"DR DEATH" KEVORKIAN PLANS TO RUN FOR CONGRESS
By Soyoung Kim
Reuters
March 24 2008
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (Reuters) – Assisted suicide advocate Jack
Kevorkian, known as "Doctor Death" for helping more than 100 people
end their lives, said on Monday he will run for the U.S. Congress.
The 79-year-old pathologist announced his bid to run as an independent
less than a year after being released from prison where he served
eight years for second-degree murder.
"I have no ties, no fetters. I am free," Kevorkian told reporters,
adding that he planned to run against the "tyranny" of the U.S.
Supreme Court which he said has robbed Americans of their rights.
In the 1990s Kevorkian became one of the most prominent and polarizing
figures in the debate over euthanasia by assisting in some 130 suicides
and for his outspoken advocacy of the "right to die."
Kevorkian, who was paroled in 2007, said he will run as an independent
for a congressional seat representing the Detroit suburbs, near the
area where he presided at dozens of suicides in cheap hotel rooms
and the back of his rusty van.
He was convicted after a CBS news program aired a video showing
Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-old man suffering
from debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s
disease.
His candidacy will pit Kevorkian against Republican incumbent Joe
Knollenberg and Democrat Gary Peters in Michigan’s 9th District,
which includes the upscale suburbs of Bloomfield Hills and
Birmingham. Political analysts rate the race between the two main
candidates could be close.
Kevorkian had been required to gather 3,000 voter signatures on a
petition in order to qualify for the ballot.
As a condition of his parole, Kevorkian vowed not to assist with
any suicides although he said he would continue to lobby for the
legalization of assisted suicide in the United States.
In 1997, Oregon became the only U.S. state to legalize doctor-assisted
suicide. Efforts to pass similar measures in other states including
Michigan and Hawaii have failed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
