Libertarians to oppose Dvorsky

Libertarians to oppose Dvorsky

The Libertarian Party seems to be on a candidate recruiting roll this week and now has a second legislative candidate in Johnson County.

Christopher Peters, a surgeon with Mercy Hospital, has announced his candidacy against Senate Appropriations chair Bob Dvorsky (D-Coralville) in Senate District 15.

Peters says he is unlikely to win but wants "to use this campaign as an opportunity to discuss issues.

"There was no particular reason for running against Senator Dvorsky," said Peters. "If there were an incumbent Republican in the same seat, who also failed to exemplify core Libertarian principles, I would have run against him or her."

"Now, more than ever, we need Iowans to reaffirm their individual sovereignty, and to demand that our State Government reassert its sovereignty, to protect our rights and promote our prosperity," Peters writes on his web site.

Peters is the second Johnson County Libertarian to announce this week. He joins Dustin Krutsinger, who plans to oppose Rep. Dave Jacoby in House District 30 (which is the southern half of Senate 15). The two have until August 13 to file.

The Libertarians have never opposed Dvorsky before, but have run state House candidates in the two halves of his district before. They drew 16 percent against Dave Jacoby in House District 30 in 2004, and 20 percent against Ro Foege in House 29 (then numbered 50 with slightly different lines) in 2000. For their part, Republicans (who still have no legislative candidates in the five core Iowa City/Coralville districts) last ran against Dvorsky in 2002 and came away with 39%.

Peters is currently registered as a Republican, and attended the Democratic caucuses in January 2008. He said he was raised as a Republican but grew disgusted by George W. Bush's presidency. "We changed our party allegiance to Democrat. I caucused for Obama (my wife for Clinton), and both of us voted for Obama in the general election in 2008. Since then, we have felt that Obama is simply carrying on Bush's policies, and that there is little of substance between the two parties," said Peters, who says he changed to Libertarian but then changed again to Republican to vote in the recent primary, and intends to change again soon.

"This year's primary season was largely about Republican candidates. In the future, if the reverse is true, I imagine I will find myself switching party allegiance to Democrat to vote in their primaries," he said.