He may well be, though I understand that he did finally offer an apology of sorts. But from my viewpoint, he is "libertarian" only in his own mind. Gary Copeland's understanding of the Libertarian idea is nearly as distorted as Roscoe's seems to be. No offense to Roscoe; he at least does not claim to be a libertarian.
Election Connection
September 21, 2002 Posted: 06:35:07 AM PDT
Libertarian candidate's spit leads to spat
A rule of thumb in campaign season is that a party's Election Day success depends on who tops its slate of candidates.
Libertarians, then, would seem to be in a world of hurt.
Earlier this week, the party axed its gubernatorial nominee, Gary David Copeland of Orange County, because he spat on a radio host following an on-air argument over driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.
Libertarians running for valley seats said Friday they were saddened by the turn of events.
"Gary Copeland has been a defender of freedom and liberty a lot longer than he's been spitting at people," said Patrick Lee McHargue of Sonora, a Libertarian candidate for the 19th Congressional District.
McHargue said he disagreed with party leaders' decision to rescind the endorsement of Copeland. The Libertarian e-mail network, he added, has been buzzing over the incident.
"He's not expendable. We need to make allowances for people's foibles," McHargue said, adding that Copeland apologized for the incident.
David Eaton of Merced, a Libertarian running for the 12th Senate District, said, "We're all disappointed that he couldn't contain himself. But we still believe someone like that is better than a statist."
Valley Libertarians faced long odds well before Copeland's troubles. In the March primary, Eaton, McHargue and Linda DeGroat of Modesto, a candidate for the 18th Congressional District, received less than 800 votes among them.
Meanwhile, a recording of what's being billed as "the spit heard round the world," is available at
http://www.brianwhitman.com/.