Local Libertarian champion for cause

Steve Dillon debated last Wednesday at IU Law School in Indianapolis for the change in anti-drug laws and policies.\n Dillon has been a player in the Indiana Chapter of the Libertarian Party for years. He has run for Monroe County judge and Indiana governor on the Libertarian party ticket. \nSince 1985, he has run for nine elected offices, once as a Republican and eight times as a Libertarian.\nHe is considered by some to be one of the champions of Libertarian causes in the state of Indiana. \nDillon said he believes "in personal liberty and freedom, and taking power always from the federal government." \nLibertarians believe in small government and sovereignty of the individual, according to the group's Web site. They are both liberal and conservative -- conservative in the fiscal realm and liberal on social issues.\nHe added that a person should have the right to "swing their fist in any direction as long as you don't hit any one on the nose."\nDillon graduated from Purdue in 1972 with honors and lettered on the debate team. He then graduated from IU Law School in 1975, where he was a classmate of former Vice President Dan Quayle. \nDillon said his average day is spent defending clients in criminal alcohol and drug cases. He had five laws declared unconstitutional, including laws against drug paraphernalia and returned the write-in vote to Indiana after it was removed from the ballot.\n"My biggest issue is trying to help the criminal justice system, which I am involved in by lobbing the state bar association, and lobby for reform on criminal laws," he said.\nIn a case that caught the attention of many in the country, Dillon defended Hilda Clark on charges of practicing medicine without a license. Clark was an alternative healer in Bloomington who faced incarceration if found guilty in trial.\nDillon was able to have the case thrown out on procedural issues. \nDillon is also the chairman of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and chairman for the Indiana Chapter of NORML. He has been involved in that organization since 1973.\nAs far as international politics are concerned, he said that "the war would be happening in Afghanistan now and there would be free trade with Cuba" if the Libertarian Party was in power now.\n According to Erin Hollinden, press secretary and vice president of IU College Libertarians, Steve Dillon is a "constitutionalist who believes in both the letter and spirit of the law, because he's strong on supporting civil liberties, and because he takes a "healing" approach to rehabilitation of criminals and restitution of victims."\n Those were the reasons that he was considered the best Libertarian candidate for the position of Monroe County judge last year. \nThe goals of Dillon and the Monroe County Libertarian party are to increase visibility and education about Libertarian "small government" solutions, to run and elect candidates for political openings and to build Libertarian Party membership and grassroots activism among Monroe County residents, according to Hollinden.