A Word from Charlie
Someone told me once that you’d have to have a big ego to run for the U.S. Senate. I replied that it might be the reason why some run, but I believe others run because they have a cause. That has been my motivation.
From the first moment I decided to run for public office one of my main concerns was the influence of money in politics. My stand on this issue attracted the attention of Reed Lindsay and he and his team ended up following me for months on the campaign trail in 2014 in my bid for the U.S Senate. They too had a cause.
I first met Reed in 2003 during a journalism conference in Mexico. Reed was a freelance journalist living in Argentina at the time. I was immediately impressed with the fact that unlike many journalists, Reed not only sought to tell the truth, he believed strongly in fighting for social justice. Through the years I watched him as he traveled the world in an effort to follow and report on stories that others were giving no attention. Never did I dream that someday I might become the subject of one of those stories.
The sacrifices Reed and his team made to document my campaign amazed me. They accompanied us from sunrise to sunset as we traveled across the state of Wyoming, sleeping through the cold Wyoming nights in tents or with me and my volunteers in our campaign vehicle – a 1970 Crown school bus. Reed kept telling me that our campaign would end one day, but the documentary would carry on the spirit of our campaign for many years to come.
It’s not always easy or comfortable to allow someone to film every aspect of your life, but having seen the finished film, I now know it was well worth it. I believe that Charlie vs Goliath is a film that can make a big difference in the fight to radically transform our broken political system. More importantly, this film is a powerful tool that will help motivate people around the country to fight for a better world even when the odds are stacked against them .
-- Charlie Hardy