‘Principles should trump Party Politics’

HESS For Governor Campaign (602) 843-3827

P.O. Box 6011 AZGovernor@Earthlink.net

Glendale, Arizona 85312 www.HessforGovernor.Net /Com (Web Site goes live Friday, February 24th, 2006)

February 21st, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Barry Hess, vice-chair of the Arizona Libertarian Party, has announced that he will formally declare his candidacy for Governor at the Arizona State Capitol on Friday, February 24th at 10:00 AM, but it will not be under the Republican label as had been hoped by many of the Republican party faithful.

Hess said he had intended to declare his intention to run in November of 2005, but out of respect for the many Republicans who have organized support groups and pledged contributions for this effort, he delayed his final announcement as long as he could.

“When I became convinced that there was more than sufficient support to take the Republican nomination, I literally took a piece of paper, drew a line down the middle and listed the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ on each side. Ultimately, the weight was heavily in favor of running on the principled and uncompromising Libertarian ticket.

I sincerely appreciate what grew out of a breakfast meeting I was invited to, to discuss it with the chairman of the Republican Party, and the subsequent meetings and talks with a slew of Republican heavyweights.

In the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to succumb to demands that I accept public ‘clean elections’ funding that I believe is just another political rip-off of people’s hard-earned money.

When I made my final decision, I personally notified all of the key Republicans who urged me on and to my surprise not even one withdrew their support. This promises to be a fun and educational campaign—if we’re going to win back control of our State, it has to be honestly won.

Mark my words; it’ll be those individuals who crossed party lines who are remembered by name when this page in Arizona’s history is written. This will give Democrats and Republicans alike the opportunity to choose between their principles and their party affiliation—the best of the bunch rather than the lesser of two evils.

I pledged to run a campaign strictly on the issues and records and leave the politics of personal destruction to the usual suspects. I will not engage in speculation as to any candidate’s sexual preferences, religious beliefs nor make any attempt to smear them on a personal basis. What I was witness to in 2002 made just being in the race with children an embarassment. I’ll leave the bloodletting to the other guys and be content to be the only candidate who is not running against anyone else—I’m running for everyone else, equally.”