A documentary you MUST SEE online -- how to run for public office

Here's a documentary you have to watch, about one man's struggle to get on the ballot in the 10th Congressional District.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Allan Stevo
Stevo for Congress
C: (630) 452-7309
allan@StevoForCongress.com
www.StevoForCongress.com

Documentary Released on Highwood man's Congressional Bid

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, August 1, 2008 - Documentary film maker and editor of Republic magazine, Gary Franchi has released a scene from his upcoming film How to Run for Congress. Franchi's documentary, currently being filmed, is about Highwood resident Allan Stevo and his independent bid for U.S. Congress in the 10th Congressional District of Illinois. The film seeks to encourage others to run for U.S. House by demystifying the process.

In the recently released selection, Stevo is shown arguing his case for ballot access before the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Stevo, on Monday of this week, July 28, filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of a ballot access law that randomly requires 5,000 signatures for ballot access for independent candidates after a census is taken, but 10,285 in all other years. He will submit evidence showing that in years in which the requirement is only 5,000 signatures, the ballot is never crowded. The 5,000-signature requirement for years after redistricting has been in effect starting with 1982, and when one looks at the record for 1982, 1992, and 2002, one finds that there were no U.S. House races in Illinois with more than four candidates on the ballot. The case is Stevo v Illinois State Board of Elections, U.S. District Court, Central District, no. 08-3162.

This year, Republican candidates in the 10th Congressional district needed 687 signatures in order to be placed on that ballot. Democrats needed 1,001 signatures. In addition to being difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot, election practices in Illinois make it relatively easy for independent and third party candidates to be thrown off the ballot with relatively little effort from their opponents. Illinois is considered by ballot access experts to have some of the most biased election laws in the nation, behind only Georgia and North Carolina.

A University of Illinois graduate, Stevo's campaign is based on the need for the federal government to operate in obeisance to the U.S. Constitution. "No undeclared wars, innocent until proven guilty, no searches without probable cause, everyone gets his or her day in court, small central government," he said.

His campaign website touts personal choice on health care and a "more humble" foreign policy. Stevo also vows, on his website, that he never would vote to increase taxes, spending or national debt. He believes strongly in the need to protect all individual rights, no matter how popular or unpopular those rights may be.

"As our founders understood from their dealings with the tyrannical King George III, it is the job of the federal government to protect life, liberty, and property, and to do little else beyond that. Their concerns about an overly powerful government resonates with many Americans today. Yet Congress, and our representative in the 10th District especially, refuses to perform its constitutional duty to uphold that vision. In fact, it does quite the opposite."

Stevo is running full-time but he has previously worked as a writer and teacher, having lectured in British literature. He also has participated in several better-government projects and served as an international observer of the 2004 Russian presidential elections in addition to having trained Iraqi NGO leaders.

The scene from Franchi's film How to Run for Congress can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuB2B90_XE0