• State Convention results
• From the Chair:
  New Libertarian Executive Committee
• Michigan Sovereignty legislation (Scotty Boman)
• Volunteers needed at
  gay/lesbian street festival (Raymond Warner)
• Send Anna to Washington (Mark Hiselman)
• May 5 election results (Bill Hall)
• Reporter Diane Bukovski escapes jail time
• LPM Convention Writeup (Brian Wright)
• Calendar

State Convention results

Thanks to Nathan Allen who organized a great state convention in Jackson on Saturday, May 23rd.  The convention featured provocative and informative speakers (Pat Clawson and Harry Veryser), well-run bylaws and platform deliberations that resulted in a new resolution supporting the 10th Amendment (see article below), and the election of new officers. 

 Emily Salvette of Ann Arbor was elected  state chair.  This is her second stint as
 State Chair, having served in that position  from 1995-97. Dan Johnson of Jenison  was elected vice chair, Erin Stahl of St.  Clair Shores won the race for treasurer,  and Tom Bagwell of Ypsilanti was chosen  as secretary.  At-large Directors on the  Libertarian Executive Committee are former state chair Bill Hall, Greg Creswell, Andy LeCureaux, Greg Stempfle and Brian Wright.  Bill Gelineau, Keith Edwards and Daniel Grow make up the Judicial Committee.

Congratulations to those elected and thank you for your willingness to serve the Libertarian Party of Michigan.  At the evening banquet, Mark Heiselman was able to raise over $1,300 from the crowd for the LPM. Thank you, donors, and good job, Mark! If you weren’t able to come to the convention and want to help the LPM bring liberty to Michigan, please make a donation today at our web site, www. michiganlp.org.

From the Chair:
New Libertarian Executive Committee ready to work

By Emily Salvette

The new LEC met at the convention and began planning for the coming year.  It is a dynamic, talented group of people whom
I’m privileged to have on my team. The first week has already seen important strides.  Dan Johnson got right to work as our new Affiliates Director. His job is to help affiliates grow and be successful.  Affiliate leaders, please use Dan as your first contact to the state party.  Contact him at affiliates@michiganlp.org. I’m also pleased to report that Bill Hall has agreed to serve as our Political Director. 

Bill will be responsible for our campaign activities in the 2009 and 2010 elections.  If you’re thinking of running for office or would like to help on campaigns, please contact Bill at politics@michiganlp.org.  Greg Stempfle has agreed to continue in the very important role of newsletter editor.  The LEC is seriously considering changing our newsletter to an online format, and Greg, I’m sure, will ably manage that transition.  Contact Greg at newsletter@michiganlp.org.  Our treasurer, Erin Stahl, is busy getting records changed and our bookkeeping transitioned for her tenure.  But she is not too busy to thank our wonderful members and donors who support the LPM.  Contact her at treasurer@michiganlp.org. 

And Webmaster Brian Wright with Scotty Boman’s help has been making all the changes on our web site and setting up our new mail accounts. Contact Brian at webmaster@michiganlp.org. We are still looking for a membership director and fundraising director.  If you’re interested in these positions, or volunteering in some other way, please contact me at chair@michiganlp.org.

The next LEC meeting will be on Saturday, June 27 at 4:30 p.m. at our office in Troy (see calendar below).  LEC meetings are always open to all LPM members. 

Michigan Sovereignty legislation endorsed by Libertarians

By Scotty Boman

A bill pending in the Michigan Legislature was the subject of a resolution that was approved at this year's Libertarian Party of Michigan Convention.  The resolution, proposed by 2008 United States Senate candidate Scotty Boman, read:

"We support SCR004 of 2009 and HCR0004 of 2009, which have been introduced in the Michigan legislature.  These resolutions affirm the sovereignty of Michigan, and its residents, under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and urge the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States."

Boman said, "Our platform already affirms an interpretation of the Tenth Amendment that strictly limits the powers of the federal government to those enumerated in the Constitution.  Platform resolutions, however, deal with current events and legislation.  This legislation is needed because our federal government routinely exceeds its legal authority, as defined in its own Constitution.  For instance, they arrest people who comply with their state's medical marijuana laws, though the Constitution only permits them to regulate commerce between states, not commerce within a state."
  
HCR0004 was introduced to the State House by Representative Paul Opsommer on January 22nd.  State Senator Patterson, along with Senators Richardville, Brown, Cropsey and Sanborn, submitted SCR004 to the State Senate on March 3rd. 

Volunteers needed to promote libertarianism at
gay/lesbian street festival in Detroit

By Raymond Warner

Your help is needed to staff a Libertarian outreach booth at Motor City Pride, Michigan's largest outdoor gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender outdoor street festival, held Sunday afternoon, June 7, 2009. The annual event is being held once again in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale. You can arrive as early as 11:00 AM to help set up. The event itself begins at noon and runs until evening.
 
The location is on Nine Mile Road, just west of Woodward Avenue. Free shuttle busses are available for those who take advantage of the ample parking at the nearby State Fair Grounds (Woodward and Eight Mile Road, enter just south of Eight Mile on the east side of Woodward. Our booth is called Libertarians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns.
 
Call Raymond Warner (313-598-3666, 313-361-2522) or James Hudler (734-475-9792) to volunteer or for information. The D's think they own the Gay/Lesbian demographic, and the R's wrote off gay people a long time ago. The time is ripe for the LP to find voters, volunteers and activists among these folk, who have participated in the LP since its inception.

Help Send Anna to Washington

By Mark Hiselman

Whether due to your family connection, or your political outlook, you should be interested in the opportunity Anna Hiselman has to be an intern in Washington DC this summer.

Numerous collegians apply for summer internships; some are selected. Usually these bright and capable people have a wealthy family to pay for their food and housing, or political connections to a paid internship. A first year intern from a working or middle class background is rare.

Anna received an offer from the Libertarian Party national headquarters in Washington DC to intern in a research position, delivering the group's legislative analyses to senators, representatives, and their staff members, I contacted the www.michiganlp.org to enquire about funds to defray her expenses.

Anna is only the second collegian to intern at www.lp.org from the state and the first from University of Michigan. To support her endeavor, and to perpetually fund future interns I formed www.LPInternSupport.org PAC. Her opportunity cost due to lost wages and additional living expense will be $5000. I assume future interns will need a similar scholarship, so our goal is to raise $100,000 over the next 5 years.

Please contribute $25 or more. (A political contribution of up to $200 is deductible on your Michigan Income Tax form for 2009. Consult your tax advisor for current rules.) Send your donation via PayPal.com to treasurer@LPInternSupport.org.  Small rudders turn large ships! Help Anna access Washington.

Libertarians were two for three in the elections held May 5, 2009.  Bruce Gosling was re-elected to the Glen Oaks Community College Board of Trustees.  He placed second out of three candidates for two positions.  For the Mount Clemens Community School Board, John Cruz came in second.  He earned 37% of the vote in a three-way election for one Board position.  In the Grand Rapids area, the Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, a political action committee created by members of the Libertarian Party of West Michigan, provided the opposition necessary to send the Grand Rapids Transit Authority “Silver Line” millage down to defeat, 52% to 48%, even though they were outspent 100 to one.  Congratulations to Bruce Gosling, John Cruz, and Grand Rapids area Libertarians!

Michigan Messenger police-abuse reporter escapes jail time

By Brian Wright

In an apparent Detroit police-state aggression case,
a reporter for The Michigan Messenger—Diane Bukovsky—avoided jail time after being convicted earlier this month for 'police obstruction.

"Diane Bukowski, a reporter for the African-American owned Michigan Citizen newspaper, was given one year of probation, 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $4,000 in fines Monday morning after being convicted of two felony counts of police obstruction last month.

"Bukowski was arrested at the scene of a fatal high-speed police chase crash in northeast Detroit last November. Her conviction has been seen as a political attack from the office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy because of Bukowski’s dogged reporting of police brutality and related justice issues in Detroit. Bukowksi has criticized the Wayne County prosecutor’s office for not responding to these incidents or investigating police officers who were accused of violence and rape.

"Early during the sentencing, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway said he would not give Bukowski jail time. Seconds before announcing his sentence, Hathaway said he was being fair: 'I’m very comfortable with the result of this case and with the sentence that I am about to impose,' he said." [article in MM]

Ms. Bukowski's case is consistent with numerous other incidents where the police do not want their aggressive behavior to be exposed. The police in the Bukowski case destroyed her photographs, but have not been charged or prosecuted for that criminal behavior.

LPM Online has learned that a bill (HB312) in the Free State (New Hampshire) legislature would make it legal to audiotape and videotape any police action in the course of official duties by any citizen or reporter. While some of the facts remain unclear in the Bukovski case, that the police destroyed her property with impunity is "troublesome." Legislation to enable citizens and reporters to cover abusive police behavior would go a long way to curbing such abuses.

"Support Your Local Libertarian Party"
Personal perspective occasioned by LPM 2009 Convention — excerpt:

[column from the Coffee Coaster]

 ...Well, as I continue on my walk  around the community center, I  recall the obnoxious 'Clickit or  Ticket' banner across  the street  from our meeting room. It's  unfurled in  front of the Jackson  Police  Department.   Our defiant  'Enough is  Enough' guy has  finally  found a perfect  message to  lampoon.  No doubt the seat  belt enforcement zones  are enough to drive  your normal libertarian  radical to drink, or at least to throw up his hands in disgust: 'Enough is definitely enough! Whose life is it, anyway?'

So, if I ever run into the criminal who posted these 'Enough is Enough' signs, I will buy him a drink... and of course warn him he's probably violating some major felony ordinances in the city of Jackson, Michigan. Defacing government property? Maybe one count per every motorist that drives by to see it... which fortunately for the perp is maybe three cars today.

Professor Harry

The banquet* features accomplished Austrian economist, scholar, and former businessman Harry Veryser as speaker. Harry and I go back to the late 1960s Michigan Young Republicans that preceded the Libertarian Party.... [more]

* The convention committee went on a cost-cutting mission this year, which is fine with me, but no salt and pepper, no butter, no coffee (I sweet talked the poor, perspiring, overworked solo girl to at least rounding these up and putting them on the buffet table), and no vegetarian option?
...

For the remainder of the reminiscence and some old-new-guard editorial opinion, please refer to the this link at Wright's Web commentary and review site: The Coffee Coaster.

Video of the Month More of a general interest to "nonpsychotic people against torture" than to Libertarians per se, but LPM Online heard that Jesse Ventura proposed on Larry King that all he wants is a waterboard and one hour with Dick Cheney! He'll get to the truth... presumably of 9/11, the war, torture, Blackwater, etc., etc. [If you sell tickets you can make a dent in the national debt.--ed]

More...
For more events, see the online calendar.
Another Important Link…
The current Michigan Libertarian is available online.
LPM ONLINE…
is distributed on the first of each month. Send calendar events and news articles by the 25th of the prior month to Emily Salvette.