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American Independent Party (California's Constitution Party) (Left) Edward C. Noonan State Party Chairman Click here to join our AIP Yahoo Email Alert Group! Click here if you want to be an AIP Candidate... Or AIP County or State Party Leader! (Or contact a Local County Chairman below.) |
Today's Message
Dated: March 5, 2007
For my message this month I am going to reprint Cody's thirdpartywatch.com post
William Kennedy Shearer (1931-2007)
Posted by Cody Quirk --- March 4th, 2007
It is with great sadness and horrible grief that I announce the passing of American Independent Party founder and former Constitution Party National Chairman, William K. Shearer, who went to be with the Lord on Saturday at 4:42pm (Pacific Time). Bill was fighting cancer for over a year and finally succumbed to it. He was 75.
Bill Shearer and his wife Eileen founded the American Independent Party in 1967 to support George C. Wallace’s presidential campaign, he was the first State Chairman of the California AIP and it’s first candidate for Governor in 1970. In its early years the AIP faced fierce opposition from Nixon operatives, neo-Nazis, and even the George Wallace campaign itself, who wanted to control the AIP as a vehicle for Wallace without the Party being a viable political entity to the Democrats and Republicans. With his extensive knowledge of politics and California state election laws; he kept the American Independent Party ballot-qualified when it was in danger of losing ballot status in the early 70’s, being there were several attempts in the state legislature to rewrite the California ballot-access laws. Bill also fought, sometimes unsuccessfully, to maintain the national American Independent Party (which later was renamed the national American Party that later split apart when a zealous element of the John Birch Society took over the national American Party and expelled several state parties allied with the California AIP.
Eillen Shearer was a running mate to the 1980 AIP Presidential candidate John Rarick, and later served as Chairman of the AIP.
Sadly, Eillen Shearer passed away in December of 2002.
Bill Shearer co-founded the national Constitution Party (then called the U.S. Taxpayers Party), in 1992 with Howard Phillips. Bill Shearer later served honorably as national Chairman from 1996 to 1999, and helped the national U.S. Taxpayers Party pay off its financial debts and help Party funding get into the black.
Bill also has attracted the ire of religious extremists formally in the Constitution Party when he attempted to get the former Preamble of the Constitution Party reworded, which included the Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and language that was misinterpreted by some fanatical members of the Party as being a religious test to exclude certain people- whose beliefs didn’t ‘conform’ to the Preamble, from leadership positions and even membership in the CP. The current Preamble of the Constitution Party, which was worked out through conpromise, has the paragraph excluding religious tests and welcoming all to join the Party.
Bill fought successfully to defend the Nevada Independent American Party when attempts were made to disaffiliate it because the State Chairman, Chris Hansen, publicly stated that he favors exceptions in abortion. While the truth was most of the detractors sought to expel the Nevada IAP because of Chris Hansen and most of the IAP leaders being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), using the abortion issue as a excuse.
A truly amazing accomplishment for Bill, besides maintaining the California AIP’s ballot status since 1968, was when Bill attended the CP National Committee meeting in Tampa Bay and worked to get the Nevada disaffiliation voted down by the National Committee of the Party. Unfortunately Bill was diagnosed with cancer in early 2006, and was given until April (the month of the Tampa meeting), to live. Yet Bill defied such a expectation and was there to defeat the disaffiliation proceedings which would’ve kicked out the second largest state affiliate in the Constitution Party and the largest in terms of voter registration percentage.
Bill Shearer was a big fan of Operetta and loved Mexican music & culture, visiting Mexico frequently. And also a Attorney and co-partner With Duke, Gerstel Shearer, LLP. Bill collected dinosaur fossils and studied about dinosaurs as a hobby. Bill was fluent in various languages, including Spanish and Afrikaans.
He was an inspiration and a guiding light not only to the AIP and the CP, but also to family and friends, including me. He was a dedicated, intelligent, and sincere statesman, and a fun person to talk to.
His daughter, Nancy Spirkoff, who was the AIP Chair from 2004 to 2006, will be making funeral arrangements. I will give a eulogy of him sometime later on Third Party Watch.
Cody Quirk
Bill was my mentor in the American Independent Party...I will miss him!
Edward C. Noonan
State Party Chairman - American Independent Party
Volunteer to Organize your Local
AIP County Committee!
Your County Committee Chairmen, Web Link, Name, Phone#, email:
State Party Chairman Link - Edward C. Noonan - (530) 743-6878 - ednoonan (at) 4xtreme.org (USE THIS LINK FOR COUNTIES WITHOUT CONTACTS!)
NOTE: The official positions of the American Independent and Constitution parties are stated in their respective platforms: AIP Platform CP Platform. The information contained in the various County Central Committee webpages include the opinions of various authors which may not necessarily represent the official positions of the AIP/CP.
Nevertheless, we hope you find these County Webpages thought-provoking and helpful as you consider what you can do to help build the AIP/CP and "Restore the Republic".
(1) Alameda County Link
(2) Alpine County Link
(3) Amador County Link
(4) Butte County Link - Merton Short - (530) 345-4224 - mertfly (at) aol.com
(5) Calaveras County Link
(6) Colusa County Link
(7) Contra Costa County Link - Jerry Denham - 925-937-1405 - jdenham (at) earthlink.net
(8) Del Norte County Link
(9) El Dorado County Link
(10) Fresno County Link - David Brehem - 559-322-0237 - no email
(11) Glenn County Link
(12) Humboldt County Link
(13) Imperial County Link
(14) Inyo County Link
(15) Kern County Link
(16) Kings County Link
(17) Lake County Link
(18) Lassen County Link - William Paul - 530-251-2551 - wilhelmp (at) juno.com
(19) Los Angeles County Link - Ted Nicholoff - 818-710-8256 - no email
(20) Madera County Link - Robert Crabb - (209) 966-2900 - no email
(21) Marin County Link
(22) Mariposa County Link
(23) Mendocino County Link
(24) Merced County Link
(25) Modoc County Link
(26) Mono County Link
(27) Monterey County Link - Robin Moran - 831-622-9738 - robbyne (at) juno.com
(28) Napa County Link
(29) Nevada County Link - Frank Cutter - 530-272-6437 - fcutter (at) gv.net
(30) Orange County Link - Mark Seidenberg - 919-716-7811 - olson (at) lafn.org
(31) Placer County Link - Gregg Briggs - 916-275-4680 - no email
(32) Plumas County Link
(33) Riverside County Link - Cody Quirk - 951-894-4787 - rcaip (at) yahoo.com
(34) Sacramento County Link - Ernest Vance - 916-366-0434 - e.f.vance (at) worldnet.att.net
(35) San Benito County Link
(36) San Bernardino County Link - – Frank Vera III - 909-307-0900 - no email
(37) San Diego County Link - Nancy Shirkoff - (619) 460-4484 - sdaip (at) cox.net
(38) San Francisco County Link
(39) San Joaquin County Link - David Christensen - 209-830-8249 - dpchrist (at) holgerdanske.com
(40) San Luis Obispo County Link
(41) San Mateo County Link
(42) Santa Barbara County Link - Victor Michels - Agape911 (at) prodigy.net
(43) Santa Clara County Link - Robert Drobot - 408 945 9685 - quickturn (at) earthlink.net
(44) Santa Cruz County Link - Nickolas Peros - 831-728-3921 - no email
(45) Shasta County Link - Clinton Macomber - 530-241-1487 - Pastormacomber (at) netzero.net
(46) Sierra County Link
(47) Siskiyou County Link
(48) Solano County Link - Mark Robinson - 707-448-7062 - mark (at) masterplanner.com
(49) Sonoma County Link
(50) Stanislaus County Link - Tabatha Saavedra - 209-612-9222 - alohomora01 (at) ol.com
(51) Sutter County Link - Gerry Hill - 530-695-1595 - jrhill1 (at) 4xtreme.org
(52) Tehama County Link
(53) Trinity County Link
(54) Tulare County Link - Warren Campbell - 559-561-0802 - prorege (at) cwo.com
(55) Tuolumne County Link - Jean Westphal - (209) 586-6470
(56) Ventura County Link - Jeff Grage - 805-583-3909 - jeffgrage (at) aol.com
(57) Yolo County Link
(58) Yuba County Link - Edward C. Noonan - 530-743-6878 - ednoonan (at) 4xtreme.org
Archives
Feb 2007
Feb 2007
For more information contact:
American Independent Party
American Independent Party
Statewide Headquarters:
1561 N. Beale Rd, Marysville, CA 95901 -- (530) 743-6878
1561 N. Beale Rd, Marysville, CA 95901 -- (530) 743-6878
email: ednoonan @ 4xtreme. org"