Pubdate: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd Contact: 250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia Website: http://www.theage.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.f2.com.au/login/login.asp?board=TheAge-Talkback Author: Philip Delves Broughton, New York Note: Originally published in the Telegraph (UK) US VOTERS SUFFER FROM THEIR SUFFRAGE A newly elected US state politician who says all police should be killed is testing the legendary tolerance of New Hampshire. Since being elected to the state legislature, Tom Alciere has been called a "hate-mongering lunatic" by a police chief, been shunned by fellow Republicans and earned the "shock and dismay" of the governor. The Granite State - where the motto is "Live free or die" - is now reviewing its electoral system to discover how he got elected. He in turn has called those who voted for him in the town of Nashua "a bunch of fat, stupid, ugly old ladies that watch soap operas, play bingo, read tabloids and don't know the metric system". Mr Alciere, 41, has run for state office twice as a Libertarian and once as a Democrat. He has worked repairing circuit boards and running a dating agency for men to meet "Spanish-speaking ladies" and a website offering sex tips to high school students. He declared himself bankrupt last year. His election appears to have been the result of voters simply ticking off Republican candidates all the way down the voting list. While the attention was given to candidates higher up the ballot, no one bothered to scrutinise Mr Alciere. If they had, they would have found his anti-police rantings all over the Internet. He insists he is not "a nut", but in one on-line discussion he wrote: "Maybe the USA will give up its war on drugs if Americans kill more cops. Nobody will ever be safe until the last cop is dead." In another posting, he suggested that people ram their cars into funeral processions for police officers. He claimed he never meant much of what he wrote and that he was simply "venting into cyberspace". There is nothing that can be done to stop him from serving his two-year term. His agenda includes repealing drug laws and drinking restrictions. He said: "The same lame-brains who vote for politicians who are wrong finally voted for one who is right." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens