The Presidential Candidates: Jacques Yves "Chief Jack" Boulerice

"Chief Jack" is making his third run for the Presidency under the banner of the Native American Party. The name has a double meaning, since Boulerice is indeed a Native American (i.e. one of the "First Nations") and is running on a populist border-security, English-only platform. Born in Cohoes, NY, near Think 3 headquarters, he currently resides in Anaheim, where he's held a number of retail management positions.

Like many independent candidates, Boulerice has been provoked to run for office by a personal grievance.

I've lived a nightmare where one man with more money than he has a right to have has used that wealth to make my life miserable. It was a permanent, personal reminder of how being "over-wealthy" can lead to evil. This man has the money, therefore the ability, to cost me jobs and my first family, almost driving me to kill myself at one point. It showed me once and for all that the wealth in this country can't be controlled by the minority while the greatest percentage of this nation's residents often have to make such harsh decisions as "Do I pay the bills or eat this week?".

The "Chief" has an eight-point program: 1) Bring troops home from the Middle East to man a wall along the Mexican border; 2)Control oil prices by withholding trade from OPEC countries until they agree to take oil down to $35 per barrel; 3)Impose a national salary cap of $800,000 per year, on the theory that no one should make more than twice the President's salary; 4)End outsourcing by fining outsourcers $100,000,000; 5) Replace labor unions with government regulation of wages; 6)Shrink Congress to three representatives per state, all of whom will be forbidden from leaving Washington when votes are pending; 7) Abolish the two-term limit for the President [!]; and 8)Eliminate corporate campaign contributions.

This is a much more creative program than most of the candidates surveyed so far have offered. Apart from those eight points, he forcefully supports the English-Only movement, which is perhaps in keeping with his heritage as an embattled Native. As a longtime Internet radio broadcaster, Boulerice is also very concerned about music-industry royalty rates, which he considers exorbitant and prohibitive for broadcasters like himself. As President, he will repeal the current royalty rates. Here's the site for his radio show, if you're curious.

Thanks to Internet radio, but depending on how royalty payments effect his ability to broadcast, Boulerice has a platform to get his message out. I can't tell what else he's doing, apart from running websites and blogs, since you have to belong to the MSN network to access his calendar of events from his MSN campaign site. There's enough content easily available on the site to give you a clear idea of where he stands, including this "latest speech" which veers from Skull & Bones paranoia to 9/11 conspiracy theory. "Chief Jack" is part of the fourth tier of basically self-appointed candidates, but my initial verdict is that he's one of the better ones so far from that group. Consult his main campaign page and judge for yourself. You can also check out his MySpace page, which will give you more of an idea of his non-political interests.