The California Libertarian Party has recruited a semi-celebrity candidate for a State Senate seat.

From the L.A. Daily News:

Adrian Galysh of Van Nuys has declared himself a candidate for the State Senate, hoping his rhetorical riffs prove as crowd-pleasing as his guitar licks.

Galysh, 35, has never before run for office, but does have three solo albums to his credit.

What does a rock musician know about government?

"I don't know anything about accruing a $600 billion debt (and) wasting people's tax money," Galysh said with a laugh on Monday. "I do know California is in dire straits and somebody has to tell the government `No."'

Playing the anti-tax chord, the Duquesne University graduate said he's "running on the ideals of limited government, fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility."

He cited an estimate that between California's budget deficit and what it owes to bond- and pension-holders, the state is in the hole to the tune of $600 billion.

If he were to say he's running on his record, he would have to be referring to the 2008 album "Earth Tones" (his latest solo effort) or the band Minnesota 13's 2008 release "Bottles, Bullets and Faith" (on which he is credited with all the guitar work).

Galysh will be challenging incumbent Democrat Senator Alex Padilla. A spokesman for the Padilla campaign commented, that the two candidates are not in accord.

[We have] "two very different visions."

"There's a difference between wasteful spending and investments we need to move our state forward," [Rose] Kapolczynski said.

As the review below suggests, Galysh has collaborated with musicians from Ted Nugent's band and Supertramp.

From a review of one of his recent albums, Earth Tones:

The "Interstellar Caf? shred fest is what you'd expect on an instrumental guitar album by a hotshot who pegged Ted Nugent bassist Marco Mendoza and Frank Gambale drummer Joey Heredia to comprise the rhythm section on Earth Tones, Adrian Galysh's third CD. But the California dude, thank goodness, loads this thing with enough musical diversity to silence players with half his talent.

The melodic title track sounds fat and airy, and "Ave Maria No Moro" is a reverent and lovely piece. Hell, Galysh even invited latter-day Supertramp guitarist Carl Verheyen to duet with him on the fast an d furious "Terrestrial Races." These are actual songs, my friends, not just excuses to solo.

More information - Libertarian Party of California http://www.ca.lp.org