Libertarian mayoral candidate expects defeat

On Nov. 7., Lafayette residents will have two candidates to vote for mayor; one with a D next to their name and an L next to the other, but only one of these candidates actually expects to win.
Benjamin Milanowski, 39, is a current Purdue doctoral candidate in the College of Nursing and running for Lafayette mayor as a libertarian.
But Milanowski said he doesn’t intend to win, and winning is not the purpose of the campaign.
“My main issue is to raise awareness of third parties,” Milanowski said. “To be perfectly honest and clear about this, I do not anticipate winning. My goal though is for a person to go into the voting booth and go ‘Benjamin Milanowski? L? What’s an L?’”
Key Issues
Even though he expects to lose, Milanowski is still running on two policy issues: property tax and housing.
“Rather than have a property tax, we could have a land (value) tax,” Milanowski said.
Land value tax disregards the value of buildings or improvements and instead puts the basis of property taxes solely on the value of land itself, he said. He claims that this will incentivize solutions to a housing crisis.
On the housing crisis in Greater Lafayette, he says that the problem and solution to the crisis has to be multifaceted.
“One thing will not solve it,” Milanowski said. “One of the things I like to see is that we have a tenants union that is formed and one of the things I see, as being a libertarian, is that we get the government out of the way. If a tenants union wants to start negotiating, I want to make sure the government is out of their way.”
Milanowski also stood staunch in his opposition to the LEAP pipeline development.
“I think the deal has already been made and there is a lack of government transparency about it,” he said. “Whether it’s myself or Mayor Roswarski, either one of us… will fight against the LEAP project. However, what effect we may have is minimal because I think decisions were made before it was ever brought to the public eye. ”
Edgy jokes and dildos
Opinionated as he may be, Milanowski’s ideas aren’t widely available online with the exception of tweet comments and comments on chat forums.
“I’ve not really campaigned,” he said.
Milanowski said he prefers to spread his message through social media.
“That honestly has the greatest reach for almost no cost other than time,” Milanowski said. “Again, being libertarian, we try not to spend money.”
Milanowski said that he uses Facebook and
X
for sending these messages.
But both his campaign’s Facebook and X accounts have nothing available on them.
What is available, however, on Milanowski’s personal accounts is a slew of unconventional posts and “dark humor.”
One of those posts is a video from his Instagram account featuring him juggling three sex toys.
“There were dildos there that were used by the health department that were used to be instructive for how to use condoms,” Milanowski said. “Juggling is a hobby of mine, so if I see three of something I’m going to juggle it."
The data wasn't doing what the cops wanted it to do, so they shot it.
#Troubleshooting
https://t.co/a3doPCLGf2
— Benji Milanowski (@EgonMilanowski)
October 4, 2023
When asked if he thinks his voters would be offended by the video, Milanowski didn’t seem phased.
“I don’t consider that inappropriate. I’m still a human and I’m still gonna do these things,” he said. “Libertarians are very sex-positive people.”
Another one of those posts was related to police brutality.
“The data wasn't doing what the cops wanted it to do, so they shot it,” the tweet said. “#Troubleshooting.”
In defense of the post, Milanowski said libertarians are against police brutality.
“We want to go to polite policing. When you go onto a police page and you see them have this ‘thin blue line punisher logo,' that is not what we want in our community,” he said. “We want people to feel welcome in the community and that they’re not some type of ‘us versus them’ situation.”
Roswarski’s Reaction
In the opposite corner running for the mayorship of Lafayette, Democrat Tony Roswarski is making a bid for his sixth term.
Milanowski, his challenger, claims to have never met the mayor, but Roswarski says otherwise.
“I know who (Milanowski) is,” Roswarski said. “In fact, I think a couple of years ago he may have given me my flu shot.”
Roswarski said he was caught off guard by many of the actions Milanowski made online.
“If that’s what he meant and that's what that means,” Roswarski said when asked about Milanowski’s “troubleshooting” post, “that’s very disturbing. That’s not the way we campaign around here."
Roswarski said the post was a “slap in the face to the men and women of our police department,” adding he was “disheartened” by his opponent’s words.
Message to Voters
Above all, Milanowski hopes his campaign will inspire voters to get involved in politics, no matter which party they choose to join.
He said he started college as a Democrat, but discovered libertarianism during a time of “exploration,” which he hopes other Purdue students will engage in as well.
“I think college and school are amazing because, what do you want to learn? You want to learn about nursing? Great, we have this whole school dedicated to it,” he said. “What else do you want to learn?”
Milanowski said students can even join the juggling club if they want to.
“You can learn to juggle three of something,” he said, jokingly. “Your choice as to what those three things are.”
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