Barry Hess

Mike Harris, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor, has endorsed Libertarian Barry Hess, and both men blasted GOP nominee Len Munsil for mixing religion and politics.
Mr. Harris, who ran third out of four Republican candidates in the September primary, praised Mr. Hess at a press conference Oct. 9 as having the integrity and leadership skills to be governor.
“He certainly beats the Christian Taliban candidate, Len Munsil,” Mr. Harris said. “I have issues with him. I have seen how he runs his campaign — I think it’s dirty.”
Another Republican candidate, Gary Tupper, and Mr. Harris said before the primary they would not endorse Mr. Munsil if he were nominated. Mr. Harris said he joined the Republican Party “at least to mitigate the toxic influence of the Christian right — this is not a theocracy.”
Mr. Munsil for years headed the Center for Arizona Policy, a socially conservative lobbying organization that promotes family values and fights abortion, gambling and gay rights. Three years ago, he said God allowed the 9/11 attack on the U.S. and has played a role in Arizona elections. He said he stands by those statements today.
Mr. Hess says he believes in freedom of religion, but it does not belong in politics and lawmaking.
A Munsil spokesman said religion is not part of his campaign.
“To Len, religion is something personal,” Vernon Parker said. “He has not made that an issue in this election.”
Mr. Parker said Mr. Harris’ remarks are unfortunate.
“Mr. Munsil ran a fair, clean, spirited campaign, and it’s unfortunate that Mr. Harris would make remarks such as those,” Mr. Parker said. “We have no hard feelings against Mr. Harris had he won the election. The Republican Party would be standing behind him.”
An investment banker, Mr. Harris experienced personal financial problems during the campaign. He finished with 6 percent of the vote, far behind Mr. Munsil and Don Goldwater, who has not yet endorsed a candidate for governor.
Hess: His GOP backers would ‘shock people’
Mr. Hess says other Republicans might come to his side in the campaign, the names of some would “shock people,” he added.
Mr. Harris said he would have endorsed either Mr. Goldwater or Mr. Tupper had either won the primary. He added he could be hurt in the party by the Hess endorsement, but noted that a list of prominent Republicans have endorsed Governor Napolitano.
Mr. Hess said Mr. Harris had “the courage of conviction to stand up for the people of Arizona, rather than the party thing. As the Libertarian, I offer the option of being able to work with both parties without fear of political repercussions or reprisal.”
Mr. Hess and the Libertarian Party have consistently fought for legitimacy.
While Libertarians for years have enough registrations to qualify as a recognized party, they account for only just more than 16,000 registered voters out of 2.5 million. And Mr. Hess shows in two recent polls as having support from only 2 percent of voters.
He has had a running e-mail battle with The Arizona Republic, which he says considers him an “other” candidate.
In an e-mail to a member of the newspaper’s editorial board, Mr. Hess complained about “skewed” poll results.
“What else could they be when, as you are aware, the question(s) are worded: ‘If the election were held today, who would you vote for? Republican, Len Munsil, Democrat, Janet Napolitano or Other?’
“Wouldn’t ‘other’ include Mickey Mouse…?”
Mr. Hess says his own polling shows him with more support than the media are reporting.