The Battle of Aspen - Thompson's Campaign For Sheriff

Thompson's Campaign For Sheriff

The next year, therefore, Thompson put together a campaign to elect himself as Sheriff. It combined aggressive radicalism, a higher level of organization than the previous Freak Power campaign, more controversy and danger as well as some frivolous moments. These would include:

• Legalization of drugs on a recreational basis (although profiteering dealers would be prosecuted harshly.)
  • Thompson did make a concession on the drugs issue - he promised that if elected, he would not eat mescaline whilst on duty.
• "1.) "Rip up all city streets with jackhammers and sod the streets at once."
• "2.) "Change the name Aspen to Fat City. This would prevent greed heads, land rapers, and other human jackals from capitalizing on the name 'Aspen'. These swine should be fucked, broken, and driven across the land."

"3. "It will be the general philosophy of the sheriff's office that no drug worth taking shall be sold for money. My first act as sheriff will be to install on the sheriff's lawn a set of stocks to punish dishonest dope dealers."

• Firing the majority of the conservative county officials and bureaucrats.
• Thompson shaving his head bald and referring to the crew-cut, ex-army, Republican incumbent as "My long-haired opponent."
• The distribution of Aspen Wall Posters and flyers across the county.
• Threats received by Thompson during the campaign, including one sent to City Hall following a dynamite theft in the County, insisting that the explosives would only be used if Thompson was elected. This led to Thompson's house and campaign HQ at Woody Creek taking on the aspect of an armed camp on election night, with guards patrolling the grounds with guns and flashlights.

Ultimately, the 'Thompson for Sheriff' campaign was also unsuccessful, partly due to a Republican/Democratic agreement not to stand against each other in certain key elections in order to allow all 'Non-Thompson' votes to count towards one candidate and partly due to an article Thompson wrote for Rolling Stone shortly before the election, revealing his strategy.

Thompson ultimately took a philosophical view of his defeat, telling The New York Times, "If we can't win in Aspen, we can't win anywhere."