LPM Online

November 14, 2006

1. Upcoming Events

   November 14, 2006 - 6:00 PM

   MOVING DAY! Volunteers are needed to move the Lansing office to the new location on Michigan Avenue, about five miles away. Should take only a few trips. One van is currently available. Another van or a few automobiles would help. PIZZA & BEVERAGES PROVIDED by the Capital Area LP, who is organizing the move.

   Location: LPM Lansing office, 913 W Holmes Rd, Ste 240B, Lansing.

   Contact: Will Tyler White Phone: 517 349-3806 Email: whitewi5@msu.edu

   
   

   November 18, 2006 - 7:00 PM

   2006 Annual Liberty Fest Featured Speaker: Business Turnaround and Crisis Manager John Boyle “Saving Government from Bankruptcy—What the Libertarian Party Must Do” Special Report from Former LPM Chair Emily Salvette, Libertarian National Committee Region 3 Representative Honoring this year’s: Spokesperson for Liberty, Promoter of Liberty, and Producer of Liberty It’s time for the Libertarian Party of Michigan’s Dinner and Awards Presentation Send your reservation now! Advance sale deadline Nov.11. Tickets at door $50.00. Link to PDF of Reservation Form at: http://mi.lp.org/Libfest/LibertyFestFlier.pdf

   Location: the Original Cottage Inn Restaurant, 512 E. William St., on campus in Ann Arbor

   Contact: Liz Bagwell Phone: 734-678-5040 Email: lpwcchair@yahoo.com

   
   

   November 22, 2006 - 00:00 AM

   Libertarian Party of Oakland County: Nov. 22 meeting is canceled. Next event is Dec. 9. Next meeting is Jan. 24.

   Location: Berkley

   Contact: Adam Goodman Phone: 248-765-3213 Email: chair@lpocmi.org

   
   

   December 03, 2006 - 1:00 PM

   Libertarian Executive Committee meeting at our new HQ. Topics will include post election analysis, and planning the 2007 (pre-convention) Leadership Conference.

   Location: New LPM Headquarters. Lansing, Michigan. Michigan Avenue, about five miles away from the current HQ.

   Contact: Scotty Boman Phone: 313-247-2052 Email: scottyeducation@hotmail.com

   
   

   December 07, 2006 - 7:00 PM

   Open business meeting for LP of West Michigan members and their friends. We will be discussing post election results and making general plans about where to go from here.

   Location: IHOP on East Beltline at Knapp's Corner.

   Contact: Eric Larson Phone: 616-949-2844 Email: chair@lpwm.org

   
   

   December 09, 2006 - 7:00 PM

   LPOC Annual Holiday Party. As usual, all LPM members, their family and friends are invited. Please join us for this festive occasion. There is no charge, just bring yourself a dish to pass, and BYOB. Please go to http://www.lpocmi.org/Holiday for more information.

   Location: Home of Heather and David Eisenbacher 1863 Lakewood Dr. in Troy

   Contact: Adam Goodman Phone: 248-765-3213 Email: chair@lpocmi.org

   
   

   December 14, 2006 - 6:00 PM

   We will be discussing the topics of the day. Public is welcome. Food is optional. Come if you have the time and enjoy the company!

   Location: The Benton Harbor "International House of Pancakes" (IHOP) on Pipestone Road by I-94. Its just 100 yards West of the interchange.

   Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: (269) 637-4525 Email: wbradley@i2k.com

   
   

   More...

   For more events, see the online calendar at:

   http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

   
   

2. LP of Washtenaw Co. to host Liberty Fest — by Scotty Boman
   
   You will only find this announcement in LPM online, and not the Michigan Libertarian.
   
   However you should have received a flyer for this event by direct snail mail, if not a pdf file may be down-loaded from:
   
   http://mi.lp.org/Libfest/LibertyFestFlier.pdf
   
   This important event was rescued by the Libertarian Party of Washtenaw County. Please attend!
   
   
   Saturday,
   November 18
   2006
   Annual
   Featured Speaker:
   Business Turnaround and Crisis Manager
   John Boyle
   “Saving Government from
   Bankruptcy—What the Libertarian
   Party Must Do”
   
   Special Report
   from Former LPM Chair
   Emily Salvette,
   Libertarian National Committee
   Region 3 Representative
   Held at the Original Cottage Inn Restaurant, 512 E.
   William St., on campus in Ann Arbor, 734-663-3379
   Social Hour 7:00 PM
   Dinner 7:30 PM
   Parking around the corner in the
   Maynard St. Parking Structure
   For Information, call Liz Bagwell, 734-678-5040
   Name(s):__________________________________
   _____________________________________________
   Address: __________________________________
   _____________________________________________
   Phone, cell, email: ________________________
   _____________________________________________
   Menu Choices (please indicate):
   ___Meat Lasagna, ___Chicken Parmesan,
   ___Fettuccini Alfredo
   Cash bar
   Please send your check for $40.00 per
   person to your hosts:
   Libertarian Party of Washtenaw County
   1000 N. Huron River Drive Apt 115
   Ypsilanti, MI 48197.
   The advance sale deadline has passed.
   Tickets at door $50.00.
   Honoring this year’s Spokesperson for Liberty, Promoter of Liberty, and
   Producer of Liberty
   It’s time for the Libertarian Party of Michigan’s
   Dinner and Awards Presentation
   Send your reservation now!
   Back to Contents
   Back to Contents
   
3. Creswell Concedes Gubernatorial, Proclaims Victory On Pro. 2 — by Scotty Boman
   
   Royal Oak Michigan – “The people have had their say.” Said Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate, Greg Creswell, as he spoke to supporters at a post-election party in Royal Oak, Michigan. “Few people are surprised by my defeat. This is the first time a Libertarian has run for Governor of Michigan since 1982.”
   
   Creswell went on to say, “I bet plenty of people are surprised at the victory of Proposal 2!” Creswell was the only gubernatorial candidate to support the statewide proposal, also known as the Michigan Civil Rights initiative. “I have been working on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative from the beginning. I was an organizer of the first attempt to get it on the ballot, I was a petitioner in the most recent effort, and I was a community organizer as well as the only pro-MCRI gubernatorial candidate.”
   
   The citizens of this state have sent the mainstream politicians a clear message: “We may put you in office, but we can still think for ourselves. It doesn’t matter how many lies you tell, or how many negative TV ads you produce. We could read the petition, we can read the amendment, and we read the ballot. In other-words, Michigan voters are smart enough to know that equal means equal.”
   
   Creswell’s running mate was Scotty Boman. In addition to being the Libertarian candidate for Lt. Governor, Boman is also chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan. Boman said, “On this issue (Proposal 2) The Libertarian Party of Michigan was the only political party that was in touch with the majority of Michigan voters.” He went on to say, “Opposition to state sponsored discrimination is part of our party platform. Both Greg Creswell, and US Senate candidate Leonard Schwartz made our opposition to racial preferences a highlight of our radio commercials. Without our vigilant efforts to speak the truth, and ignore the dishonest propaganda campaign being pushed by One United Michigan, the proposal may have failed.”
   
   “People frequently ask how a third party can make a difference, when faced with the huge advertising budgets of Republicans and Democrats. My response is that our mere existence, provides people with another choice. This way the Major parties can’t take their privileged positions for granted. Clearly, we are able to influence public policy.”Back to Contents
   
4. LPM Election Results — by Greg Stempfle
   
   Libertarians faired well in last week’s General Election relative to other third parties.
   
   Our Top of Ticket this year was our gubernatorial candidate Gregory Creswell and Lt. Governor Candidate Scotty Boman. This team earned 23,497 votes (0.6%) to best the candidates from the Green and US Taxpayers Party.
   The last time the LPM ran a candidate for Governor was in 1982, when Dick Jacobs earned 15,603 votes.
   
   Our other statewide candidates did well also. Attorney General candidate Bill Hall received nearly 2% of the total with 61,603 votes. US Senate candidate Leonard Schwartz also finished third with 27,025. All three of these candidates ran radio ads across the state which contributed to their victories over their third party opponents.
   
   The results of the four education boards were rather puzzling. These races usually reflect the base support for each party in any given year and Libertarians have traditionally earned more votes in these races than
   other third parties. However, the Greens have been doing as well as the Libertarians in recent elections. The results this year showed a lot of inconsistency. A Green Party candidate had more votes in three of the four
   races and the US Taxpayers took the other. However, in one race the Greens won, their other candidate in that race finished second to last.
   Overall, the Green Party ran 6 candidates and averaged 80,000 votes. The US Taxpayers Party’s 6 candidates earned an average of 66,000 votes. The Libertarians, who filled all 8 slots, earned 65,000 votes and the nearly
   defunct Natural Law Party ran 4 candidates and earned 60,000 votes on average. These were the only candidates the NLP fielded this year. The NLP was taken over by the Socialist Party in 2004.
   
   Our Supreme Court nominee, Kerry Morgan earned 7.4% with 370,000 votes. Supreme Court candidates are nominated by parties but appear as nonpartisan candidates on the ballot. Kerry came within 15,000 votes of beating one of
   the major party nominees.
   
   As for US Congress, the LPM ran 13 candidates and the Greens and US Taxpayers ran 8. In head-to-head competition, the Libertarians had a record of 5-3 against the Greens and 5-3 against the US Taxpayers Party. The US Taxpayers Party edged out the Greens in head-to-head competition with a record of 2-1-1. Yes, the candidates for District 10 actually tied!
   
   In races for the Michigan Legislature, the LPM ran 25 candidates. The US Taxpayers Party ran 12 and the Greens 9. There were only 3 races featuring more than one third party candidate and in these races the Libertarians were 3-0.
   
   These are only the results for State and Federal offices. The LPM also ran at least 8 more candidates for county and city offices. Overall the LPM ran at least 58 candidates. The other three third parties combined ran 60.
   
   The spoilers in this election were the Green Party candidates for State Senate. The Republicans have a two seat majority in the State Senate, 21-17, thanks in part to Green candidates drawing votes from Democrats.
   Republican John Pappageorge won District 13 with 49% of the vote to Democrat Andy Levin’s 48%. Green candidate Klyle McBee had the remaining 3% to tip the scales for the Republican. The same thing occurred in District 32 where
   Republican Roger Kahn got 49% to Democrat Carl Williams 48%. Green Lloyd Clarke got 3% again. Each house of the Michigan Legislature is now controlled by a different party.
   
   The US Taxpayers Party has gained strength in recent elections while the Libertarians have lost strength, yet their platforms are extremely similar.
   The main difference between the two parties is a theological one. The US Taxpayer’s Party claims to be based on Christian principles and Natural Law of God, while Libertarians publicly have a secular approach to
   government and law. Combined, the vote total far surpasses the Greens which have stayed about the same since 2000.
   
   For complete election results, please visit:
   http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/Back to Contents
   
5. Voters Support Libertarian Ideas, and Statist Candidates — by Scotty Boman
   
   If one simply looked at votes on ballot proposals, one would think libertarianism had reached the mainstream. Proposal (#4) which is supposed to reduce eminent domain abuse passed over-whelmingly. Proposal #4, which would lock in state school funding increases, failed. Proposal 2 (The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative) passed!
   
   This last example is especially interesting because the Libertarian Party of Michigan was the ONLY political party to support the amendment. In fact many candidates, including Greg Creswell and myself, made it the centerpiece of our campaign. Libertarians like Greg Creswell, Leonard Schwartz, Tim O’Brien and many others were instrumental to putting this initiative on the ballot.
   
   Radio ads featuring Greg Creswell, Leonard Schwartz and myself used the racial preference issue to contrast our party from the “Two Old Parties.” Prior to these commercials One United Michigan had planned on releasing a dual Devos / Granholm “Vote No On 2” commercial. The fact that this would confirm our claim that there was “No real difference…” killed the idea.
   
   Other Pro-MCRI ads were scarce, and only appeared on TV shortly before the election. The TV commercial featuring Ward Connerly and Jennifer Gratz, was simple and to the point. Nevertheless, attack ads that spread various falsehoods about the initiative ran almost around the clock on every major TV station. Nearly every special interest group jumped on the “Vote No On 2” bandwagon. In the end, support by the smallest minority of all (individuals) is what gave MCRI its victory.
   
   We should not live this one down. The mass media has completely neglected our instrumental role in the passage of this initiative. Every time, you read an article that mentions this November surprise, write a letter to point out that Libertarians were behind this effort from the beginning. Every time you read that “BOTH” parties or “BOTH” candidates opposed it, point out the lie implied by this use of the word “BOTH.”
   
   On the Federal Front, special congratulations to Robert Hutchinson in receiving an endorsement from the Detroit News. Hutchinson (7th House of Representative District) was endorsed because the Republican and the Democrat were perceived (By the Detroit News) as being too extreme.
   
   Libertarian ideas also won on the Federal level, though our candidates did not. The Libertarian Party National Committee has supported a strong defense while opposing the use of our troops and tax-dollars for use in wars of occupation, empire building and similar crusades. The invasion of Iraq took was justified by the false premise of weapons of mass destruction (based on the word of an Iranian informant… They had nothing to hide). Since then the task has been nation building. This being said, the congressional elections were nationally perceived as a referendum on the occupation. Since the national media ignores our existence: A vote for a Republican congressperson was a vote for the war, and a vote for a Democratic congressperson was a vote against. The Democrats won based on at least claiming to hold to a libertarian position.
   
   Well in two years, American troops will still be there, and it won’t be for R&R. The media will be sure to ignore us when we say “Told you so.”
   Back to Contents