Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 03:06:21 -0700
From: apfanning@yahoo.com ("Alan Fanning")
Subject: [lpaz-repost] Means to Run Despite Felony
To: lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com ("ALP Repost")
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/pmmeans05-30-01.htm
May 30, 2001
Means Might Not Seek Clearance for Candidacy
By Deborah Baker
The Associated Press
SANTA FE - Gov. Gary Johnson might be able to clear the way for
American Indian activist Russell Means to run for governor next year, but
Means isn't sure he wants te help.
Johnson's spokeswoman said Wednesday that while the governor cannot
pardon Means for a felony conviction in South Dakota, he could issue a
certificate that would allow Means to hold office.
"The governor can issue a certificate to restore the rights of full
citizenship in New Mexico," Diane Kinderwater said.
Means announced this week he would run for New Mexico governor in 2002
on the Libertarian ticket.
State law, however, bars convicted felons from holding office unless
they have a governor's pardon or a certificate restoring their citizenship
rights.
The governor may issue a pardon to someone convicted under New Mexico
law, according to a 1970 attorney general's opinion. Otherwise, a
certificate restoring rights would be issued.
Means, 62, was convicted in 1975 in South Dakota for his role in a
courthouse clash the previous year between American Indian Movement
supporters and police. He was sentenced to four years in prison and served
just over one year before he was paroled in July 1979.
Kinderwater said if Means were to request such a certificate, the
governor "would review this case like he does all others."
Means, however, said in an interview Wednesday that he has no plans to
make such a request.
"I don't have anything to worry about, because the law . . . is
unconstitutional," Means said. "I believe the Libertarian Party will
certainly challenge it, if it becomes an issue."
The Libertarians contend that because the state constitution specifies
only three requirements for holding the office - being a U.S. citizen,
at least 30 years old, and a state resident for five years - that
requirements in law beyond that are unconstitutional.
"I don't need a pardon or a certificate to run for governor in this
state," Means said.
Johnson, a Republican who critics say has Libertarian leanings, finishes
his second term in 2002 and can't run for re-election.
Means was a co-founder of the American Indian Movement and a leader of
the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, S.D., where AIM members and others held
off federal agents for 71 days in an armed confrontation.
He was charged with felonies after the takeover, but the charges were
dismissed after an eight-month trial.
In 1976, Means was acquitted on a charge of assisting in the 1975 murder
of a man in the restroom of a bar at Scenic, S.D.
Means, who lives near Santa Fe, has acted in movies. He ran
unsuccessfully for the Libertarian nomination for president in 1988.
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