Bill Peirce

William S. "Bill" Peirce (pronounced purse; born December 7, 1938, Stoneham, Massachusetts) was the Libertarian Party of Ohio candidate for Ohio Governor in the November 7, 2006 election. On November 12, 2005, the party made its endorsement of Peirce official.

A Professor Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University, he was Chairman of the Economics Department at Case Western for six years and has degrees from both Harvard (A.B. 1960) and Princeton (Ph.D. 1966) universities.^[1]

Political career

Peirce supporters protesting his exclusion from a debate

The 2006 Peirce Ohio gubernatorial campaign was centered upon its "Freedom to Prosper" plan. The plan proposed to cut taxes in Ohio across the board, the elimination of current Republican governor Bob Taft's tax increases, protection for homeowners and business people from eminent domain abuse, and increase school choice for parents and teachers.

The Peirce/Noble campaign filed a nominating petition with 13,394 signatures at 11:30 a.m. May 1, 2006. The law requires 5,000 valid signatures for an independent candidate for governor. All 88 counties of Ohio were represented in the petition. When denied access to the debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, Pierce created a news release, Blackwell, Strickland Chicken to Debate Pierce. At the September 20, 2006 debate, two Peirce supporters dressed in chicken costumes bearing "Ken" and "Ted" nametags and danced in front of supporters. The two were arrested by the police, who claimed they walked into the street and disrupted traffic.^[2]

Peirce finished third of the four candidates running receiving 67,596 votes for 1.8% of the total vote, Democrat Ted Strickland won the election (60.4%)

2006 election results

2006 gubernatorial election, Ohio
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ted Strickland	2,307,420	60.4	+22.1
	Republican	Ken Blackwell	1,406,792	36.8	-19.0
	Libertarian	Bill Peirce	67,596	1.8	n/a
	Green	Bob Fitrakis	38,987	1.0	n/a
Majority			900,628	21.6
Turnout			3,820,795
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

Note that while Pierce and Bob Fitrakis were endorsed by the Libertarian and Green parties, respectively, they appeared as independents on the ballot.

Personal life

Peirce married Nynke Witteveen in 1966; the couple has three adult children.

See also

• Libertarians
• Ballot access
• United States Libertarian Party

External links

• Libertarian Party of Ohio
• Personal Bio

References

1. ^ Curriculum vitae
2. ^ "Ken" and "Ted" arrested

Sources

• "Cleveland economist and professor says he'll run for governor as a libertarian." by Bill Cohen, Statehouse News Bureau, August 12, 2005, retrieved October 28, 2005

Persondata
Name	Peirce, William S.
Alternative names	Peirce, Bill
Short description	Economist, educator, academic
Date of birth	December 7, 1938
Place of birth	Stoneham, Massachusetts, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death