Charles Jay Interview
(Personal Choice Party Presidential Candidate)

In 2004, Charles Jay ran for President of the United States on the Personal Choice Party ticket.

His running mate was, are you ready for this?-----Marilyn Chambers, the 70’s Adult Film Star.

For 17 years Charles Jay worked as a Boxing writer, publicist, match-maker, manager and promoter.

We talked with Charles Jay just after a debate he had with other Presidential hopefuls on Third Party tickets.

Q – Charles, this debate you had was between yourself, David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party)?
A – Michael Badnarik didn’t come. Gary Nolan came in his place. Gary Nolan lost the Libertarian nomination to Badnarik. Badnarik had some kind of a travel snag and didn’t come down. Nolan came down on short notice. So, he substituted for Badnarik. Then, there was the Green Party nominee, the Socialist Party nominee, and representatives from the Workers World Party. The former Presidential candidate from the Workers World Party was there. Socialists Workers Party and me. That was the line-up. Six people.

Q – Where was the forum?
A – East Tennessee State University.

Q – How was the turn-out?
A – It wasn’t bad considering it was kind of brought there on short notice. It was originally scheduled for the University of Tennessee. I don’t know what happened but they had to move it. I don’t know how they went about publicizing it, but, they got a turn out that was probably less than I expected, but it wasn’t bad. There were some media there.

Q – How long was the debate?
A – Probably about 2 ½ hours.

Q – Why would anyone want to be President of the United States? It seems like such a thankless job.
A – It is a thankless job. I don’t think the question to one of the alternative party candidates is-----why are you wanting to be President? I think the more salient question is-----why are you running for President? We obviously unless someone has some kind of delusion going into this thing knowing we’re not going to win this thing. So, the question of why would you run for the presidency is I think always has to do with putting across a message in the best way you know how and trying to reach as many people as you possibly can with that message. That’s pretty much what it’s all about. Change in this society really doesn’t happen from the top. It happens with small groups really from the outside igniting that flame, then subsequently more and more people picking up on it. That has a lot to do with the motivation of not only myself, but probably of all the people that were on that stage last night and anyone else that is running from the outside, so to speak.

Q – What qualifies a person to run for President? Is there a certain trait they must possess?
A – If you’re talking qualifications aside from being 35 (years old) and a citizen of the United States everything else is pretty much wide open. I think one thing; regardless of what you believe in has to be a trust factor. People need to know that when you say something you are going to keep your word, that you are going to stand up for citizens, and to use the cliché ‘fight the good fight’. That’s not so easy to demonstrate for people. A lot of people, including candidates are never put into the position where they take a stand and have something to lose as a result and do it anyway. It’s a lot easier to stand up and try to be counted when you really have nothing to lose. It’s when there is something to lose and you know it, and you do it anyway. That’s when it really counts. That’s one of the ways you develop trust. That indicates you’re not going to sell-out for the bigger and better deals, so to speak.

Q – Are you still involved in the Boxing world?
A – Well, I am, and I am not. I was involved inside the industry for a number of years.

Q - Who did you manage?
A – Probably the most significant fighter I managed was Robert Daniels who was at one point the Cruser weight Champion of the World. I managed him for a little while, then I stopped managing him in 1997. I promoted some world contenders. One of the guys I had a deal with was Lyle Butler who at one time was Number 2 or 3 in the world. I was mostly involved as a booking agent. I was in the casino business as a consultant as it pertains to special events in Boxing. I actually started as a boxing writer in 1981, and then went into the business, got out of the business and went back to writing. I essentially wrote all the material fro the USA Networks Tuesday night fight series. That lasted quite awhile, ‘til about ’93 or ’94. I prepped all the broadcasters and did some broadcast work myself.

Q – What were you doing before you entered the Presidential race?
A – I publish a website on the Internet called totalaction.com. In February (2004) I was named President of an organization called the International Brotherhood of Prizefighters which is kind of an umbrella organization involved with many things having to do with Boxing. Kind of pulling me back into the industry in a sense. That organization also publishes a couple of websites. I’m an Editor-In-Chief. I brought a whole bunch of writers aboard for our publication. Also, I’m working on a television project right now. So, I have to handle a whole bunch of stuff at the same time.

Q – What’s the television project on-----Boxing?
A – Part of it is on boxing. Part of it is on gaming. It’s a very exciting project. I’m the point man for the project. I’m basically the C.E.O. It involves many millions of dollars.

Q – Is it a plus or minus to have Marilyn Chambers as your running mate?
A – It’s a Big Plus because it has called some attention to the campaign. I’m sure in the days leading up to the election it’s going to cause a lot more attention. I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for campaign buttons. Her picture is on the button. I’m sure that’s one of the major reasons for it. Also, one thing that can’t go unsaid here is that Marilyn in addition to being well-known is also a very strong presence in terms of her identification with the First Amendment, Freedom of Speech issues. It would be well argued that here work and her existence in the adult entertainment business probably had a lot to do with leading it to where it is today which is a rather mainstream business. She was a real pioneer in that regard. She’s been involved in a lot of Freedom of Speech issues in the past. I would say that in terms of all the candidates running this year, she is the strongest in identifying and advancing the First Amendment. So, there is a political usefulness to her involvement as well, that I think can’t go unrecognized.

Q – If someone doesn’t know who your vise-presidential candidate is-----and you tell them-----what’s been the reaction?
A – It really depends on how old you are. Many of the younger people have no idea even though she still regularly appears on television, on Cinemax, Showtime, and occasionally on HBO. She was not a Pop culture icon while they were growing up. But, for Baby Boomers, certainly she is very well-known. And, it really is a source of amusement. There’s been very few people who tell me they don’t take the campaign seriously because she’s involved, because a lot of people don’t take politics seriously. They see Jesse Ventura elected Governor of Minnesota. They see Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor of California. So, nothing is really outside the realm of possibility. Nothing it seems is too extreme in politics. That is probably a factor in that.

Q – If a Third Party candidate was to win the Presidency, how then do you get the Democrats and Republicans to go along with your politics?
A – Let’s not forget that should a Third Party candidate get elected President of the United States that carries with it some kind of a mandate from the people of the United States. There’s no question that people in Congress have to respect that. One would also have to assume that if somebody from a Third Party won, some other people from that Third Party might be getting into Congress that year. I can find some common ground with everybody, depending on the issue. If there is one over-riding principle in terms of approach with the Personal Choice Party it’s that we’re not here to argue with people, we’re here to find what we agree on with people and work towards change in those areas. I think I could work very, very well with Congress as far as that’s concerned.

Q – Let’s talk issues: How would you stop the jobs leaving the U.S. for overseas workers?
A – I wouldn’t stop it. There’s another side to this question of out-sourcing that has not really been told and not been told in this election. The other side is this: there is a fair amount of in-sourcing as well. There are foreign cos. that come and set up shop here and hire American workers. That seems to go ignored. There’s plenty of it. There’s plenty of foreign investment in this country. Why aren’t people talking about that? In many cases with many cos. it’s a matter of outsourcing 20 jobs to save 200 jobs. If that’s what it takes to save some jobs, then sometimes that’s what has to be done. I can tell you, as we are in the process of putting together what I guess you would call a medium-size small business, we’re talking about $30 million dollars of capitalization. We may have to go to venture capitalists to do it. Venture capitalists, in most cases are most interested in projects for new cos. when they have some sort of outsourcing component attached to them in terms of the business plan. Now, if that’s the difference between being able to start a new co. and employ people and not being able to start that co. at all and create jobs, what is the more preferable option there? So, in a way, outsourcing does save jobs and it can create jobs by greasing the wheels for new businesses to be started therefore employing new people. What I do have something against is if cos. get special government subsidies for the purpose of farming out jobs overseas. My campaign and my Party really doesn’t favor those special government subsidies. Those are some of the things you hear John Kerry talking about. Of course, he’s coming from a different place than I am.

Q – How would you handle the Iraqi War?
A – Well, I would return troops home and I would do it as early as January (2005). You have a prime minister ever there who claims to have 135,000 troops, trained. This is taking the government’s word for it. They say there’s going to be elections there on January 31 st (2005). Fine. As things as they are and I would not have gone in the first place, the United States of America has supplied the Iraqi people with the tools by which to fight for their own democracy. Let them go ahead and do it if they want it.

Q – Can we broker a peace in the Middle East?
A – Well, I am for it. I guess one of the silly things in this world, but I guess something that is inevitable is the fact that religion always seems to lead to conflict. We could talk all we want in this country about separating church and state and how religion should not enter into political decision making-----yet, there’s almost no way to avoid it. In terms of other nations and now even our own President, I have always thought that the legislation of morality, the imposition of morality on people who don’t want it imposed on them is something that is dangerous. It’s something I campaign against. People can talk all day long about how harmful either guns are, gambling, alcohol, drugs and all the rest of it, but, you know the Bible can do more damage than anything. It’s really a shame that this has happened. How long has there been real hostility out there? 60 years now.

Q – Where will you find yourself after November 2 nd 2004? What will you be doing?
A – You mean politically speaking?

Q – No, just with your life.
A – Well, I’m shepherding this project through that I’ involved in, which is a multi-media project. It certainly is going to involve Internet television 24 hours a day. We intend to be on the cutting edge of that. There’s enough business-wise to keep me busy. But, there’s also at the same time, the very real possibility that I’m simply going to start now, early for 2008.

Q – You must really like campaigning.
A – I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. Four months is a lot different than four years in terms of being able to get something rolling. I’ve had very little lead time in terms of doing this. I got my nomination May 22 nd (2004). So, when you’re not really dealing with much organization you have a tendency to spend too much time on certain things that will take your money away from other things. I think something can be built that can be quite important and quite significant and I’ve gotten a lot of encouraging signs along the way. I think we can make some noise if we had a lot of lead time. You gotta remember, one calendar year ago, none of this was ever a thought in my mind. So, it became a matter of indoctrinating myself into politics itself. All of these other candidates, I don’t care if they are running a minor party; they’ve all been preparing this for awhile. I didn’t do it. I had to take a lot of time just to learn about what I was doing. This has pretty much become a good kind of trial run. It has demonstrated to me the do’s and don’ts of next time and the importance of organization and the importance of channeling your efforts into something on the Internet that might be more efficient than something you might do in person. I’ve discovered I have followers which is good. To me, the results have been pretty encouraging. I like to think that with a little momentum we can actually build something a little more significant next time around. I’m not absolutely committing to it, but, I am certainly considering it and look upon it as more of a long-range product. There’s so many things I could’ve done with more time. I guess that just kind of gives you the itch to do it again. This is the kind of thing that gives you a forum like no other. I could run for County Commissioner but, I wouldn’t have gotten into a multi-party debate that was going to be televised on Free Speech Television. There are an incredible amount of websites that a lot of people haven’t heard of but, who have thousands and thousands of visitors. They’re dedicated to alternative politics. There’s a lot of participation on them. The Internet is moving us more and more toward an age where people don’t have to go and watch the 3 broadcast networks to get their news and information. That’s a good thing for Third Parties because the traditional media essentially wants to leave Third Parties out of the whole thing. But-----these websites do not. So, you can really develop some momentum and reach a lot of people and get some marketing done on those kinds of websites. You can also develop a little more personal relationship with the people that visit them. That is really the Untold Story of the future of Third Party politics. I’m talking about taking it even beyond the level that Howard Dean took his campaign. He raised millions of dollars through the Internet. All the Republicans and Democrats started to look at the medium in a different way. To me, that is the only way Third Parties are going to advance, is through the Internet.