Corned Beef Renegade
Banned
Have Ted Bundy elected as a Republican to federal office while still being a serial killer and perhaps kill a journalist that comes close to exposing him.
AHC: Get Ted Bundy elected to office
- Thread starter Corned Beef Renegade
- Start date
Well serial killers can be charismatic and likable, Bundy certainly was considered so - handsome too which never hurt someone be elected. He also liked to impersonate people in authority so it could follow that he might decide political authority might be something he would like. So in the right situation - he meets the right people etc then it's possible.
Depends how good he was at hiding in plain sight. Which given how long he went undetected iotl he may pull off - though increased profile = increased scrutiny. He might even get caught sooner. Which may save some lives.
He was a delegate at the RNC in 1968, and was quite the charmer, so if he gets lucky he could get picked for some higher role.
Would make a great movie, though.
As noted, sucessful serial killers are often charming and bright people who most people would never presume have that dark side. However, from what I've read, they usually have lots of time to troll and search for victims that both fit their preferences and who would not be associated with the killer when they turn up missing or dead. It is rather difficult to imagine someone in busy 20th Century public life like a politician managing to keep this little hobby to himself very long.
As noted, sucessful serial killers are often charming and bright people who most people would never presume have that dark side. However, from what I've read, they usually have lots of time to troll and search for victims that both fit their preferences and who would not be associated with the killer when they turn up missing or dead. It is rather difficult to imagine someone in busy 20th Century public life like a politician managing to keep this little hobby to himself very long.
Realpolitik
Banned
Oh my god... imagine Bundy in the Nixon White House.
That's actually pretty disturbing-imagine him, Liddy, Hunt, and Colson...
However, Bundy's murders were personal-young, pretty girls-not political.
Oh my god... imagine Bundy in the Nixon White House.
Could be worse if he remains hidden long enough. Though I've got no idea how he'd hide his habits once the secret service start stalking him. Still that might be an interesting thread in the ASB section.
Back to real (if alternate) life.
I'm pretty sure that it'd be easier to hide if he wasn't too high up. And if he manages to remain hidden long enough that it comes out during the Watergate scandal (especially if he was involved in at the very least planning the heist). And if Hoover found out and used it to blackmail him? While he died roughly around that time it might be possible for fallout. Well this has the potential to bury Nixons presidency in a pile of shit so high that it'll hit the moon. Still pretty ASB though.
My issue would be just how far he could get politically, because he was an active Republican, he had a relationship with Governor Dan Evans of Washington, he worked as an assistant for the Chairman of the Washington State Republican party, etc. He could have had a life in politics, and he could have been elected, but I would wonder how far he could go.
Well he would be electable, but how far he would go would likely be determined with the level of scrutiny he'd be subjected to. So State Government at the highest? Figure if he became a congressman, people might look too closely.
Perhaps more importantly, any position that has him protected around the clock would definitely not be something he would want.
All in all any position with a certain amount of privacy and power would likely be the bar he set himself.
Unless of course he starts believing he will never get caught/ starts controlling himself to a much greater degree. Then it's based on other factors, as he would be willing to go as far as he could.
The secret service has been known to make errors. After all they missed vetting John Wayne Gacy and he met both Rosalyn Carter and Nancy Reagan.
See also
Slightly macabre but: Bundy vs. Gacy for President?
jack_donaghy_is_the_shado
and
AHC: President Bundy
Enigmajones
I thought it had come up more often than that, actually.
Slightly macabre but: Bundy vs. Gacy for President?
jack_donaghy_is_the_shado
and
AHC: President Bundy
Enigmajones
I thought it had come up more often than that, actually.
In 1972, Ted Bundy joined the reelection campaign of Daniel J. Evans (real life). At this point he's a graduate of the University of Washington and in our timeline would join the staff of the Washington Republican Party and become an assistant to Chairman Ross Davis (who I can't find any information on, other than a few mentions in a Gerald Ford speech proving that he exists outside of Ted Bundy biographies).
But let's say, through some unknown butterfly, an opening in Governor Evans staff emerges and Bundy is given that job instead. Working under Evans he ascends to being a senior assistant to the Governor, maybe even chief of staff. It is the lame duck last term for the long-serving Governor, a prime time for young unknown staffers. He already had alot of personality issues by '72, and there's plenty of evidence that he's probably killed by then, but nothing conclusive until the '74 slayings which are butterflied away here.
In 1976, Daniel Evans was a strong contender for the Vice Presidency under Gerald Ford (see here). Let's say Chief of Staff Bundy manages to make some phone calls or impressions that pushes Evans to the top of Ford's list. According to Evans himself, that would be better for the '76 race and therefore win reelection for Ford. And thus, Ted Bundy possibly becomes Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States.
So now it's 1977, and instead of escaping from an Aspen courthouse and joining the FBI's 10 Most Wanted, Ted Bundy is living in a Washington, DC apartment and attending high-class parties. He's got a relatively cushy job, with little stress comparative to other White House staffers, and he's using his sociopathic tendencies to blend in nicely with the Washington, DC elite.
He could spiral this into a job in the West Wing, or perhaps with Evans' endorsement, run for Congress, maybe Washington's 4th District in 1980 (an easy Republican pick-up). He's only 34 years old, his entire political career is ahead of him and he's starting to put an eye on the 1984 Governor's race.
And then it comes out that a series of murders and bludgeonings have followed Daniel Evans and Ted Bundy from Seattle to Olympia to Washington, DC and finally to Yakima. The attempted murder of an undercover reporter investigating the Congressman confirms his homicidal tendencies and Congressman Bundy is the first Congressman in 120 years to be removed from Congress (the Abscam scandal having been butterflied away). It's huge news, and there's no breaking out of small courthouses and hiding out as a hobo in Florida this time. He might be able to afford some decent lawyers, if he doesn't represent himself, but the attempted murder, and perhaps other activity, with the reporter alone is enough to send him into prison.
Probably a Washington state prison, which means he's eligible for the death penalty. His erratic prison behavior in OTL turns up here, and he becomes a big sensation and may even stain all the Republicans with deep ties to Bundy. If enough evidence is presented, or Bundy gives one of his odd semi-confessions, then he might be sentenced to death, and offered the choice of lethal injection or hanging, the only two options under then-Washington state law.
Congressman Bundy could be executed via hanging around 1995 (around 13 years after his trial date), giving all sorts of hilarious interviews and becoming a sort of macabre figure as the murdering Congressman. We'd be on this site speculating about him not getting caught and running for President in 1992 or so.
It'd be interesting to have a timeline on this told as if it were a truTV crime episode, and having the timeline unfold via that. Free TLIAW idea for anyone that wants it.
Bundy rising in politics seems like it'd be purely to show he could do it and an ultimate exercise in power. Regardless of what position Bundy would go for, his psychology would mean it would have to still allow him the chance to commit murder. A bunch of secret service agents around wouldn't permit it, which is why he may not have ever gone for president regardless of our scenarios. Albeit at the same time, president's did slip from their secret service agents, and maybe he'd have some midnight jogs where "jee whiz fellas, I gave you the slip again", which turned out to be him going out to commit murder, which is a morbidly interesting concept. As a narrative concept, it interests me because its an analogy for so many things, namely everything wrong with politics and modern politics and our society related to it in a way that's both borderline parody and deadly serious horror. It's an "American Psycho" for the political world, except it would be real.
Concerning a crime trail, would the murders even be noticed as something unique in Washington? I believe the crime rate was rather high in Washington DC around that time, which seems an opportune time for a murderer. I'm not sure of the demographics in the high crime areas, though; Bundy targeted young, white working class women.
Concerning a crime trail, would the murders even be noticed as something unique in Washington? I believe the crime rate was rather high in Washington DC around that time, which seems an opportune time for a murderer. I'm not sure of the demographics in the high crime areas, though; Bundy targeted young, white working class women.
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Realpolitik
Banned
DC had some serious crime problems, even then-it was a gradual process that culminated in it being the murder capital of America during the 80s and 90s.
However, it seems doubtful that a serial killer, or at least Bundy, would not be noticed, especially in the 70s. His targets in particular tended to be different than the usual ones of drug and gang violence. Bundy didn't go for prostitutes or something like that for the most part.
If Bundy is living and working in Washington, D.C. he could be committing murders in multiple jurisdictions with very little effort (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, even Pennsylvania). Killers operating in multiple jurisdictions are notoriously difficult to catch. The police don't co-operate as well as they should across state lines. Bernard Welch, the so-called Standard Time Burglar, was able to operate out of the Washington metro area for nearly six years in the 1970's before the police finally figured out who he was (and it took another year to actually bust him). Bundy could pull this off for a few years.
Ted Bundy, the politician who moonlights as a serial killer. I shudder to think.
Realpolitik
Banned
You are right... Jesus. Who would suspect a clean cut, charming politician? Especially if he is good at the job and becomes a leader in the GOP after Nixon falls by adopted a clean government stance...
Can you imagine the political fallout for the Republican party when it bursts that he was a murderer? Regardless of the PR machine, which is where a lot of the dark parody element comes in, you could only do so much with a psychopath who was a serial murderer, rapist, etc. Imagine all the people who endorsed him and how much fallout they'd get.