William S. "Bill" Peirce (pronounced purse; born December 7, 1938, Stoneham, Massachusetts) was the Libertarian Party of Ohio candidate for Ohio Governor in the November 7, 2006 election. On November 12, 2005, the party made its endorsement of Peirce official.
A Professor Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University, he was Chairman of the Economics Department at Case Western for six years and has degrees from both Harvard (A.B. 1960) and Princeton (Ph.D. 1966) universities.[1]
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The 2006 Peirce Ohio gubernatorial campaign was centered upon its "Freedom to Prosper" plan. The plan proposed to cut taxes in Ohio across the board, the elimination of current Republican governor Bob Taft's tax increases, protection for homeowners and business people from eminent domain abuse, and increase school choice for parents and teachers.
The Peirce/Noble campaign filed a nominating petition with 13,394 signatures at 11:30 a.m. May 1, 2006. The law requires 5,000 valid signatures for an independent candidate for governor. All 88 counties of Ohio were represented in the petition. When denied access to the debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, Pierce created a news release, Blackwell, Strickland Chicken to Debate Pierce. At the September 20, 2006 debate, two Peirce supporters dressed in chicken costumes bearing "Ken" and "Ted" nametags and danced in front of supporters. The two were arrested by the police, who claimed they walked into the street and disrupted traffic.[2]
Peirce finished third of the four candidates running receiving 67,596 votes for 1.8% of the total vote, Democrat Ted Strickland won the election (60.4%)
| 2006 gubernatorial election, Ohio | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Ted Strickland | 2,307,420 | 60.4 | +22.1 | |
| Republican | Ken Blackwell | 1,406,792 | 36.8 | -19.0 | |
| Libertarian | Bill Peirce | 67,596 | 1.8 | n/a | |
| Green | Bob Fitrakis | 38,987 | 1.0 | n/a | |
| Majority | 900,628 | 21.6 | |||
| Turnout | 3,820,795 | ||||
| Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | ||||
Note that while Pierce and Bob Fitrakis were endorsed by the Libertarian and Green parties, respectively, they appeared as independents on the ballot.
Peirce married Nynke Witteveen in 1966; the couple has three adult children.