Jack Shepard — the dentist who has lived in exile in Italy for nearly 25 years after being convicted on drug and sexual assault charges — will be back on the ballot for the Aug. 14 primary election.
He's filed as a DFLer to run against U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The perennial candidate, who lists a St. Paul address when filing, even though he hasn't been in the U.S. since his 1982 convictions, ran for Senate in 2008, but as a Republican, challenging Norm Coleman in the primary.
He ran for Congress in 2004 and 2006. And he ran for president in the 2008 New Hampshire primary.
Shepard got 23 percent of the primary vote in 2004 and 33.8 percent in 2006.
While his filing says he lives at 2191 Edgcumbe Road in St. Paul, someone else live there and pays taxes; the house was last sold in 1997.
Shepard's website for this election has a strangely worded boast, claiming that he's:
"The only candidate who really can eliminate Amy Klobuchar."
And now he's sent a rambling email, claiming the behavior leading to his convictions was caused by forced drug dosages:
"I was forced to take Lithium 1/3 of century ago without a doctors warning that massive dehydration can cause lithium toxic shock reaction because the lithium Level in you blood gets a to a lethal level that's what cause my confusion and strange behaviour for 3-4 years out of 66 years.
Now I have 2 wonderful teenagers I am a single parent and a practicing dentist here in Italy with no problem for 30 years besides travelling the world as Jew talking to Arab's about peace."
Shepard isn't Klobuchar's only challenger in the primary: another perennial candidate, Dick Franson has also filed.