ASSEMBLY HOPEFUL MONNET REJECTS HIS OWN PARTY'S LINE

Registered Independence Party member Lee J. Monnet, Oswegatchie, Has
decided to run for Assembly in District 118 on the Libertarian Party;s line
only, and not on his own party's line.

He said the Independence Party "doesn't really stand for anything" and some
of the cross endorsements the party has made forced him to back away form
seeking the Independence nomination.

"If it's going to make it harder for me, I would just as soon have it that
way than to be compromised, "Mr. Monnet said.

One endorsement that especially upset Mr. Monnet--he called it "the final
straw"--was the Independence Party's backing of St Lawrence County
Legislator Richard P. Wilson, R-Ogdensburg, in District 1.

"Dick Wilson is touting the drug was as one of his great accomplishments,"
Mr. Monnet said. "I'm pushing the repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws and
exposing the drug war for the failure it is."

Other issues that are part of Mr. Monnet's campaign include: lower taxes,
an end to the state land buys, the repeal of laws requiring adults to wear
seat belts and motorcycle helmets, the use of ballot initiatives and
referenda, lowering the drinking age to 19 and the legalization and
regulation of marijuana.

Mr. Monnet also said he felt like a political puppet in what he called a
"self-serving" game. The Republicans, he said, wanted him in the race to
knock Darrel J. Aubertine off the Independence line after the Democrat
received an out-of-party authorization.

He said the opportunistic nature of seeking a line that did not espouse his
beliefs and the political maneuvering are why he and his wife left the
Democratic Party.

"For me to do this (tun on the Independence line) would be to just run
right back to what I was running away from," Mr. Monnet said. "I hate to
burst your bubble, but I'm not playing your political game."