John Dashler
John W. Dashler is a retired entrepreneur and businessman from the U.S. state of Georgia. He was running for Governor of Georgia as an Independent in 2006. If he had attained statewide ballot access, he would have been the first Independent to do so in the history of the state.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1947, he grew up in the small town of Havre de Grace, Maryland. He graduated from Havre de Grace High School in 1965 and became a lineman for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company. In 1966, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served in the Republic of Viet Nam during the Vietnam War, eventually achieving the rank of Captain. He was commanding officer for several companies in both Vietnam and Germany, served as communications officer for several others, and was an MACV wire officer responsible for the "phantom circuit," the hotline between the Pentagon, the President of the Republic of Viet Nam, General Creighton Abrams, and Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. During his service in the Army, he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Commendation Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal.
After leaving ACTIVE duty in 1976, and resigning his commission in 1977, he went to work for Unituft, Inc., a small business that manufactured carpet, of which he was also a minority shareholder. In 1979, he took over management of the firm. Over the next twelve years, he built the company into a multi-million-dollar business with over 300 employees, making his STOCK in the company worth many times what he paid for it.
In 1988, he sold his interests in Unituft and went into the restaurant business, opening Italiano's Subs and Pizza, a franchise operation that eventually had three stores. In 1991, however, having decided that the restaurants were not bringing in a high enough return on investment, he sold the chain. At the same time, he started Dashler Racing, Inc., a NASCAR racing team that eventually. Among the drivers he employed were Tammy Jo Kirk, Bart Ingram, and Bobby Gill.
He left the company in 1994, having been asked by James E. Brown, a local businessman, to take over as chief operating officer of Brown Industries, Inc., which had suffered from five years of declining revenues. The company broke even within his first three months and achieved profitability at four months. At the end of his second year, the company was more profitable than at any previous time. In 1997, he left the company and retired from active work.
On January 12, 2006, he announced at a press conference in Dalton, Georgia that he would be an Independent candidate for Governor of Georgia. His platform was too lengthy to effectively summarize and May Be found here.
Under state law, he was required to collect 40,000 signatures on nominating petitions throughout the state, an effort in which he eventually failed. On June 26, he announced that he would withdraw from the race for Governor.