MAN PLANS TO OPPOSE SCOZZAFAVA. LIBERTARIAN GETS NOD, NEEDS MORE SUPPORT

OGDENSBURG NY- A town of Oswegatchie man who is active in the drug law
reform movement hopes to challenge Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava,
R-Gouverneur, in November.

The State Libertarian Party's executive committee has unanimously endorsed
Lee J. Monnet, Haggert Road, to face the two-term Republican in the 112th
Assembly district.

Because the Libertarian Party is not officially recognized in New York, Mr.
Monnet needs to gather signatures from 1,500 registered voters to ensure a
spot on the November ballot.

"My platform is freedom of choice"' he said Tuesday. "I guess that sums it
up. Right now, I see government as a failure. If we as residents ran our
households like they ran the government, I don't think we'd have very much."

Mr. Monnet, 45, 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.

He favors lower taxes, and end to state land buys, 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, immediate
repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws and legalization and regulation of
marijuana.

In 1995, Mr. Monnet was sentenced to a month in county jail, five years
probation and $ 1,000 fine after pleading guilty to second-degree criminal
possession of marijuana in connection with allegations that he was growing
more that 1,000 hydroponics cannabis plants in his trailer. "I'd like to be
up front about that," he said

Mr. Monnet also favors looser gun laws. "I believe that a law-abiding
citizen should have every right to own a weapon,"he said. "I know that my
opponent is on the right side of that issue, but I'd like to go to Albany
and be more vocal. I'm not going to mince any words."

Mr. Monnet is a part-time auto mechanic who also raises fruit, trees for
firewood and Christmas trees on a 40-acre property and grows vegetables for
his family's consumption and to sell. He and his wife, Joanne have two
daughters.

"I have no political experience. I don't believe a person has to be a
lawyer to become a politician. Government should be comprised of people
from all walks of life" said Mr. Monnet, who has lived in St. Lawrence
County his whole life except for a 1976 stint in the Coast Guard that ended
with an honorable discharge.

"I never in my wildest imagination wanted to run for office. But I've been
pushed and pushed by the government, and I'm tired of it," he said. "I'm
going to give people the opportunity to show that there is a growing
consensus out there that's tired of the status qou."