Posted on by William Saturn

Andy Martin is one of four candidates in the September 9 primary to decide the Republican Party’s nominee to face New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen in November. Others in the race include former State Senator Jim Rubens and former U.S. Senators Scott Brown and Robert C. Smith. Martin, 69, is a vexatious litigant in multiple jurisdictions (he threatened to sue Wikinews for my 2011 interview with him) and perennial candidate for public office who makes up for his lack of political success with his (often hilarious) attacks on political opponents. For example, in his current race, Martin attacks Brown’s family as “abusive.” He accuses Brown of “lying about his military record,” and identifies Brown as “the most corrupt statewide candidate in New Hampshire history.” As for his other opponents, Martin calls Rubens a “Mitt Romney-style Wall Street stock speculator” with “crackpot ideas,” and he labels Smith a “gay-basher.” Though seemingly innocuous, that last statement is highly ironic given Martin’s attacks on a U.S. Senator just two years ago.

Unlike all three of his opponents in the current race, Martin has not served in public office. Even though he has been a candidate in approximately twenty political campaigns (including three for President) across five decades, four states, and three parties, Martin has never been elected to serve. This current campaign is shaping up like all the others.

Despite being a self-proclaimed “[fill in the blank] expert” and the “most qualified” candidate in the race, Martin registers only 0.24 percent support in the latest poll to include his name. As he usually claims, Martin connects his lack of support to a media “boycott” of his run. This is similar to the excuse he gave after he focused his entire 2012 presidential campaign on the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and received only 19 votes (by comparison the winner Mitt Romney received 97,591). For an ordinary person, such a resounding rejection would convince them to not run for office again in the state. Martin is no ordinary man.

Martin’s claim-to-fame comes not from his (supposed) political prowess or expertise, it comes from his half-baked theories and campaign shenanigans:

In 1986, Martin’s congressional campaign committee in Connecticut was named the “Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America.”

In 1987, Martin, while running for president as a Democrat, interrupted fellow candidate Al Gore’s press conference in Concord to challenge Gore to an “impromptu debate.” Martin was tackled to the ground by security guards as he accused Gore of violating campaign finance laws (see photo).

In 1996, Martin threw a tantrum, assaulting members of the media and received jail time after the Republican Party repudiated him as nominee for the Florida State Senate when it discovered the 1986 committee name.

In 2000, Martin accused then-presidential candidate George W. Bush of snorting cocaine.

In 2007, Martin started the rumor of Barack Obama’s Muslim faith (he now rejects this view and instead argues that Obama’s father is actually the late labor activist Frank Marshall Davis).

In 2010, Martin questioned the sexuality of Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk and referred to him as a “de facto pedophile” for his silence during the Mark Foley scandal.

Compared to the above smears, Martin’s attack on Smith is like a compliment. However, it relates to one of Martin’s most vicious attacks.

During Martin’s failing 2012 presidential campaign, his old rival Senator Kirk suffered a stroke. In reaction to the news, Martin demanded Kirk release his medical records and sent out the following press release:

There appears to be growing concern that the reality of Kirk’s illness, or its root causes, has being shielded from the public because issues may involve either gay sex or high-risk behavior that helped trigger the stroke. I would suggest Senator Kirk or his medical representative authorize the release of Kirk’s complete medical records, including the hospitalization files at Lake Forest Hospital and Northwestern Memorial. The public’s concern is only going to grow when we are told the senator is ‘improving’ but he is being housed in ‘intensive care,’ and that he is well enough to ‘Blackberry’ and meet with a senate colleague (Senator Joe Manchin) but not well enough to meet with a ‘pooled’ representative of the media. While there are only gay sex ‘rumors’ filling my email in-box right now, there is medical evidence for the proposition that homosexual activity can create a heightened risk for stroke. Homosexual activist Mike Rogers ‘outed’ Kirk as a homosexual during the 2010 campaign.

It is comical that after making such a statement just two years ago, Martin has the gall to refer to former Senator Smith as a “gay-basher” simply for opposing gay marriage. Unlike Smith, Martin actually did engage in “gay bashing.” He felt it appropriate to attack a man suffering a medical emergency by demanding the release of medical records due to the unfounded theory that “gay sex” was involved. As if sexual orientation should be public knowledge to feed muckrakers like Martin.

To further confuse the issue, take note that Martin filed “Gay Republicans.org” with the FEC as his 2000 presidential campaign committee. An archive of GayRepublicans.org from 2000 discusses Martin’s U.S. Senate run in Florida that year and includes the following statement:

I would like to share some brief comments about gay and lesbian issues. Like St. Paul persecuting the early Christians, in the past I have been critical of gays and lesbians. But like St. Paul on his spiritual journeys, I came to find the practice of Christianity incompatible with hate, incompatible with violence and incompatible, once again with our own selves. I found myself being hypocritical. I was tolerant in private, recognizing gays were good people, but intolerant in public and in politics. Ultimately, I found my own position shameful. I am running to open the hearts and minds of the Republican Party to the fact that in our Judeo-Christian society, which increasingly reflects and embraces all religions, there should be no outcasts and no state-tolerated hate. We should not marginalize or abuse gays; we should not cast out and abuse Arabs and people of Islam. We should commit ourselves to be open and caring and try to help, not hurt, all those who are in need. It is only then that we achieve the high goals on which this great republic was founded. To serve the people, to create a more perfect union, and to safeguard the sanctity and safety of all.

Apparently Martin does not practice what he preaches. Perhaps he found mudslinging to be more fulfilling than tolerance.

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Filed under: News | Tagged: 1988 presidential election, 2000 presidential election, 2012 presidential election, 2014 Senate election, Al Gore, Andy Martin, Barack Obama, Connecticut, Democratic Party, Frank Marshall Davis, Gay Republicans, Gay sex, Jeanne Shaheen, Jim Rubens, Mark Kirk, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Republican Party, Robert C. Smith, Scott Brown, The Day, U.S. Senate, Wikinews |