MINOR CANDIDATES PULL NO PUNCHES

Judging by campaign contributions and political connections, Republicans
Norma Smith and Herb Meyer are the frontrunners in the effort to defeat
incumbent Congressman Rick Larsen, a Democrat.

But there are other political parties, and while their candidates for
Congress don't have a real chance of winning the election, their comments
always spice up a forum, such as the one held Wednesday night in Oak Harbor.

Bern Haggerty, the Green Party candidate in the race, lives in Bellingham,
where he is a domestic violence attorney for the Lummi Nation. He rejects
the war on terrorism.

"War won't end terrorism," he said, calling for "waging peace."

While agreeing that Saddam Hussein and other Mideast despots have been
"genocidal killers," he maintains, "We put them into power." He warned
against the United States taking unilateral military action.

"We can't afford to be the rogue state around the world," he said.

While Haggerty's point of view was unusual in a Navy town, the crowd
listened quietly and even applauded lightly at the conclusion of his remarks.

On other issues, Haggerty is for "democratic trade," in contrast to the
World Trade Organization's way of doing things. On campaign finance reform,
he wants publicly financed elections and free air time for all candidates.
He continually plugged his Web site, www.votehaggerty.org.

Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Guthrie, a teacher at Western Washington
University in Bellingham, prompted the biggest laugh of the night when he
commented on the body he hopes to join.

"Congress is a roomful of spendthrift drunks and I'll be the designated
driver," he said.

He called for ending "corporate welfare," greatly restricting campaign
contributions, which he likened to bribes; and decriminalizing marijuana
because, he said, "prohibition just does not work. It's creating the
gangsters of our time."

On foreign policy, Guthrie said the U.S. government should quit giving
money to Israel and pull its troops out of Saudi Arabia. Both countries can
defend themselves, he said, even if the Saudis have to hire Swiss mercenaries.

"The things we do in foreign countries make people hate America," he said.
"We need to bring al-Qaeda to justice and bring our troops home."

Guthrie, too, has a Web site, www.lpws.org/guthrie.

Being unopposed in their own parties in the primary, both Haggerty and
Guthrie will have their names on the general election ballot in November.

Also appearing at Wednesday's forum was a third Republican candidate for
Congress. Warren Hanson of Bellingham described himself as a "maverick
Republican" who can't afford campaign signs. He voiced concern about
immigration and Canadians dumping raw sewage into waterways they share with
the United States.