Here’s Aaron Reis, candidate for Boise mayor. He doesn’t want you to vote for him.

It’s complicated. In fact, that’s an understatement in trying to reconcile the Boise mayoral candidacy of Aaron Reis, who is also in the process of legally changing his name to Suicidal, as he is petitioning for legal suicide in America.

Reis says, at least for him, it’s not about an election contest.

“It's about our friends,” said Reis. “It's about the kindness of the human spirit, withering in and under the hardship of the economic patriarchal tyranny that is an economy run on violence and exploitation of human labor."

Boise State Public Radio spoke with all four Boise mayoral candidates. You can find the other interviews here:

• Mike Masterson says change is necessary at the Boise Police Department; but it starts at City Hall
• Here’s Joe Evans, candidate for Boise Mayor. He’s convinced he’ll be in a runoff election
• For Lauren McLean, being Boise mayor is ‘the honor of my life,’ and she’d like four more years

Read the full transcript below:

GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Hi. I'm George Prentice, Aaron Reis is here. He is one of four people on the ballot in the race for Boise mayor. It is fair to say that Mr. Reis may not be well known to everyone. So, we're going to do our best to get to know him a bit better this morning and get to know the issues that bring him to this very high profile race. Mr. Reis, good morning. .

AARON REIS: Good morning. George.

PRENTICE: Tell me about your time in Boise. How long have you been here in the Treasure Valley?

REIS: I first came to the Treasure Valley about three years ago. I was looking for a place where I could be safe from the guardianship laws in this country. And Idaho is actually a good spot for that. And it was very near to my attorney in Utah.

PRENTICE: I think it's fair to say that a centerpiece of your being in this race is bodily autonomy.

REIS: Yeah, that's everything to me.

PRENTICE: Why?

REIS: First and foremost, I've known what it's like to really be without it and how important it is to have this. And I'm. As a citizen of the planet. I'm mortified that the United States has chosen, or at least nine people in costume have chosen to undo the protections of Roe v. Wade.

PRENTICE: Nine people in costume… as in the Supreme Court.

REIS: Those are they. And I, I think that that's we should all … I'm not done protesting that. Actually the. Day of, I set my birth certificate and passport and social security card on fire.

PRENTICE: Can I pause you there? Have you tried to replace any of those?

REIS: I've been able to replace my driver's license, although instead of having my old signature, it has my Change.org petition as my legal signature.

PRENTICE: Okay, so let me go there. Tell me if this is none of my business.

REIS: It's all your business.

PRENTICE: But are you legally changing your name?

REIS: I am, in fact, yes to “suicidal”.

PRENTICE: That puts me back on my heels. So but that would be how you would sign everything, good and bad?

REIS: The way I currently sign every document is with Change.org. Petition for legal suicide in America,,, underscores between the words. I think every citizen needs the right to the full parameters of their life and to decide what that is, and only when we start acting like our lives are really on the line in this battle for bodily autonomy, whether it be the protections granted by Roe v Wade or the concurrent protections based on that precedent granted by Griswold versus Connecticut. Brown versus Board of Education, the Oglethorpe case. Et cetera. It was said in the dissent or in the concurrence of the overturning of Roe v Wade, that there the next major battle, I mean, they're going to be coming for things like interracial marriage and things like that. Everyone should be as concerned as they possibly can about the right that they would have to their own bodies.

PRENTICE: Please don't take this the wrong way, but if I were to ask you what your true intention for your campaign is… in other words, there is a pretty good chance you may not win this campaign.

REIS: I'm sure of it. And I encourage no one to vote for me.

PRENTICE: So, what's your motivation here?

REIS: Last year in America, nearly 50,000 people killed themselves. And those people can't all be crazy, and they can't all be wrong. And we live in a world where the basic human needs are withheld from the proletariat in exchange for the exploitation of their labor, and that is. Untenable with many people's health, dignity, willingness to live. People are dying. People are dying right here in Boise. Just this year. This. This is affected people in my life. This affects people in your life. I'm sure this is affected me. Just in 2019, I found the state of things to be so untenable that I. I felt that way myself.

PRENTICE: I'm sensing shadows that are long and wide in your life. But may I also ask where there might be any joy in your life?

REIS: Oh my God, there's so much joy I could just as easily…and I'm tempted all the time to talk about the misery and the abuse and et cetera.

PRENTICE: Do you like Boise?

REIS: I love Boise and I really love Bogus Basin, and I used to work up there. No, I've had a I could just as easily say to you or anyone else that I've lived a long, full life.

PRENTICE: Can I assume that this campaign is also giving you the opportunity to meet a lot of folks for the first time?

REIS: Yeah, some people come up to me and thank me. Other people run screaming in the other direction. It's been a mixed bag the whole way through.

PRENTICE: Has it been enjoyable? Has it been fruitful for you thus far? Or has it been a challenge?

REIS: Both.

PRENTICE: You are very much a part of a very formal process now, right? And it's okay if people don't vote…

REIS: Just as long as long as I don't win, it's going to be okay.

PRENTICE: But for those who really embrace their vote. You're okay with that?

REIS: I'd say something along the lines of “good cop, bad cop, red cop, blue cop.”

PRENTICE: Help me out with that. Flesh that out for me.

Courtesy Aaron Reis

REIS: There's a contingency of people who say that all cops are. I'll say Batman. And both blue and red are two sides of the same coin. And there's actually a lot of other ways to govern a society like. And I've lived in many parts of the world that do this. In Israel, they even have the Likud party. Not that, you know, that that hasn't been co-opted or that their system full of, you know, 7 or 8 different parties, whatever it is, hasn't been ruined. In Switzerland. They have every canton, like every state, kind of brings someone to the table and they all have to agree. And Australia, they have a totally different system. And and in Canada also, we really need to get out of the two party mindset. So I don't know if you care about your vote go for Joe.

PRENTICE: But indeed, this is a non-partisan race.

REIS: It's non partisan… until it's extraordinarily partisan. I've noticed in some of the articles I could maybe look them up for you. But they say the incumbent mayor, they say the ex-police chief and then they say libertarian candidate Joe. And that's, that's when the spin kind of I think yeah, it's non partisan until someone gets accused more or less of being a libertarian.

PRENTICE: What's interesting is I don't think there is… or has been… a tag for you.

REIS: Yeah. When I signed up for the opportunity to do this, I had three options and then other. And the options were blue, red, libertarian. And then you could just fill in the blanks. And yeah, I just wrote my petition down.

PRENTICE: Great good luck in the coming days.

REIS: Thank you. I'll need it.

PRENTICE: And I think what I've heard is that it's not about a contest. It's not about an election for you.

REIS: That's fair.  It's about our friends. It's about the kindness of the human spirit, withering in and under the hardship of the economic patriarchal tyranny that is an economy run on violence and exploitation of human labor.

PRENTICE: And that conversation needs to continue.

REIS: And that conversation needs to be expanded. And I would encourage everyone to really wonder, “What we can do so that we don't keep losing people this way because they're not crazy and they're not wrong.”

PRENTICE: He is Aaron Reis, and indeed he is on the ballot in the race for mayor for the city of Boise. Mr. Reis, thanks for giving me some time this morning.

REIS: Thank you for giving me yours... And the audience.
 
Find reporter George Prentice on X @georgepren

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