The website for Ryan Bundy's campaign for Nevada governor generated a Twitter storm Tuesday for advocating "eye-for-an-eye" punishments for heinous crimes, saying "if you rape 3 people, you will be raped 3 times as forced by the Nevada Government."

Bundy, running as an independent for states' rights against federal control of public lands, quickly disavowed the explosive position and said he didn't write it and didn't know about it before it posted.

"Those are not my words,'' Bundy told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Bundy's website developer was the author and didn't run the passage by him, both confirmed. The developer said he put up the treatise in anticipation of President Trump's visit to Las Vegas on Thursday for a "Make America Great Again'' rally in advance of the November midterm elections.

"The problem is he's putting a few things in there that I haven't approved,'' Bundy said by phone from Nevada. "It should have never gone up, but it did.''

"A rape for a rape doesn't make sense,'' Bundy said. "That's ridiculously stupid as far as I'm concerned. ... I don't like it when people try to put words in my mouth.''

Ryan Bundy's #nvgov campaign platform includes an "eye-for-an-eye" retribution reform where "if you rape 3 people, you will be raped 3 times as forced by the Nevada Government and orchestrated by the victims (if they are still alive)."https://t.co/Mzda2DJjpY pic.twitter.com/QdQ6hkX9Vi — Riley Snyder (@RileySnyder) September 18, 2018

The section ran under a heading on the website that read: "Eye-for-an-Eye Retribution Reform."

"If you murder 10 people, you will be murdered 10 times before your freedom is returned to you (we can remove the final resuscitation if the prisoner so chooses),'' it read. "If you rape 3 people, you will be raped 3 times as forced by the Nevada Government and orchestrated by the victims (if they are still alive).''

The website developer, Cardiff Gerhardt, 26, also serves as Bundy's campaign manager. His voicemail identifies him by name, by his alias "aka Wildcard,'' and as the campaign manager for Ryan Bundy and a crypto entrepreneur.

Bundy's dark horse campaign for governor began soon after a judge in February dismissed a federal conspiracy case against him, his father Cliven and brother Ammon in the 2014 standoff in Nevada with federal authorities. Bundy also was acquitted on all charges in the 2016 armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon.

Asked if he supports "eye for an eye'' retribution, Bundy responded, "That's not me. That's biblical.''

Bundy said he believes someone who commits murder should face the death penalty. He's not sure what the appropriate punishment should be for rape, but doesn't support sexual assault as a punishment, he said.

"Hell no, I don't agree with that,'' he said.

Bundy, 45, spent nearly two years in jail as he awaited trial in the Oregon and Nevada prosecutions and said lengthy sentences for crimes "where no harm is done'' aren't warranted and don't help society.

"If someone has a criminal mind and doesn't have a good moral compass, he needs education, moral and religious training to become a better man,'' Bundy said.

The "Eye-for-an-Eye Retribution Reform" remained on the website as Bundy distanced himself from it during a Tuesday morning phone call, but it was removed by 11:15 a.m.

Such reform, the website said, could be a "drastic improvement to the current - broken - system we have today.''

"We are capable of murder and resuscitation. We are capable of sinning and forgiving. We are capable of crime and retribution,'' it read.

Gerhardt, a Utah native who lives in Henderson, Nevada, acknowledged that Bundy was unaware of what he had posted on the site this past weekend. He said he built the campaign website and has worked to expand the content in time for Trump's visit to the state. Gerhardt said he met Bundy about seven months ago for the first time.

"All of that content was my words written at 2 o'clock in the morning,'' Gerhardt said. "I stand by every word I wrote and encouraged him to leave it , but it's his campaign.''

Gerhardt said the "eye for an eye'' platform is one he personally believes but that Bundy "never told me those words.'' He didn't consult with Bundy, he said, before posting it and Bundy never discussed punishments for rape with him.

Gerhardt said he's been making decisions about the website without Bundy's approval.

"It is my creative solution to refer to biblical retribution systems,'' he said. "Yes, I would like to see rapists be raped. I would like to see murderers be murdered. They are criminals and they deserve to encounter the golden rule ... treat others like you would like to be treated.''

Gerhardt, who remains campaign manager, said Bundy was a "little flustered'' once he learned about the post. "It caught him off-guard,'' he said.

Ryan Bundy, Nevada's ultra right wing, public-lands-hating, militia-loving, gubernatorial candidate has released his prison reform platform. Instead of prison sentences, rapists will be raped by the state & murders murdered. "If you murder ten people, you'll be murdered 10 times" pic.twitter.com/mQUeAVPWOu — Kierán Suckling (@KieranSuckling) September 18, 2018

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, highlighted the passage on his Twitter feed. Suckling protested the Oregon refuge occupation and marched with signs outside the federal courthouse in Las Vegas when the Bundys were on trial.

"Ryan Bundy, Nevada's ultra right wing, public-lands-hating, militia-loving gubernatorial candidate has released his prison reform platform,'' Suckling wrote. "Easy to dismiss as crazy. But reveals the extremist religious fundamentalism driving the Bundy family world.''

A Las Vegas resident Bob Morris wrote on Twitter, "I'm totally voting for someone who thinks people can be murdered multiple times. This seems completely sane, not mentally unbalanced at all. ''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian