Libertarian Mark Schwartz joins District 2 council race

There's a new city-council candidate in town. On November 29, former long-shot mayoral hopeful and self-proclaimed Libertarian Mark Schwartz filed papers to join the race to replace termed-out District 2 councilmember and mayoral candidate Kevin Faulconer.

Schwartz pegs himself as a "constitutional conservative" who stands for "freedom, peace and self-reliance."

"I am not for sale, I am an outsider of politics. I stand for absolute liberty and the rights of each person to pursue their own version of happiness," reads his newly revamped website (with an ostensibly outdated home page that reads "Mark Schwartz for Mayor of San Diego").

The real estate professional is wasting no time expressing his frustration and distrust with what he and the most hardcore libertarians, call "statism" — a belief that the individual's freedoms, both politically and economically, have been trampled on by a centralized government.

"I am a political ‘outsider,’ born and raised in the USA by two hard working parents who owned their own business. I am a constitutional conservative and will not waiver [sic] from the ideals our founding fathers proclaimed upon the creation of this great nation. I believe in the inalienable rights of our civil society, our sovereignty, and reject the Statist agenda to control every aspect of our lives.

"I will [s]upport free market economy and free enterprise locally by working to reduce tax burden and permitting costs to San Diego businesses, [r]educe and balance the city budget by cutting waste with privatization of city services, opening small businesses bid opportunities to fill city needs [and] [o]ppose any new taxes."

In addition, Schwartz would like to scale down current gun laws, saying he "supports the right to bear arms; for protection of revolution, home defense, hunter, sporter and fisherman rights. The citizens constrained rights to concealed carry and open-carry will be brought to the public forum, I will work with San Diego Crime Commission to open dialog."

In the race for District 2, Schwartz joins current District 6 councilmember Lorie Zapf — forced to vacate her seat as a result of redistricting — as well as attorney Sarah Boot.

Though Boot has received some support and publicity of late, both Schwartz and her will have a tough time — make that little chance at all of overcoming Zapf on the fundraising front. Zapf has already amassed more that $130,000 from big developers and other business interests.