Libertarians face off in primary Libertarians face off in primary (February 20, 2004)

Both candidates live in Mountain View

By Grace Rauh

Two Mountain View residents -- the only two locals in the District 13 state Senate race -- are vying for the Libertarian nomination.

Michael Laursen, a moderate Libertarian, is facing John Webster, a more aggressive party member. Laursen is a political newcomer who said he would have liked to run for a local board first, but he jumped into the Senate race simply to block Webster from securing the nomination.

"I could try to somehow censor him or run against him, and somehow running against him seemed the more honorable thing to do," Laursen said.

Laursen is a software engineer at Adobe Systems in downtown San Jose. He is single and doesn't have children but says his top priority is to cut out the state bureaucracy and give all control of public schools to local districts. He promotes policies that give parents a choice where their kids go to school. But he doesn't anticipate actually winning the state Senate seat.

"Realistically, it would take a miracle for a Democrat to not win the election," Laursen said.

He hopes his candidacy will accomplish something else. Laursen wants to raise awareness about Libertarian ideas during the race and encourage voters to cast "a protest vote to indicate to the larger parties that they would like more Libertarian ideas to be adopted," he said. The Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County has endorsed Laursen.

Webster, a self-employed software engineer, has run for the state Senate Libertarian nomination two previous times and won the primary once. He is perplexed by elected officials' tendency to pass laws that regulate areas that should not be under government control, he said.

"It's like if everybody in my household voted to use the neighbors' swimming pool," he said. Even if the neighbor were allowed to vote, he would lose, Webster said.

Unlike Laursen, Webster wants to be more confrontational with the political system. Last year, Webster outfitted a truck with signs stating that a San Jose police officer was involved in illegal activity. He drove his truck in downtown San Jose three hours a day, three days a week for four months, he said.

"Now I have a restraining order that stops me from being within 300 yards" of downtown San Jose, said Webster.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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