LPM Online

July 14, 1998

Contents

  1. Upcoming Events
  2. 15th District State Rep. Candidate Forum
  3. Harry Browne Coming to Michigan
  4. National Convention Report
  5. Ingham County Fair
  6. HOUSE TO VOTE ON RON PAUL BILLS
  7. Attention AOL Users Upgrading to Version 4

  1. Upcoming Events

    July 14, 1998 - 7:30 PM
    Meeting of the Committee to Elect Diane Barnes to State Board of Education. All people interested in working on this important campaign are encouraged and welcome to attend.
    Location: LCMA Headquarters (also Brass Roots) at at 1035 Hilton Road (West of I-75 between Eight Mile and Nine Mile Roads) in Ferndale.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@gmeds.com

    July 15, 1998
    Ann Arbor Art Festival

    The Libertarian Party of Washtenaw County could use your help to man an information booth as it participates once again this year as an exhibitor to the Ann Arbor Arts Festival, Wednesday - Saturday, July 15 - 18, 1998. They also need signs, leaflets and other information on statewide and Ann Arbor area candidates to promote at their booth.

    Location: Downtown Ann Arbor
    Contact: James Hudler Phone: 734 475-9792 E-mail: aguli@provide.net

    July 16, 1998 - 6:30 PM
    Monthly Meeting (Public Welcome)
    Location: CTs Restaurant (Blue Star & M-140)
    Contact: Bill Phone: 616 637-4525

    July 23, 1998 - 7:30 PM
    Art Fair Wrap-Up and Social Hour.
    Location: Dominick's Restaurant - Ann Arbor
    Contact: James Hudler Phone: 734 475-9792

    July 25, 1998 - 9:00 AM
    Libertarian Party of West Michigan I-196 road clean up week.
    Location: I-196 corner of College
    Contact: Erwin Haas Phone: 616 942 7674 E-mail: haas@iserv.net

    July 25, 1998 - 8:00 PM
    Campaign fund-raiser for Nick Stoner, candidate for 25th Distrist State Representative. There will be a wet t-shirt contest fund-raiser event for Nick's campaign. The doors open at 8:00 p.m. Advance tickets are $10, which includes cover charge and entry into drawing to judge the contest. There will also be a live band. Contestants get in free. If you would like to purchase tickets, become a contestant, or for more information contact Kristen Stoner.
    Location: B.Boomers Bar & Grille, 16006 Southfield Road in Allen Park.
    Contact: Kristin Stoner Phone: 313 928-3116 E-mail: kkstoner@aol.com

    July 28, 1998 - 7:30 PM
    July 14, 1998 - 7:30 PM Meeting of the Committee to Elect Diane Barnes to State Board of Education. All people interested in working on this important campaign are encouraged and welcome to attend.
    Location: LCMA Headquarters (also Brass Roots) at at 1035 Hilton Road (West of I-75 between Eight Mile and Nine Mile Roads) in Ferndale.
    Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: 810 977-3523 E-mail: LNUSGMB.ZZYQNH@gmeds.com

    July 30, 1998 - 7:30 PM
    ANN ARBOR CITY CAUCUS of the Libertarian Party of Washtenaw County holds its Nominating Caucus to choose candidates for Ann Arbor Mayor and City Council.
    Location: Dominick's Restaurant - Ann Arbor
    Contact: James Hudler Phone: 734 475-9792 E-mail: aguli@provide.net

    August 3, 1998 - 7:00 PM
    Tri-City LP meeting featuring Harry Browne.

    Advance tickets are only $25, and include a fine meal. For tickets, people can send a check for $25 (or more, if they wish to make a donation)---to the TRI-CITY LIBERTARIAN PARTY, 1084 Raven Dr., Bay City, MI 48706.

    Location: Grand Ballroom of the Saginaw Four Points Hotel, Saginaw.
    Contact: Clint Foster Phone: 517 667-8386 E-mail: freelandmi@aol.com

    August 4, 1998 - 6:30 PM
    Monthly Meeting of the LP of Wayne County. Optional Dinner at 6:30pm. Program starts at 7:45m.
    Location: La Trattoria Restaurant, Michigan Ave. Dearborn West of Schaeffer across from City Hall
    Contact: Bill Shotey Phone: 313 278-3673 E-mail: ben45@aol.com

    More
    For more events, see the online calendar at:
    http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

  2. 15th District State Rep. Candidate Forum by Greg Stempfle

    I will be participating in a forum for the 15th District State Representative race. The forum is being put on by the League of Women Voters and will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, July 14 in the Dearborn City Council Chambers at City Hall (Michigan and Schafer). I encourage as many people to attend as possible. There are 7 republicrats running for the same seat so I need a big cheering section.

    For more information call me at (313) 565-4407 or e-mail at gstempfl@sun.science.wayne.edu

    
    Thank you,
    Greg Stempfle
    
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  3. Harry Browne Coming to Michigan

    The Tri-City LP (Bay, Midland, Saginaw Cos.) has confirmed that Harry Browne will be speaking at our next meeting, Monday, Aug. 3rd in the Grand Ballroom of the Saginaw Four Points hotel.

    Advance tickets are only $25, and include a fine meal. Perfect opportunity for those who were unable to see his brilliant speech in Washington DC. He'll also spend some time in a Q+A session, and autographing books.

    For tickets, people can send a check for $25 (or more, if they wish to make a donation)---to the:

    TRI-CITY LIBERTARIAN PARTY
    1084 Raven Dr.
    Bay City, MI  48706
    

    Note: After this meeting, our regular meeting site will move to the Texan Restaurant on Bay Rd. in Saginaw. 7pm, the 1st monday of each month.

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  4. National Convention Report by Ken Bisson, M.D., Region 3 representative

    The week of the July 4th holiday included a pre-convention meeting of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) on July 1st, the National Convention, and a post-convention LNC meeting on the afternoon of Sunday, July 5th. I'll give my overview of these events here and attach summaries of the LNC meetings.

    The progress in Party building you've observed during the five years of Steve Dasbach's term as National Chair will continue and accelerate. The most significant items of the week were the election of the next National Chair (David Bergland), and the hiring of the next National Director (Steve Dasbach). The next two years will demonstrate the significance of those decisions.

    My personal highlight was the powerful presence of the 92 delegates of Region 3 (representing about 10 % of total national membership). The only Region with more delegates present was Region 2 (which includes DC and adjacent states) with 98. Beyond the number of our delegates that traveled from our Region (IN, MI, OH and KY) was their massive support of the new Chair. Our 85 votes for David Bergland amounted to 24 % of his winning first ballot total. To put that in perspective, Region 1 (representing 20 % of total national membership, including California) could only muster 42 of their 60 votes for their favorite son.

    Region 3 elected Ken Bisson and Barbara Goushaw without opposition to the two year terms of LNC representative and alternate. Members from Region 3 were also elected to two of the five At-Large LNC seats. They are Bill Hall (MI) and Mary Ruwart (KY). I want to publicly thank State Chairs Tim O'Brien (MI), Rob Shuford (IN), Jim Babka (OH) and Tom Wimmer (KY) for their hard work. Leading a state delegation is an important and stressful job. We've got the best crew around!

    One additional development from last week’s activity was the re-formation of our Regions. We were asked by West Virginia to accept them into Region 3 and we are now a five state Region. In the past, West Virginia has been a member of our Region and I was happy to welcome them home. It was a pleasure to meet State Chair John Brown and their entire delegation.

    I would like to invite all members in our Region to contact me anytime with your questions or concerns about matters dealt with by the LNC. Your State Chair is an equally important conduit between you and the National LP. We will continue to work together to help you benefit most from our thriving Libertarian Party.

    
    Ken Bisson, M.D. 
    Region 3 representative
    Libertarian National Committee
    
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  5. Ingham County Fair by Mike Brinkman

    A notice to all Libertarian Party members, State-Wide candidates, State Party Officers and any other candidate whose district lies entirely or partially within Ingham: You are hereby invited to attend the Ingham County Fair at the Libertarian Party of Mid-Michigan's booth. We will be there with the Republicratic candidates, but as far as I know, though no other state or county party will be their on their own behalf. We will be having an Operation Politically Homeless booth and one of our members, Doug Mills, donated his authentic Stagecoach for the booth. The fair will be from Friday, July 31, 1998 to Sunday, August 8, 1998 from 8 am to 10 pm. If you are interested, e-mail brinkman1@aol.com, or else call Mike Miller at 517-351-0514 to volunteer. All dates and times are open, simply volunteer when it is convenient for you!

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  6. HOUSE TO VOTE ON RON PAUL BILLS by From Ballot Access News

    U.S. HOUSE TO VOTE ON RON PAUL BILLS IN LATE JULY CONGRESS IS IN RECESS UNTIL JULY 13; LOBBYING POSSIBLE LOCALLY

    Congress recessed on June 26, and will return on July 13. When the U.S. House is again in session, it will debate HR 3526, the famous Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill. Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has been given permission to ask the House to attach HR 2477, the ballot access bill, to HR 3526. Thus, for the first time in the 14-year history of ballot access bills, each member of the U.S. House will cast a vote for or against ballot access reform (except, obviously, those members who aren't voting that day).

    The ballot access bill has been repeatedly introduced in Congress ever since 1985. It never received a hearing, until February 26, 1998, when it received a very short hearing. In the current congress, it is HR 2477.

    The presidential debates bill probably will also be offered as an amendment. Currently, the Ron Paul debates bill is HR 2478. However, the chances that the ballot access bill will be offered as an amendment are greater than the chances for the debates bill, since Paul has permission to try to attach the ballot access bill to six different campaign finance bills, whereas he has permission to try to attach the debates bill to only one campaign finance bill, a bill sponsored by Congressman Tom Campbell.

    Shays-Meehan Bill

    The Shays-Meehan bill, HR 3526 (by Christopher Shays, R-Ct, and Martin Meehan, D-Ma), without any amendments, makes these five changes in federal campaign law:

    (1) It bans "soft money" by prohibiting national political parties, and federal candidates, from raising, spending or directing soft money. It also prohibits state parties from spending soft money for federal elections.

    (2) It requires anyone who runs a broadcast ad mentioning a federal candidate within two months of a general election to submit to existing laws governing spending by candidates themselves (contributions would be limited to $1,000 from each donor).

    (3) It provides for faster disclosure of campaign contributions.

    (4) It codifies in federal law a past U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows non-union members who must pay fees in lieu of union dues to obtain a refund of the portion of their fees used for political campaigns.

    (5) It limits spending of wealthy candidates by barring political parties from making coordinated expenditures on behalf of House candidates who do not agree to limit spending their own money to a limit of $50,000.

    Unlike some prominent campaign finance bills in the recent past, Shays-Meehan does not discriminate for or against any political party.

    Anyone is free to ask his or her member of the U.S. House to vote for the Ron Paul amendments, no matter what he or she thinks about the original, unadorned Shays- Meehan bill itself. It is likely that Shays-Meehan will pass the House in July or August, although its chances in the U.S. Senate, where filibusters are permitted, are not considered good.

    It is important that supporters of the Ron Paul amendments ask their Congressmembers to support the Ron Paul amendments. Even if it isn't attached, it is important that it rally a significant number of "Aye" votes. If the number of "Aye" votes is impressive, it will be much easier for the bill to get serious consideration on its own in future congresses.

    Ballot Access Amendment

    If the ballot access amendment were passed into law, states would continue to write their own ballot access laws. However, the number of signatures for statewide federal office could be no higher than one-tenth of 1% of the last vote cast, and the number of signatures for district federal office could be no higher than one-half of 1%.

    The one-tenth of 1% standard is similar to the median petition requirement which existed in the U.S. during the 1920's. See the chart on page two which substantiates this. Feel free to use the chart, if you communicate with your member of Congress. This information has never before been published.

    Since most members of Congress will be available in their district offices during the first two weeks in July, try to make an appointment to see him or her. If you don't know where the district office is, your library can help you, or look in the phone book in the Government Pages under "Congress".

    Point out that in Georgia, the ballot access laws for U.S. House are so severe that no minor party candidate for that office has ever appeared on the ballot, since the existing law was written in 1943. Yet the legislature of Georgia has repeatedly refused to alter it, and the courts have repeatedly refused to strike it down. The law requires any minor party which wishes to run against Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, to submit over 25,000 valid signatures. It would be necessary for a group to collect 50,000 signatures in order to be certain that the petition contained 25,000 valid signatures, since the validity rate of petitions circulated in a single district is always very poor. Many well-meaning signers would turn out to be residents of a neighboring district.

    Debates Amendment

    The Ron Paul presidential debates amendment would provide that anyone who is on the ballot in at least 40 states, must be invited into general presidential debates. Major party presidential candidates who refuse to debate, lose general election public financing. The best argument in behalf of the debates amendment is that, without it, the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates will never agree to debate any opponents except each other. In 1996, President Clinton and Senator Dole refused to debate anyone else. In response, fewer voters watched the general election presidential debates in 1996 than any past general election presidential debates.

    NEW TURNOUT LOWS

    According to a June 18 report by the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, voter turnout in primaries held so far this year aver- ages only 16.9% of the potential electorate. This is the lowest turnout in primaries since before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 (however, 1998 data is far from com- plete, since many states haven't held their primaries yet).

    The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate (CSAE) can be reached at 421 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington DC 20003, phone (202) 546-3221, fax (202) 546-3571.

    U.S. SENATOR SUPPORTS DEBATES BILL

    U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski wrote a letter on March 10, 1998, saying "HR 2478 (the Ron Paul de- bates bill) is a worthwhile approach and believe that this issue will be ad- dressed when the Senate takes up campaign finance reform this month. When we do debate this issue, I will support it in the Senate." Murkowski is an Alaska Republican.

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  7. Attention AOL Users Upgrading to Version 4 by Mark Heil

    For those of you using the new version 4 software for AOL, you are now able to receive this newsletter in a colorful and graphical HTML format. If you are interested, send an e-mail to: markheil@flash.net

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