Ken Krawchuk, the Libertarian Party candidate for Pennsylvania governor in 2002, indicated today he will be forming an exploratory committee to seek the Party's nomination as their candidate for governor in 2014. The formal announcement is to be broadcast at 10 PM Saturday, November 2, 2013, on the Sanity Check radio show on WWIQ 106.9 FM in Philadelphia.

"Nothing has changed in Pennsylvania in the twelve years since I last ran for governor," Krawchuk asserted. "Taxes are still too high and spending is still out of control. In fact, the cost of state government has continued growing at more than triple the rate of inflation for the last 50 years. Where our state government collected $100 per citizen in 1964, it's a whopping $2,200 today and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

"To end this trend, when elected I promise to veto every tax increase and use the line item veto to eliminate pork and unconstitutional spending. Over the course of my 4-year term, I'll propose a series of budgets that will completely eliminate the personal income tax. To make our streets safer, I'll eliminate parole for violent criminals. I will also work to end the government monopoly on education by introducing competition and encouraging alternative, less-expensive options, such as homeschooling, apprentice programs, charter schools, and community-based schooling.

"In addition to those direct measures, to help control runaway spending I'm also proposing a new political concept which I call the Separation of Society and State. Over the years, the state has taken on more and more social programs--most of them unconstitutional--with the result that today over eighty percent of Pennsylvania's budget is dedicated to social giveaway programs that are rightfully a societal responsibility. We need to shift that huge, ever-growing burden away from the state and back to society before it bankrupts us."

The concept of Separation of Society and State is explained at length in Krawchuk's latest novel, Atlas Snubbed.

Although his intent is still exploratory, Krawchuk has already begun in earnest the process of building a campaign. "I've already reactivated my old campaign website," Krawchuk explained, "and we'll soon have Facebook, Twitter, and all the e-mail lists up and running. Anyone interested in keeping up with the campaign or volunteering can visit our website at www.KenK.org to sign up."

Krawchuk is upbeat about his chances for victory in 2014. "Historically, voter turnout for gubernatorial elections is less than 40%. When you crunch the numbers, you'll find that in a competitive 3-way race, all it would take for a Libertarian victory is for one out of eight voting age Pennsylvanians to vote for me. One out of eight is all it takes."

Among the challenges facing not only Krawchuk's campaign, but also that of any independent or third party candidate, are Pennsylvania's onerous ballot access laws. Where the two old parties only need 2,000 signatures to get their candidates on the statewide ballot, Krawchuk estimates he'll need a minimum of 20,000 signatures--ten times as many--even though the Pennsylvania Constitution mandates that "All elections shall be free and equal." Adding to that signature burden, in every one of the last five statewide elections some or all independent and third party candidates have had their petitions challenged in court and most were either intimidated into dropping out of the race or were thrown off the ballot for specious reasons Two candidates were also fined over $80,000 each. "Experience is a harsh schoolmistress," Krawchuk noted, "but we've learned quite a lot about the system. I expect we'll weather any challenge in 2014. But for the longer term, we're lobbying to have the Voters Choice Act (SB 195) passed, and that will level the playing field for challenger candidates across the board regardless of party, and foster greater competition at the ballot box."

Ken Krawchuk, 60, has been a registered Libertarian since 1993. He was born and raised in the Feltonville section of Philadelphia, graduated with honors from Cardinal Dougherty High School in 1971, and in 1975 received a B.S. in Physics from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He and his wife Roberta have lived in Abington since 1981, a Philadelphia suburb, and have three daughters and two grandchildren (so far). Mr. Krawchuk is also an avid whitewater canoeist, year-round backpacker, and railroad enthusiast.

Professionally, Mr. Krawchuk is an information technology entrepreneur serving as a business architect for the pharmaceutical, insurance, and financial markets. He is the lead inventor of U.S. Patents 5,418,942, 5,564,119, and 5,960,437, titled "System and Method for Managing and Storing Information", a novel, integrated database management system/operating system. He is also a freelance writer and author of Atlas Snubbed, a pastiche parody sequel to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Additionally, Mr. Krawchuk is an award-winning Distinguished Toastmaster and a professional public speaker.

Founded in 1971, the Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the nation, with 145 elected and appointed officials currently serving in office nationwide, and 32 here in Pennsylvania. Like the Founding Fathers, Libertarians believe that you have a God-given, inalienable right to conduct your life as you see fit, without government interference, so long as you respect the rights and property of others. As a result, Libertarians favor a smaller, more responsible government. For more information about the Libertarian Party, the public is invited to contact the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania at (800) R-Rights or www.LpPa.Org, or the National Libertarian Party at (800) Elect-Us or www.Lp.org.

Information about the Krawchuk campaign can be found at www.KenK.org, and the campaign can be contacted by phone at 215-881-9696 or by e-mail at info@KenK.org.

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Release 14-01