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Lawrence Ray Topham considered himself a strict constitutionalist and his uncompromising position on that principle often put him at odds with the government establishment, once even landing him in jail.
The political maverick who was a perennial candidate for various offices, including one try for president of the United States, died Sunday from complications of diabetes. He was 71.
He ran for governor several times under the banner of the American Party and the American Independent Party, and he usually tried to pay his candidate filing fees with gold certificates because he believed money authorized by the Federal Reserve Board was invalid.
Topham declared his intentions to run as the American Party's presidential candidate in 1976, although the party's national chairman, Tom Anderson, had indicated he would stand for the nomination. He ran for governor in 1992 under the newly formed American Independ- ent Party, promising that if he was elected he would declare paper money void and require the state accept only gold and silver from the federal government.
He ran for Salt Lake City mayor three times, the last attempt in 2003, but his candidacy was derailed when he was jailed on an outstanding warrant, stemming from a trespassing citation he received during an argument with security guards at the Capitol in 1998.