Aaron Russo
Aaron Russo is an American entertainment businessman and political figure.
Entertainment Career
During his career in the entertainment industry, Russo was manager for Bette Midler and The Manhattan Transfer, and the producer of the films The Rose and Trading Places.
He was awarded an Emmy for a Bette Middler TV special, and a gold record for producing the Soundtrack to The Rose.
Political Career
Russo became political in the early 1990s when he produced and stared in a video entitled Mad As Hell in which he criticized NAFTA, The War On Drugs, and the concept of a National Identity Card.
Russo ran for governor of Nevada as a Republican in 1998, comming in second in the party primary with 26% of the vote against three opponents. Russo subsequently split from the Republican Party. He planned to run for governor again in 2002 as a Libertarian, but he was temporarily sidelined by cancer.
In January of 2004, he declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's nomination for President of the United States, and is considered a leading candidate for the nomination. Some people consider him to pose a serious threat to incumbent President George W. Bush, pulling enough votes from otherwise likely Bush voters to effect the outcome in battleground states, in the same way that Ralph Nader is considered to be concerning to Democrat John Kerry. [1]
Stances
- Supports the immediate withdrawl of US troops from Iraq, and encourages the Iraqi people to become self reliant.
- Supports the immediate abolution of the USA Patriot Act.
- Supports cutting both spending and taxes.
- Supports medical marijuana.
- Supports weakening the control of the IRS and the Federal Reserve over the economy.
- Strongly opposes gun control; is considered a possible recipient of NRA backing should George W. Bush support the federal assault weapons ban.