Title:
The Libertarian Party of Michigan is Co-sponsor to ACLU Forum
Author:
Scotty Boman
Date:
4/25/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
Libertarian Party of Michigan
P.O. Box 27065
Lansing, MI 48924
1-888-FreeNow

-For Immediate Release –

Contact: Scotty Boman (313) 247-2052, LPM State Chair
Or contact the ACLU at: (313) 578-6810

“The Libertarian Party of Michigan is Co-sponsor to ACLU Forum”

Birmingham, Michigan- The Libertarian Party of Michigan (LPM) has is co-sponsoring an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) forum on the REAL ID Act.  The forum will be on Wednesday the 25th of April at 6:30 PM. “The ACLU and the LPM don’t always agree on specific issues, in fact we were on opposite sides of proposal 2, but this is one issue where we can work together.” Said LPM Chair Scotty Boman.

A post card promoting the event reads:

Worried about identity theft? Don’t believe longer lines at the Secretary of State Office will make us safer? Find out why Arkansas, Idaho and Maine have rejected “REAL ID,” a dream for identity thieves and a privacy nightmare. The REAL ID Act – A REAL NIGHTMARE Join the ACLU of Michigan and the ACLU Oakland County Branch to learn about the impact of “REAL 10” on your privacy and security. Learn how to lobby and sign up to talk with your legislators about “REAL ID!

Special Guests include:

NOAM BIALE REAL ID Campaign Organizer
ACLU National Office SENATOR GILDA JACOBS (D-Huntington Woods).

TIM O’BRIEN Executive Director- Small Government Alliance.

Times: 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Visit: RealNightmare.org
Location: The Community House, 380 South Bates Street Birmingham, MI 48009
Phone: (248)-644-5832
Fax (248) 644-2476
Contact: ACLU of Michigan Phone: (313) 578-6810 Email: www.aclumich.org

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Title:
LP of Michigan Supports Medical Marijuana Initiative
Author:
Will Tyler White
Date:
10/8/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
PRESS RELEASE: for IMMEDIATE ISSUE 10-8-07
Libertarians Support Medical Marijuana Initiative

“Given the problems with the State budget, Michigan has better things to do than waste money arresting sick people that use natural products for relief” said Bill Hall, chair of the Libertarian Party of Michigan.  The annual cost to taxpayers nationwide is estimated at $41.8 billion in lost tax revenue and enforcement of marijuana laws.1
In 1972, President Nixon’s National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse concluded that “marihuana use is not such a grave problem that individuals who smoke marihuana, or possess it for that purpose, should be subject to criminal procedures.”  In the 35 years since, eleven states have passed medical marijuana laws, most by public initiative.  A recent Texas A & M study of such states showed “introduction of medical cannabis laws was not associated with an increase in cannabis use.”2  Other studies have shown “smoked marijuana … has a clear medical benefit”.3
Given the common sense of cost savings and harm reduction, the next logical step is to regulate marijuana similar to alcohol and tobacco.  With legislatures gridlocked in partisan bickering though, citizens have increasingly resorted to ballot initiatives to enact changes in the harmful, nonsensical laws governing use of the cannabis plant.
Representatives in Lansing, who have neglected to even bring up the subject, seem badly out of step with the State’s population, which in a 2003 poll supported the medical use of marijuana by 59%.  Since 2004, voters in five Michigan cities have passed medical marijuana initiatives by an average of 64% (Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Ferndale, and Traverse City).
For those reasons, the Libertarian Party of Michigan strongly supports the medical marijuana initiative as a practical step in reclaiming the right of individuals to use their choice of medicine while under their doctor’s supervision.

CONTACT: Bill Hall, chair, Libertarian Party of Michigan, 616 460-9516

1 “Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws,” Jon B. Gettman, www.drugscience.org/bcr/index.html
2 Texas A&M Health Science Center, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, statistical data published in the International Journal of Drug Policy
3 Columbia University in New York clinical trial data to be published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).

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Title:
Libertarian Party of Michigan Supports Recall Efforts
Author:
Bill Hall
Date:
10/12/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
Libertarian Party of Michigan
Supports Recall Efforts

10/12/07
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  LPM Chair Bill Hall 616-460-9516 or Media Coordinator Mark Norrod 616-902-0086

The Libertarian Party of Michigan strongly supports the recall of Michigan legislators who recently voted for massive increases in State sales and income taxes.  Chairman Bill Hall said the recall efforts will “help stop the Republicans and Democrats, and the special interests they represent, from looting Michigan voters.”
Recently, the Michigan Taxpayers Association announced plans to recall 10 state legislators, five Republicans and five Democrats, who voted to raise taxes.  The Libertarian Party supports those efforts.

The budget passed on October 1 included a 12% income tax increase and an expansion of the 6% sales tax to many services.  These increases come less than 3 months before the start of the new Michigan Business Tax, which also increased taxes, as it replaced a Single Business Tax scheduled to disappear entirely.

“Thousands of Michigan citizens are losing their jobs; thousands are losing their homes; and thousands are leaving the state.  Raising taxes will not help them, it will only hurt them,” Hall noted.  “This is not what the voters expected last November.  We agree 100% with the recall effort, and expect Libertarian activists across the State to take leading roles in the recall efforts.”

-END-

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Title:
LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MICHIGAN CELEBRATES ELECTION VICTORIES
Author:
Mark Norrod
Date:
11/6/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MICHIGAN CELEBRATES ELECTION VICTORIES

11/06/07

CONTACT:
LPM Chair Bill Hall 616-460-9516 or
Media Coordinator Mark Norrod 616-902-0086

The Libertarian Party of Michigan today is celebrating several victories in Tuesday’s municipal elections.  Chairman Bill Hall said these victories showcase the party’s strength at the local level.  “All of our candidates ran on a consistent Libertarian platform of More Freedom and Less Government.  Contrast this with the Democrats and Republicans in Lansing busily raising taxes and spending.  The fact that we re-elected our sitting Libertarian councilmen and added even more shows not only that the Libertarian message connects with voters, but also that Libertarians are effective in these positions.”

Tuesday’s winners include Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Owen, who was re-elected in  Owosso, and Councilman Andy LeCureaux, re-elected in Hazel Park.  David Eisenbacher was elected to the Troy City Council in a landslide.  Mark Byrne was elected to the Port Huron City Council.

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Title:
News Item: State’s tough drug laws reconsidered
Author:
Brian Wright
Date:
11/11/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
From the Oakland Press:

Story by David Salisbury of Capital News Service

Concerns the efforts led by Rep. Paul Condino, Democrat of Southfield, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to divert marijuana offenders from prison to drug courts and other “treatment” methods.

Condino says, “These aren’t people who are murderers or rapists.  These are nonviolent people who need treatment.”

Patricia Caruso, director of the Department of Corrections said prison sentences in Michigan for drug violations are extremely lengthy compared to other states:  “For example, a person convicted of dealing or possessing more than 1.75 ounces of cocaine faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.”

Caruso mentioned one woman who was given a long sentence for possessing a relatively small amount of cocaine.  “It will be 25 years before she’s eligible for parole,” Caruso said.  (That’s longer than second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year maximum or negligent homicide with a two-year maximum.)

Caruso said about 75 percent of inmates have had a substance abuse problem like this woman who received the lengthy sentence.  “It’s people in cases such as these that need to be given rehabilitation rather than taking up valuable space in our overcrowded jails,” she said.

Michigan has the sixth-largest prison population in the country.  The corrections department receives 25% (approximately $2 billion per year) of the state’s annual budget.

Caruso said that although some lawmakers favor less severe drug laws geared toward rehabilitation, few do so publicly because they don’t want to appear “soft on crime.”

Ed–I’d say it’s favorable news to partisans of Michigan liberty when the director of corrections wants to empty the prisons of nonviolent people convicted of consensual activity.

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Title:
Third Parties Vow to End Primaries and Political Discrimination
Author:
Will Tyler White
Date:
11/12/2007
Year:
2007
Article:
PRESS RELEASE: for IMMEDIATE ISSUE 11-12-07

Third Parties Vow to End Primaries and Political Discrimination
The Michigan Third Party Coalition (MTPC), representing the state’s Green, Libertarian, Reform, Socialist, and U.S. Taxpayers Parties, is throwing its support behind the lawsuit brought by Berl Schwartz of the City Pulse Newspaper and Mark Grebner of Practical Political Consultants, among others, to strike down the current primary law as unconstitutional. “The Act creates a legal duopoly — a monopoly held by two institutions, the Michigan Democratic Party and the Michigan Republican Party — and ensures the continuation of the duopoly by forbidding them from transferring full ownership (of voter lists) to any other entity,” the complaint reads.

Going a step further than voiding the act, the Coalition wants public funding of primary elections abolished entirely. That proposal is part of an initiative on which the MTPC is working, known as the Voters Bill of Rights, to end political discrimination against independent voters. The first words of Michigan’s Constitution state “All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal benefit, security and protection.”

Although the majority of Michiganians are either independent or nonvoting, millions of their tax dollars help Democrat and Republican minorities choose and promote their candidates. If political power is inherently equal, then Michigan’s primary system constitutes political discrimination against independents and alternate parties, who select and promote their candidates without taxpayer funding or assistance.

Tied to the primary is publicity from the media, whose coverage of the primaries leaves the impression there are only two parties with candidates. This bias continues through the general election. For example, often only 2 of 5 candidates for the same office are invited to debate.

The timing problem of national primaries should be solved by federal action. The U.S. is the only major country in the world without uniform national ballot access laws. Either every state should have a primary with all parties on the same date, or none should have a primary. Parties can select candidates at their own expense by convention or caucus, as they did prior to 1912.

It is time to end the arbitrary and unfair primary system. Designed and implemented by the old party machines to control the process, it is a recurring point of contention as each party tries to tweak it to their best advantage. If Michigan eliminates its primary, other states could follow and prompt a federal solution.

MTPC is dedicated to a political future that lives up to our Constitution. That means either every party in the primary, or no publicly funded primary. It is an essential step towards equality for every party and all potential voters. If legislators will not act, then the public must.

CONTACT: Michigan Third Party Coalition (MTPC –www.mithirdparties.org): mithirdparties@yahoo.com
Green – Ken Mathenia, chair, 810 694-3473, or John Anthony La Pietra, Elections Coordinator
Libertarian – Bill Hall, chair, 616 460-9516, or Will Tyler White, executive committee, 517 349-3806
Reform – Matt Crehan, chair, 231 755-5252
Socialist – Matt Erard, chair, 248 765-1605
U.S. Taxpayers – Jerry Van Sickle, chair, 231 848-7257

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Title:
SHOWDOWN FOR US SENATE CANDIDATES AT LIBERTARIAN PARTY CONVENTION
Author:
Mark Norrod
Date:
6/7/2008
Year:
2008
Article:
SHOWDOWN FOR US SENATE CANDIDATES AT LIBERTARIAN PARTY CONVENTION
6/06/08
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  LPM Chair Bill Hall 616-460-9516 or Media Coordinator Mark Norrod 616-902-0086

Scotty Boman and Leonard Schwartz will be battling at the Libertarian Party convention to win the Party’s United States Senate nomination for the Michigan November general election  ballot.  The convention is this Saturday, June 7th, in Romulus at the Best Western-Gateway.

Scotty Boman is a longtime party activist, former state party chairman, and captured almost 137,000 votes in his 2004 race for State Board of Education.

Leonard Schwartz has served as the party’s political director, was the party’s US Senate candidate in 2006, and drew more than 438,000 votes in his 2004 race for Michigan Supreme Court.

“Either of these men would be a voice of reason in the US Senate, and a welcome improvement over Senator Carl Levin,” state chairman Bill Hall said.  He continued, “Both support steep spending and tax cuts, promptly withdrawing from Iraq, and restoring our freedoms taken away by the Patriot Act, unlike their Democratic and Republican opponents.”

“Scotty and Leonard are leading the charge, but this year’s state convention promises to be a great day for our party,” Hall noted.  “Former Congressman Bob Barr’s nomination as the Libertarian Presidential candidate in Denver late last month has energized libertarians, Ron Paul Republicans and anti-McCain conservatives to run on the Libertarian ticket.”  Hall is expecting this year’s slate of Libertarian candidates to contest all statewide offices and Congressional races, dozens of state house seats, and dozens more county and local offices.  Many districts in Southeast Michigan will have only a Libertarian and a Democrat on the ballot.

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Title:
LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MICHIGAN CELEBRATES HELLER DECISION
Author:
Date:
6/26/2008
Year:
2008
Article:
LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MICHIGAN CELEBRATES HELLER DECISION
6/26/08
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  LPM Chair Bill Hall 616-460-9516 or Media Coordinator Mark Norrod 616-902-0086
“Today the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of liberty,” declared Libertarian Party of Michigan chairman Bill Hall.

The Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to carry a firearm.  The Court rejected the argument that only militias have a Constitutional right to carry guns.

The Libertarian National Committee had filed an amicus brief, supporting Heller.  This brief was written in part by LNC member and former Congressman Bob Barr, who was recently nominated as the 2008 Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party.  Barr and his running mate, small businessman Wayne Root, have qualified to appear on the November ballot in Michigan.  Bob Barr has served on the Board of the National Rifle Association.

“All gun owners and freedom advocates should know that Congressman Bob Barr’s record is far superior to that of those gun-grabbers, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.  Senator McCain’s recent half-hearted support for gun rights, and freedom, is too little, too late.  We are looking forward to November, when the clear choice for Second Amendment supporters in Michigan will be to cast a vote for Libertarian Bob Barr.”

-End-

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Title:
Webmaster of www.idiggthelp.info calls for releases
Author:
Date:
7/15/2008
Year:
2008
Article:
For submitting to Digg your relevant LP news

Hello,

I am the webmaster of the site www.idiggthelp.info and I am looking for articles and releases from local candidates. Basicly I have a feedburner list people subscribe to. They get one email a day that has digg.com links to digg. I am mostly doing LP releases and Bob Barr articles. I am looking for more stuff on other LP candidates. If you would please encourage candidates to submit any online media coverage or press releases that appear on their website to me it would be a huge help. I can submit them to digg.

BTW If you know of anyone who wants to help with this project have them subscribe to the list. We can use all the help we can get.

Thanks,
Benjamin Todd
www.idiggthelp.info

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Title:
DON’T BAIL OUT (THE BANKERS); THROW OUT (THE INCUMBENTS)
Author:
Mark Norrod
Date:
9/26/2008
Year:
2008
Article:
DON’T BAIL OUT (THE BANKERS); THROW OUT (THE INCUMBENTS)
9/26/08

CONTACT:  Libertarian Party of Michigan Chair Bill Hall, 616-460-9516 or Media Coordinator Mark Norrod, 616-902-0086

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE ISSUED BY ALL 16 LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MICHIGAN CANDIDATES FOR US CONGRESS –
Scotty Boman US Senate; Daniel W Grow, US House District 1; Dan Johnson, District 2;
Erwin J Haas, District 3; Allitta Hren, District 4; Leonard Schwartz, District 5; Greg Merle, District 6; Kenneth Proctor, District 7; Will Tyler White, District 8; Adam Goodman, District 9; Neil Kiernan Stephenson, District 10; John J Tatar, District 11; John Vico, District 12; Greg Creswell, District 13; Rick Secula, District 14; Gregory Scott Stempfle, District 15

Libertarian Scotty Boman, candidate for U.S. Senate, joined Michigan’s candidates for all 15 U.S. House of Representative seats to renounce the proposed financial bail out of the mortgage banking system.  “These problems were caused by the Republican and Democratic politicians in DC and the Federal Reserve!”  Boman continued, “They created the government monopolies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They required them to insure no-money-down loans at artificially low rates to people without the ability to pay them back.  They inflated the money supply, driving down interest rates, and artificially inflating home and asset values.  Giving the same incompetent government regulators even more control over the market would be insane.”

Leonard Schwartz, US House candidate for Michigan’s 5th District expressed similar outrage.  He summarized the situation, “These firms made loans, which is naturally a risky business. They made a lot of money on most of those loans.  Now they want us to pay for the ones that went bad.  This situation is the same as if a casino wanted to keep all the wagers they won, but wanted taxpayers to cover all their payouts.”
“Their proposals are simply wrong,” stated Daniel Grow, 1st District candidate for U.S. Congress.  “Banking is already highly regulated.”  Mentioning the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and prosecutions by the US Department of Justice, Grow added, “Loose monetary policy and efforts to expand home ownership caused this crisis, and further regulation will not fix anything.”  Attacking the bail-out proposals, Grow said, “Pumping in more money will at best only temporarily delay necessary adjustments, ultimately bringing a worse crisis, and is a thinly veiled effort to seek short-term political gain.”
Dan Johnson, candidate for the 2nd District, declared, “It is us hard-working Americans who work, save to buy a home, and pay our bills who are being asked to mortgage not only our future, but our children’s and grandchildren’s future to pay for this.  We need to stop this now, and we need to elect a Libertarian Congress in November.  Otherwise, we risk further federal manipulation of our economy, which will ultimately fail and drive us into a deeper and longer depression than will occur naturally without further manipulation.  Should this bailout go through, we will have handed the inmates the keys to the asylum.”

Scotty Boman offered this proposal: “The fastest way out of this mess is to free those hard-working Americans who have demonstrated they are responsible with their finances to continue to work hard, invest in our economy, and create jobs.  We must not tax, regulate and penalize them to bail out those on Wall Street and Main Street who have demonstrated they are not responsible, and will likely do the same thing again, and expect yet another bail out.”

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