Reality TV star Rupert Boneham announces Libertarian candidacy for Indiana Governor
Saturday, October 22nd, 2011It appears the Indiana Libertarian Party has found its candidate for Governor in 2012: Rupert Boneham, a former contestant on the reality TV show “Survivor.”
From the article:
Boneham, 47, is set to officially announce his intentions at an event Saturday, but told RTV6′s Todd Connor during a Friday taping of “Indianapolis This Week” that he’s excited to seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of my friends, my family, my donors for Rupert’s Kids, making sure that my world would not really change, that my programs will still be maintained,” he said. “(I’ve been) talking to a lot of the people on our website, RupertForGovernor.com, seeing those stories, people out there that are struggling, that are having a hard time, and I don’t see the candidates that we have to choose from really understanding what is going on with day-to-day Hoosiers.”
Boneham touted his experience as a small business owner and his years of work on behalf of troubled teenagers with his charity, Rupert’s Kids, as his primary qualifications.
The Indiana LP has been one of the party’s strongest affiliates in recent years. 2010 Senate candidate Rebecca Sink-Burris earned 5.39% of the vote, and in 2008 LP presidential nominee Bob Barr performed better in Indiana than in any other state. However, previous Indiana Libertarian candidates have been longtime party members who were not well-known outside Libertarian ranks. Now, the party has a minor celebrity to lead its ticket in the state, and state (and national) vice-chair Mark Rutherford couldn’t be happier:
Mark Rutherford, vice chairman of the Indiana Libertarian Party, said previously that Boneham was exactly the kind of candidate Indiana needs.
