After his 1988 Nihilist campaign for President, Elisha Shapiro decided that LA County Sheriff was the office which best suited his talents and temperment. That is why, in 1994 he decided to challenge incumbant Sheriff, Sherman Block.
1994 Nihilism Campaign Calendar
January 1994
Campaign Headquarters Gala Opening
February 12, 1994
Zero One Gallery, Los Angeles
Files Official Papers
with the county Registrar of Voters
May 13, 1994
Long Beach Gay Pride Parade
May 22, 1994
Nihilists' Corner Election Special
Show number 18
June 1994
ORDER
Sherman Block has been working for the past thirty years to bring
order to Los Angeles...I've been working during that time to bring
disorder. I'll leave it to the voters to decide who's done a better
job.
CHRISTIANS
The Sheriff's department will certainly be different under my
leadership. Now the place is crawling with fundamentalist Christians
and white supremacists. I'm going to change that. When I take
over, the place will be crawling with women and homosexuals. I
think we'll all feel a lot safer with less testosterone on the
force.
SHERIFF'S SALARY
Who is the genius who decided to raise the Sheriff's salary by
60% since the last election? You would think $120,000 a year is
a good wage. That's what Block was paid in 1990. Now it's $192,000.
Has the Sheriff done that good a job? I don't think so. Maybe
some of that money could be used to keep a library open.
CRIME
There is more money stolen everyday in Beverly Hills than there
is in Watts. There are more people putting cocaine up their noses
in Westwood than there are in Inglewood. There are more crimes
committed in Century City than in South Central. So why does the
Sheriff go crazy ever time he sees a young black man? If it's
arresting criminals Sherman Block is after, I'd like to see him
use that battering ram on the boardroom doors. I know I'd
sleep a lot better.
COUNTY JAIL
It costs $35,000 a year to keep a person in jail. It only costs
$25,000 to send a person to a top university. In this day of budget
cutting, we could save $10,000 per prisoner by sending them to
Harvard.
DIAMOND LANES
The diamond lanes on the freeways are not reducing traffic. When
I'm Sheriff, I'll convert them to "High-Speed-Chase"
lanes.
EXCESSIVE FORCE
How tough do you have to be to beat on some poor and powerless
person? You never hear about deputies beating up some insurance
executive, tv executive or talk show host. Well, when I'm sheriff,
that's going to change.
CITIZENS' REVIEW
Sherman Block has rejected the idea of a citizens' review board
to keep watch on the force. When I'm Sheriff, I'll start the review
board by appointing Damion Williams and Reginald Denny. A citizens'
review board should include people who deal with the department.
WRITE-IN
There is a rule which requires a candidate for sheriff to be a
sworn peace officer in order to get on the ballot. If there ever was a rule designed to keep anyone from changing the Sheriff's
department, this is it. I know a lot of people don't like Block
and the way he runs the Sheriff's department. They may be able
to keep me off the ballot, but they can't keep you from writing
in my name on your ballot in June and November. This is the best
way of sending the message that you don't like how things are
run. It's the best way to change the way things have been run
for more than thirty years.
UNIFORMS
But most important, someone has got to do something about the sheriff's deputies' uniforms. Talk about drab...how could any of them have any pride in their job when they're forced to dress in those shapeless, dun-colored, polyester outfits? I'd be too ashamed to leave the house.
Everyone always asks if I won, and how many votes I received. Being a write-in candidate, I thought I might not beat Sherman Block, but I thought I might get one or two thousand votes. The Registrar of Voters doesn't count write-in vote for candidates who don't file all the offical papers, and this time I did. So a month after the election, I got a letter from the Registar. It informed me I received 241 votes. Even though I was quite happy with how the rest of the campaign turned out, I was a little disappointed with the vote. However, when I read the rest of the letter from the Registar, I was able to see how many votes all the other write-in candidates got. Of all the candidates for all offices, I was the only one who received more than 11 votes in LA County. All of a sudden 241 votes seemed pretty good.