Sole candidate finds it's lonely being Green

David Arthur Smithers was a Democrat for 30 years.

“Now I'm a party to myself,” says Smithers of Wellman, a Green Party candidate in Iowa House 89. “It's almost as if I'm running by myself.”

In fact, he is. Smithers is the lone Green candidate for state or federal office in Iowa this year.

Smithers, 57, doesn't want to be the Lone Green Ranger forever, so he hopes to build the party as a social movement for “working folks making less than $20 an hour.”

A 30-year state employee – custodian, nurse aide and, currently, a parking lot attendant at the University of Iowa -- Smithers is in that group.

“A lot of their frustrations are understandable,” he says, and he doesn't see Democrats doing much help or represent them.

He's challenging a Democrat he voted for two years ago. Rep. Larry Marek of Riverside has turned out to be no friend of labor or small farmers or the environment, according to Smithers.

Marek isn't the only Democrat to disappoint Smithers. He voted for Barack Obama, too.

“He's turned out to be fairly conservative,” says Smithers, who dismisses suggestions the president is a socialist.

“He's not. I am,” he says.

He describes himself as a “socialist-libertarian,” despite having little in common with the Tea Party libertarians. He prefers a socialist economy and the benefits of government social programs without the heavy hand of a police state, Smithers explains.

He's not likely to get much support from either the Tea Party or libertarians, Smithers admits. They don't share his support for a government-run single-payer health care plan, free college education, prisoner unions, making Iowa a sanctuary state, extending most rights to illegal immigrants, promoting sustainable, local agriculture and ending “corporate personhood” that allows billionaire corporations to spend unlimited money on lobbying.

“I'm swimming against the tide,” he concedes.

Until recently, Smithers has been swimming outside his district, spending more time working with flood victims in Cedar Rapids and peace vigils in Iowa City. He has been working with residents of Regency mobile home park in Iowa City, who are in House 89, and plans to campaign door-to-door as much as time allows.

Smithers isn't preparing a victory speech, but it's possible he could influence the outcome of the race in House 89, which includes Washington County and parts of Johnson and Jefferson counties. That's because Marek also is being challenged by Republican Jarad Klein, who came within 158 votes of winning two years ago. He's not worried about being a spoiler – siphoning away enough Democrat votes that the conservative Klein wins. He'd wear that label proudly.

“That's what they called (Ralph) Nader,” he says.

He sees his role as an agitator this year and hopes that in two years the Green Party has at least 100 candidates in Iowa.

“If I won, I'm not sure I'd know what to do,” Smithers says.

One thing he won't do is caucus with House Democrats if elected because they caucus in secret.

“So I'll be yelling my head off to an empty chamber,” he says, adding philosophically, “I'm not sure I would be any more effective as a legislator.”

And when he's yelling his head off, he won't be speaking truth to power.

“I won't speak to power” because power – the political system – “is so corrupt, so weighted against common people,” Smithers says.