Emory "Bo" Heyward

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Emory "Bo" Heyward
Born 1970
Atlanta, GA
Political party Independent

Emory "Bo" Heyward (born 1970) is a heavy metal musician and was an independent candidate in the 2006 U.S. Senatorial Election for Tennessee.[1] He is lead singer and plays bass for the band NoiseCult.[2] Originally from Atlanta, Heyward lives in Nashville[3], where he attended Middle Tennessee State University and works for a medical software company. Heyward is a self-described conservative who prefers the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, but considers the former too "moderate". He sees "career politicians" as disconnected from what he perceives as the average citizen's views.[4]

Contents

[edit] Political views

Heyward is a populist conservative who ran in the 2006 Senate election as an "outsider." He supports deporting all undocumented immigrants, and believes that undocumented immigration is among the "biggest issues affecting this country." He is critical of homosexual marriage and the American Civil Liberties Union.[5] Heyward is opposed to separation of church and state, believing it to have no basis in the United States Constitution, and "personally would have no problem with" teacher-led bible-study classes in public schools. Though Heyward says that such classes would be "great," he also believes that they would provoke a backlash.[6]

Heyward opposes Social Security [7] and the minimum wage, believing the latter to be unconstitutional.[8] Heyward advocates the end of all federal involvement in healthcare and believes that each citizen should be required to pay for his or her own health insurance. He also believes that states should establish insurance companies, privitize them, and then require that these companies reimburse the state.[9] Heyward supports tort reform and compares trial lawyers to parasites. Under his tort reform proposal, plaintiffs who lose lawsuits against companies would be required to pay a fine in addition to court costs. He explains that he thinks this would discourage people from filing "frivolous" lawsuits.[10] Heyward opposes abortion, except for rape victims. However, he believes that such matters should be left to individual states.[11] Heyward's website does not discuss capital punishment generally, but he states that pedophiles who kill children should be executed. Heyward is of the opinion that it should be illegal to promote illegal behavior, and believes, for example, that NAMBLA, a group that opposses age-of-consent laws, should not be allowed to operate a website.[12]

Heyward is critical of present levels of government funding for AIDS research, believing them to be too high. He supports allocating medical research funding on the basis of the numbers of Americans suffering from a particular disease. Thus, he supports diverting AIDS research monies to cancer and heart disease research. Heyward acknoledges that AIDS is a major problem worldwide, but believes that the United States government should not spend money to help foreigners when such funds could be spent on Americans.[13]

Heyward believes that the United States should not import oil from the Middle East, and that domestic resources should be more thoroughly exploited.[14] While he opposes the federal income tax, he is not sure whether a flat tax or a national sales tax would be better.[15] He also strongly opposes the National Animal Identification System, a system of mandatory livestock registration.[16] Heyward backs term limits for senators and members of the House of Representatives.[17]

[edit] The 2006 Campaign

Heyward gave several radio interviews and sought unsuccessfully to participate in a series of debates between Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker[18]. He also spoke at the May 22, 2006 meeting of the Shelby County Libertarian Party.[19]. Heyward did not run television or radio advertisements.[20] The most prominently displayed slogan on Heyward's campaign website was No Party No "Politics".[21]

An October 1, 2006 Senate election poll conducted by The Commercial Appeal showed Heyward with 1% of the vote, at a time when the margin between Ford and Corker was no bigger, according to that poll.[22] Heyward was the only independent candidate who received support in the poll. Nevertheless, he received less than 1% of the vote -- 3,508 out of a total of 1,817,786 votes[23]

[edit] Trivia

Heyward claims to be a direct descendant of Thomas Heyward Jr., a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. [24]

[edit] Sources Consulted

[edit] References

  1. ^ Options available on ballot, Bartholomew Sullivan, The Commercial Appeal, September 25, 2006
  2. ^ Biography on NoiseCult's website
  3. ^ Official State Candidate data (PDF)
  4. ^ Campaign Biography
  5. ^ Ibid
  6. ^ http://qnninterviews.com/2006cand/EBHsenTN5L6.mp3 Interview with Heyward, "Quality News Network" -- cited remarks begin at roughly 18 minutes, 30 seconds.
  7. ^ "Issues", Heyward campaign site
  8. ^ July 31 entry on Heyward's blog
  9. ^ "Issues", Heyward campaign site
  10. ^ Ibid
  11. ^ Ibid
  12. ^ Ibid
  13. ^ Ibid
  14. ^ Ibid
  15. ^ Ibid
  16. ^ Ibid
  17. ^ Ibid
  18. ^ August 18, 2006 post on Heyward's blog
  19. ^ "News" section of Shelby County Libertarian Party's website
  20. ^ None of the sources consulted mention any advertising
  21. ^ Official campaign website
  22. ^ Senate election poll results, The Commercial Appeal, October 1, 2006]
  23. ^ See here
  24. ^ Campaign Biography
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