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Viking Vic's 25-cent Campaign
Ichun Che and Mike Nalepa
11/01/01

Candidate Victor Frost sits next to a trash barrel in the parking lot at the Palo Alto Whole Foods Market most afternoons. He holds a homemade sign that says he is running for the Palo Alto City Council on Nov. 6. There is a dish of coins next to him, campaign donations from people who pass by on the way to their cars. Fundraising, he says, is not going very well.

This is not the first time the homeless panhandler has run for public office. Calling himself "a common man for common people," Frost first ran for the Council in 1999. Though he lost, he won 875 ballots out of 41,679. This year, Frost is running against 12 other candidates for the five open seats on the Council.

Frost is also known as Viking, perhaps because of his burly build and long hair. He spoke to us at a picnic table farther back in the parking lot. He is running his "25-cent" campaign out of the 1978 Toyota truck where he lives and works. He lists his address as "Old Page Mill Road near the railroad tracks, near telephone pole 1139." Frost said that he is mentally and physically exhausted, but he feels that he is becoming successful.

Frost's top priority in running for City Council is to fight for the rights of homeless people. He says that one of his strengths is his accessibility to area voters. "They know where I am," he said.. They can come up to me and bitch." He said the most recent example was when an English teacher complained about the typos and spelling errors in his pamphlets. "We talked and now we are friends," said Frost.

Like most homeless people, Frost has had his share of problems. According to court records, Frost has three criminal charges as well as an existing three-year restraining order against him.

The restraining order was filed by a Stanford Graduate School of Business student. According to the woman's statement attached to the legal documents, she met Frost when she wrote an article about him for the San Francisco Chronicle in May of 1996. Frost acknowledges that he wanted to have a relationship with her and sent her roses, love letters and an engagement ring, which she returned.

"She was coerced to file the restraining order," Frost said. Frost said he was trying to protect her.

Frost's other charges include a hit and run accident in a parking lot, which he said was settled out of court. He was also charged with disturbing the peace, but that charge was later dropped.

There are barriers to Frost's campaign in Palo Alto, he concedes.

"We have people in our community who do not want me in public office," Frost said.

In April of 2000, Frost ran for a seat on the Human Relations Commission of the Palo Alto City Council. Council members voted on the candidates, and Frost did not receive a single vote during the three appointment votes. Frost continues his campaign in spite of this opposition. "Palo Alto is my home town, I do not want to have mud on my face in my own home town," he said.

Frost said that he worked for Sony USA in a management position for almost four years, but said that he could not remember which years he worked there. The Palo Alto Daily News reported that Frost was fired six years ago from his job as a quality control engineer who oversaw shipping and receiving for Sony Technology in Palo Alto Frost said he had a good chance of being elected. If he wins the election, he says that the Japanese media will interview him and that Sony will probably offer him a job in Japan and buy him a small apartment in Tokyo. When asked if the interview and the job offer have already been arranged, Frost said "nothing has been arranged. I know the Japanese."

At the end of our interview, Frost asked us for money to buy dinner. We asked him how much he needed, and he replied $15 or $20. Not knowing exactly what to do, we came up with seven.