In Defense of Our Massachusetts Affiliate

by: Forwarder

Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 19:33:12 PM MDT

Now, I am not greatly bothered by scurrilous attacks on me personally when I am a candidate, but when you attack my state libertarian organization and the fine people who belong to it, I must take exception.

In the midst of our national convention, Texas Libertarian Nancy Neale launched a pointed attack on our Massachusetts state association. In a flyer handed out to all delegates, she wrote:

Bovard Sues Barr 2008 Campaign

by: Forwarder

Fri Jun 11, 2010 at 08:53:47 AM MDT

We've previously covered the Barr campaign - I use the word broadly - and its huge spending on staff, real estate, consultants, limousines, indeed, many things except political advertising.  The Barr Campaign ended, leaving behind it close to two hundred thousand in debts.  You can wait a while to hope you will receive that which you are owed, but at some point you need to take positive action or kiss the money good day.

Libertarian Writer James Bovard is owed, say the Barr 2008 FEC reports, $47,000 in authoring fees for the book that the Barr campaign published under Barr's name.  After waiting, and waiting, Bovard filed suit for the money.  From a longer story including the full complaint, read jimbovard.com/blog/2010/05/07/bob-barrs-lessons-in-liberty-1-pay-your-ghostwriter/.  Bovard writes on his blog:

New LNC Meets

by: Forwarder

Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 09:37:57 AM MDT

Chair Hinkle - very long-time dominant coalition man; Project Archimedes advocate
Vice Chair Rutherford - dominant coalition; Root man
Secretary Mattson - dominant coalition
At-Large Sink-Burris - dominant coalition
At-Large Redpath - dominant coalition
At-Large Knedler - dominant coalition; Root man
Regional Rep Karlan - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Lark - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Wiener - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Flood - dominant coalition
At-Large Nolan - major Hinkle-for-Chair advocate; tied to Hinkle by his endorsements.
Regional Rep Craig - Georgian. 2008 Barr supporter.

At-Large Wayne Root - his own man.  However, the dominant coalition has a long record of pursuing Republicans, and Root thinks we should chase right-wingers, so some lean is present.

Treasurer Oaksun - New Path
Regional Rep Hawkridge - New Path
Regional Rep Visek - not a New Path candidate, but offered motion implementing two New Path ideas

At-Large Ruwart - radical

By my count, the dominant coalition has increased its strength on the LNC.  That vote division will not protect Oaksun or Ruwart from suspension, should the question arise. Mr. Starr may not be on the LNC, but several of his friends are. It would also not block the widely-rumored motion to expel me from the party, in the case that my supporters on the committee did not honor my request that they abstain on any such motion, and vote against any effort to avoid a vote.  

Massachusetts Party Platform

by: Forwarder

Sun Apr 11, 2010 at 09:12:39 AM MDT

The Libertarian Association of Massachusetts stands for Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity.

PEACE
Libertarians support non-intervention in the affairs of foreign nations. Our foreign wars should end; our armed forces should be brought home from around the world. The Cold War is over; the vast military machine that the Cold War justified is no longer needed.

FREEDOM
Libertarians stand for protecting your Federal and State Constitutional Rights, all of them without any exception or omission. There is no National Security exemption to the Bill of Rights. Politicians who ignore our Constitutional Liberties are the chief threat to our country.

OPPORTUNITY
America should be a land of opportunity for every citizen. Massive expansions of the Federal Budget and Debt are strangling those opportunities. We need massive cuts in government spending or our grandchildren will be crushed by their grandparents' wastrel extravagance.

Root for President in 2012?

by: Forwarder

Sun Apr 04, 2010 at 07:52:49 AM MDT

http://www.youtube.com/v/LGWkV...

featuring a video interview with Wayne Root by the Brunson Brothers Media Group.  The exact date of the interview is not given, but references to the Greek financial crisis make it recent.  

In the interview, Root indicates that he will be running for our party's Presidential nomination in 2012.

State Chairs Take Heed

by: Forwarder

Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 07:37:05 AM MDT

The LNC has started circulating a form allowing state parties to organize into regions.

If your region has agreed as to which states are in the region, and who your regional representative will be, be sure that information is written on your form. If you want your delegates to vote at the National Convention on who your regional representative can be, be absolutely certain the "Regional Representative" space is marked "to be elected by vote of all delegates at the National Convention" or whatever you and your fellow state chairs have agreed to.  Don't leave the space blank.

Be sure that no accidental misunderstanding mars our National Convention or the selection of the next Libertarian National Committee.

Scott Williamson: The Cost of Doing Business

by: Forwarder

Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 20:56:46 PM MST

When I moved my family from Michigan to Nashville three years ago one of the decisions we had to make was where we were going to live. We could have chosen to live in the heart of the action and moved to a loft in down town Nashville. We chose to spend half as much and move to a neighborhood. Sure, when we go to see a ball game or attend a play we have to fight traffic and drive downtown. In the long run, by living away from downtown we free up thousands of dollars a year to spend on other things.

If you run a business or run a household you know that we make economic decisions daily. Often the issue is not how much you spend; it is how you are spending it.  By spending money on one thing you now have less to spend on other things. This is a lesson Libertarians have been trying to teach government for years.

In order for the Libertarian Party to have moral authority to teach this lesson it is imperative that we make sure as a party we are wisely spending our own money. Federal Election Commission December report shows the LNC pay's $10,928.89 a month for office space.  To put this into some perspective, a sustaining member pays $25.00 annually for their membership; it takes over 437 sustaining members a month to pay the rent on our Washington, D.C office. If you are a sustaining member, it took you and 5,245 others to pay the rent on our national office in 2009.

Rhys Blavier: Collecting Libertarian Votes

by: Forwarder

Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 18:40:31 PM MST

Solutions:
Instead of telling ourselves why voters SHOULD vote for our candidates, we need to honestly and objectively ask ourselves why voters DON'T vote for us; We MUST keep in mind that NO voters owes any party or candidate their vote. It is up to the Parties and candidates to earn those votes.

Evaluate our candidates on how they present themselves to the public to determine why, from the very beginning of each campaign, voters perceive our candidates as fringe people who the voters would not WANT to represent them;

We need to create either offices or staff positions at all levels of 'Election Coordinators'. They would be responsible for active outreach to our candidates and potential candidates, not merely to advise the candidates but also to be an active clearing house for all necessary legal advise for running campaigns, for being a central recipient who all necessary local and state documents and forms (including ethics compliance forms and other requirements beyond the simple act of turning in filing documents). Their job will be to PRO-ACTIVELY ensure that our candidates have every document they need, to make sure that all documents are properly filed with the appropriate agencies, to make sure that general Libertarian Party materials are sent to the candidates, to develop relationships with service providers (such as printers) who will reduce the cost of their services for coordinated services for candidates throughout a county, district, or state; etc.  Election coordinators should also be able to act as a "booking agent" who will actively find engagements for our candidates to speak at and for event coordinators to contact to arrange for candidates to speak at their events. Election coordinators would also help candidates to set up and conduct fundraising events, as well as ensure that any such event conforms with their state's laws and election codes.

We MUST examine our messages to the voters and the public. The far-right, "I hate even the very idea of government" anarchists and objectivists can strike those voters who are not ALREADY in agreement with the"down will all governments" philosophies as nihilist with no actual plan for how to even develop a plan for  gradually moving us in that direction. The vast majority of Americans do not WANT, and are not comfortable with the IDEA of a complete absence of government. It scares them. If we ever want MAINSTREAM voters to hear us and give us any chances to show what we could do in office, we must be willing and able to be a Party with a wide spectrum of right to left political ideologies AND able to present even the extreme ends of our Party in ways that will not cause mainstream voters to simply write all LP candidates off as members of a lunatic fringe.

In the races with no opposition from one of the two major Parties, our leadership needs to work with the leadership of the other Parties to get their support as an alternative when they have no candidates in a particular race. In races with no LP candidates, we should help support candidates who are friendly with our goals and objectives.

We MUST make redistricting a major part of the message of ALL of our candidates in 2010. Until and unless the states develop politically neutral, non-partisan districts, neither us nor any other third-party movement will have a chance to become significant participants in our governments.

Rhys Blavier is a libertarian author writing from Tomayor, Texas. Rhys Blavier extends his profound thanks to Angela Keaton (AntiWar.Com) and Lee Wrights (LibertyForAll.net), and encourages others to support their long-time and dedicated work and their effort to support the cause of liberty and freedom and the advancement of the libertarian philosophy. This article is Copyright 2010 by Rhys Blavier and reproduced by permission.
 

Hawkridge Endorses Phillies for National Chair

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 19:01:34 PM MST

We desperately need a National Chair who focuses on supporting activism, recruiting candidates, and raising money.  We desperately need a National Chair who focuses on administration, not someone who will continue factional conflicts.

We desperately need a National Chair who welcomes all into the party - Radicals, Reformers, Minarchists, Anarchists, Centrists, Pagans, Christians, sex workers in fabulous costumes and professional business people in three-piece suits -- but who insists that it is libertarians who will guide our party's direction.

I am endorsing and supporting the one man who will focus on these goals - and who is committed to supporting candidates.  Candidate support should be our primary mission.  No longer will our budget allot zero for candidate support.

My candidate sees the value and necessity of educational outreach, not to mention collaboration with outside groups when we agree on issues.

That's why I endorse and support Dr. George Phillies for National Chair.  Please join me.

Forming Regions in the National Party

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 09:08:18 AM MST

Our Libertarian National Committee is composed of four National Officers and five At-Large members, chosen by all delegates at the National Convention, and eight or nine Regional Representatives, chosen by groups of states.

A Region is entitled to have a Regional Representative if at least 10% of the party's members live in the region, two    Representatives, if 20% of the members live in the region, and so forth.  California, by itself, can be a region, because >10% of our members live in California, but other states must group together to form a region.  The actual number of Regional Representatives is determined by how states agree to form Regions, but historically there have been eight or nine Regional Representatives.

Region formation is entirely voluntary by the states agreeing to form the Region.  There are no Bylaws assigning states to regions.  You get to form Regions every two years, during the three months before the National Convention, though you can negotiate the details in advance. You make your agreement, the State parties all sign the agreement, and you have a Region.  If you choose not to join a region, or if your State Party does not get around to joining a Region in time, you can be an independent State.

If you do not agree to do something else, at some point during the National Convention the delegates from the states in the region get together and elect their Regional Representative and the Regional Alternate.  These meetings have sometimes been held in front of the elevators; informing delegates about them has sometimes been a bit haphazard.  You don't have to do it that way.

You can plan out in advance which states are or are not in your region.  You are under no obligation to stay in your current region.  In forming a "double region", you may find that the natural division of states (say, the current region 5 North and South) divides so that one end has >10% of the members, the other end has <10% of the members, but you can still agree that the delegates from the two halves of the region each separately choose a Regional Representative.

Everything else can be done by mutual agreement of the states involved, so long as the details are specified in the formation agreement, such as agreements as to how many votes each state gets in choosing a Representative or Alternate, where the Representative and Alternate must come from, how the Representative and Alternate may be replaced, etc.

It is always sensible to look at the Region you might be joining and ask whether the Region makes sense, and whether the credible choices of Regional Representative are acceptable.  For example, if your Regional Representative has never contacted your state or filed a report in the LNC Minutes about what is happening in your Region, you might want to consider what you want to do.

Mary Ruwart: Minority Report of the DCC

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 08:30:39 AM MST

Minority Report of the
Donor Confidentiality Committee

We now turn to Mary Ruwart's minority report to the Libertarian National Committee from the LNC ad hoc Donor Confidentiality Committee.  The report is a bit long, so a short summary is in order.  

Readers will recall that last Spring an effort was made to remove Lee Wrights from the National Committee, based on claims that he was not or had ceased to be a sustaining member of the National Party.  During the affaire, claims about Mr. Wrights membership status, in the form of a memo from Aaron Starr, appeared on IndependentPoliticalReport.com.  According to Ruwart's report, the memo made a number of claims about Wrights that have not been substantiated and that were damaging to Lee Wrights.  

At the Summer LNC Meeting, the LNC formed a Donor Confidentiality Committee to make recommendations to the LNC for protecting the good names of its donors.  Chairman Redpath appointed to the committee Mary Ruwart, and then Mark Hinkle, Stuart Flood, M Carling,...and Aaron Starr, whose memorandum was the proximate justification for forming the committee.

The conduct of the committee, as described in the Minority Report, may be characterized as 'interesting'.  Apparently Messrs. Carling and Starr wrote a 'final report', vetted by Mr. Flood, which they shared with Mr. Hinkle, but not with the  fifth Committee member, Dr. Ruwart.  There was allegedly a conference call to approve the report.  According to Ruwart, Starr demanded that Hinkle exclude Ruwart from the conference call, Ruwart writing:

"When I told Mr. Hinkle that I was available for the meeting, he told me that I could not participate because Mr. Starr had specifically asked that I be excluded until the document was "finalized." When I pointed out that he, as Committee Chair, could overrule Mr. Starr's request, Mr. Hinkle said he was unwilling to do so because he felt beholden to Mr. Starr for preparing the report. Although Mr. Hinkle did not appreciate being excluded from earlier meetings, he was quite willing to continue to exclude me."

And now, below the fold, the actual report:

Kennedy Takes 22,237 Votes.

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 08:16:36 AM MST

Kennedy Took 22,237 Votes. That's up 68% from our 2008 top-of-ticket Barr / Root Presidential team and their 13,189 votes.  Joe's best towns were 4% in Hawley and 3% in Huntington, Ware, Monroe, New Salem, and Rowe.

Below the fold: A personal thank-you from Joe Kennedy to all his supporters.

LP Metro Nashville Endorses Williamson, Supports Phillies

by: Forwarder

Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 07:30:40 AM MST

The Libertarian Party of Metro Nashville and Davidson County unanimously voted to endorse Scott Williamson for Libertarian National Committee Regional Representative at the 2010 annual caucus. Williamson has served the last year as the Secretary / Treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Metro Nashville and Davidson County and was recently re-elected to that position. Williamson has worked as the Chair of Outright Libertarians of Nashville and has done a great job reaching out and spreading the message of liberty to the GLBT community in our area.

Williamson is more than an activist. His endless energy, commitment to the party, and his organizational skills make him highly qualified to be our Regional Representative to the LNC. We, the Libertarian Party of Metro Nashville Davidson County believe he will do an excellent job and wholeheartedly endorse him.

The caucus concluded with a straw poll of the candidates running for LNC Chair.   The caucus used a instant runoff preferred ranking ballot.

George Phillies came in first place.
Ernest Hancock came in second place
Mark Hinkle and NOTA tied for third place
Wayne Allen Root came in fifth place.

Seebeck Announces for California Regional Representative

by: Forwarder

Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 05:35:02 AM MST

http://www.facebook.com/group....

http://www.facebook.com/notes/...

Fellow Californians,

After a lot of consulting, consideration, and discussion with both family and colleagues within the Party, I am announcing my candidacy for LNC Regional Representative for Region 2, serving California.

These past two years have seen the LNC in turmoil and the LPCA in growth, and the next 3 years are OUR time.  It is time to restore strong and principled leadership to the LNC and to continue that growth in California.  As the largest state affiliate and the only single-state region, California's role on the LNC is unique.  We've seen their turmoil and its impacts on our state, and it is past time to end it and move forward with doing the jobs we have pledged our time, our money, our sweat, our tears, and even our blood-using the political process to advocate, create, and move towards a libertarian society.  Great progress has been made, but it is time to build on that and grow nationally, and to continue our growth in California.  THIS IS OUR TIME!  We need to make the most of it.  Voters are angry, and we MUST tap into that for our success, at all levels.

How We Get There

by: Forwarder

Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 21:56:34 PM MST

We start moving in the right direction by putting our Libertarian party on the New Path, the path to Libertarian Renewal.

Just imagine if every election campaign included a Libertarian candidate.  Just imagine if we were the majority party. Just imagine if our sound social and financial policies restored true American greatness, the greatness of being the country that offers its people more freedom and more prosperity than any where else.  Just imagine if our wise foreign and domestic policies made America once again that shining city on the sunlit hill, the country whose very existence signifies peace, liberty, and opportunity.

That's wonderful to imagine.  How do we get there?

Every journey begins with a first step.  The journey may be long.  Some of us may not live to reach our destination.  But if we do not take the first steps on our journey, none of us will ever reach it.  

LP News Release Gets Positive Boston Globe Coverage

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 02, 2010 at 06:47:30 AM MST

http://www.boston.com/news/pol...

The Globe has historically focused its coverage on Democratic and Republican party positions.

The Other LNC Financial Disclosures

by: Forwarder

Fri Jan 01, 2010 at 17:10:07 PM MST

Of course, book-keeping rules readily lead to all sorts of outcomes, so it is not surprising that the two sets of financial reports do not agree with each other, but the two reports do present two different perspectives on the same pile of cash.  For example, FEC reports are by date, while these financials are by month, and pay dates are shown when people are paid (FEC reports) or are accrued when they work (LNC financials), but if you decide to spend money up to the limit of income it is convenient to keep clear whether the income so far the year is $822,141 or $787,094, and why the two numbers are different.

For the current year, on the income side the internal report is somewhat less positive than the FEC filings are.  The Quarter  numbers are cumulative for the year to date. In particular

                  FEC To-date              LNC to-date
Q3 2009
Income
Outgo                     796 807                       762 487

Q2 2009
Income                   556 857                      522 704
Outgo                     524 932                      505 374

Q1 2009
Income                     290 671                      256 669
Outgo                     266 019                      241 900

2008
Income                1 669 047                     1 637 139
Outgo                   1 779 028                    1 803 580

Income                 1 454 411                    1 613 727
Outgo                   1 346 854                     1 337 686

2006
Income                 1 277 215                    1 289 792
Outgo                   1 257 274                    1 246 585

2005
Income                  1 337 702                   1 367 329
Outgo                    1 394 063                   1 497 666

There are various accounting process for describing the same situation, so there is no indication of impropriety here, but it is certainly interesting how a change in perspective can have a considerable effect on nominal income or outgo.

Phillies Announces for National Chair

by: Forwarder

Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 20:09:48 PM MST

Our Libertarian Party stands at its golden moment.  American voters are disgusted with their major parties, the parties of perpetual war, perpetual crony bailouts, and perpetual expansion of our national debt.  They know Washington politicians don't care what their constituents think.

The people of America crave an alternative. That's us.  That's our Libertarian Party, the Party of Common Sense.

Our opportunities stand right before us.

All we need to do is to reach out and take them.

We need to show America we are the Party of Good Sense.  We do that by running on issues that people care about, issues like Peace, Opportunity, and Liberty.

*Peace?  End the Asian Land Wars.  Bring our troops home to their families.

*Opportunity?  End Washington fiscal profligacy.  Stop bailing out the crooked cronies of a corrupt Congress.

*Liberty?  Shut down the warfare surveillance state.

That's our Common Sense Libertarian message.

Yes, we're Libertarians. We thrive on civil disagreement. We need a National Committee ready and able to fight our real opponents.

Some Libertarians ask: Do we really need 50-state ballot access?  I say: My goal is thriving Libertarian Parties for every state, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and everywhere else our flag flies.

Some Libertarians talk about fund raising.  I say: Talk about fund spending!  Spend our money on public outreach. Spend our money on local organization.  ABOVE ALL, spend our money to elect candidates.  Spend our money effectively, and our donors will reward us ten-fold.

Some Libertarians talk about purity tests.  I say: Leave purity tests to high school students.  Elect an LNC that wants to do work.

Some Libertarians fear a takeover.  I say: We need a make-over. Bring small-L libertarians into our party. Embrace the anti-war coalitions that Republicans and Democrats hate. Greet the GLBTQ activists Obama and McCain scorn. Welcome women's rights supporters double-crossed by Congressional liberals.

Some Libertarians mobilize for platform debates.  I say: Yes, Mobilize the Libertarians.  Mobilize our fellow Libertarians to do real politics.

How do we do that?  We need a national party leadership with a vision for the future.  We need a national party leadership with sensible plans.  We need a national party leadership with fire in its belly.  We need a national party leadership willing to work for our party.

I'm delighted to see that across America good Libertarians are announcing their intent to run for our National Committee. They share a glorious objective: Put our Libertarian party on the New Path, the path to Libertarian Renaissance.

Last week, Angela Keaton used the pages of Liberty For All to urge me to run for National Chair.  This week, Eva Kosinski used Gold America Group to do the same. Since then, I've been deluged with words of encouragement.

Let me paraphrase a distinguished foreign leader, many of whose fellow nationals and their descendants are now fine Americans:  My life is but a feather.  My duty to my party is a crushing mountain. Mindful of the words of my fellow libertarians, I find I have no alternative: I must shoulder this burden.

I hereby announce that I am a candidate for National Chair of our Party.

Where Your Money Went: LNC October Spending

by: Forwarder

Sat Dec 19, 2009 at 10:05:22 AM MST

The following numbers are based on the Libertarian National Committee FEC reports, primarily for the October reporting period.  There are also the financial reports supplied the LNC by the Treasurer, which show at certain key points some very different numbers.  Given the miracles or modern accounting, it does not follow that one of the sets of numbers is wrong, but readers should realize that in accounting reports truth can be multivalued.  A separate article treats the large differences   between the LNC internal and FEC financial reports.

The Libertarian National Committee began October with $28512.27 cash on hand, had Total Receipts of $92044.55 and Total Disbursements of $95036.04, and closed  October -- the November reporting period -- with $25520.78 cash on hand.  For the year to date, total income was $914185.78, while total disbursements were $891843.48.  A projection forward to the end of the year suggests an income for the year of $1.15 million, give or take, which is about $40,000 less than the 2009 draft budget.

So where did that money go?  

Answered Below Fold

Libertarian Joe Kennedy

by: Forwarder

Sun Dec 13, 2009 at 07:34:13 AM MST

Quoting Red Mass Group, thoughtful author YankeePundit

   The Globe reports that Coakley wants to have three way debates with Scott Brown and Libertarian Joe Kennedy. ...

   Clearly her hope is that Kennedy as a Libertarian ...

   But I wonder if having the Libertarian Kennedy there ...

Important point:  Joe is actually running on the Liberty Party line, but everyone knows he is a Libertarian, and that is how he is being described.

The press and blog descriptions are far more important than the half-noticed word on the ballot.

Conclusion: The real Libertarian message will go out as Libertarian whenever we get candidates on the ballot, even if the party name on the nominating paper is a bit different.

On the other hand, fighting for the 'Libertarian' word on the ballot gets you almost nothing unless, of course, you are looking to be paid for collecting signatures, and have a candidate who can afford the substantial extra tab, in which case the outcome is instant jackpot.

Finally, referring to critics of Joe's successful approach, reasoning from athletic analogies is seen not to lead to the right answers.