Matthew G. Mercurio, Libertarian Candidate for
At-Large Councilmember in the
November 7, 2000, General Election
Press release, August 15, 2000

LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE QUALIFIES FOR D.C. BALLOT; OTHER CANDIDATES TO FOLLOW

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Libertarian candidate for president, Harry Browne, qualified for the November ballot in the District of Columbia with almost 5,000 signatures today. This comes just days after Harry Browne tied likely Reform Party candidate, Pat Buchanan, in a national poll. Rob Kampia, who is running for D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, and Matt Mercurio, who is running for an At-Large City Council seat, are expected to qualify for the D.C. ballot by the August 30 deadline.

For the first time in a decade, a slate of Libertarian Party candidates have announced a run for five elected offices in the District of Columbia. The slate cited its outrage over local and congressional actions against marijuana users as the reason for reviving the beleaguered D.C. affiliate of the LP.

At the head of the ticket is Rob Kampia, executive director of the national Marijuana Policy Project, who is challenging Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Matt Mercurio, a Ph.D. economist, is running for one of the At-Large City Council seats currently held by Harold Brazil (D) and Carol Schwartz (R). All five of the Libertarian candidates live and work in the District.

"The recent City Council decision to increase the penalties for marijuana distribution and Congress' undemocratic blocking of the medical marijuana initiative have outraged many District residents," said Rob Kampia (L). "We Libertarian candidates are outraged, too, and we have decided to run for office to do something about it. If elected, I will make it my number one priority to stand up for the 69 percent of D.C. voters who passed the medical marijuana initiative in 1998 -- the same voters who have been sold out by the City Council."

The candidates cited the City Council's recent passage of a marijuana penalty-enhancement bill as their reason for running for office. "The City Council's bad marijuana bill is the straw that broke the patient's back," said Matt Mercurio (L). "Because Congress has blocked the medical marijuana initiative, the City Council should be reducing the penalties for distributing marijuana to patients -- not increasing the penalties, as they did a couple of weeks ago."

The City Council was pushed into passing the new law by U.S. Attorney Wilma Lewis, who claimed that dealers were switching from selling crack cocaine to selling marijuana because the penalties for marijuana were less harsh.

"The recent action by the City Council is asinine, if not dangerous," said Mercurio, an economist. "If nothing else, drug dealers are economists. They will switch back to selling crack cocaine on the streets when they realize they can enjoy greater profits -- while risking similar penalties -- as those who sell marijuana."