Cliven Bundy joins Independent American Party
Southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy no longer is a Republican.
Bundy, who is embroiled in a dispute over grazing with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, has switched his affiliation to the Independent American Party.
He and his wife, Carol, signed registration forms to the cheers of supporters at an Independent American Party gathering in Las Vegas on Friday night.
The event was held to honor Bundy for what organizers called “his courage in standing up for state sovereignty.”
Bundy and his supporters, some of them armed militia members, thwarted a BLM roundup of his cattle near Bunkerville in April.
The BLM says he owes more than $1 million in grazing fees and penalties for trespassing without a permit over a period of 20 years, but he refuses to acknowledge federal authority on public lands.