Jack Shepard
Candidate for the Office of President of the United States
By Nick Martin
Party: Republican
Website: www.jackshepardforpresident.com
Running a political campaign for U.S. president from a foreign country is a tough undertaking. In New Hampshire -- the location of the nation's first primary -- where local politics rule, failing to connect with the people can devastate a political campaign. Presidential hopeful Jack Shepard faces an even tougher challenge: what to do about an outstanding warrant for his arrest in an unresolved arson case. Shepard, a fugitive living in Rome, Italy, fled Minnesota 25 years ago rather than face charges that he intentionally set fire to his Minneapolis home.
Shepard has run for political office from Italy at least three times
prior. He faced resistance when he ran for Congress in 2004 when then
Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffimeyer tried to have his name removed from
the ballot because he was on parole after pleading guilty to a 1979 felony
sexual assault, and therefore ineligible to vote. Her effort failed when
the Minnesota State Supreme Court decided to allow Shepard's name to remain on
the ballot.
Shepard made news when he was the first to get on the New Hampshire ballot after the filing period opened. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner says he does not believe Shepard's past convictions would disqualify him to run for president.
"Lyndon LaRouche ran once when he was in jail," he says, referring to a 1992 race when LaRouche ran for president while serving a term for conspiring to commit mail fraud and tax code violations.
"The only qualifications are those that are in the United States Constitution, and the individual states cannot make additional qualifications," Gardner says. The only requirements are that the candidate be a native-born resident, be at least 35 years old and have lived in the country for 15 years.
Originally, Shepard's strategy was to gather enough votes to appoint delegates to the Republican National Convention. He has since abandoned that strategy, saying he could not compile a list of potential delegates.
"Anybody who votes for me now is only voting for me for one reason, and that is not to be president, but a vote in protest against our Middle East foreign policies," Shepard says, acknowledging, "It is going to take a true miracle for me to win."
He calls himself a Middle East specialist and says he often travels to countries like Syria and Israel.
"I believe it is my destiny to bring peace to the Middle East," he says.
Shepard's name will likely appear on ballots in three or four states, including New Hampshire and Arizona, he says. He has spent about $30,000 of his own money on his campaign.
Shepard says his two main concerns within Middle East policy are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and terrorism.
"As a Jew," he says, "Israel's violent actions are embarrassing."
Given the U.S. policy of supporting Israel's violent retaliations, America is in store for more terrorist attacks -- specifically a biological attack, he says.
"I would give every American the small pox vaccine as soon as I'm elected," he says.
One of the reasons he is running for president is to get the U.S. to stop "encouraging Israel's violence," he says. He has cousins who are in the Israeli military and believes, as president, he could encourage Israel to use more peaceful diplomacy, he says.
Shepard criticizes both Republican and Democratic candidates, saying none has the military experience necessary to lead the country in the age of terrorism.
Shepard served as an air force dentist in South Carolina. His campaign Web site has a copy of his military identification card from the 1970s.
Shepard's dentistry license was revoked in 1983. The Minnesota Board of Dentistry cited a string of violent incidents and Shepard's refusal to take lithium medication for manic-depression as reason for its decision.
Paul Zerby is a former assistant attorney general who represented the Minnesota Board of Dentistry in the hearings. Zerby describes Shepard as an odd and very angry man. At one point, Zerby says, Shepard brought a bobble-head doll to the hearing.
"If you read the transcript it's really kind of funny. The testimony is going on and then all of a sudden there's the judge saying, 'get that doll off the table.' If you hadn't been there you would have wondered what in the hell was going on," Zerby said. "One time he came in sort of dressed as a soccer player," he said.
When asked about the revocation of his license to practice dentistry in Minnesota, Shepard said, "After I left, (the country) I heard that it was revoked." He continues to practice dentistry in Italy, he says.
In addition to pleading guilty to felony sexual assault, Shepard was also convicted of narcotics possession -- a conviction he disputes, saying the drugs were legal for a dentist to own.
"I believe in divine destiny," Shepard says. "All the things I went through were to teach me things. So even being in prison I learned so much."
In May 2006, the Minnesota Board of Pardons denied Shepard's request for a pardon because he was still a fugitive. He says he is innocent of the alleged first-degree arson charge he is accused of running from.
"Someone kicked in my bedroom door and threw some fire in there and ran downstairs and ran away," he says.
Shepard says he is not worried about effect the outstanding arson charge may have on his campaign.
"If I wanted to go home (President) Bush would clear the way. Bush knows me personally," he says, mysteriously suggesting that he is a covert agent for the U.S. government. "Spies are exciting but undercover work is very dangerous as you can see," Shepard says, "How do I get new passports, travel and do not get arrested if Uncle Sam did not cover for one of his most connected in the Middle East, if I was not who I can not say I am?"