Interview: Chris Costanzo (L) for AG for the State of Vermont

By: Ky Starr 

 1. What distinguishes you from your opponents?

I am a Libertarian who offers a clearly different political philosophy to
that of the major incumbent parties, as well as most of the alternative
parties.  Most other parties run candidates who fit somewhere along the
left-right political spectrum.  They advocate restricted government, much
liberty and constitutional rights for entities or activities that they like,
but are relatively authoritarian regarding those they don't like.  Thus, the
Democrats are usually strong on individual civil liberties, but advocate
much state control over economic matters.  The Republicans are stronger in
supporting economic rights in a free market, but often advocate government
action to regulate personal morality.  Each of the traditional parties, and
their more extremist offshoots, engage in creative, clever, "loose" readings
of our federal and state constitutions to justify their inconsistency
regarding liberty.  Libertarians, on the other hand do not sit either on the
left-right political spectrum.  Libertarians do not see the significant
political struggles of the 21st  century  to be between left and right but
between liberty and authority.  As a Libertarian, and as Attorney General I
will engage in a strict interpretation of our constitutional rights and
apply them consistently to both personal civil liberties AND economic
liberties.


2.   How long have you been involved in politics?

I joined the Libertarian Party ten years ago, and held various offices in
the Vermont Libertarian Party, of which I am a past state chair.  Before
then I saw myself as a moderate Democrat, until I realized that you can't
have civil liberty without economic liberty, and vice versa.

3.   What is the greatest challenge of public service?

I can answer that by saying what should NOT be a challenge in political
public service and that is to enact laws that impose intrusive requirements,
restrictions and courses of actions that the political majority of the
moment thinks are somehow "good" for people.  Instead, political public
service should be dedicated to allowing people to live their lives as they
see fit, to ensure that others don't use their freedom  to infringe on the
freedom and rights of others, and to protect the security of our citizens.

4.   What is the most important issue facing the State of Vermont?

The major issue today is the wholesale violation of constitutional rights by
federal, state, and local governments.  Governments, on almost any pretext,
are expanding every day their ability to ignore the rights and protections
that the federal and Vermont constitutions provide.


Here are some examples:  The Attorney General is supposed to advise the
legislature regarding the constitutionality of proposed legislation.  A
couple of years ago, with the blessings of the incumbent Attorney General
Bill Sorrell,  the legislature passed a law requiring fees from any lobbying
group that wished to approach legislators in Montpelier.  Any first year law
student knows that you can't tax or impose fees on civil rights-such as the
right to approach and petition legislators--- and Mr. Sorrell should have
advised the legislature of that.  Instead it required the courts to throw
out the law.


Also a couple of years ago, the legislature, without any contrary advice
from Mr. Sorrell, passed legislation permitting the confiscation of any
vehicle driven by a convicted drunken driver, even without trial of the
owner.  Anyone knows you can't take away property without due process of
law, and this too ran into snags in the courts.


And then there was Mr. Sorrell's drive to criminalize the possession of
certain literature.  I share Mr. Sorrell's desire to prevent the
exploitation of minors for child pornography, but to regulate what people
read or the literature they possess is not the way to do it.  I wonder what
other literature the Attorney General would criminalize people for
possessing on the grounds that it encourages bad things.


How about taxes that Mr. Sorrell enforces for exercising property rights.
In Vermont, if you own over 25 acres you are subject to high property taxes
unless you agree to let people hike, camp, fish and hunt on it without
charge, and also agree to follow state dictates in the management of the
property.  Again, government should not tax basic rights-such as property
rights.  Nor should it use taxation to coerce people into giving up such
rights.


And, how about the criminalizing of whole industries through legislation.
Mr. Sorrell supported legislation which limits the right of tobacco
companies to mount certain legal defenses when being sued.  Such legislation
is tantamount to a legislative finding of guilt. It is a before-the-fact
criminalization of a specific industry by legislative act.  Such laws are
known as "bills of attainder," and are prohibited in the Constitution.  In
America, the courts, not the legislature, determine guilt.


If elected Attorney General,  I will not allow my office to enforce laws or
carry out procedures that I believe violate our constitution.


5. What advice would you give someone thinking of running for public office?


Think long and hard, and weigh carefully the tempting short-term expediency
of your actions against the long-term effect it has on our liberty.
Remember that our greatness and prosperity as a nation is based on that
liberty, and throughout history most people do NOT lose liberty through
conquest or revolution but through gradual erosion caused by shortsighted
measures.


6. What is your favorite political book?

I have two.  "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," which is as much
moral as political, and Ethan Allen's tract "Reason, the Only Oracle of
Man."  Both reflect an enlightened political sense of that enlightened era.


7. What is your favorite political TV program?

The evening news.

8.  How did you become involved in the Libertarian Party?

Back in 1992, I faced the awful truth the Democrats and Republicans, the
liberals and conservatives, the left and the right, both have an equal
desire to use the power of government to impose their constantly shifting
political views on others.  Neither of these parties stands for any firm
political philosophy, which is why most legislation has some degree of
bi-partisan support. Time and again the Vermont voters have supported
candidates of one or the other of these parties, only to be dismayed because
the result has been more and more intrusion in their lives and businesses,
regardless of which party they voted for.  I looked for an alternate
political philosophy and I realized that the Libertarian Party is different.
Although, as America's third largest party, it is a mass party whose members
hold many honest differences of opinion,  it is also a  party of principle,
whose core belief is in a limitation of government power, far stricter and
distinct than any limitations practiced by the indistinguishable Democrats
and Republicans.  So I joined the Libertarian Party and became an activist.

9.   Who are your political mentors.  What are some of your favorite
political quotes?

I have no political mentors.  Some of my favorite political quotations are
Justice Douglas: "The Constitution . . . was designed to take the government
off the backs of the people."  And then there's the merchant's plaintive
question  (quoted by Jesus or Nazareth) "Surely I am free to do what I like
with my own money?"  And Stendhal's "The shepherd always tries to persuade
the sheep that their interests and his own are the same."  And Tacitus' "The
worst states gave the most laws." There is Karen Kwang's "There are many
ways to victimize people.  One way is to convince them that they are
victims."  And, last, there is Murray Rothbard's "It is not the business of
the law to make anyone good or reverent or moral or upright."

10.   Will the U.S. invade Iraq by December 2002?    Should they invade?

I don't know what the federal administration will do.  I have no objection
to the use of force against those who threaten or menace the United States,
since one of the most important roles of government is to protect our
security and protect our rights and liberty.  However, I have not yet seen
credible evidence that Iraq is a threat or menace to the United States or
our citizens.

11. What is your view on the recent Enron debacle? Will the new federal
law be effective?

I oppose fraud, misrepresentation, or any kind of theft through deception,
and believe those engaging in them should prosecute them to the full extent
of the law.  There are sufficient laws on the books against such practices,
so I see no purpose in the new law.  I would prefer stronger enforcement of
already-existing laws.

12. In your campaign Pledge you use "Right"...what does right mean to you?
What "Right" will you be fighting for if elected AG?

I use the word in its plural form, and I refer to the self-evident rights
that the Declaration of Independence calls unalienable, as well as those
specifically cited in the U.S. and state constitutions.  Accordingly, as
Attorney General I will not permit anyone in Vermont to be taken into
custody for indefinite detention without trial, without charges, without
immediate access to counsel, or be processed by secret tribunals under the
pretext of "homeland security," and I will take the federal government to
court if it happens.

I believe people have a fundamental right to their own bodies, so as
Attorney General I will not prosecute anyone for eating, drinking, smoking,
or otherwise ingesting whatever he pleases.

While I am Attorney General, there will be no forfeiture of anyone's assets
without due process law, nor will anyone lose property on the basis of the
conviction of anyone else.

I will refuse to prosecute, and I will not permit any peaceful individual
to be prosecuted for violating any gun ordinances enacted in contravention
of the Vermont constitution.

I will defend the rights of all Vermonters to exercise religious freedom
without pressure, encouragement or discouragement by the state, and I will
ensure that government officials not submit anyone to religious liturgy,
including prayers and religious utterances in public schools.

I will work against laws and practices that confiscate the property and
wealth of some for redistribution to others.  I will refuse to enforce
laws-such as those already mentioned---that, in effect, curb property
rights, or impose taxes and fees on any of our constitutional rights, no
matter how cleverly they are phrased.

13.  If elected AG, what do you hope to accomplish during the first 100
days in office?

The minute I am sworn in, Vermont's long nightmare of statism, restrictions,
confiscations, and intrusions in private life will cease.

Honest businesses will no longer fear that the state will sue them for fraud
in civil court, where the burden of proof is light, the staying power and
resources of government immense, and where state lawsuits usually lead to
out-of-court extortion and victimization.  But, if I am Attorney General,
dishonest businesses that engage in real fraud will find themselves
prosecuted in criminal court where for once they will get the comeuppance
they deserve, rather than have to pay some fine as the price for doing
business in Vermont.

I will work for greater public confidence in the police by setting up mixed
police-civilian review boards to investigate allegations of police
impropriety, rather than fuel public distrust by letting the law enforcement
establishment investigate itself and issue rulings on itself.

I will reorient the prosecutorial priorities of my office in this order:
First, relentless investigation and prosecution of violent crimes and
physical threat to individuals and property.  Second, fraud and theft, and
any act that seeks to deprive anyone of the honest fruits of his or her
labor.  Third, offenses against state procedural requirements such as
licensing and taxation.  And last, on the back burner, will be victimless
crimes.   I will hammer these priorities onto my staff on the first day of
office.  Then I'll break for lunch.


14.    How has your 25 years in the CIA prepared you for the Office of
Attorney General?

I was a senior operations officer in the clandestine service.  Not only did
I spend much of my adulthood on four continents, I also grew up in a number
of foreign countries as the dependant of a U.S. government officials.  I
have seen close-hand a number of nations evolving towards liberty and
prosperity, and many others those devolving away from liberty and
prosperity.  I have seen first hand the danger of unchecked growth of
government power, and I don't want it to happen here.  I know the danger
signs.

At the same time I have seen and worked with law enforcement organizations
in a dozen countries, including my own, and I am well aware of the
challenges and needs of effective law enforcement in a free society.

Also, at one point in my career I monitored all narcotics matters in the
Western Hemisphere.  I started off as a drug warrior, but I saw first hand
the futility of the effort, the impossibility of curbing drug use without
resorting to totalitarian methods, the monumental effect that the "war on
drugs" has in driving up drug prices and increasing crime, and the danger
that the "war on drugs" and drug hysteria poses--as the greatest civil
rights threat to our society since liquor prohibition.