FINANCIAL ANALYST FAVORS NIXING "CONSENSUAL CRIME LAWS" ON DRUG USE, SODOMY
AND GAMBLING

Libertarian Candidate For Governor Runs On Reforming Election Laws

William Redpath says our voting system boxes people into either "wasting
their vote or voting for the lesser of two evils."

There's no squadron of aides behind William Redpath as he campaigns.
Newspaper reports usually don't mention him.

Redpath, the Libertarian candidate for governor, doesn't want to be like
Democrat Mark Warner or Republican Mark Earley. He said Virginia's voting
system ensures that major-party candidates will run for the political
center and try to offend as few people as possible. He wants to change that.

"It's not the money. It's our voting system, which boxes people into either
wasting their vote or voting for the lesser of two evils, so to speak,"
Redpath said.

Redpath, a 44-year-old financial analyst who lives in Herndon, is no
stranger to the political margins. He has been active in the Libertarian
Party since he learned its philosophy 20 years ago.

"I came to realize that conservatism on economic issues and liberalism on
social issues was not just a mixed-up jumble in my mind, but was a coherent
philosophy called libertarianism," he said.

The Ohio native was a primary mover in getting the Libertarian Party
presidential candidate onto the ballots in all 50 states in 1992 and 1996.
He ran for a Virginia House of Delegates seat in 1993 and for the state
Senate in 1998.

Part of his campaign focuses on voting system reform. One idea he backs is
instant runoff voting, a system where voters list candidates in order of
preference. If a voter chose, for example, Ralph Nader as a first choice
and Al Gore as a second choice, the vote would go to Gore once the vote
tally for Nader was shown to be too low to win. That system, Redpath said,
avoids the "spoiler" effect of third parties.

"That's really the reason I'm running," he said. "There isn't going to be a
third major party in the United States with our voting system."

Redpath, whose motto is "anything that's peaceful," supports limiting
government spending and social prohibitions. He favors doing away with
"consensual crime laws," including prohibitions on drug use, sodomy and
gambling, and he opposes the death penalty. "It's not possible to be
perfect in our administration of justice, and I think that's what our death
penalty necessitates," he said.

He supports a universal tuition tax credit for K-12 education and ending
state general fund subsidies to colleges and universities. "I think the
concept of limited government has simply gone out the window."