2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #258 “JUDGE JIM GRAY FOR PRESIDENT!”

Okay, this is breaking news. On Saturday afternoon, April 4, I was in a telephone conference call with Lincoln Chafee, as well as many of the members of his staff. As many of you know, he is a former mayor, US Senator and Governor in Rhode Island, and the Libertarian candidate for President that I was supporting. But he told us that, as of two hours hence, he was going to drop out of the race because he wasn’t getting the support and backing he needed to be viable. Even though I used my most persuasive and best efforts to dissuade him, he responded twice that “Judge, I have made up my mind.” And by the tone of his voice, I could tell that he meant it. So after he hung up the phone, his staff members asked if I would consider running in his place. My answer was no. But, since they were persistent, I told them that I would take two days to consider that possibility.

During those next two days I spoke to several high-ranking and well-respected Libertarians around the country, and they were all supportive and even enthusiastic. So, also considering the fact that I always thought I would be a good candidate, I called Larry Sharpe, who is a friend in New York who was a great Libertarian candidate for Governor in the 2018 election. During the discussion I told Larry that if he would be my running mate, I would throw my hat in the ring. On Friday April 10 he agreed. So that afternoon we had a Zoom meeting of Governor Chafee’s staff, along with the campaign manager of Riverside County Board of Supervisor Jeff Hewitt’s campaign where we introduced ourselves to each other and then started planning our campaign. We anticipate announcing our candidacy for the Libertarian nominations of President and Vice President within about a week, but you are my 2 Paragraphs Family, so I wanted to share the excitement with you right away. And this will not be the last time, because I plan to keep you informed. The Libertarian nominees are selected at a convention instead of at primary elections, and our national convention is scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. Of course, with the Caronavirus, all of that is up in the air. But one way or the other, our campaign team will make every effort to do you proud and put a stop to the polarization that our great country has been experiencing for so long. So stay tuned, and I hope you wish us well.

P.S. Two rather unnatural things that political candidates are required to do are to be able to talk about themselves and to ask for both monetary and personal support. The former is attached hereto, the latter will come soon!

Quote for the week: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” (Probably) Edmund Burke

JUDGE JIM GRAY AND LARRY SHARPE FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT “AMERICANS UNITED 2020” LIBERTARIANS WHO WILL MAKE YOU PROUD!

JUDGE JIM GRAY’S TOP 15 ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (In Chronological Order)

• Beat Arthur Ashe in ping pong when Gray was a freshman and Ashe was a sophomore at UCLA in late 1962.
• Peace Corps Volunteer in Palmar Norte, Costa Rica as a “professor’ de educacion’ fis’ica,” (1966-68), where he requested to be and was placed in the smallest town in the country that had a high school. Probably deserves to be in the Guinness Book of Records for brushing his teeth in front of more elementary school classes than anyone else in history.

• Led a Peace March in May of 1970 from USC to the steps of the City Hall in Los Angeles, where they mailed 20,000 letters to President Nixon demanding that he withdraw our troops from Cambodia.

• While on a training cruise in the summer of 1970 as a midshipman first class in the Navy between his second and third years of law school, along with all other crew members of the Landing Ship Tank USS Meeker County, Gray was awarded a Combat Action Ribbon while in the rivers of Vietnam.

• As a Navy JAG Corps lieutenant, served as a staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney at the U.S. Naval Stations in Guam and Lemoore, California from 1972 to 1975, where he received a letter of commendation from the Judge Advocate General for the way he handled the Foreign Claims of the family members who lost their parents and other people who were injured in the crash of a naval medical evacuation airplane on the Kosrae Atoll in the Caroline Islands.

• Adopted his son, Edward Ky Gray, from the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Danang, Vietnam in August of 1973. (Ky is now 47 years old, living in Los Angeles County, and is doing quite well!)

• Federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1978, where for a short time he held the record for the largest drug prosecution in the Central District of California (75 kilograms of heroin), then later headed a unit that prosecuted frauds against the VA and FHA, and was the recipient of letters of commendation from the agents in charge of the local FBI, DEA and Secret Service offices.

• Within six months of his appointment at the end of 1983 as a judge of the Municipal Court in Orange County, California, and with the assistance of Orange County’s Probation Department and Health Care Agency as well as a volunteer organization, Judge Gray instituted what was probably the first Drug Court in the country, which dealt with alcohol-related offenses. For his success he received letters of commendation from the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the Mothers Against Drinking Drivers.

• As a sitting judge of the superior court Judge Gray held a press conference on April 8, 1992 stating that our country’s policy of Drug Prohibition was not working and had to be changed. At that time he was quoted as saying that some things are more important than job security. Since that time, he has been interviewed on hundreds of both local and national radio and television shows, including The O’Reilly Factor (twice), and ABC News Special Reports both with Catherine Crier and John Stossel.

• As a trial court judge settled what was probably the first Catholic priest child sexual molestation case in the country.

• Founded Orange County’s Peer Court, which presents real juvenile delinquency cases to jurors of high school students who then, after asking questions to the subjects and their parents, retire and recommend a sentence for the subject to a real judge. If the subject completes the sentence within four months the charges are dismissed and the subject will not have a criminal record. Partially in response to the innovation and success of this program, the Orange County Chapter of the Constitutional Rights Foundation names its annual Judge of the Year Award after Judge James P. Gray.

• Founded a chapter of the American Inns of Court in Orange County, which focuses upon ethics, camaraderie and education for legal professionals, and which was later named after Judge Gray’s father, Judge William P. Gray.

• Was a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in 1998, and a Libertarian candidate for the US Senate in 2004 and for Vice President along with Governor Gary Johnson in 2012.

• In January of 2020 received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Orange County Bar Association, which is its highest award.

• On April 10, 2020 persuaded his friend Larry Sharpe of New York to be his running mate in the upcoming election!

Judge Gray has probably published his thoughts, analyses and recommendations, both orally and in writing, about more political issues than any other presidential candidate in history. These include the issues of drug policy; immigration; the death penalty; healthcare services; the government deficits; Congress’ abrogation of responsibility in not requiring a Declaration of War within 60 days of our troops being sent into combat; education; criminal justice reform; the tax system; beneficially reducing the size, cost and intrusion of government; mentoring our students; dealing with the mentally ill; and even the merits of utilizing the metric system. In that regard, he has written and published four books and many newspaper and magazine articles, as well as two musicals, some of which are:

• Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs (Temple University Press, 2001, 2d edition 2012), which was endorsed by Nobel Lauriat Dr. Milton Friedman, CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite, Secretary of State George Shultz, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and Columnist Arianna Huffington;

• Wearing the Robe: The Art and Responsibilities of Judging in Today’s Courts (Square One Press, 2009), which is probably the only existing “how to” book on being an effective trial court judge;

• A Voter’s Handbook: Effective Solutions to America’s Problems (The Forum Press, 2010), which published the more substantive weekly columns Judge Gray wrote over a three-year period in the Daily Pilot newspaper, which is a publication of the Los Angeles Times;

• 2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian (Best Seller Publishing, 2019), which published the more substantive weekly blogs he wrote over a three-year period, and has been named to be an International Best Seller on Amazon;

• The musical “Americans All,” which took some mentoring lessons learned from Peer Court and turned them into a fun but educational and reflective musical that has been performed, among others, by students at Irvine High School and Vanguard University of Southern California;
  The musical “Convention: the Birth of America,” which accurately but in a fun way chronicles the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia;

• Articles in Drug Courts: A New Approach to Treatment and Rehabilitation, edited by James E. Lessenger and Glade F. Roper (Springer, 2007); our nation’s drug policy for the Law Reviews at Chapman University (Spring 2010) and the University of Oregon (2013); and the death penalty for Loyola Marymount University (2010-2011), and,

• Hosting his weekly podcast on the www.VoiceAmerica.com Variety Channel, which is entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray. All past shows may be heard on demand.