OSWEGATCHIE LIBERTARIAN SEEKS INDEPENDENCE NOD

An Oswegatchie resident may challenge Democrat Darrel J. Aubertine for the
Independence Party nomination in Assembly District 118 this fall, but it
won't be Republican candidate and St. Lawrence County Clerk Patricia A Ritchie.

Self-proclaimed. Libertarian Lee J. Monnet is registered in the
Independence Party and has informed party officials he may seek another
line on the ballot in addition to the Libertarian Party line he hopes to
obtain by gathering 1,500 signatures from registered voters.

But Mr. Monnet said he won't seek the Independence Party line if he thinks
accepting a line from that party will compromise any of his libertarian values.

"I won't sell out on any of the issues in my campaign," he said. "I believe
in my Libertarian platform."

His issues include: lower taxes, an end to state land buys, the repeal of
laws requiring adults to wear seat belts and motorcycle helmets, the use of
ballot initiatives and referendums, lowering the drinking age to 19, the
immediate repeal of the state's Rockefeller drug laws and legalization and
regulation of marijuana.

He is a member of Reconsider, a statewide group that pushes for more
emphasis on 'drug treatment and education and less on criminal enforcement
of drug laws.

Mr. Monnet said he has spoken with Independence Party leaders, including
St. Lawrence County Chairman Willard E. Smith and former Watertown mayor
Jeffrey E. Graham, since the party endorsed Mr. Aubertine Saturday.

"When I read that they were going to support Darrel Aubertine, I thought,
'Gee, that seems funny that somebody from the party didn't run," Mr. Monnet
said. "I'd been working so much on the Libertarian aspect of my campaign, I
really never gave it any consideration."

In fact, he said, a conversation with Republican candidate Scott A.Gray at
the Dairy Festival in Canton on Saturday helped spark Mr. Monnet's interest
in seeking the Independence Party's line.

The party announced Saturday it would endorse Mr. Aubertine, giving him an
out-of-party authorization to run on the line. Mrs. Ritchie was endorsed by
the party in St. Lawrence County, but lost out to Mr. Aubertine for the
ballot position when the party in Jefferson County endorsed the Democrat.

Using a system based on votes cast on the Independence Party line in the
1998 governor's race, Jefferson County's executive committee can overrule
St. Lawrence County's committee.

Mr. Gray and David A Renzi, Jefferson County's public defender through July
12, along with Mrs. Ritchie, received consideration for the out-of-party
authorization but lost to Mr.Aubertine because the party had endorsed the
Democrat in 2000, party officials said.

Mr. Aubertine said he is not concerned about a primary.

"It's the process at work," he said. "It's not a bad thing. Nobody relishes
a primary; but a primary can be a good thing if you win it. It can give you
momentum."