STEADY LOSER SEEMS A SAFE BET
by Ken Fink
Picture at Grand Casino Poker Room sitting
at a Holdem Poker table
holding two Aces with a third Ace in the
Flop with caption:
It's been aces
high in the casinos for gambler John Turmel, but
he folded 44 times in political elections
in his native Ottawa,
Canada. Turmel who campaigns on an "Abolish
Interest" platform, says
he owns nothing and pays no taxes. The
money he makes gambling keeps
him on the road spreading his message
about a bartering system with
separate currency.
LUCKY AT CARDS, A BUST AT POLITICS
There's an experienced
politician in town, but don't expect any
sweat on the brow of Gulfport Mayor Bob
Short. Biloxi mayor A.J.
Holloway isn't shivering. U.S. Senator
Trent Lott? Forget about
it. John C. Turmel is no threat.
"And Guinness
didn't even include the last three," said the man
who lost three elections last year alone,
but ironically makes a
living as a professional gambler. Turmel,
46, of Ottawa, Canada, is
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
as having lost more
elections than anyone - 44 to be exact.
He arrived on the Coast two
weeks ago and plans to stay another two
weeks working in the poker-
room at the Grand Casino in Biloxi.
He has run for
mayor, prime minister and membership in Canada's
Parliament. Lost them all. So was he even
close? "No, no," said the
accomplished accordionist, poet and independent
candidate. "I got
between one and two percent of the vote.
Not everyone's stupid."
Turmel's only
platform calls for the abolition of interest rates
and implementation of a bartering system
that would make it possible.
And when he climbs aboard his soapbox,
it is with boisterous
exuberance. "Most people are brainwashed
from birth that you have to
pay interest," Turmel said. "
Turmel said he
can avoid paying taxes by owning "nothing but my
socks." He claims he has not paid taxes
since 1979. And ironically,
the man called "a world-record loser"
makes his living betting on
cards. Turmel and his long-time companion,
Pauline Morrissette,
travels the country, saying in hotels
and spending up to 12 hours a
day in gambling houses playing the only
game he loves - poker. THe
said he has no plans to marry.
And electrical
engineer, Turmel is a self-admitted card counter
and has developed poker "power" strategies
that assure him winnings,
he says. In fact, turmel said he once
operated a gambling house, but
in 1994, police in Canada shut it down
and threw him in jail because
gambling was illegal. Turmel claims he
made a million dollars in the
six months leading up to his arrest and
gave it away. "I knew the cops
weren't going to let me keep it, so I
gave it away," he said.
Turmel also uses
money he earns gambling to further his Local
Employment Trading System, or LETS. The
computer-driven bartering
system software is available on the Internet
at www.u-net.com/gmlets.
Turmel admits that his tax-exempt lifestyle
of rambling from hotel to
hotel will not last forever. But he hasn't
finished his campaign for
office, which he admits is a forum to
publicize the LETS program.
One thing is
for sure, there will be another election just around
the corner. "As soon as there's another
election," said the man shoe
trademark is a hard hat, "I'll be there."