ATLANTA --- John Monds could serve as a spoiler in the November general election for Georgia governor, but the Libertarian candidate hopes he's more than that.

• Photos

John Amis/Associated Press

In this photo taken Aug. 8, 2010, Georgia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Monds faces off against his Republican and Democratic counterparts during a forum held at the Cobb Energy Center, in Atlanta.

Advertisement

"I wanted to give the voters a choice in what I believe is a better vision for Georgia," said Monds, a stay-at-home dad from Cairo who home-schools his four children. "I wasn't willing to wait for somebody to step up and run on the issues I think are important."

Monds, 45, is a former finance officer for Lehman Brothers whose wife, Kathaleena Edward Monds, works as a professor and the interim dean at Albany State University's College of Business. He graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in finance.

He's the first black gubernatorial candidate in state history to appear on the general election ballot.

Monds faces a tough battle: He has little statewide name recognition, and he's up against two Georgia political giants.

Monds' platform focuses on individual rights and scaling back government involvement. He wants to lift all corporate regulations put in place by the state and let consumers decide whether casino gambling, horse racing, Sunday alcohol sales and industrial hemp would survive in Georgia.

He said his first order of business would be to fix the state's economy. Monds said he would do away with the state income tax, instead relying on sales tax with local revenue-sharing, which he says is fairer.

"Everybody pays instead of a particular segment of the population," Monds said. "You don't want to punish those who produce, and that's what an income tax does. We ought to encourage more production."

Monds said he supports more funding for public education but said parents should have options available to them outside of government-run schools. He said his own four children likely would get a private tutor or attend a private school if he is elected.

He wants to create a $4,000 tax credit for parents who home-school their children or send them to private schools. "Anything that increases the availability of parents to teach their kids the way they want to without giving government more control would be a positive step in the right direction," he says.