Alexander Snitker

Alexander Snitker (born August 6, 1975) was the Libertarian Party candidate in the 2010 Florida U.S. Senate election for the seat being vacated by Republican George LeMieux.^[1] He was the first Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate to appear on the ballot in Florida's history.^[2]

Background

Snitker was born Waukon, Iowa, to Patricia and Dennis Snitker, and lived on the family farm until age 5. He moved to New Port Richey, Florida when he was 8 years old where he later graduated from Gulf High School. While in high school he was a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. During this time he commanded the school's drill team. While attending high school he also trained and taught Isshin-ryū karate in which he achieved a black belt.

He then served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was deployed in Haiti and Norway, and served aboard the USS Tortuga (LSD-46). He is married to Kelly Snitker, and has a young son. He worked for AXSA Document Solutions until July 2010, when he left his job to campaign full-time.^[3][4]

2010 United States Senate race

Snitker placed second behind Republican Marco Rubio in the Orlando Tea Party Straw Poll in February 2010, where he placed ahead of both Charlie Crist, the incumbent Republican Governor, and Democrat front runner Kendrick Meek.^[5] Though he has received little mainstream media coverage,^[6] he has a larger following on the Internet than most of his major party competitors according to Alexa Internet.^[7] He is endorsed by former U.S. Senate candidate Dennis Bradley, The Tenth Amendment Center, Liberty Candidates,^[8] 912 Candidates,^[9] Retake Congress.^[10]

He is a proponent of a Constitutionally-limited federal government, individual liberty, and a non-interventionist foreign policy, and is a proponent of citizen and states rights.^[11] His specific proposals include the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax) in favor of the FairTax, a national sales tax on end-user goods and services.^[12] He also proposes a balanced budget amendment, term limits for Congressmen, and eliminating Congressional perks and pensions.^[13]

Exclusion from debates

During his 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, Snitker was excluded from all seven of the televised debates between the three major candidates. Rivals Kendrick Meek, Democrat, and Charlie Crist, no party affiliation, both publicly supported Snitker's inclusion in the debates.^[14][15][16] However, GOP candidate Marco Rubio declined to comment on the issue.^[17]

The organizers of these debates, all major media outlets, cited his lack of support in the polls as the reason for Snitker's exclusion. Since the pollsters would not place his name on the polls, he had no opportunity to meet the criteria to be included in the debates. This apparent Catch-22 has been called the "Snitker Paradox" by some in the media.^[18]

Radio program

In response to his exclusion from the mainstream media, Snitker purchased a two-hour time slot every Friday on radio stations WTAN 1340 AM in Clearwater and 1350 AM in Dade City/Zephyrhills for a call-in political talk show. After the election, Snitker partnered with Adrian Wyllie, the Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida, to form the 1787 Radio Network.

References