Law
Two Jews
are in the
running
for Oakland
prosecutor's
post.
Leonard Schwartz
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
L
eonard Schwartz, the
Libertarian candidate for
Oakland County prosecuting
attorney, leads off his cam-
paign literature with a joke: "May the
Schwartz be with you," a line from
Spaceballs, movie producer Mel Brooks'
space spoof.
Then, Schwartz gets serious. He wants
to be elected to stop confiscations from
innocent persons, reduce violent crime,
protect the right of the people to defend
themselves (no gun-control laws), reduce
arbitrary law enforcement, eliminate cor-
ruption in government and stop wasting
taxpayers' money.
But Schwartz of Oak Park, one of two
Jewish candidates in the race, has a real
uphill fight against the two mainstream
party candidates, Democrat Matthew
Turner of West Bloomfield and
Republican David Gorcyca — especially
the latter, who is the incumbent in
Oakland . County, a known GOP strong-
hold. Gorcyca is completing his first,
four-year term.
Although Libertarian candidates his-
torically have received only a few percent
of the vote in general elections, Schwartz
doesn't view his candidacy as a-thankless
task or a waste of time.
"Voting Libertarian is never a waste of
one's vote, even if Libertarians aren't
elected," he said. "If you vote for
Democrats or Republicans whose poli-
cies you detest, why should anyone
10/20
2000
30
respect you and why should you respect
yourself?"
The Libertarian party has about 2,000
members in Michigan and about 400 in
Oakland County, including many
Jewish people. "Jews have played promi-
nent roles in the party since its inception
in this country in 1971, when the first
Libertarian presidential candidate got on
the ballot," Schwartz said.
"We've had Libertarians running for
various offices in every state since 1980.
There now are Libertarians on the
Berkley and Troy city councils, and I'm
the first Libertarian to run for Oakland
County prosecutor. It's a real grass-roots
movement. We're just a bunch of ordi-
nary people. There are no celebrities
among us, and we certainly don't get
contributions from entertainers and
other celebrities."
First Run
Schwartz, 55 and single, is making his
first try for elective office. "I felt that this
is just the right time to run," said the
graduate of Detroit's Mumford High
School and the University of Chicago.
He worked as an economist for state
government before going to Wayne State
University Law School. He became a
business law professor at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn, Oakland
University, Southwest Texas State
University and Memphis State
University, before retiring recently.
Schwartz got interested in the
Libertarian Party 20 years ago and start-
Matthew Turner
ed doing volunteer legal work for the
group. He has developed ardent support
for the Libertarian philosophy A strong
belief in civil liberties, small government,
less interference by government in the
lives of the people.
"We express and explain our views so
that if the people don't like the platforms
of the Democrat and Republican parties,
they can vote against them by voting for
the Libertarian Party," Schwartz
explained. "If you don't like what the
Democrats and Republicans are doing,
why vote for them? If you vote for one
of them over the other because you con-
sider it the lesser of two evils, you are
[still] voting for evil."
Schwartz said Gorcyca reneged on his
pre-election promise not to prosecute
Dr. Jack Kevorkian after his predecessor,
Richard Thompson, failed twice to con-
vict the alleged mercy killer. "Gorcyca
then wasted more of the taxpayers'
money with another Kevorkian trial,"
said Schwartz. It resulted in Kevorkian's
conviction and imprisonment.
First Run II
Schwartz has raised less than $1,000 for
his campaign, not enough to buy adver-
tising of any magnitude. That's about
the same amount raised by another chal-
lenger in the race, Democrat Turner, the
other Jewish candidate.
Turner, 33, is a lawyer in the
Southfield firm of Turner and Turner,
founded by his father, Donald, and an
uncle 25 years ago. A graduate of Ohio
David Gorcyca
State University and the Detroit College
of Law, Matthew Turner is married, has
one child and belongs to Temple Beth
El. In his spare time, he's an assistant
football coach at Birmingham's Seaholm
High School.
This also is Turner's first attempt at
political office. "I saw there wasn't much
opposition to the incumbent, so I decid-
ed to run. Someone had to step up to
the plate," he said. "It's always good to
make the incumbent feel he's in a race so
he won't be complacent. The more peo-
ple who run and talk about the issues,
the more helpful it is for the voter to
make a decision."
Turner feels Schwartz's candidacy is
better for him as a Democrat because
the Libertarians usually detract votes
from the Republicans.
Saying that "the prosecutor's job isn't
just convicting criminals, he must
uphold the law in general and protect
the public," Turner added: "If I get elect-
ed, I'll vigorously prosecute criminals and
uphold everyone's constitutional rights."
Troy resident Gorcyca is 38 and
divorced with two children.
"In regard to the Kevorkian case, I
said I wouldn't prosecute him again
under common-law procedure after
my predecessor failed twice to do so.
In fact, I actually dismissed 19 charges
against him.
"Then the state law was enacted
against mercy killings, Kevorkian went
on the 60 Minutes TV program, etc.,
and I had to prosecute him under the
new law." Cl