Candidate for
US Representative; District 1

RICH STEVENSON,CANDIDATE FOR OH 1 US CONGRESS

Dates with Highlights: (Biography Page Below Details)

• Born Richard Lee Stevenson, on January 26, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky

• Graduate High School 1960; Graduate College 1965

• Degree: BS Biology, Chemistry, History, Education

• Military Service: Special Agent, US Army Intelligence, 1965 to 1968

• Married June 1969, Divorced March 1975

• One son born May 1972, Good Samaritan Hospital; earned B.A., M.B.A., and Ph.D. degrees. Teaches Business on the college level.

• Multi-line Claim Representative, six years with Hartford and Indiana insurance companies, Tort Law Training and experience, excellent investigator, 1970 to 1976.

• Over twenty years as a contract Machine Draftsman for the machine tool industry in the Cincinnati area. 1976 to 1998.

• 1982 to Present: Moderate Political Activist and Writer. Began in 1982, as a member of Fathers for Equal Rights, to work for shared parenting legislation in Ohio. Legislation passed around 1986. Still moderate! Still active!

• Campaign Worker, Perot for President 1992.

• Founding Member, United We Stand America, 1993 to 1995; Petition Drive to form The Reform Party of Ohio, 1995; Campaign worker, Perot/Choate, 1996 Reform Party Presidential Campaign.

• 1996 to Present: Political Web Page Developer; see FREE TOOLS FOR INDEPENDENTS; free template web pages and campaign materials for the non-partisan independent political movement. I am one part Nerd & Geek.

• Delegate: Reform Party National Conventions, 1997 Kansas City, Missouri; 1998 Atlanta, Georgia; 1999 Dearborn, Michigan; & 2000 Long Beach, California. Delegate to the 2000 Natural Law Party/Reform Party National Coalition Convention, Washington D.C.

• Elected Office: Central Committee, The Reform Party of Ohio, 1998 to 2000.

• 2000 Natural Law Party Candidate for US Congress: "If not me, who, if not now, when?" I had never thought about standing for public office before December 1999. I could not remain uninvolved while my Ohio District One congressional ballot had only a Democratic candidate and a six year incumbent Republican candidate on the ballot, which would have given the voters of District One no choice but candidates from the corrupt two-party monopoly. I got on the ballot because the Natural Law Party had ballot access as a Minor party under Ohio law. Only 25 valid signatures were required to put me on the ballot for US Congress. (Any Democratic or Republican needs only 50 valid signatures for Congress, any year.)

• 2002 to 2004: Developing Congressional Campaign materials and web pages for Citizens for Stevenson. Failed to get 1,168 valid signatures for 2002. More valid signatures were needed in 2004, very early, by March 1, 2004, failed again. Decided to pay $85 to be on the ballot as a 2004 write-in. Some thought was given to filing suit to extend the time to file signatures in Ohio for independent Congressional candidates. Legal precedent would be set for independent Congressional candidates to have until August to get valid signatures. More time would get many more non-partisan candidates on the Ohio ballot so the 80% independent majority would have candidates on the ballot to represent their public policy interests. The people would have ballot access, real ballot access.

• 2006 and 2008: Decided to stand for Congress in 2006 just one week after election day, November 2, 2004. We failed to get on the ballot. (Needed 1,695 valid signatures in 2006. Had collected 1,200 total signatures.) We must have an opposition independent candidate on the 2008 ballot to replace 14 year incumbent Steve Chabot. I started to edit the campaign materials and web pages for the 2008 campaign in Fall 2006. The petition deadline was changed abruptly in 2006 or I would have been on the ballot as a write-in in 2006. I decided to not continue the campaign in 2006, and may not run in 2008 unless there is considerable support and a campaign manager in place by the Fall of 2007. The petitions deadline is in March again, March 2008. (Need 2,023 valid signatures in 2008.) I would file suit as in 2004 if I could raise the money to do so. At the minimum I will pay $85 and be on the ballot as a Write-In independent 2008 Congressional candidate. I paid the $85 so we could have another choice on the ballot. Write-in Rich Stevenson for US Congress. Your vote will count for something. Vote for Rich. You win.

• My Adopted Home

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 26, 1942. My dad was a maintenance supervisor in the cooperage industry (wooden barrels) with a talent for machine design. His designs have been the standard for cooperage machines throughout the world for the last half of the twentieth century. He was an 8th grade genius who earned a spot as the plant engineer in his cooperage plant.

• Family: We were a middle class family of five with my mom at home as a homemaker my whole life. She was always active in church and community activities.

My library card was always a dear friend and I had friendships with many famous authors and historians. My intellectual curiosity took me into many areas of personal study. I was an average student by school standards but considered very bright by my teachers and my "straight A" friends who I helped with homework while neglecting my own studies. I listened intently in classes and "aced" all the tests. I was the first person in my family to earn a college degree.

I played sandlot sports with numerous friends on a daily basis throughout my life into college, where I took up tennis. Tennis is a lifelong passion.

• Divorced Dad

After six years in claims, I changed to drafting where I found a livelihood made easy by my visual and mechanical aptitudes. My divorce occurred about the same time, in 1975.

I stayed in contract work for twenty years so I could be a father to my son. In contract work, I had the option to move if my ex-wife elected to move my son away from Cincinnati.

I have never re-married despite several close and loving heterosexual relationships of considerable duration.

• An Activist is Born

Every time I meet a young person who came from a divorced family, and who had the love of both of their parents in a shared parenting custody arrangement, I feel pride in my efforts to obtain the enabling legislation.

Because of my experiences with divorce law, I learned to openly question the "justice" in our justice system.

Since the 1980s, I have stayed involved as a moderate political activist. I do not accept anything in society on face value. I constantly ask questions to consider why we have the society we have and if there is some way to improve the lives of our citizens.

I will work to eliminate corruption from our political system for the rest of my life. Until the fall of 1999, I had never seen myself as a political candidate. I still do not see myself as a politician. I am not an ideal candidate in my own mind, but if not me, who? If not now, when? I know I will represent us.

I will be a citizen legislator when elected. I will serve no more than two terms in office -- four years. I will then work to elect another citizen legislator, another non-partisan independent or minor party candidate to serve in the US Congress to take my place. Non-career politicians are more likely to work for good government and for us. I will return to Cincinnati to live.

I have a few other pamphlets and books in mind to write over the balance of my lifetime to work for liberty and justice for all in a more democratic republic.

Political Philosophy

I am an Apache and Cuyahoga Iroquois native American, a US citizen whose lifelong aim has been to work for freedom and a more democratic republic. (I am also Scottish, English, Irish, and ? I am a full-blooded All-American Heinz 57 mutt. I am very even tempered and lovable.)

I am a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. Liberty and justice for all in our democratic republic is my main issue and goal as a citizen. I will promote liberty and justice for all in any office of public trust I hold. Yes, I do believe in justice for every citizen.

I will work toward a balanced budget amendment to keep spending within revenues. Any actual surplus left after Social Security and Medicare are made sustainable for our children will be used to pay down the debt and not for middle or upper income tax relief.

Democracy was born in England, known as the "nation of shopkeepers," in the Middle Ages. The middle class produced by that society distributed wealth and power so evenly that the birth of democracy and representative government became inevitable there.

In contrast, I believe democracy and representative government cannot exist anywhere in a nation of rich and poor with little or no middle class. I believe we are drifting toward a society with a very weak middle class. I have come to believe we are in danger of losing the benefits of our constitution and the Declaration of Independence due to the widening gap between the rich and the poor in our beloved country.

My central public policy goal will be to strengthen the middle class to safeguard our democratic republic.

To save our dear democratic republic we need to find ways to make the net worth of our citizens more nearly equal. We need to build the wealth of our shrinking middle class.

If elected, I Pledge to be Self Term-Limited to Two Terms in Office: Four Years

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Your Voice: We need to speak aloud the whispers we speak in private. The "two corrupt parties" are words frequently spoken among friends and family in private. People who do not benefit from the "two corrupt parties" openly acknowledge the existence of corruption in the parties that run our lives. I want good government that serves you, all of our people, and me. I feel a duty to the people of District One to stand for public office to work for clean government. As I said above, "If not me, who? If not now, when?"

Elect non-partisan independent candidates on your ballot. We all win if you apply term limits in the voting booth to all Incumbent public office holders. Career politicians do harm to our dreams of freedom and a democratic republic. As the years pass, career politicians serve only their political party and other special interests that support their personal political ambitions.

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RICH STEVENSON, dist1oh@aol.com http://www.geocities.com/dist1oh/rich

ELECTION DAY: NOVEMBER 04, 2008