Russell J. Verney is a political advisor who served as chairman of the Reform Party of the United States from 1995 to 1999. He worked on the presidential campaigns of Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...

 and Bob Barr

Bob Barr

Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of...

.

1990s

In the early 1990s, Verney served as the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 State Treasurer in New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

. By 1992, he was the party's executive director for the state. Later that year, he joined Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...

's campaign and worked as the candidate's spokesman and top advisor, helping the candidate win 19% of the popular vote and participation in a three-way presidential debate. After the campaign, he served as a coordinator and spokesman for Perot's organization United We Stand America

United We Stand America

United We Stand America was the name selected by Texas businessman H. Ross Perot for his citizen action organization after his 1992 independent political campaign for President of the United States. Perot's 19% showing in the 1992 election was sufficient to entitle him to federal matching funds...

, which opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement

North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...

. By 1995, he was the organization's National Executive director. That same year, the group helped form the Reform Party of the United States. Verney labeled this "the most significant thing that's happened in American politics in 130 years."

Verney served as the party's first chairman and as director for Perot's 1996 presidential campaign. Under the party's banner, Perot won 8.4% of the national vote in the 1996 presidential election and in 1998, former wrestler Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura

James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...

 was elected Governor of Minnesota

Governor of Minnesota

The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...

.

After Ventura made comments in Playboy Magazine that offended some members of the party, Verney sent a letter to Governor Ventura, asking for his resignation from the party for his comments "about religion, sexual assault, overweight people, drugs, prostitution, women's undergarments and many other subjects [that] do not represent the values, principles or ethics upon which this party was built." In the letter, he admonished Ventura for bringing "shame to yourself and disgrace to the members of the Reform Party." Ventura had no response to the request.

He did not run for re-election in 1999 as the party's chairman, commenting that it was time for someone else to hold the position. To his chagrin, Jack Gargan

Jack Gargan

Jack Gargan is a retired financial planner in the United States who became the second chairman of the Reform Party started by Ross Perot...

, a close ally of Jesse Ventura, was elected to the position. He sparred often with Verney, whom Gargan and Ventura felt had operated the party in a dictatorial fashion for too long.

2000s

Hoping to decrease the influence of Ventura, Verney convinced Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...

 to run for the party's presidential nomination in 2000. However, Verney soon became upset with Buchanan's socially conservative positions, explaining that he was attempting to change the party into an "ideologically pure right-wing party." Eventually, the Reform Party split after Verney led a walk-out that protested Pat Buchanan's nomination.

The New York Times ran an article on Verney, discussing how he stayed with one faction of the Reform Party as it continued its decline following Perot's campaigns and the 2000 split. Verney stated that he would eventually leave the party, but that he "would never really leave Ross [Perot]" because, in his words, "I love the man. He's my hero."

Verney served as former Republican Congressman Bob Barr's campaign manager for his presidential run as the nominee of the Libertarian Party

Libertarian Party (United States)

The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...

 in 2008

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

. Barr finished the race in fourth place with 0.4% of the vote.