American Independent Party candidate winning support from frustrated conservatives

You know Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman are running for governor. But you might not know any of the four minor party candidates... like the self-described “homeschooling mother, concerned citizen and independent businesswoman” who carries the American Independent Party banner. Her name is Chelene Nightingale. But she’s just as much American Independent as she is Tea Party.

The former actress and model has an independent streak and a button-down sex appeal that’s attractive to many conservative voters looking for some new blood. Nightingale mingled with a few dozen supporters last week at a $50-a-plate fundraising dinner in Pomona. Every penny counts in a campaign that runs on empty.

“I know how to work on a small budget,” she says, sitting in the well-appointed living room of a supporter’s multi-story Pomona home.

Campaign contributions have arrived mostly in the form of small donations from individual voters. A lot of that cash is pumped right into the gas tank. For months, Nightingale has crisscrossed the state from her home in the Antelope Valley to sound a message of tougher border control, smaller government and fewer environmental rules.

“My name is all over the place," says Nightingale. "That has been done on a $50,000 budget. I knew how to handle a budget when I was in a production and distribution company. I know how to handle a budget with our own business.”

Handling a budget has not always gone well. Nightingale and her husband almost lost their Palmdale air conditioning business when their real estate investments went south a few years ago. They filed for bankruptcy; Nightingale says that puts her shoulder-to-shoulder alongside many recession-battered Californians.

“And that’s why I am running, because I can relate to people, what they’ve gone through,” says Nightingale. “In fact, we did a commercial in which I say my husband and I struggled financially and we lost our home and our dignity, and I don’t want that to happen to another Californian.”

In campaign ads, Nightingale argues against environmental laws she says will stymie job growth. She wants pumping limits on the San Joaquin River Delta lifted. She supports Proposition 23, the measure that aims to suspend AB 32 – California’s landmark global warming law approved four years ago.

“AB 32 takes it one step too far. We all know ‘Climate-Gate’ and scientists saying, ‘No, we’re really cooling,'” says Nightingale. “So now we have an act that’s based on ‘We’re not so sure’ science. AB 32, if it goes into complete effect, will decimate 1.1 million jobs; we cannot afford to lose those jobs”.

Nightingale may be a global warming skeptic. But she’s receptive to the notion of “chemtrails” – a claim by some conspiracy buffs that condensation trails left by many aircraft are actually toxins deliberately sprayed on unsuspecting communities by some unknown, sinister entity. Nightingale even appears in a “chemtrails” Web documentary.

“And you just see these trails, these lines for miles zigzagging the sky. I saw it with my own eyes. That’s not weather. What company, who are driving the planes? Who are ordering the planes? I’m not an expert, but we should be asking questions.”

People are asking questions about Nightingale’s candidacy.

“Does she agree with our pro-life plank in the platform? Does she agree with our platform? We don’t know,” says Markham Robinson, the executive committee chairman of the American Independent Party. Nightingale – an ex-Republican – joined the Party just as two factions battled for its control.

The conservative Christian leaning party was founded 43 years ago on a platform of less taxes and smaller government. Markham says Nightingale just co-opted the American Independent Party brand to run for office.

“She of course is disloyal to our party,” says Robinson. “She’s also unqualified to hold office. Her views are unknown on crucial issues and she appears to have been harmful to the border control movement, [anti-]illegal immigration, which is her main claim to fame.”

Nightingale used to run the anti-illegal immigration group Save Our State. It disbanded shortly after Nightingale took the reins. Some former members accuse her of financial mismanagement – a charge she denies.

“When I became the managing director they had like 900 members. I brought it up to over 5,000. I got it national and international media.”

Nightingale says SOS’s dissolution had more to do with clashing egos and members bent on derailing the group’s core mission. Nightingale says she and SOS founder Joseph Turner may try to resurrect the group in the future.

Nightingale is also, not surprisingly, drawing fire from mainstream Republicans who say she’ll siphon away valuable votes from Meg Whitman, who’s running a fairly tight race with Democrat Jerry Brown. But the GOP may have lost those votes already.

“Democrat, Republican right, just two heads of the same snake as far as I’m concerned,” says Nightingale supporter Ryan Banderas. Frustrated with this year’s gubernatorial choices, Banderas was ready to vote for himself as a write-in candidate until he discovered Chelene Nightingale. He attended last week’s fundraiser in Pomona to learn more about the candidate.

“We really need something different so the number of people going for these third parties are gonna be increasing. There is an alternative out there. You have to build momentum somehow, some way. And I guess that’s why I’m here tonight.”

And why Chelene Nightingale will tank up the car again, and head to Sacramento and San Francisco for candidate debates this week.