Gene Amondson

Gene C. Amondson (October 15, 1943 – July 20, 2009) was a painter, woodcarver, Christian minister and prohibition activist, who was the 2004 US presidential nominee for one faction of the Prohibition Party and the nominee of the unified party in 2008.

The son of a logger, Amondson was born into a Pacific Northwest lumberjack culture laden with alcoholism. He became interested in the temperance movement while attending Divinity School. After establishing himself as a preacher and artist in the community of Vashon Island, Washington, Amondson began touring the nation reenacting Billy Sunday sermons and attending events dressed as the Grim Reaper to protest alcohol corporations.

Amondson's activism attracted notice from the Prohibition Party, which had been divided into two factions in 2003. In 2004, Amondson received the presidential nomination of the larger faction. On Election Day, he tallied over a thousand votes and finished in third place in several Louisiana parishes. With the death of the other faction leader in 2007, the party reunified. In 2008, Amondson again received the party's presidential nomination, but fell short of his 2004 vote total.

Early life Gene Amondson was born to Owen and Ruby Amondson and his father, who was nicknamed "Red", was a Norwegian American logger, an industry then rampant with alcoholism. As a child, neither of Gene's parents drank, but he saw drunken logger fights and attended school with children neglected by alcoholic parents. In addition, he remembered witnessing a drunk logger molest a classmate when Amondson was five years old. and his brother Neil served in the Washington State Senate as a Republican.

Amondson attended Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. In college, he occasionally drank wine. His anti-alcohol views did not take root until he attended Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky in 1966, and learned about temperance leader and preacher Billy Sunday. Amondson estimated that after divinity school, he drank beer about twice a year. In the 1970s, he moved to the liberal community of Vashon Island, Washington, where he began preaching at Cove Road Church. and The Sermon Against Alcohol.

I'm going to fight booze until hell freezes over, and then I'm going to buy a pair of ice skates and fight it some more.| source = —Gene Amondson He once stood outside a courtroom as the figure after a couple sued Jim Beam claiming its product caused their son to be born intellectually disabled. During a 1989 interview, Amondson explained that he did not protest the individuals that drank, but the large corporations that distributed liquor. In 2005, he led a movement to stop the Washington legislature from allowing alcohol to be sold on Sundays, but was unsuccessful. Because of the passage, Amondson predicted "a lot more alcohol will be sold, [and] a few more children will suffer."

On Vashon Island, Amondson provided low rent housing for people with low income. He appeared in court a few times for zoning difficulties relating to the housing complexes but received legal aid from the Interfaith Council on Homelessness. Amondson was known to drive around Vashon Island in a Honda Civic accessorized with a fake elk head on the front and a license plate that read "Vote Dry."

Presidential campaigns

2004

In 2003, Amondson was approached by Thompson Township, Pennsylvania tax assessor James Hedges, the Prohibition Party's only elected official. He convinced Amondson to seek the nomination of his faction of the Prohibition Party, which split over perennial presidential nominee Earl Dodge's leadership of the party. Hedges' faction felt Dodge was more concerned with his campaign button business than advancing the party's goals. Dodge had run as the party's nominee in every election since 1984, but received only 208 votes in the 2000 election, down approximately 1,000 from the 1996 election. Amondson made an appearance on The Daily Show with comedian Jon Stewart. A short clip followed that showed Amondson in his Grim Reaper attire. Earl Dodge also appeared on the show in a separate interview with Helms.

2008

Amondson was nominated for President at the 2008 Prohibition Party National Convention in Indianapolis. About 10 to 15 people attended the event. While in New Orleans, he filmed a documentary with his three sons. In interviews, Amondson took stands on issues other than alcohol. He declared support for the War in Iraq and tougher immigration laws, and advocated limits on divorce, an increased role of religion in schools and a decrease in government welfare programs. In an August interview with Weekend America, he explained his platform, "e want to have protected borders and keep our gun rights and a lot of conservative things, but the main thing is help America realize that 95 percent of violent crime is connected with alcohol."

After John McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, Amondson complimented the Republican for picking a "beautiful woman." Despite his own campaign, Amondson effectively endorsed McCain, revealing he would probably vote for McCain. and received a total of 653 votes overall.

Personal life Amondson described himself as a "red-neck, Bible-thumbing preacher." He was married for 23 years and had four sons and one daughter, before divorcing. One of his sons died in infancy, and his remaining four children became involved in the motion picture industry upon adulthood. On the show, he discussed his artwork,

In his later years, Amondson split his time between Vashon Island and Alaska, where he hunted and found landscapes to paint. He cited painters John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla as his artistic influences.

Death On July 18, 2009, Amondson, who had previously been diagnosed with hypertension, suffered a stroke which caused him to fall into a coma. He died two days later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, aged 65. He was survived by his mother, his two brothers, his sister and four children. His funeral took place July 25 at the Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Vashon Island.