Exclusive: Interview with Darcy Richardson, Independent Candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida, Part II

As noted in the introductory post of this series, this week TPID is publishing a lengthy interview with historian and long-time independent political activist Darcy Richardson, who is a candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida running on Farid Khavari's Independent gubernatorial ticket.  In today's installment, Darcy discusses campaign strategy and Farid Khavari's remarkable biography.

TPID: Since Independent Bud Chiles withdrew from this race, support for an alternative to the Republican and Democratic candidates seems to have collapsed, judging from recent polls. What is your strategy as we head into the final weeks of the campaign season?

Richardson: Great question. Chiles should have stayed in the race, if only to chip away at both major parties. In the end, however, the pressure from the Democrats was simply too great.  Sadly, you're absolutely correct in observing that support for an alternative in Florida's gubernatorial contest appears to have completely collapsed. At this point — and let's be completely honest here — we're not even registering in the polls.  

Money, alas, has been a major problem.  Farid initially hoped to raise $200,000 or more from the Iranian-American community, but it hasn't materialized — at least not yet.  Consequently, we've only spent about $40,000 so far, making it somewhat difficult to get our message out.  That said, Farid hasn’t ruled out the idea of loaning his campaign $100,000-120,000 for our final push. Needless to say, it would be a huge investment.

As for myself, I plan to spend the final weeks of the campaign promoting the idea of a state-owned bank while trying to familiarize Floridians with Farid's remarkable life story. It's a really compelling — and moving — saga.

Khavari’s father was murdered by the radical Islamic regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 for refusing to renounce his Bahá'í faith, and his first wife died as the result of medical malpractice, but Farid doesn't harbor even the slightest trace of bitterness.

He's one of the most optimistic — and passionate — people I've ever encountered in politics.  His sincerity — his noble sense of purpose and the sheer conviction of his deeply-held beliefs — shines through every time he speaks. He's not a politician.

Farid recognizes that recession-ravaged Floridians are hurting, and they're hurting badly. He genuinely wants to help them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida was one of only two states that experienced a spike in unemployment in August, reporting an official jobless rate of 11.7 percent, compared to 9.6 percent nationally. Unofficially, the unemployment rate — the U-6 rate —is much higher, well over twenty percent in several Florida counties.

Florida also has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, more than twice the national average. We experienced 544,000 foreclosures last year. Moreover, some 46 percent of all residential mortgages in Florida are currently “underwater” — and market values are expected to drop another thirty percent.

That's a lot of economic pain and suffering.

The hopelessly indebted classes in this country — the working poor and the dwindling middle-class — have suffered enough during this seemingly never-ending economic crisis while the most affluent Americans have seen their portfolios improve considerably.

According to Forbes magazine, the richest 400 Americans, sharing a combined wealth of $1.37 trillion, saw their wealth increase by 8 percent over last year, while a vast majority of Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

We need radical economic change — and somebody who’s willing to fight for America’s better self to make it happen. 

In the next post in the series, Darcy discusses Khavari's economic plan, including the idea of founding a state bank and that of a zero-cost economy.