempt of court
- Lorraine (Abner Zurd) Fontanes: Motocross journalist
- Gene E. Forte: executive recruiter, recruiting himself as the state’s top executive
- Diana Foss: Democrat
- Ronald J. Friedman: L.A. doctor
- Leo Gallagher: comedian famed for anti-watermelon violence. “I’m the spice in this election.”
- Richard Gosse: “‘Fairness for singles’, that’s my platform”
- James H. Green: Nurse
- Jack Lloyd Grisham: Musician
- Garrett Gruener: Democrat, high-tech entrepeneur
- Joe Guzzardi: online and print opinion columnist
- Ivan A. Hall: owns a business that makes dentures
- Ken Hamidi: tax officer
- Sara Ann Hanlon: B.A. in graphic design
- Charles Stephen Henderson: teacher
- Ralph A. Hernandez: inspector for a county DA office
- John J Hickey: big-L Libertarian
- Jim Hoffman: “When I signed the petition, I never thought I’d run. But I thought ‘why not?’”
- Arianna Huffington: red-headed liberal with questionable roots
- S. Issa: not the “Issa” who funded the recall, that was Darrell
- Michael A. Jackson: not Michael The Jackson
- Trek Thunder Kelly: artist who shows his commitment by wearing blue every day
- Edward T. Kennedy: T does not stand for The. He goes by “Ed”.
- David E. Kessenger: “I live relatively comfortably on $10,000 a year”
- Kelly P. Kimball and Scott A. Mednick: two candidates that co-own ButtMonkey Beer, normally targeted at spring-breakers but now being touted as the Official Beer Of The California Recall Election. “A great opportunity to expose our brand name to people” — Mednick
- Stephen Knapp: engineer
- Eric J. Korevaar: CalTech grad
- Jerry Kunzman: non-partisan
- Dick Lane: Watch out for this guy, he’s a psych professor!
- Gary Leonard: Spent 11 years photographing construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall
- Todd Richard “The Bumhunter” Lewis: You know, “The Bumhunter”… from the movie Bumfights? Me neither
- Calvin Y. Louie: “I guess I took out my papers way before Bustamante”
- Frank A. Macaluso, Jr.: radiologist
- Paul “Chip” Mailander: golf pro. “I’d have to look at the fiscal crisis, then chip away at it, as they say in golf”
- Robert C. Mannheim: “Hey, it sounds like a lot of fun.”
- Bruce Margolin: Director, NORML, the marijuana advocacy folks
- Paul Mariano: “If elected, I would institute Gray Davis as my chief of staff”
- Gino Martorana: Dropped out in 10th grade to become a barber, now owns a restaurant
- Mike P. McCarthy: Used car dealer
- Robert McClain: “I originally thought it would be fun to be on the ballot, but the process has become more serious — quite serious.”
- Tom McClintock: State Senator, resides in the Newbury Park area of Thousand Oaks (as do I)
- Dennis Duggan McMahon: San Francisco banker
- Mike McNeilly: Beverly Hills artist
- Scott A. Mednick: See “Kelly P. Kimball”, above
- Carl A. Mehr: Electrical engineer, worked for IBM on prototype computers in the 1950s
- Jonathan Miller: BS, MIT
- Darryl L. Mobley: founder of Black-oriented businesses
- Jeffrey L. Mock: metal recycler
- John “Jack” Mortensen: Attended San Jose City College. For a day.
- Dorene Musili: from Sonoma
- Paul Nave: former world boxing champ who served three years in San Quentin
- Robert C. Newman II: both a psychologist and a farmer
- Leonard Padilla: Bounty huner, president/cofounder Lorenzo Patino Law School, has a “college equivalency diploma”
- Ronald Jason Palmieri: gay rights attorney
- Gregory J. Pawlik: of the Pacific Palisades Pawliks
- Heather Peters: Mediator
- Charles “Chuck” Pineda, Jr.: Army topographical surveyor in Korea, ’59-’61
- Bill Prady: as a TV writer/producer he has worked with the Munsters, the Muppets, and both Dharma and Greg. Truly, he is well-equipped to deal with the citizenry of California
- Darin Price: teaches chemistry to university students
- Bryan Quinn: businessman
- Jeff Rainforth: marketing coordinator for Best Buy
- Daniel C. “Danny” Ramirez: of Calexico
- Christopher Ranken: Planning commissioner
- Reva Renee Renz: What party is R.R.R.? An R, of course
- Daniel W. Richards: of Rancho Cucamonga
- Kevin Richter: information technology manager
- Kurt E. “Tachikaze” Rightmyer: middle-weight sumo wrestler. “my motivation is obviously to win…”
- David Laughing Horse Robinson: chairman of Kawaiisu tribe of the Tejon Indian Reservation
- Ned F. Roscoe: president of family-owned national discount cigarette chain. His campaign website? www.smokersparty.com
- Sharon Rushford: member of Kaiser Permanente Reform Committee
- Georgy Russell: at 26, has been in Death Penalty Focus, an anti-death penalty group, for 10 years
- Jamie Rosemary Safford: from Granite Bay
- David Ronald Sams: of SamsDirect.com, the self-proclaimed Internet Superspot
- Darrin H. Scheidle: founded four companies, one in the digital fingerprinting biz
- Mike Schmeir: attorney
- George Schwartzmann: no times Mr. Olympia, businessman
- Arnold Schwarzenegger: seven times Mr. Olympia, has smoked pot in front of cameras
- Richard J. Simmons: not the Richard Simmons
- Bill Simon Jr.: Failed to defeat Gray Davis when no one else of note was running
- B.E. Smith: L.A. Times says went to prison “under the Medical Marijuana Compassionate Use Act”; I suspect it was despite of that act
- Christopher Sproul: “I figure, the more people on the ballot, the more ridiculous the whole thing will look.”
- Randall D. Sprague: investigates complaints of discrimination
- Christopher Sproul: environmental attorney
- Lawrence Steven Strauss: personal injury lawyer
- Tim Sylvester: “the recall is unfair”
- A. Lavar Taylor: former IRS attorney
- Dianna Beall Templin: “I’m not one of the good ol’ boys.”
- Patricia G. Tilley: already lives in Sacramento
- Brian S. Tracy: motivational speaker. “I’m a realistic optimistic.”
- William James Tsangares: Republican
- Peter V. Ueberroth: 1984 Time Man Of The Year (although let’s remember that other people to have gotten that honor include Stalin, Hitler, the Ayatollah Khomeni, and Richard Nixon)
- Mark Valdez: air pollution scientist
- James M. Vandeventer, Jr.: salesman
- Paul W. Vann: co-founded the Morasha Jewish Day School
- Bill Vaughn: member of the Western Carwash Association for three years
- Van Vo: radio producer. With a mere five letters in his name, he would’ve been the perfect write-in candidate!
- Chuck Walker: business intelligence analyst
- Maurice Walker: real estate appraiser
- Nathan Whitecloud Walton: student; his dad is in the basketball hall of fame
- Daniel Watts: college student
- C.T. Weber: “the Peace And Freedom Party stands for women’s rights, the environment, and democratic socialism”
- Jim Weir: “my motivation is obviously to win…”
- Lingel H. Winters: consumer business attorney
- Michael J. Wozniak: retired cop
- John W. “The Bear” Zellhoefer: energy consultant
The folks who were on our earlier list but whose applications were rejected:
- Camilla Cochran: attorney/homemaker
- Dennis Hugh Conn: non-partisan
- Paula “Teena” Cooper: nurse
- Joseph R. Evanns: from Ventura
- Justin Garten: of San Bernadino
- Howard Allen Gershater: walked across America. Twice. Former Elvis tribute singer
- Gerold Lee Gorman: unemployed dot-commer
- Sara Ann Hanlon: B.A. in graphic design
- Sharon Holland: from San Francisco
- Temila C. Jensen: attorney
- David “Renaissanceamerica.org” Johnson: because with a bland first and last name, you need an eye-catching middle name
- Matt Lemcke: a mere 22
- Shu Yih Luh: L.A. Times claims that he’s CEO of the “Stuttz automobile company”, but I can find no further data, either for Stuttz or for someone with that name linked to the more-likely Stutz
- Sergio Myers: creator of MTV’s Sorority Life reality show
- Geoff Nathanson: L.A. broadcast sports reporter
- Wolfgang Georg Neckien: “I’m going in so that at least somebody was there who was speaking for the small people”
- Don Novello: Saturday Night Live‘s Father Guido Sarducci
- Kevin Richter: respiration consultant, whatever that is
- Ralph S. Sherwood: disabled ex-plumber
- Erik R. Smith: of San Francisco
- Scott “Gray Will Stay” Sookman: of Beverly Hills, a fan of the band Spinal Tap
- Mathilda Karel Spak: 100 years old. Last year, was named “ambassador” of the 99 Cent Only store chain. That chain has been advertising looking for a candidate to sponsor; I presume they are her backers. Got her business degree in the 1920s.
- Lester Terry Tate Speight: not Teight Spate, no matter what my fingers wanted to type
- Elizabeth Swayney: non-partisan
- Bill Thill: of Sherman Oaks
- Linda L. Toth: author/educator
- Ruben Raul Vega: banker
- Paul Walton: resort/spa owner
- Donald P. Wang: Republican
And there were plenty of folks who applied who I never got to write-up at all. But we kept most of the most interesting folk.
