Scott Boman
Scott Avery Boman is an American Libertarian politician from Michigan. He has consistently earned among the top votes of any third-party candidate in every Michigan election from 2000 through 2018. He was chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan in 2006.
Described by MIRS as a Libertarian Party standard-bearer, he has been a candidate in every state-wide partisan election since 1994, until successfully running for the Detroit office of Community Advisory Council in 2020.
He became the second Libertarian to be endorsed by The Detroit News when he competed in the 1997 Detroit City Council general election on the non-partisan ballot. He was also the only Lieutenant Governor candidate to support the successful Michigan Civil Rights Initiative as the running mate of Gregory Creswell in the 2006 Michigan gubernatorial election.
Boman moved the Libertarian Party of Michigan from fifth to third place on the 2012 and 2014 general election ballots, by placing third in the 2010 general election when he ran for Secretary of State. In 2019 he created a Community Advisory Council for Detroit
He was the Michigan Director of Our America Initiative from 2015 through 2019, and served as Michigan Director of Gary Johnson's 2016 presidential campaign.
He currently serves on the Community Advisory Council of Detroit's District 4 after being re-elected to it in 2022, and has been on the Detroit Board of Zoning appeals, since February 2024, as its first at-large appointee.
Early life
Boman's parents grew up in Harper Woods Michigan. His father was United Methodist minister Ray Howard Boman. Before joining the ministry Ray Boman was a Wayne County Port Commissioner, as well as being a Democratic politician, and precinct delegate. Scott's mother was artist and educator Sylvia Anna Boman. Scott went to grade school at the Detroit Waldorf School, and graduated from Grosse Pointe South High School in 1980.He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Philosophy from Western Michigan University in 1985. While a student there, he became a contributing columnist for the Western Herald college newspaper. According to Boman, his columns took on a libertarian viewpoint after he read Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal, by Ayn Rand. He returned to Western Michigan University where he earned his Master of Arts in Physics, and participated in scholarly atomic physics research. His work was published in Physical Review A. In 1999 he earned an MAT in Secondary Education at Wayne State University.
Political activities prior to 2006
Scott Boman has run for several public offices, and has been elected to leadership positions in a few organizations:Before running for public office Boman was involved in organizing at the university level. He was the founding President of a student social organization at Western Michigan University called "Fellowship of the Purple Cube" in 1984. The organization also organized a protest in support of students who wished to hold an outlawed street party. Boman also wrote for the Western Herald on this issue and other topics.
Boman began running for public office in 1994 when he ran for 7th District State Representative to the Michigan Legislature. In the same year Boman headed a successful effort to collect 40,700 signatures to restore the Libertarian Party of Michigan's ballot access.
Two years later, in 1996, he pursued a Federal office and ran for the United States House of Representatives 14th District. He received 1,705 votes for 0.9% of the vote.
In 1997 Boman became the second Libertarian to be endorsed by The Detroit News, when he ran for member of the Detroit City Council.
He made two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the Wayne State University Board of Governors. His first attempt was in 1998 Boman received 2.6% of the vote. Then he ran again for the Wayne State University Board of Governors in 2000, earning more votes than any other minor party candidate, in that election, for any office. His vote total was 130,176. This was 46,000 votes more than those cast for the well-known Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, whose vote total was 84,165 votes.
In 1999 Boman was elected to the Wayne State University Student Council.
Boman made two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the State Board of Education. The first being in 2002 receiving 1.6% of the vote. The second attempt was in 2004
Boman was elected to leadership positions in his party. In 2005 he was Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan. The following year, in 2006, he was elected to be Chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan.
2006 Lieutenant Governor campaign positions
Gubernatorial ticket
Boman's presence on the gubernatorial ticket was the topic of an article in the Detroit Free Press. Both gubernatorial candidate Gregory Creswell and Boman participated jointly on radio interviews and in radio commercials.Racial preferences
Like Creswell, Boman said his support of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was consistent with his opposition to all forms of state-sponsored racial or sexual discrimination. Both candidates also spoke in radio commercials that contrasted Libertarians from Democrats and Republicans, by supporting an end to what they called, "racial preferences".Civil liberties, prisons and non-violent crime
Boman was endorsed by the "Stonewall Libertarians" for openly supporting equal rights for gays. Boman also argued that a respect for civil liberties would eliminate the need for replacing Michigan's single-business tax. Boman's alternative was to save money by pardoning people in prison for what he called "victimless crimes", and an end to state enforcement of drug prohibitions. He focused on medical marijuana as one example of civil liberties worthy of being respected. He was also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, but choose not to renew his membership in 2006 because of the ACLU opposition to MCRI.Economy
Boman also supported a market economy. Both he and Creswell referred to the Mackinac Center when asked for specific ideas on practical economic reforms. In general Boman objected to all taxes, but conceded the need to phase them out carefully.Republican Party involvement
In January, 2008, Boman became a member of the Republican Party. He was interviewed by Detroit's major daily newspaper, The Detroit News about his support of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, and cites the Paul candidacy as a reason for becoming a Republican.Boman also encouraged voters to choose Ron Paul in his opinion column, and has served as an assistant meetup organizer for the Wayne County Ron Paul Meetup Group. In 2012 he was among the four United States Senate candidates identified by Bloomberg Businessweek as having been inspired by Ron Paul, and he was one of two such candidates quoted in Politico:
"I don't think people expected Paul to accomplish so much," said Scotty Boman, a Senate candidate in Michigan who met Paul in 1988 when the Texan was running for president on the Libertarian ticket. "He's been able to break a barrier and be heard by the mainstream."
He was elected precinct delegate in 2010 and 2012. He entered the 2012 United States Senate race as a Republican. While still a declared Republican candidate, he appeared on C-SPAN as a Delegate to the 2012 Libertarian National Convention where he nominated R. Lee Wrights for vice president. Later in May 2012 he returned to the Libertarian Party of Michigan and was nominated as their candidate for United States Senate.
2008 US Senate candidacy
Boman finished third in an unsuccessful attempt to be elected to Carl Levin's seat in the US Senate, in which he received 1.6% of the vote. His attempt was made under the Libertarian Party of Michigan ticket after winning a contested nomination at their convention over, their 2006 United States Senate nominee, Leonard Schwartz.Boman also participated in multipartisan efforts including the formation of the Michigan Third Parties Coalition, and reminded reporters of this at an appearance in Jackson Michigan.
Bailout statement
Boman joined every Michigan Libertarian candidate for the United States House of Representatives, in publicly expressing disapproval of any federal bailout plan. A Libertarian Party of Michigan press release quoted Boman as saying "We must not tax, regulate and penalize them to bail out those on Wall Street and Main Street who have demonstrated they are not responsible, and will likely do the same thing again, and expect yet another bail out"2010 Secretary of State candidacy
In 2010 Boman received the Libertarian Party of Michigan's nomination for Michigan Secretary of State. One of his stated objectives was to use his candidacy to draw attention to state ID modifications and the effect he believed they had on privacy. He lost the election to Ruth Johnson and placed third with 58,044 votes. In Michigan, partisan placement on the ballot is based upon votes received by a party's Secretary of State candidate, so his vote total moved the Libertarian Party from fifth to third place on subsequent Michigan ballot listings.Boman and his Green Party opponent, John Anthony La Pietra issued a joint statement expressing their concern about what they called "Dangerouse ID". Boman said he would "reject the Real ID Act, Pass Act, or any other attempt to make state documents into de facto national ID cards."
Boman also opposed the driver responsibility fee, taxpayer-funded primaries, and a state Constitutional Convention. He supported no-reason absentee voting, with added security measures.
2012 US Senate candidacy
Boman was the Libertarian candidate for United States Senate in 2012. He placed third with 84,480 votes; the most votes earned by a third-party United States Senate candidate from Michigan since Libertarian Jon Coon ran for that office in 1994. He was also included in two statewide scientific polls in the post-primary season. The last time a minor party candidate was included in such polls was in 1994. Because of an initial attempt to run as a Republican, Boman was also included in pre-primary polls and placed third, in a field of eight declared Republican Primary candidates. In 2008 Boman was not included in the traditional PBS televised debate due to a lack of poll results, and Boman argued for inclusion in the debate based on a 7% showing in a Poll he had commissioned. Incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow refused to participate in the forum, shortly after Boman's release and the event was never scheduled. Republican challenger, Pete Hoekstra also refused to debate him after the primary, but Green Party opponent Harley Mikkelson debated Boman on a few occasions.Boman's 2012 Senatorial campaign was his second attempt to be elected to that office, and was characterized by an emphasis on outreach to Tea Party groups.
Between the formation of his exploratory committee and the general election, Boman spoke at several events hosted by tea party groups, and he addressed the tea party directly on his webpage. His 2012 effort also had international reach including an interview on Turkish TV.