LPM Online

April 22, 2008

1. Upcoming Events

   May 03, 2008 - 12:00 AM

   Liberation Day 2008 to feature John Sinclair, Peter Werbe, Adam Brooke, a great band and more, at Grand Circus Park. DETROIT The annual Liberation Day event in Detroit this year will be bigger and better. Held once again at Grand Circus Park, both sides of the park will have festivities, including speakers, a drum circle, an ongoing video presentation, band, sign contest (which always lends a colorful tint to the festivities), and several human-rights and marijuana legalization organizations. A march through Downtown Detroit will commence at 4:20 pm.

   Location: Grand Circus Park (Near Woodward Ave. South of the Fox Theatre. Detroit, MI

   Contact: Paul Pearson Phone: 313-622-3429 Email: paul@detroitliberation.org

   
   

   May 07, 2008 - 6:00 PM

   The Libertarian Party of Southwest Michigan Executive Committee will hold its next monthly meeting at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, May 7, at IHOP, 1981 Pipestone Road, Benton Harbor, MI. Guests are welcome. For more information contact the LPSWM Secretary at secretary@lpswmich.org or call Bill Bradley at 269-637-4525.

   Location: IHOP, 1981 Pipestone Road, Benton Harbor, MI

   Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: 269-637-4525 Email: secretary@lpswmich.org

   
   

   May 14, 2008 - 7:30 PM

   Come and hear Tiffani Gagne speak to her efforts in the successful campaign to derail Ferndale's attempt to raise taxes on Downtown businesses and her ongoing efforts to remove the Authority that proposed the crippling tax. Also, the LPOC will holding its preconvention caucus. All of those interested in running for office please plan to attend. Join us at the next LPOC Meeting, on Wednesday, May 14th, at Sila’s in Berkley. Sila’s is located 2 blks. East of Greenfield Rd. on the south side of 12 Mile Rd. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm with the meeting commencing at 7:30 pm. All are invited. For further information please cal Bruce Hoepner at 248-219-3303

   Location: Sila's Restaurant, two blks. East of Greenfield on the south side of 12 Mile Rd.

   Contact: Bruce Hoepner Phone: 248-219-3303 Email: bahoeps@sbcglobal.net

   
   

   May 22, 2008 - 00:00 AM

   Libertarian National Convention 2008
   May 22nd to May 26th
   Every four years, Libertarians meet to choose who will represent them in the upcoming presidential elections. This is typically a very exciting event filled with debate, intrigue and celebration.
   http://www.lpconvention.org/index.php

   Location: Adam's Mark. Denver, Colorado.

   Contact: Natcom CSR Phone: 1-800-ELECT-US Email: info@lp.org

   
   

   June 07, 2008 - 08:00 AM

   State Convention which will include the nomination of 2008 Candidates for office. Registration 8:00 AM Convention starts 9:00 AM There will be a hosted luncheon, and a banquet in the evening. The Libertarian Party of Wayne County will host the Hospitality Suite. The suite will host a few events such as Relaxation and Refreshments, fundraising, accepting donations on pop, munchies of various sorts (that doesn’t require a license), and Notary station. The “post-election” LEC will hold their traditional 1st meeting in this room at 4 pm. Possible photo opportunities with our Presidential Nominee in the HS. Candidate photos.

   Location: Best Western Gateway Hotel, 9191 Wickham Road, Romulus , Michigan 48174

   Contact: Bill Gelineau Phone: 888-Free-Now Email: wgelineau@firstam.com

   
   

   More...

   For more events, see the online calendar at:

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

   
   

2. Annual Liberation Day to Include Scotty Boman — by Scotty Boman
   
   I have been added to the list of speakers at Annual Liberation Day, which will be held in downtown Detroit from Noon to 6:00 PM. I am seeking the Libertarian nomination for US Senate, and will be speaking in that roll. As many LPM members know Leonard Schwartz is seeking the LP nomination for Vice President.
   
   Liberation Day 2008 to feature John Sinclair, Peter Werbe, Adam Brooke, a great band and more, at Grand Circus Park. DETROIT The annual Liberation Day event in Detroit this year will be bigger and better. Held once again at Grand Circus Park, both sides of the park will have festivities, including speakers, a drum circle, an ongoing video presentation, band, sign contest (which always lends a colorful tint to the festivities), and several human-rights and marijuana legalization organizations. A march through Downtown Detroit will commence at 4:20 pm.
   
   This is a great opportunity to reach out to freedom minded people who may not yet know they are libertarians.
   
   For more information link to:
   
   http://DetroitLiberation.org
   Back to Contents
   
3. Act Today to Stop Offensive Against Initiatives — by Scotty Boman
   
   
   
   To act on this, you may link to this form:
   https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=11284046
   
   State Legislature on Offensive Against Initiatives, and the State Senate may be voting on it today. According to an online newsletter article by Marijuana Policy Project Assistant Director Karen O'Keefe:
   "On Wednesday, April 16, the Senate Committee on Campaign and Election Oversight passed a bill that would restrict the initiative signature-gathering process. The full Senate could take up the bill as soon as Tuesday, so there's no time to lose: Please ask your legislators to oppose this unconstitutional bill.
   The bill, SJR K, proposes a state constitutional amendment to require signature gatherers to collect at least 100 valid signatures from 42 of Michigan's counties. It would also let the legislature make that threshold even higher. SJR K would also require an initiative to include the signature of at least one registered voter from each of Michigan's 83 counties. It would violate equal protection and dramatically increase the cost and energy needed to qualify a statewide ballot. It would also give the voters of any single county — including one with only about 2,000 voters — veto power over the rest of the entire state.
   A federal appellate court found that a similar requirement in Nevada violated equal protection by giving voters in sparsely populated counties more of a voice than voters in densely populated counties. In addition to being unconstitutional, SJR K could cost Michigan voters tens of thousands of dollars, since Nevada had to pay the attorneys' fees who litigated against that state's unconstitutional signature distribution requirement."
   
   
   She goes on to point out some ways in which the bill could hurt the whole initiative process:
   "You might wonder what this has to do with marijuana policy reform. If it wasn't for the initiative process, Michigan voters wouldn't be able to decide whether to allow the medical use of marijuana this November.
   In a span of less than six months, more than half a million Michiganders signed a petition to put the medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in November. Dozens of people volunteered, and even quit their jobs, to give voters a chance to protect patients.
   A signature from someone in a sparsely populated county shouldn't count any more a signature from Wayne County. Under SJR K, even if half the state's voters signed a petition, it would not qualify if petitioners couldn't find a person from a remote 2,200-person county who was willing to sign it. It's wrong to give a tiny portion of the state's population veto power and impose enormous costs on petitioners."
   
   
   https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=11284046
   
   Back to Contents
   
4. Newsletter Deadline Friday — by Greg Stempfle
   
   The deadline for the May-June Michigan Libertarian will be this friday. Please submit all articles, advertisements, and photographs to MichiganLibertarian@gmail.com.Back to Contents
   
5. An Update From Port Huron — by Reinhold Ploep
   
   Port Huron continues to reduce cost of local city government aided by additional resolutions from Libertarian Party member and 1st term city councilman Mark Byrne.
   
   In March Councilman Byrne introduced a resolution to require city employees who take city vehicles home to reimburse the taxpayers for each mile driven to and from work that is outside the city limits at the current IRS rate. Byrne argued that the original intent of city employees taking vehicles home so that they could respond faster to emergencies was no longer applicable as several employees lived more than 20 miles away. In addition the argument was made that this would encourage emergency responders to live closer to the city they are responding to. The initiative passed on a 5-2 vote and in just the police department a savings of $49,000 a year will be achieved. With that amount being the same as cutting 1 patrol officer from the budget the change was well received by the taxpayers.
   
   In April Byrne took advantage of the current Police Chief’s retirement announcement to introduce a resolution to reduce the Police Chief salary by 24% and the Captains salary by 5% which would go into effect on July 1st which is the day the current chief retires. The City administration prepared a 5 page report and did a presentation at the televised city council meeting disputing the resolutions claim the Port Huron was paying above average for a police chief. After the City Manager’s presentation Byrne presented his data and pointed out the reasons for the difference between his and city managers calculations were that the City Manager used cities on average 33% larger than Port Huron and used the maximum salaries listed on the Michigan Municipal League’s Website while he used the mid point between the minimums and maximums from the MML web site and calculated two ways. First using cities with up to 10,000 more or 10,000 less residents. Second using the next 4 larger cities. In both cases the average came up to less than the Proposed new maximum pay for the next Police Chief. The resolution passed 5-1.
   
   In other actions Port Huron privatized the management of 1 of its city owned marinas which was operating at a $200,000 a year loss. Combined their central dispatch service with the counties saving the city taxpayers $325,000 a year. These proposals passed 5-2 and 5-1 with the Libertarian voting and arguing in the majority.
   
   In a defensive mode Byrne was the lone voice arguing against a proposal to purchase software to make property tax information available on line 7 days a week and 24 hrs a day. Once Mark pointed out that the same information was all ready available on the county website the administrations proposal failed 4-3.
   
   Reinhold Ploep
   Vice Chair, Libertarian Party of St Clair and Sanilac Counties.Back to Contents