Electors Wanted

by: AuMass

Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 00:00:00 AM EST

Howell Appointed National Executive Director

by: AuMass

Sun Jan 29, 2012 at 00:00:00 AM EST

Until recently, Howell had run the Massachusetts Committee for Small Government, which had floated several tax cut referenda.  Prior to that, she had been a Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate and Massachusetts Governor, and had served as state chair of the Libertarian Party.  Your editor particularly remembers her rousing speech some years ago to a Massachusetts State Convention, championing in your face radical libertarianism, because a candidate will never be more radical than he is before he takes office.

Fishman to Run for Congress

by: AuMass

Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 21:24:29 PM EST

We have some quotes from him: "We still seem to not understand that liberty means liberty for people to do things you don't approve of...I think Libertarians are feeling that they are finally making headway in their arguments...For me, I think that once spending is less than taxes, we can talk about raising taxes -- but we should not spend first and finance later. Let's get spending below revenue first."

Person Announces Campaign

by: AuMass

Sun Jul 17, 2011 at 23:30:44 PM EDT

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Carl Person and I am a candidate for the Libertarian Party nomination for President in 2012.

MUCH MORE BELOW FOLD

More Good News from Across America

by: AuMass

Sat Jul 02, 2011 at 00:00:00 AM EDT

From an email by Tom Thacker, Chair, Libertarian Party of West Virginia:  LP of West Virginia State Chair Tad Birtch is moving out of state.  The LPWV has elected new officers:  Tom Thacker became the new Chair of the LPWV, Alan Westfall is now the Vice Chair, and Karl Swisher is the Treasurer.  The new state chair writes:  Tad has done a great job and we wish the best for him.

Good News from Across America

by: AuMass

Fri Jul 01, 2011 at 00:00:00 AM EDT

Independent Political Report lists people who have said they are running for the Libertarian Party's Presidential nomination. Their web sites follow.  Roger Gary and Lee Wrights have substantial campaign teams and have said they are filing with the FEC.  Jim Burns and Jim Duensing are running campaigns based more heavily on personal effort. Rumors of campaigns also exist for Joy Waymire, Michelle Shinghal, and Wayne Root.

Roger V. Gary rvgary2012.com/
Lee Wrights wrights2012.com/
James L. Burns jimburnsforpresident.com/
Jim Duensing jimduensing.com/

Libertarian Party of Rhode Island Elects Officers

Former Massachusetts activist Brian Stack, having moved to Rhode Island, has been elected Chair of the Rhode Island State Party. He joins Deborah Schusterman as Vice Chair and Tony Jones as Treasurer.

How is Our Party Doing?

by: AuMass

Thu Jun 30, 2011 at 00:00:00 AM EDT

State Committee members answered.  George Phillies wrote:  The state party has roughly doubled income in the last eight years. We have fixed our problems with ballot access. Membership is up 50% since hitting bottom. We are picking up young people who run for local and state office. Our newsletter comes out monthly. The web site was just redone into the 21st century. The State Committee now makes its minutes open to all members. The number of active volunteers has roughly tripled. Our lawsuit against the Secretary of State was won while it mattered, and the appeal at least settled what the rules are so they cannot be reinterpreted next time (and we are appealing).

Beware the NOT-SO-Free State

by: AuMass

Sat Jun 25, 2011 at 17:08:15 PM EDT

First Libertarian Presidential Debate

by: AuMass

Sat Jun 25, 2011 at 11:56:00 AM EDT

June 19, Manchester, New Hampshire
R. Lee Wrights vs. Roger V. Gary
National Convention Delegates are at Stake!
In a first-of-the-election cycle event, Libertarian Presidential candidates Roger Gary and Lee Wrights will debate.  After the debate, a straw poll will be held. New Hampshire and Massachusetts have each pledged one first-round delegate vote to the winner.

The debate: 6:15 PM at the Highlander Inn at Manchester Airport,  all part of the 2011 LPNH/LPMass Political Conference The Future of the Libertarian Political Movement.  For Debate Rules and Conference Schedule, see page 2.  

LAMA December 2012 Minutes

by: AuMass

Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 00:00:00 AM EST

Officer Reports

Chair
In national news, a recap of the 2010 election can be found at independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/12/lp-monday-message-2010-recap . To summarize, there were over 800 libertarian candidates who ran for office, receiving over 15 million votes in total. There are currently 154 libertarians in elected positions. The National Libertarian Party FaceBook page has surpassed 134,000 fans.

George noted that James Oaksun has stepped down as LNC Treasurer. Bill Redpath will be acting treasurer.

George suggested adding two items to the agenda.

MORE BELOW FOLD

Your State Committee

by: AuMass

Sun Feb 13, 2011 at 00:00:00 AM EST

Officers
Chair - David Blau
Editor - George Phillies
Membership Secretary - George Phillies
Operations Facilitator - Vacant
Political Advisor - Alwin Hopfmann
Political Facilitator - Jon Loya
Press Outreach - Bob Underwood
Recording Secretary - Bob Clark
Treasurer - George Phillies
Webmaster - Bob Clark

Our Lawsuit Loses at Court of Appeals

by: AuMass

Sat Jan 22, 2011 at 05:00:00 AM EST

Our Attorneys on their recommendation asked for an en banc hearing (all fifteen judges on the Circuit); their request was denied.  There are now several alternatives, including going through the state courts, appealing to the United States Supreme Court, or recognizing that there is now an unfair unambiguous rule.

State and National Fund Drives

by: AuMass

Fri Dec 10, 2010 at 23:25:48 PM EST

State Committee Launches Fund Drive

The Libertarian Association of Massachusetts has launched a new fund drive to replenish our non-Federal account.  Our opening move is a 1000-piece mailing to current and former party members.  We have free gifts for every donor, including a copy of George Phillies' latest novel The One World as a free gift to each donor.  Money will be used for electronic advertising, support of our 2011 and 2012 candidates, candidate and staff training, paper mail outreach to potential members, and - the unavoidable perpetual activity of a successful political movement - more fund raising.  We're going to   recruit good candidates, support good candidates, and make our best effort to elect good candidates.

National Convention Set for Las Vegas

At its recent meeting in New Orleans, the Libertarian National Committee set our 2012 Presidential nominating convention for the first weekend in May at the Red Rock Resort, 15 miles from Las Vegas. Massachusetts delegates will be elected at our State Convention in October 2011, though other Association members can be added later.  The only declared candidate with a solid campaign staff is Lee Wrights.

LNC To Buy Million Dollar Building

The Libertarian National Committee has launched a campaign the raise $300,000 to buy a Washington, D.C. area office building, for something in the price range $800,000-$1,000,000.  The remainder of the price will be covered with a loan to be discharged over the next five to ten years.  The National Committee chose not to consider regions with lower real estate prices or connected with the liberty message.

State Committee Plans for 2012

by: AuMass

Sun Dec 05, 2010 at 08:17:02 AM EST

How else can we help? We made a major step by    regaining Minor Party status.  Minor party status means that when you run for office as a Libertarian, any registered voter can sign your nominating papers.  That's a huge advantage over major party status.

So what are our objectives for 2011? We're planning on the four mores:  MORES BELOW FOLD

Massachusetts Libertarians Advance

by: AuMass

Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 22:56:14 PM EDT

CD-3 Patrick Barron got 4% in a 3-way
CD-5 State Committee member Bob Clark got 1% in a four way. He faced among others a classic tea party opponent who advocated war with Mexico - 'send the army to occupy Northern Mexico'.

State Representative races
State Committee member Jon Loya got 29% in a two way
State Committee member Bob Underwood got 20% in a two way

GREAT NEWS!

We are no longer a  major party.  In 2012, our non-Federal candidates, hopefully far more of them, can run as "Libertarian".  And your state committee is about to do a fundraiser to see they are all well supported.

OTHER NEWS: The Republicans lost yet another seat in the State Senate. No Republicans were elected to Federal or statewide office.  The Booze Tax increase was repealed.  The 'more paperwork for some developers" referendum was defeated.  Alas, the sales tax cut did not succeed.

LAMA State Committee Meets

by: AuMass

Tue Oct 19, 2010 at 19:06:41 PM EDT

Call to Order - September 28, 2010

Meeting called to order 2:06 pm.  Present were Mr. Blau, Mr. Phillies, Mr. Martin, Mr. Hopfmann, and Mr. Kennedy.

The agenda was approved as amended without objection.  The minutes were approved without objection.

Mr. Blau has been in touch with a graphic designer to get the new outdoor tablecloth and marketing materials.  We are finalizing the vendor, but we need the design.

At the end of last month, we had $5340.28 in the Federal account, $1732.19 in the Liberty Tree Account, and were down to zero in the "State Political Account".  We have 120 members.

There are two new trifolds, one on Gun Rights and one on the State Platform.

Independent Congressional Candidates

by: AuMass

Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 14:08:48 PM EDT

I have done a review of the independent candidates for Congress, who range from Association member Bob Clark and Patrick Barron, and left often-Libertarian Michael Engel, through a bunch of people who do not give you much to work with in terms of issue positions, so their libertarian nature can be obscure, to the gentleman who opposes us on social issues and thinks we should invade Mexico.

There are some very long comments on some of those web pages, so you get my few-word summaries followed by a couple of quotes.

State Libertarian News

by: AuMass

Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 11:56:47 AM EDT

Your Libertarian Association has given maximum legal funding - that's $500 a head - to all three of our State Representative candidates.  On one hand, we wish we had more candidates.  On the other hand, supporting those three candidates has seriously depleted our non-Federal campaign funds.

OTHER NEWS BELOW FOLD: Pro-freedom candidates on the ballot; activism events across Massachusetts.

August 3: Young Libertarians of Massachusetts

by: AuMass

Sun Aug 01, 2010 at 10:11:24 AM EDT

LAMA Needs Volunteers

by: AuMass

Sun Jul 25, 2010 at 17:48:04 PM EDT

Yes, we have volunteer projects that are still looking  for volunteers!  Please contact David Blau chair@lpmass.org or George Phillies phillies@4liberty.net if you are willing to do any of these.

Boston Freedom Festival: The Boston Freedom Festival, America's pre-eminent marijuana pro-legalization event, is held on the Boston Common Saturday in mid-September.  This year as every year we will have a tent and Outreach Table.  There are tens of thousands of sympathetic young people in the audience, many able to hear us. Please show up and help!

MORE BELOW FOLD