BIOGRAPHY - LES TOWNSEND

Age 63.

Married to the same wife for over 30 years.

Two daughters and one grand son.

Son-in-law works for Chrysler on the line.

Strong supporter of the right to keep and bear arms.

Christian - attend Grace Assembly Church.

Grew up on a dairy farm outside of Blanchard Michigan and graduated from Blanchard High School in 1964.

Service in the U.S. Army Security Agency as a Radio Intercept Operator from 1964 to 1968. Volunteered for Vietnam twice. Sent to Japan the first time and to Korea the second. Served in Japan 1965 to 1967. Served in Korea 1967 to 1968 on the Korean DMZ, which was a combat zone at the time of service. Stationed at the northern most U.S. outpost in South Korea. Two months of the 13 month tour of duty were were spent in an Army Hospital, because of a staph infection in a knee joint.

Attended Central Michigan University on the GI Bill from 1969 to 1972. Graduated with honors and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Political Science.

Employed by the Internal Revenue Service from 1972 to 1995. This service included every non-criminal enforcement position in the IRS. Eleven years of the employment were spent as a Pension Agent auditing and reviewing pension plans of all types, including defined benefit plans. I was an Appeals Officer at the time I retired.

Started a small pension administration business after accepting an early retirement offer from the IRS. The business was growing up to 9-11-2001 when the economy shut down and a number of my clients went out of business. The economy in the Detroit Metro area went into an economic depression and my business had severe financial problems. At this time I sold my home in an effort to get my financial affairs in order. This was not entirely successful as I was diagnosed with prostate cancer two weeks after closing on my house. At a time when I needed to be able to devote 12 hours a day to salvaging my business, I was not able to do anything.

I was on pain pills and not able to do much of anything after the surgery, to remove the cancerous prostate. During this period, I failed to file a required change of address notice with the State Insurance Commissioner, and as a result my license to sell insurance was revoked. Because of the loss of the license, I was forced to turn most of my pension administration clients over to a different pension administration firm. The bottom line is that I survived the battle with cancer ( my last PSA test was 0.03 ), but my business did not survive the cancer and the tender attentions of our government regulators.

I have concluded that the good Lord wanted me to be doing something different. I am now running for Congress as candidate with no name recognition or money. I only have a plan which will save Social Security and end our dependence on imported oil. If people vote for me, the praise will have to go to the Lord. I have learned that I can not rely on my own abilities.