Local author Larry Bolinger is running to become Nebraska’s next Attorney General with the newly-formed “Legal Marijuana Now Party.”
Bolinger announced his candidacy in a press release, highlighting his community involvement and dedication to service. He is a veteran who served in both the US Air Force and the Army National Guard.
He currently volunteers with Activate Alliance, an organization with the goal to promote activity and wellness in the community, and Bolinger also serves in the Volunteer in Police Services, which helps law enforcement when needed.
Bolinger graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Criminology. He was a candidate for Nebraska’s Third Congressional District in 2018 and 2020.
He began serving in politics more than a decade ago, working as a Planning Commissioner. After speaking out against actions taken by the City Council, he decided to run for city council to represent the public interest.
“In my political career, I have run for City Council, State Legislature, and Congress. I have argued and changed several policies at the local, state, federal levels. I received a Bachelor of Science degree at UNO with a Major in Political Science and a Minor in Criminology,” said Bolinger in the press release. “I have even fought against government officials that created unlawful actions. Such as: refusing to follow state statutes, refusing to follow judicial procedures, creating fraudulent extorsion practices, refusal to follow police procedures, committing fraud on official documentation, 1st Amendment violations, 8th Amendment violation (over penalizations), and law violations under The United States Code Title 18 10001 and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 9(b). Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, just to name a few.”
Bolinger said his focus would be to review and introduce new policies regarding victimless crimes.
“Over the past 20 years, our government has been focused on creating harsher penalties and expanding our correctional facilities,” Bolinger said. “This has created an overpopulation in our correctional facilities with a high recidivism rate. I am the only candidate that is focused on law reform. Now is the time to get that done. If we keep on electing career politicians, we’ll need to add several more correctional facilities. We need more focus on a rehab program, mediation, drug courts, community service, and intense supervision programs. Those programs have been statistically proven to reduce recidivism by as much as 60%. If we continue the same path we could double the prison population within the next 10 years. We need change.”
Other issues Bolinger has addressed include arguing against truancy being labeled as status offense, and arguing for police reform. Bolinger also supports the legalization of marijuana and medical marijuana.
“I have just presented an issue where Marijuana has been knowingly labeled the wrong Schedule for the past several decades causing hundreds of thousands of people their livelihood,” said Bolinger. “It has been proven to have medical use in 1997 by the Institute of Medicine. I expect to have this error fixed.”
Another issue Bolinger wants to address is meatpacking policies.
“I sent a request to change our meatpacking policies and pointed out how the large packing facilities were manipulating the pricing so that the Ranchers got a lower pay and the consumer has to pay more to allow the packing plants a higher payout,” Bolinger said. “I have presented some of the problems in the new state meat inspection program. I pointed out what policies need to be added so that we can have State Inspectors, USDA Inspectors, and USDA certified State Inspectors with the cooperative to allow state–to–state trade and international trade. I believe that in many cases when you are passing policies, you need to do in-depth research so there are fewer errors In policies. Review the numbers, review the statistics, listen to the public so you can come up with the best decision. Sometimes a lack of policies could stop a business from running. In this issue, the state and federal policies would clash and would not allow state-to-state sales or international sales if the policies I presented are not implemented.”
Bolinger recently released his book “Politics: Last Act of Defiance” which lays out his arguments and positions on a multitude of issues. He hopes that people who read his book will know that they are not alone in fighting government corruption. His book is available as an ebook or a paperback. People may view a list of Bolinger’s books at www.LarryBolinger.com.