A Fairfield man announced his bid for governor of Iowa Monday and outlined his plans to run on the Libertarian ticket in the 2002 election.

Clyde Cleveland said his goal is to help each Iowan succeed.

“We want to create prosperity that will reach every person in this state,” Cleveland said, defining elimination of the income tax as an important issue.

“The income tax penalizes people who want to work hard and make more money,” Cleveland said. “It also penalizes people for saving and investing money.”

If elected, Cleveland and his political team intend to phase out the income tax for the state over a five-year period with a realistic and conservative plan.

One of Cleveland’s priorities is working with farmers to clean up the environment

“We need to deal with these issues in a real way,” he said. “It will be very difficult to clean up the environment without the help of the farmers.”

The ISU Libertarians support Cleveland’s strong ideals, such as a free market economy, ending the drug war and a strong environmental stance, said Brian Anderson, president of the group.

“Mr. Cleveland relates to college students,” he said.

Anderson, junior in horticulture, said he feels college students are getting tired of the two-party system and are ready to support someone different. One goal of the group is to show ISU students that voting for a third-party candidate doesn’t mean they are throwing their vote away, he said.

Cleveland said he advocates freedom-based solutions and citizen participation in resolving the problems facing Iowa today.

“Government solutions don’t work,” he said.

Cleveland said not having to answer to one of the major political parties allows him to stand up for the issues he feels strongly about and get more done for the people.

For more information about Cleveland, visit his Web site at www.clevelandforgovernor.org or send an e-mail to [email protected].