Aaron Russo
Aaron Russo is an American entertainment businessman, film maker, and Libertarian 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 also produced Wise Guys. Russo has stated that he was the first person to book Led Zeppelin in a United States venue, (the "Electric Theater", Chicago,1968, later named the "Kinetic Playground").
He was awarded an Emmy for a Bette Midler TV special, and a gold record for producing the Soundtrack to The Rose.
Russo also took one shot at directing with 1989's Rude Awakening.
Russo's films, which include Trading Places (starring Eddie Murphy) and The Rose (starring Bette Midler), have received six academy award nominations. Russo has personally won both an Emmy and a Tony award and his films have also won a number of Golden Globe awards.
Political career
Russo became political in the early 1990s when he produced and starred in a video entitled Mad As Hell in which he criticized NAFTA, The War on Drugs, the concept of a National Identity Card, and government regulation of alternative medicine.
Russo ran for governor of Nevada as a Republican in 1998, coming in second in the party primary with 26% of the vote against three opponents. He then endorsed the Democratic candidate, Las Vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones, over his primary opponent Kenny Guinn. Guinn won the general election. 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 President of the United States as an independent, then decided to run for Libertarian Party's nomination. While some considered Russo crude, others considered him to pose a serious threat to incumbent President George W. Bush, pulling enough votes from otherwise likely Bush voters to affect the outcome in battleground states, in the same way that Ralph Nader was considered to be in relation to Democrat John Kerry.[1][2]
At the Convention in May, Russo narrowly won a plurality on the first two ballots, but not a majority. He was defeated on the third and final ballot by nominee Michael Badnarik by a vote of 423-344.
Current Projects
Russo has completed America: From Freedom to Fascism, a feature film documentary that is an expose of the IRS, the Federal Reserve, and the New World Order. As of 3/1/06 the film was complete, with a preview version being shown to select audiences around the country.
Mr. Russo, as writer, director, and producer, is entering America in the May 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Mr. Russo promises that this film will be distributed in Summer, 2006.
Stances
- Supports the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and encourages the Iraqi people to become self-reliant.
- Supports the immediate repeal 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; was considered by a few to be a possible recipient of NRA backing had George W. Bush signed the extension of the federal assault weapons ban.
- Opposes globalization.
- Unlike many Libertarians, he does not support allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge