Title:
Libertarian Party Of Michigan Holds Convention
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
5/3/1999
Year:
1999
Article:

5/3/99
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

SOUTHFIELD. The Libertarian Party of Michigan held its annual convention at the Ramada in Southfield the weekend of May 1 and 2.

Michigan’s largest “minor” party elected Ms. Stacy Van Oast from Richmond it’s new Chair.

“I’m looking forward to helping advance the cause of returning our country to its libertarian roots,” said the former two-term LPM Vice Chair. “The party is beginning to gain some real momentum and I feel privileged to take up the cause from the dedicated Libertarians who preceded me and who persevered through more than a quarter century of painstaking progress.”

Teresa Pollock of Brighton was chosen Vice Chair. Keith Edwards of St. Clair Shores was elected Secretary. David Nagy of Livonia was re-elected to the Treasurer post. In addition, Mark Heil of Harrison Township, Doug MacDonald of Livonia, Nancy O’Brien of Allen Park, Bruce Hoepner of Southfield, and Dan LaFavers of Ypsilanti were elected as At-large Directors

The new Chair of the country’s fifth largest state affiliate of the Libertarian Party outlined an ambitious plan for accelerating the growth of the 1500 member Michigan organization.

“My first official act,” said Van Oast, “was to appoint my immediate predecessor in this office, Tim O’Brien, to a newly created position of Executive Director.”

Mr. O’Brien served as party chair from May of 1997 until last weekend when he did not seek re-election to that position. His two-term tenure saw party membership rise by more than 40% and the party budget more than double. He also began a monthly op-ed column which now runs regularly in the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press as well as numerous other papers throughout the state.

“Tim has given us a much higher profile and taken us to a new level of professionalism,” said Van Oast. “Making him Executive Director along with assembling this kind of Executive Committee team was the next logical step. We intend,” she concluded, “to make the Libertarian Party a force to be reckoned with in campaign 2000…and into the next millennium.”

Share this:

Title:
Libertarians Give Mixed Reviews to Day Care Reform Proposals
Author:
Stacy Spaulding Van Oast
Date:
11/22/1999
Year:
1999
Article:

For Immediate Release
November 22, 1999
Contact: Stacy Van Oast, State Chair
chair@lpmich.org

DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan both approves and disapproves of recent proposals by the two old parties to reform the day care system in Michigan, according to LPM chair, Stacy Van Oast.

“Obviously, we all want the best possible day care for our children,” Van Oast said. “What parent doesn’t what her child nurtured in a safe, intellectually stimulating environment with closely supervised play time and nutritious meals and snacks?”

It is most of the Republican and Democrat proposals for ensuring the availability of that kind of environment that Libertarians find at best useless and at worst actually counterproductive.

“Changing the rules for commercial day care operations, tripling the number of inspectors who enforce those rules, providing special tax breaks specifically to professional day care employees, all of these and most everything else in the proposals merely serve to further institutionalize the care and nurturing of our most precious and cherished resource — our children.”

Which of the proposed reforms do Libertarians like?

“The proposal to give parents a $10,000 income tax deduction for every child under the age of 7 is an excellent idea!” Van Oast observed. “This actually addresses the real, underlying cause of our current need for so much commercial day care — a tax rate that has become so burdensome that both parents are forced to work, one to support the family, the other to support the government.”

Libertarians have found dramatic support for their position from an unlikely source: a recent U.S. Census Bureau report.

“It has just been revealed,” Van Oast points out, “that, incredibly, most women now conceive their first child out of wedlock, a rate that has grown from 18% in the early 30’s to 53% in the early 90’s!”

The reason for the dramatic jump, according to Census Bureau analyst, Amara Bachu, is that having children outside of marriage is more socially accepted today.

“Exactly,” agreed the LPM chair. “And it is also continually subsidized, while maintaining an intact family is continually penalized. Who is more likely to provide a safe, nurturing environment for a child than his own mom or dad? If that kind of environment is what we really want,” she concluded, “how about simply making it financially possible to provide it by dramatically cutting the tax rate for families with small children?”

Share this:

Title:
Former Prosecutor Quits Democrats, Joins Libertarian Party
Author:
Stacy Spaulding Van Oast
Date:
11/22/1999
Year:
1999
Article:

For Immediate Release
November 22, 1999
Contact: Stacy Van Oast, State Chair
chair@lpmich.org

DEARBORN. Ghazey Aleck II, who was elected in 1992 as a Democrat and served for four years as the Clare County prosecutor has quit the Democratic Party and joined the Libertarian Party.

“This is the only party that is truly dedicated to the Constitution,” said the 38-year-old attorney who decided to return to private practice instead of running for reelection in ’96. “This is the party of principle instead of politics.”

Aleck also served as Clare County Democratic Party chair for two years before being elected prosecutor.

When asked by friends and former political allies why he would leave a major party to join the LP Aleck is unhesitating in declaring his priorities. “I’d rather be with the 1% who are right than with the 99% who are wrong — just because they are in the majority,” he says.

The new LP member has been in the news of late because of his serving as defense counsel for Garry Going, a Weidman resident being prosecuted by the Department of Natural Resources for coming the rescue of a fawn he found by the side of the road that had lost its mother to an automobile collision.

“That case,” says Aleck, “is a perfect example of how the legislature and the bureaucrats have lost all sense of proportion and humanity for the sake of their inflexible rules. Can’t they take a step back and get some perspective? Factor a little common sense — if not justice — into the situation?”

The Clare resident plans to be an active LP member, helping to organize his area for the party and possibly even running for office again. Except, next time, it will be as a Libertarian.

“I can’t just stand by and watch what the Democrats and the Republicans are doing to our country. I owe it to my kids,” Aleck says, referring to 10-year-old daughter, Brianna, and 7-year-old son, Ghazey III. “If I don’t do something now, there won’t be any semblance of freedom left in our country for their kids.”

Share this:

Title:
LPM Senate Candidate Will Control Outcome of Election
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
1/18/2000
Year:
2000
Article:

1/18/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. Michael Corliss, likely Libertarian Party of Michigan candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Spencer Abraham, says he expects that, even if he doesn’t win the election next November, his candidacy will, at the very least, determine who does.

“The latest poll,” observes Corliss, “put the Republican incumbent, Spence Abraham, in a virtual dead heat with Democrat party candidate, Debbie Stabenow.”

The poll, conducted by Mitchell Research, showed 39% favoring or leaning towards Abraham and 40% favoring or leaning towards Stabenow with 21% giving no answer. The poll did not include the Libertarian candidate. However, in this same race six years ago LP candidate, Jon Coon, took almost 5% of the vote.

“Naturally,” said Corliss, “I hope to win the election. But I am not so unrealistic as to believe that likely. On the other hand, ” he asked, “what are the chances that I will not get more votes than the margin for either of the old party candidates?”

Corliss believes he can use that leverage to advance the Libertarian agenda.

“I am making no secret of my campaign platform and either of them should feel free to steal my issues — and my votes.

“To Mr. Abraham I say this. I will absolutely oppose any attempt to tax the Internet. This new medium has fantastic potential and I pledge to the people of Michigan that I am determined to keep cyberspace a ‘Free Trade Zone.’ I invite my putative ‘anti-tax’ Republican opponent to make a similar commitment. And maybe, in so doing,” Corliss adds with a sly grin, “he can take away some of my support and win the election.”

“To Ms. Stabenow I say this. I will staunchly defend the right of Michigan and every other state to make their own laws concerning medicines such as marijuana. Furthermore, I will demand an immediate cease fire in the horribly destructive and anti-constitutional ‘War on Drugs,’ and an immediate end to so-called “Asset Forfeiture.’ I invite my ostensible ‘civil liberties’ Democrat opponent to make a similar promise. And maybe, in so doing,” Corliss adds with another smile at the prospect, “she can take away some of my support and win the election.”

“To both of my opponents. I implore you to join me in advocating the surest way to end terrorism — disentangling our country from all of our foreign commitments and promising an end to all of our foreign interventions.

“And to anyone who says that I won’t have enough support to make the difference in this election,” Corliss concludes, “I say: now who is being unrealistic?”

Share this:

Title:
LPM Senate Candidate Gives Abraham a “D” on Economic Club Speech
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
1/31/2000
Year:
2000
Article:
1/31/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. Michael Corliss, the Livonia High School teacher actively seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Spencer Abraham, gave the Republican a “D” for his speech at the Economic Club of Detroit today.

“For starters, Mr. Abraham advocated a substantial expansion of federal involvement in education,” Corliss observed, referring to Abraham proposals that federal block grants be increased and new federal standards be imposed on teachers.

“This should be an entirely state and local concern. And,” he added with clear appreciation of the irony, “involves a federal department that the senator’s hero, Ronald Reagan, once promised to abolish!”

Abraham also touched on several other issues that Corliss has said will be central to his own campaign.

“Mr. Abraham’s pride in being an unabashed ‘Drug Warrior’ is truly terrifying. He boasted of his efforts to make criminal penalties even more vindictive, called for even more prosecutions under his more draconian laws, and then advocated adding even more substances to the federal prohibition list,” he said.

“And the senator’s foreign policy is equally warlike,” his Libertarian rival added. “Though specifically asked about the wisdom of the extensive commitments of our 21st century American Empire, the senator’s only regret is that the downsizing of our military in recent years has left us incapable of engaging in more than one adventure at a time of the kind President Bush launched a decade ago in defense of gasoline prices.

He calls the current limitations ‘tragic’ and wonders how, under the circumstances, ‘our kids can sleep safe.’

“Talk about a perverted, upside-down world view! Here is a better question for Mr. Abraham to ponder: How will our kids ever be able to sleep safe with cowboy diplomats like him running around the globe deliberately provoking tyrants and terrorists, meddling in situations that have nothing whatever to do with protecting our country from foreign attack?

I shudder to think about the future of our children’s country with people like Spencer Abraham in charge,” Corliss concluded.

So, why didn’t the Libertarian school teacher give the Republican professional pol an “F” instead of a “D”?

“There was one, tiny highlight in his speech,” said Corliss. “Mr. Abraham appears to have a small glimmering of recognition of the economic power of the Internet — and the importance of keeping it unencumbered by taxes and regulations.

“Of course,” Corliss added, “he really only noted these things. He didn’t make any promises about fighting to keep Cyberspace a free trade zone.

And we all know how untrustworthy Republican politicians are when it comes to taxes — even when they solemnly vow: ‘Read my lips!’

“So, maybe,” he concluded with a grin, “I better make that grade a ‘D minus’.

Share this:

Title:
Libertarian Party Endorses Ballot Drive
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
2/7/2000
Year:
2000
Article:
2/7/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan announced today its official endorsement of the Personal Responsibility Amendment initiative (PRA2000) to amend the Michigan constitution and effectively eliminate marijuana prohibition in the state.

The ballot proposal would make it legal under state law for any adult resident of Michigan to privately possess up to three ounces of marijuana for personal and/or medicinal use. However, both commercial transactions and operation of a motor vehicle or other machinery while under the influence would still be prohibited under the amendment.

“Libertarians have always advocated repealing drug prohibition,” said Tim O’Brien, the party’s executive director. “All drugs,” he emphasized — noting that marijuana is so mild a drug that there has never been a recorded case of a fatal overdose and that it is the black market in cocaine in its various forms and the opiate derivatives that causes the vast majority of prohibition-related crime.

“The Libertarian view is stated very succinctly in the part of the PRA2000 amendment that reads: ‘It is not the proper role of a limited government to interfere with the discretion of adults exercising informed personal judgment, but only to prevent and redress acts of injustice to others.’ Why should this reasoning be limited to marijuana?” he asked.

“Still, we have been around politics long enough to appreciate the practical difficulties of persuading our fellow citizens to restore overnight the freedom that was our heritage until early in the twentieth century when government nannyism came into vogue. We recognize that this Personal Responsibility Amendment is an excellent step in the right direction,” he said.

“It is especially important that individuals who are suffering from chronic diseases and the side effects of AIDS and cancer treatments be permitted the freedom to ameliorate those symptoms with marijuana — if they feel it is the most effective medicine for them,” he concluded. “It is unconscionable that government bureaucrats should interject their own prejudices into so critically important and intensely personal a decision.”

Endorsement by the 1600 member Libertarian Party of Michigan has provided a tremendous boost to PRA2000 organizers who must collect over 300,000 signatures by mid-summer to get their proposal on the November ballot.

Share this:

Title:
Browne Announces Bid for LP Presidential Nomination
Author:
Date:
2/15/2000
Year:
2000
Article:

2/15/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bill Shotey

DEARBORN. Harry Browne, 1996 Libertarian Party candidate for President of the United States has formally announced his bid for the party’s nomination for this year’s presidential election.

“I am running for President because it’s obvious that no Democrat or Republican is going to stop the relentless growth of the federal government,” the 66-year-old investment advisor and best-selling author said. “No one but a Libertarian will reduce your taxes dramatically, allow you to live your life as a free American, and restrict the federal government to its Constitutional limits.”

Browne offered substantial support for his contentions and Libertarian solutions to our political problems.

“Today federal, state, and local taxes take 47% of the national income. The Republican and Democratic candidates are discussing whether that figure should be raised to 48% or lowered to 46%. I want to cut it in half — at the very least!

“I am running for President because you shouldn’t be forced to put 15% of your income into a bankrupt Social Security system. I believe you are better able than any politician to plan for your future — and you certainly care more about it. I want to sell off unneeded federal land and other assets to finance secure, fully paid-up, private retirement accounts for today’s Social Security recipients — and free you immediately from the 15% tax.

“I am running for President because I want to bring peace to your city and your neighborhood by ending the nightmare of drug Prohibition. The insane War on Drugs has caused the worst crime wave since alcohol Prohibition of the 1920s. It has filled our prisons with non-violent people who are no threat to anyone — requiring that murderers, rapists, and thugs be freed on early release to terrorize our communities.

“I am running for President because no Republican or Democratic politician will end the dangerous foreign policy that makes America the world’s policeman, the arbiter of everyone’s dispute, the bully inciting terrorism, and the enemy of half the world. I want you to be able to sleep securely — knowing your children will never fight and die in a foreign war and terrorists will never attack your city.

“I am running for President,” he concluded, “because the federal government has stuck its nose into virtually every area of your life, with no Constitutional authority. It has made a mess of our health care system, of education, of welfare, and of law enforcement.”

Mr. Browne will be appearing at the Libertarian Party of Michigan convention in Ann Arbor on May 20th.

Share this:

Title:
Libertarian Party to Open Campaign HQ
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
3/6/2000
Year:
2000
Article:

3/6/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan will open a state campaign headquarters in Hazel Park next month for the duration of the 2000 election season, according to state chair, Stacy Van Oast.

“We have simply grown too big,” Van Oast said, “to try and coordinate races across the entire state without any kind of central office.”

The LPM expects to nominate more than 150 candidates for public office to appear on the ballot under the party banner next November.

In addition to our presidential candidate [to be nominated at LP’s national convention in California next summer] we will be contesting all U.S. Congressional seats, as well as all of the state-wide races,” Van Oast continued, “including U.S. Senate, Sate Board of Education, and all the university boards.”

The LPM’s last candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon Coon, got nearly 5% of the vote — drawing hundreds of volunteers and coordinating his campaign from a headquarters in nearby Madison Heights. Michael Corliss, the leading contender for the LPM nomination in the senate race this year has said he hopes to run as active a campaign as his predecessor.

“In addition,” the LPM chair said, “we will be contesting more than half the state rep seats and fielding candidates for numerous county and local offices.

“We want to be able to make available literature, yard signs, and general campaign support for all of our candidates. And it only makes sense to have a central location from which all of our activities can be coordinated.

“We’re also going to want a place where we can do get-out-the-vote phone banking,” she added.

“After seeing the results Jon Coon was able to get by spending a few dollars to have a campaign office — and considering that our membership has doubled again since then — we decided that it was the cost-effective thing to do.”

Ms. Van Oast said that the new Hazel Park location would simply be a campaign headquarters through the election with the party offices remaining at their present location in Dearborn. However, the LP’s executive committee is considering the possibility of moving to the location permanently, if the party does as well as expected next November.

Share this:

Title:
Libertarian Party Lobbies Against S-757
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
3/10/2000
Year:
2000
Article:

3/10/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan announced today that the party’s SpeakOutMichigan.org web-based lobbying utility will be used in an effort to persuade state legislators to vote against Senate Bill 757 which would incarcerate non-custodial parents who are behind by any amount on their child support payments until the arrearage has been fully paid.

“This bill is positively medieval,” said LPM chair, Stacy Van Oast. “It is bizarre that just as we are entering the 21st century our legislators propose to bring back the debtors’ prisons of the middle ages.”

The senate bill, now under consideration in the house, would require that anyone arrested for back child support post cash or bond equal to the entire amount in question in order to be released pending a court hearing.

“The overwhelming majority of people who have the money to put up the bond would certainly have used it to simply meet their obligations. This bill is founded on the vicious, mean-spirited notion that non-custodial parents who have the means are, nevertheless, deliberately denying their own children.

“The effect of this legislation will be to jail parents who, through illness, loss of employment, or some other cause, have fallen on hard times. But these kinds of circumstances always affect the ability to support a family — even one that is still intact,” she observed. “Throwing such a person into debtor’s prison will only exacerbate the problem.

“And that’s not even taking into account the cost to taxpayers and the impact on our already overburdened criminal justice system,” she continued. “How many muggers and rapists shall we let out in order to make room for the so-called ‘Deadbeat Dads’?”

SpeakOutMichigan.org is an Internet site that permits users to write their state legislators using either a pre-written letter, their own letter, or a combination of the two. By simply entering a home address the system will automatically determine which are the user’s legislators and direct the e-mail to them. Though sponsored by the LPM, the site is non-partisan and may be used by voters who belong to any political party — or no political party at all.

This is only the second time the LPM has used its high tech e-mail lobbying tool. The first effort, to persuade legislators to bring back stalled “concealed carry” legislation, drew well over 1,200 users.

The party expects its Internet based lobbying efforts to continue to grow.

Share this:

Title:
“Hands off the Internet” LPM Tells Politicians
Author:
Tim O’Brien
Date:
3/30/2000
Year:
2000
Article:

3/30/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O’Brien
(313) 562-5778

DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party of Michigan has begun a radio campaign across the state urging voters to contact their legislators and demand that they leave the Internet tax and regulation free.

“Combining computers with the telecommunications system to create the Internet,” observed LPM executive director, Tim O’Brien, “is the greatest advance in communications technology since Gutenberg combined the mechanical press with moveable type and created mass publishing.”

Studies have shown that the Internet has already created more than 2 million new jobs. Current projections indicate that e-commerce will top the $1 trillion mark annually in less than three years.

“You and I see a future bright with promise, opportunities we can’t yet even imagine,” O’Brien added. “The politicians see the greatest ‘cash cow’ since they amended the constitution and started directly taxing people’s income.”

What about the point that state coffers are losing substantial revenue as Internet transactions currently go untaxed?

“Far from hurting,” he answered, “state treasuries are bursting at the seams. In fact Michigan is very close to reaching the Headlee limit and will soon have to begin sending the excess revenue back to taxpayers in refunds!”

Then, what about the point that the current situation is unfair to so-called ‘brick-and-mortar’ retailers who must add the 6% sales tax to all of their transactions?

“That argument,” O’Brien says, “turns logic on its head. The reason the U.S. Constitution prohibits taxing interstate trade is precisely because it is unfair to impose a tax on out-of-state businesses who, by definition, cannot benefit from the services the taxes are supposed to provide. If,” he concluded, ” Michigan businesses and their customers believe they are not getting a fair return in services on their tax dollars, the solution is to cut taxes — not deny consumers any alternative.”

The two week radio schedule is airing throughout the state and offers voters the opportunity to e-mail the message to their legislators by accessing the LPM’s web-based lobbying utility at www.SpeakOutMichigan.org.

The Internet site permits voters to write their state legislators using either a pre-written letter, their own letter, or a combination of the two. By simply entering a home address the system will automatically determine which are the user’s legislators and direct the e-mail to them.

Though sponsored by the LPM, the site is non-partisan and may be used by voters who belong to any political party — or no political party at all.

Share this: