Andy Martin History

 Link to Original Article at Illinois Senate Race 2004

Martin has a storied history including multiple Senate and Presidential runs. He drew national attention during the 2000 Presidential Race when he ran an ad accusing Bush of taking cocaine:

ANDY MARTIN, REPUBLICAN FOR PRESIDENT: George Bush had a cocaine problem. His brain suffered from alcohol abuse. Don't trust Bush with your vote until he trusts you with the truth about his past. Bush wants to regulate the Internet because he is angry at the Web site gwbush.com. He wants to bomb Iraq. Bush is dangerous, and he wants to be president.

He verbally sparred with FOX News Bill O’Reilly over the ad. O’Reilly called it, “the most unfair political ad I have ever seen in my 25 years of political reporting.” Martin responded by saying he would run the ad everywhere in the country and that he would beat President Bush.

Martin’s website states the following about his military experience:

Andy comes from a family with four generations of clandestine and special operations service. He is a member of The Special Forces Club (U.K.) and an associate member of the Special Forces Association. He has been associated with Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia and South Viet-Nam.

He came back from Iraq in April and held a press conference in New York where he claimed he found Saddam:

On April 30, 2003, I held a New York news conference at which I said Saddam was in Baghdad. This was based on my extensive original research, including the use of local Baghdad dogs (called affectionately the Royal Baghdad Canine Constabulary).

My prediction on April 30th is a matter of record. Subsequent events have proven me correct. The U.S. government is finally paying some attention. Almost two months after I first investigated bomb craters for evidence of Saddam's death, the American military replicated my research. July 9th the New York Post reported Special Forces troops were searching downtown Baghdad, close to where I had originally pinpointed Saddam's location. My investigative efforts and April 30th prediction have been fully confirmed and vindicated.

Throughout his press releases he claims to be the following, “military security and intelligence consultant and a specialist in cyber war tactics,” a “respected voice in America's intelligence community,” and the host of “Andy Martin's America" and Out2.com column which are “are fulcrums of foreign policy debate, political analysis and contemporary commentary on the Internet.”

He also states that he was assistant to former Illinois U.S. Senator Paul H. Douglas, and that he was known as a maverick that fought Daley Machine corruption and helped light the fire that led to Operation Greylord. Martin is a graduate of the University of Illinois and U.I. College of Law.

His press releases include the following statements:

Sharon is the 'new Hitler.' He is a bloodthirsty murderer who kills without conscience. Israel has become a pariah nation under his leadership; not one nation in the world supports Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.

Ariel Sharon is becoming the Adolph Hitler of the 21st century," says Martin. "He slaughters human beings for sport, while his demented mind slips slowly into societal madness.”

I have asked President Bush to ban travel by Americans to Israel," says Martin. "The recent tragedy in Jerusalem, and former President Clinton's offer to 'carry a rifle for Israel' mandate emergency restraint by the U.S. Government.

I favor abolition of child support and reinstatement of Victorian
principles of divorce. The parent who can support the kids gets custody.

A news story out of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach written July 31, 2003 said this of Martin:

Martin, of course, is mad. Quite mad. He's an enigma wrapped in a riddle who probably should be wrapped in a straitjacket. The would-be senator is one of the most prolific and compulsive lawsuit filers in the United States, a first-class shadow-dwelling fugitive from justice, and a perennial also-ran political candidate whose stance on the issues has changed about as often as Michael Jackson's proboscis.

Martin claims his English grandfather fought with T.E. Lawrence against the Turks before joining a British military intelligence unit and disappearing for good.

The Illinois Supreme Court, however, refused to admit him to the bar, pointing to a military psychiatric exam that allegedly found him to have personality defects that include delusions involving both paranoia and grandeur.

Through the years, he made the ballot for numerous local and federal races in Illinois, New York, and Connecticut. After following his mother down to Florida, he's been as busy as ever, running for governor twice, the state Senate, a couple of flings for the presidency, and three times for the U.S. Senate.

Martin never won a race, but he made some headlines. In 1994, he was found to have broken election laws when he accepted a $50,000 campaign loan from Mom. While Martin is cagey about his finances, I think that loan, plus a courtroom admission that Mom pays his rent and telephone bills, gives a clue about who finances his many far-flung ventures. When I asked him about his net worth, he said it's about zero.

The AP reported in January 20, 2000 that the Florida Supreme Court the following about Martin "Nearly everything Martin files is malicious," the justices wrote. "It appears that Martin's inability to refrain from the 'tactic of injecting personal insults into proceedings' was the main reason why the Illinois Supreme Court refused to allow his admission to that state's bar." AP also reported that Martin spent time in jail:

In 1996, a judge jailed Martin for remarks during a hearing on a restraining order to keep him away from a television station and two cameramen who had scuffled with him.

Martin had called the hearing "a kangaroo court" and "a circus proceeding," but the final straw came when he accused the judge of being "bought and paid for" by the TV station's lawyers.

This seems to be corroborated by Martin himself who issued a statement about the imprisonment:

Andy Martin wrote the lawsuit [against then Secretary of State Katherine Harris] on a prison typewriter on Rikers Island, America's worst penal colony. He is in a maximum-security cell with multi-murderers with a $1 million bail. That compares with $25,000 if he had only killed a few people.

In his ‘92 bid for Senate he report $1,060 in contributions $500 of which came from his mom.  The only contributions ever reported to the FEC
He ran for Illinois Senate in 1980 as Anthony R. Martin-Trigona
Martin's current address listed on his website is:
440 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 3010
Chicago, Illinois 60611

This is located in a 50 floor luxury apartment building next to the Chicago River.

He also has an address listed at:
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE for US SENATOR
1574 S. Ocean Lane Suite 111
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, 33316
Tel. (888) 320-ANDY (2639)
This is luxury condo located on the beach in a zip code which the average home goes for $855,000.
In 1998, Martin received 33.6% of the statewide vote in the U.S. Senate statewide primary, carried Miami-Dade County by a landslide. Election Results
The McKenna campaign has made copies of Martins petitions, it remains to be seen whether anyone will challenge him.
Calls made to numerous numbers all led to the same voice mail system and calls have not been returned.