Joe Schriner

Joseph Charles "Joe" Schriner (born March 3, 1955) is an American political activist and journalist. Schriner has run for the United States presidency in five consecutive election cycles spanning from 2000 to 2016.[1][2] He has primarily run as an independent candidate, until the 2020 presidential election when he ran as an American Solidarity Party candidate instead.[3][4] He also ran as a Republican during the early portions of the 2000 and 2016 presidential election cycles.[5] He also vied unsuccessfully for the Green Party presidential nomination during the 2008 election cycle.[6]

Joe Schriner
Schriner participating in a presidential debate for the nomination of the American Solidarity Party in 2019
Born
Joseph Charles Shriner

(1955-03-03) March 3, 1955
Cleveland, Ohio
Years active2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020
Known forUnited States presidential campaigns
Political partyAmerican Solidarity Party (2019–)
Independent (before 2019)

Before becoming a perennial candidate, Schriner spent a significant amount of time-travelling across the United States and conducting ad hoc interviews with individuals he met. Schriner purports that these subjective experiences leave him better-informed about national social, political, and economic issues than experienced policymakers. He has been interviewed by numerous media outlets over the years and has spoken at various colleges and universities.[7]

Schriner has been billed as "average Joe" in the media.[8] He is also sometimes referred to as "Joe the Painter."[9] He is currently self-employed as a house painter.[10] In addition, he is a free-lance writer for his hometown newspaper, The Bluffton News.[11]

Early life and education

Joe Schriner was born on March 3, 1955, in Cleveland, Ohio.[12] In 1973, he graduated from Bay Village High School, where he was the starting quarterback on the junior varsity football team.[13]

Schriner spent his freshman year at Bluffton College in Ohio. After taking a year off from school to work, he transferred to Bowling Green State University. He majored in journalism, wrote for BG News, and completed an internship as a reporter on Ohio’s Troy Daily News.[14] Schriner earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Bowling Green State University in 1978.[15]

Early career

Schriner began his career as a journalist after college for the Sandusky Register. He was assigned as a bureau reporter to cover Huron, Ohio. He wrote about the town government and issues facing the local school division, in addition to various human interest features. Schriner left the Register after two years.[16]

Schriner then became a reporter for a new publication in Lorain, Ohio called The Metropolitan. However, the publication was dissolved after eight months.[17]

In 1983, Schriner began working at a halfway house in Lorain as a drug and alcoholism counselor. The halfway house was a 90-day treatment program run operated by the Lorain County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (LCCADA). During the next two years, Schriner pursued seminar studies to become a certified drug and alcoholism counselor.[18] After receiving this certification, he became an outpatient counselor (also with LCCADA), specializing in both individual and group counseling. Schriner eventually developed one of the first outpatient treatment models in the Midwest for "adult children of alcoholics".[18] He later went into private practice in Cleveland, specializing in drug addiction, alcoholism, and addictive family system dynamics in the late 1980s.

Cross country research

In 1990, Schriner phased out his private counseling practice and took to the roads of America to begin extensive cross country research that would eventually lead to him running for president. He traveled some 100,000 miles from 1990 to 1998 interviewing people about a wide variety of issues. Information from these interviews would then be plugged into extensive position papers.[19]

During this time, he also became a "lay Catholic speaker" talking in numerous churches throughout the country about such topics as: abortion; euthanasia; the poor; environmental stewardship.[20] (He believes in a Consistent Life Ethic and a good deal of his political platform revolves around the precepts of Catholic Social Teaching.)[21][22]

Presidential campaigns

2000

Schriner declared to run for U.S. President the first time with a speech at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA, on April 30, 1999.[23] He initially declared as a Republican candidate, but then switched to independent after George W. Bush won the Republican Primaries.[24] During that campaign, Schriner and his family were on the road for 19 continuous months and traveled 20,000 campaign miles.[25] The family did a number of what they referred to as Americana Tour Routes: Old Route 66; the Old National Pike; and the Lewis & Clark Trail, among others.[25] For this campaign, they also did a 2,000-mile Back-to-Basics Tour through the Midwest on bicycles.[26] His travels for this campaign are chronicled in the book: Back Road to the White House.

2004

Schriner ran again in 2004,[27] with him and his family logging some 40,000 campaign miles.[28] They, again, did tours with Americana themes: the Country Music Highway; the "Black Belt Region" Tour; a "Coast-to-Coast" Tour. In addition, the Schriners campaigned heavily in Ohio this election, including a 1,300-mile Buckeye Trail Tour.[29] A hallmark of the campaign is doing regular, and impromptu, "back road stumping" on small town street corners, in diners and in village parks.[30] In addition, during this time he talked at the University of Dayton, the University of Toledo, and Greenville College.[7]

2008 and 2012

During these two campaigns, the Schriner family accumulatively traveled some 50,000 miles.[29] Besides the small town stumping, during this time Schriner also talked at Holy Cross College, the University of Notre Dame, LaGrange College.[31] The family also did an extended "Immigration Border Tour" looking at Hispanic Immigration issues, as they traveled the San Joaquin Valley looking at farm worker issues.[32] During part of these campaigns, the Schriners also moved to a hardscrabble area of Cleveland, Ohio (just west of the inner city) to do outreach work with the Catholic Workers there.[33] In between campaign tours, the Schriners lived in Cleveland for five years. Schriner wrote the book America’s Best Urban Neighborhood about the family’s experiences in Cleveland. After the Cleveland experience, the Schriners moved back to Bluffton in 2011. Schriner has also written two books about Bluffton: America’s Best Town and America’s Best Town 2. He writes that Bluffton has the "best quality of life" when it comes to such things as town camaraderie, civic activism, outreach to the poor, environmental stewardship, and downtown vibrancy. These are all qualities that he emphasizes in his political platform.[34]

2016

In keeping with the grassroots nature of Schriner’s campaign, he initially put up a campaign flier on a general store bulletin board in Beaverdam, Ohio, in October 2014. Schriner subsequently declared his candidacy in a podcast on the home page of his official campaign website.[35] This marks his fifth consecutive run for president.[36]

Schriner has traveled the country extensively, interviewing a wide variety of people for a comprehensive series of lengthy position papers on many topics of the day.[34] The lynchpin of his campaign revolves around a "Consistent Life Ethic" that sets him against abortion, euthanasia, poverty, global warming, nuclear proliferation, violence on the streets and anything else that can end life prematurely.[37] Schriner was one of the featured speakers at the Consistent Life 25th Anniversary Conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland (March 9–11, 2012).[38] Schriner has also repeatedly said that he and his wife Liz are running as "concerned parents" from the Midwest.[39]

Shortly before the 2016 election Schriner and his family moved to Steubenville, Ohio.[40]

2020

Further reading: Minor party and independent candidates for the 2020 United States presidential election

Schriner announced he would run in the 2020 United States presidential election as an American Solidarity Party candidate. He lost the nomination to Brian T. Carroll.[3][4][41]

Personal life

Schriner resides in Steubenville, Ohio.[40] He and his wife Liz have three children.[42] Schriner met his wife, a native of New Zealand, on the road in Homer, Alaska.[42][43]

Further reading

Books
  • America's Best Town (ISBN 1932303243 ISBN 978-1-932303-24-7)
  • America's Best Town 2 (ISBN 159526129X ISBN 978-1-59526-129-8)
  • Back Road to the White House (ISBN 1595262776 ISBN 978-1-59526-129-8)

References
  1. "In the 2008 presidential campaign it was Joe the Plumber. In 2012 it's going to be Joe the Painter". Star Beacon. January 14, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  2. "Schriner 2016 declaration speech podcast". www.voteforjoe.com. September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  3. Schriner, Joe. "Declaration Speech 2020". Average Joe "The Painter" Schriner for President 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  4. Schriner, Joe. "Joe Schriner's Presidential Declaration! 2020 Vision!". YouTube. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. "A van, a message, and a mission". Christian Science Monitor. February 8, 2000. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  6. "Green Party Presidential Candidate Forum talk, Reading, PA". July 2007. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  7. "College Talks". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  8. ""Average Joe" Runs for President". The North Platte Telegraph. May 25, 2004. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  9. Feather, Carl (14 January 2009). "In the 2008 presidential campaign, it was Joe the Plumber. In 2012, it's going to be Joe the Painter". Star Beacon. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. "Making a Living". www.voteforjoe.com. September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  11. "Bluffton News (pen name: "Average Joe") multiple stories". September 17, 2005. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  12. "Slider on Joseph Charles Schriner". 2008. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2015.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  13. "Joe the Quarterback". www.voteforjoe.com. September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  14. "Troy Daily News article, 1977". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  15. "University alumnus runs for United States President". BG News. September 23, 2003. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  16. "Sandusky Register (Huron Bureau) article, 1978". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  17. "The Metropolitan News (Toni Morrison article), 1982". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  18. "Lorain County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse newsletter article, addendum note, 1985". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  19. "Cross Country Travels audio and text". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  20. "Joe as a Lay Catholic Speaker". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  21. "Catholic Online, Editorial: Not your Average Joe. Maybe I Will Vote for Joe Schriner?". July 10, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  22. "Article reprints: Agua Viva newspaper (Las Cruces, New Mexico, Catholic Diocese), Universe Bulletin (Cleveland, Ohio, Catholic Diocese); articles appeared during Campaign 2004". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  23. "Campaign 2000 candidate Party listings". USA Today. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  24. "Independent Presidential Candidate Supports Radical Change (The Digital Universe / Brigham Young University)". October 12, 2000.
  25. "Campaign Tours 2000". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  26. "Average Joe rides for president (The Luddington News)". July 19, 2000. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  27. "Average Joe makes White House Bid". Cadillac News. June 16, 2003. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  28. "Tours of 2004". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  29. "Joe's Campaign Tour Overview". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  30. "Stumping". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  31. "University of Notre Dame Center for Social Concerns Talk Archive, this talk on: January 27, 2010". Archived from the original on September 25, 2015.
  32. "Joe Tour Maps, 2006". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  33. "Joe the Volunteer". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  34. "Joe's positions". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  35. "2016 Declaration Speech by Joe Schriner". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  36. "Also-Rans: What Drives The Perennial Candidates?". NPR. September 23, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  37. "Life Issues". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  38. "Consistent Life 25th Anniversary syllabus" (PDF). Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  39. "Presidential Candidate Makes Stop in Plainview". Plainview Daily Herald. May 29, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  40. "NBC News, Wired, house painting, stumping, voting… Jonathan's question". VoteForJoe.com. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  41. "Brian Carroll Nomination Acceptance". YouTube. September 16, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  42. "About Family". www.voteforjoe.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  43. "Not Your 'Average Joe'". The Post-Journal. August 14, 2009. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.