Lone Star Liberty The Official Monthly Newsletter of the Libertarian Party of Texas December 2004 Texas Libertarians Earn 2006 Ballot Spot Libertarian Candidates Performance in Texas in 2004; Badnarik US Vote Total May Reach 400,000 By Don Richards

Because of Quanah Parker LP President-Vice-President total was higher than the combined tal- and Tom Oxford, Texas Libertarians nominees Michael Badnarik and Ri- lies for Michael A. Peroutka of the won’t have to spend precious time and chard Campagna drew only 38,273 Constitution Party (128,867) and money on ballot access petitions for votes statewide, but that was good David Cobb of the Green Party the 2006 Texas election campaign. enough for third place in a contest (104,667 votes). Ballot access for a political party in heavily tilted toward the Republican The National LP reports that Texas is assured if a candidate pulls ticket which racked up 4,519,262 votes Ballot Access News publisher Richard five percent of the total in a statewide (61.13 percent of the total). Democrat Winger predicts that Badnarik will ul- office. Parker drew 842,469 votes, nominees Kerry and Edwards received timately receive about 400,000 votes some 16.06 percent of the total vote 2,827,835 votes (38.25 percent). Na- after all absentee ballots are counted in her campaign for Judge, Court of tionally, according to figures from The and certified, which may not happen Criminal Appeals Place 2. Oxford gar- Washington Post, Republicans Bush- until late December. In comparison to nered 745,447 votes or 14.21 percent Cheney won with 58,605,517 votes, past Libertarian candidates for Presi- of the total in his run for Judge, Court followed by Democrats Kerry- dent, that total would rank Badnarik of Criminal Appeals Place 5. Both can- Edwards (55,074,905). The Badnarik- fourth behind Ed Clark (921,199 votes didates were in two-way races. Campagna team, with 374,660 votes, in 1980); Harry Browne (485,759 votes According to Laura Coker- ran fourth after the Nader-Camejo In- in 1996); and U.S. Rep. , Garcia, Editor of Lone Star Liberty, the dependent ticket (391,566). Among (432,297 votes in 1988). Browne re- official monthly newsletter of the Lib- third-party candidates, Badnarik’s vote Continued on page 4 ertarian Party of Texas, “By agreeing to run, Quanah and Tom saved the Party approximately $140,000 (judg- Nicholas Named Grayson Chair ing from what it cost this year) and Michael Nicholas of Denison hundreds (perhaps thousands) of hours was recently appointed LP Chair for of volunteer time” in the arduous task Grayson County. of gathering petition signatures to get The newly organized county on this year’s ballot. Says she, “I am party has a handful of members who extremely thankful for their effort.” currently meet with nearby Collin Another big Libertarian vote- County on the third Saturday of each getter was Anthony Garcia, who drew month. The group also has an online 252,079 votes for Railroad Commis- discussion group at http://groups. sioner. Unfortunately this was only yahoo.com/group/GraysonLPActivist. good for third place (3.6 percent) in a Michael can be reached by three-way race for the position. This mail at P.O. Box 1452, Denison, TX year Libertarian candidates in Texas, 75021-1452, by phone at 903-465- running for a total of 76 offices, re- 6148, and by email at mtn55555 ceived some 2,397,522 votes. While @yahoo.com. this falls well below the total of Libertarian kids can also reach 4,857,718 votes for 62 offices in 2000, him at [email protected]. it is still well above other previous Lib- The girls at right are Michael's daugh- Grayson County girls ask St. Nic for ertarian state vote totals. ters Aurielle and Maireigh. the gift of freedom for Christmas. Lone Star Liberty Can Texas Afford Success? Volume 14, Issue 12 Elections are the measure of Indiana— Brad Klopfenstein December 2004 success for a political party. Having is their executive director, and they Available monthly concluded our 2004 elections we have have 15 Libertarians in office. online at an opportunity to measure ourselves. Oregon— Richard Burke is www.lptexas.org; Our main accomplishments their executive director and they have from this election cycle are: 13 Libertarians in office. They also Publisher: Michael Badnarik received an have sponsors that donate $3000 per Libertarian Party of Texas all-time record for Libertarian presi- month for an office building for their P.O. Box 27932 dential votes in Texas. state headquarters. Houston, TX 77227 We will not need another pain- Ohio— Robert Butler is their www.lptexas.org ful and expensive petition drive to executive director, and they have 10 1-800-422-1776 qualify for the 2006 ballot since elected Libertarians. Quanah Parker and Tom Oxford eas- California— They have just State Chair: ily exceeded the 5% statewide votes hired Dave Ruprecht as their executive Patrick Dixon to automatically qualify. director and have 86 Libertarians in 5200 Sundown In a race where we specifically office. Notice a pattern? Lago Vista, TX 78645 targeted Republican State Representa- Successful states like these, as [email protected] tive Jack Stick, Libertarian Greg well as North Carolina, Illinois, Mas- 512-771-3936 Knowles received four times the win- sachusetts, and Missouri have found a ning margin to cost Stick his seat, and full time paid executive director is cru- Executive Director: the media has appropriately given us cial to their success. That is why my Wes Benedict credit— because we had a full-time ex- first act as chair was to hire Wes 1403-B Kenwood Ave. ecutive director able to promptly re- Benedict as our executive director. Austin, TX 78704 spond to media inquiries, we were able Our immediate concern is to [email protected] to capitalize on opportunities for settle our ballot access debt of $12.5k. 512-442-4910 greater exposure. We paid down half of the $25k obliga- We know that we are unlikely tion so far, and need to settle the rest Lone Star Liberty Editor: to sweep into Congress and the White before we can attempt further invest- Laura Coker-Garcia House overnight. There is a lot of work ments. We have sent out letters asking 9835 Sagedowne Lane ahead. Texas is way behind other states for monthly pledges that can be auto- Houston, TX 77089 in getting Libertarians in office. Some matically paid by credit card. The [email protected] examples of Libertarian success in same donation form is included in this 281-997-8141 other states include: Georgia —Glenn newsletter. Tatum is their executive director, and Having a monthly predictable Database Manager: their candidate Ben Branden had a income is crucial for our budgeting and James VanBeek huge partisan race victory defeating for retaining the services of our execu- 2739 San Felipe Drive both Republicans and Democrats for tive director. College Station, TX 77845 County Executive of Dade County. —Patrick Dixon, State Chair [email protected] 979-696-9766 Around the State: Activist Update Website Manager: Kris Overstreet, LP Media Mary Ruwart, The Triumph of Liberty Daniel Falconer Relations Manager, was interviewed by Jim Powell, Speaking of Liberty by [email protected] November 5 by the San Antonio Cur- , Princess Navinia Vis- rent for the Libertarian opinion on the its series by James Payne and Freehold elections. by Michael Williamson to the Harris Fred Jones had a thank you County Public Library. "Dr. Ruwart's Submissions of party news, letter to voters who supported his run book has been so popular at the library meeting minutes, photographs, bios for State Representative printed in the that we are planning to donate more of candidate, suggested websites, November 9 Abilene Reporter News. copies so that each branch will have letters to the editor, etc. is encour- Tom Clark reports that this one," Tom said. aged. Send to Laura@libertyworks. quarter the Texas Liberty Club donated Clyde Garland in Brazos org to submit. copies of Healing our World by Dr. County got 18 individuals attending the Yes, I want the Libertarian Party to Succeed!

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Neil Boortz live radio broadcast No- nounced that he will be seeking the LP Leonard Kunkell reports that vember 12 to take the World's Small- nomination for U.S. Representative his brother Gary Kunkell was killed est Political Quiz. Of those 15 scored District 4 for 2006. in a truck roll-over 12:30 p.m. Septem- Libertarian with two more on the bor- Gordon Mobley has resigned ber 25. Gary was new to the Party be- der. as District 24 Representative to the coming active in this spring's ballot Patrick Dixon, LP of Texas State Executive Committee. He will access drive. Condolences may be sent State Chair, called into the show and continue as Bell County Chair. to Leonard at [email protected]. was on air as well. Jeff Daiell appeared on Susan Farris' public affairs radio show on KTSA in San Antonio November 16. TCLP Opposes TX Amendment He was in town to give his speech "The The Travis County Libertarian and the father of three teenagers, I want Property Rights basis of the Bill of Party (TCLP) during its meeting on my family to know that Texas does not Rights" to the Bexar County LP. November 9, 2004 adopted a position discriminate against lovers who choose The Travis County LP an- to oppose HJR 6, the proposed amend- to support society by participating in nounced that their Volunteer of the ment to the Texas Constitution that the stable institution of marriage," said Month for October was Dan Eisler, would ban same sex marriage. Alan Weiss. "We should all reject big- who was active in candidate recruit- "Libertarians feel that the role otry and prejudice and realize that gay, ment. The Volunteer of the Month for of Government is very limited and this lesbian, and transgendered Texans are November is Michael Badnarik in intrusion into citizens private lives still Texans, with all the rights and re- recognition of all his work as the Presi- oversteps the authority given to the sponsibilities that entails. While civil dential nominee. State of Texas. We as Libertarians stand unions might appear to be a reasonable The Harris County LP named firm on the US and the Texas Consti- compromise, it is plain as day that the Lyndell Rottman Volunteer of the tutions and the protections spelled out State should not violate consenting Month for November for his work up- in those documents," reports Rob adults' rights to marry each other. The dating the county's website. Fritshe. State of Texas shouldn't be in the busi- Kevin Anderson has an- "As a married man of 20 years ness of discrimination." 2004 Election Results for LP in Texas from front page ceived 384,429 votes in his second run for president in 2000. Will the Greens ever again be a factor without a notorious Joe Seehusen, LP Executive Director, lauding the accom- name to head up a campaign? plishments of the Badnarik-Campagna effort, asserts, “The Texas LP Presidential Race Finish fact that they came within a whisker of beating , T saxe Yrae C etadidna ecalP a nationally recognized figure with almost unlimited ac- V seto cess to the media, is genuinely impressive.” B)L(kiranda 837 32 3 In Texas, perhaps the most significant development 4002 N(reda W )I- 053 5 4 in this year’s election was the utter disappearance of the 4002 Greens. Coming from nowhere in 2000, the Green Party orBw en )L( 321 06 4 was then headed by Nader, who received 3.1 million votes 0002 nationwide. In Texas he grabbed 137,994 votes of 1,360,301 N(reda G) 317 499 3 0002 Green votes for six offices in the that year’s Presidential orBw en )L( 022 96 3 race. In the non-presidential year of 2002 the Greens ran 6991 for 25 offices and scored 705,255 votes. With the virtual llArehto 119 35 — - disappearance of Nader, (who received 5,035 write-ins in 6991 Muorra )L( 916 99 4 this year’s Texas election), the Greens, who did not meet 2991

Texas ballot requirements, appear to have fled elsewhere. )dnI(toreP315 874 1 3 Two questions linger: (1) Will Nader bother to run again 2991 with his two-word platform (“Corporate Greed!”)? and (2) *From the Texas Secretary of State Statistics. Events of Interest to Texas Libertarians

Dec. 3 (Fri.) 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. Charter Schools, Vouch- Dec. 11 (Sat.) 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Introduction to the ers, and School Choice Education Roundtable in Constitution Class with Michael Badnarik. $50, in- Austin presented by Austin Chamber and IBM. St. cludes classroom edition of "Good to be the King." Edwards University, 3001 S. Congress, Austin. $10-$20. Contact [email protected]. For information visit www.austinchamber.org. Dec. 14 (Tues.) 7 p.m. Williamson County LP Meet- Dec. 5 (Sun.) 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Introduction to the Con- ing, Tequila Azul Restaurant, Round Rock. For infor- stitution Class with Michael Badnarik. $50, includes mation contact Dave Howard at dhoward7999 classroom edition of "Good to be the King." Contact @austin.rr.com. [email protected] for information or to register. Dec. 18 (Sat.) Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant County Activist Meetings. Time and location varies. Dec. 7 (Tues.) Travis County LP Meeting, at Mekong Contact Wes Benedict at [email protected] or 512- River Restaurant, 215 E. 6th Street, Austin. Contact Rock 442-4910. Howard at [email protected]. Jan. 11 (Tues.) 79th Texas Legislature Opens. Dec. 10 (Fri.) Medicaid: $28 Billion and Counting Policy Forum, Driskill Hotel, Austin. Speaker will be Jan. 11 (Tues.) Noon to 5 p.m. Texas Impact Legisla- Steve Moore. See www.texaspolicy.com for details. tive Training in Austin. Legislative orientation and lo- cal liaison training for individuals interested in bring- Dec. 10 (Fri.) 10:30 a.m. Campaign Finance Reform ing social action to their religious congregations. First Summit in Dallas. Wilshire Baptist Church, 4613 United Methodist Church, Austin. $20 includes lunch. Abrams Road. Billed as a discussion of the problem and For information or to register contact justice@ proposed solutions. For information call 512-472-1007 texasimpact.com or 512-472-3903. or email [email protected]. Jan. 18 (Tues.) Deadline for final financial reports Dec. 11 (Sat.) 1 p.m. SLECT Meeting, at Mekong with the Texas Ethics Commission. All statewide, state River Restaurant, 215 E. 6th Street, Austin. Contact senate and state representative candidates who did not Pat Dixon for information at tclppatjdixon mark an earlier report "final" must file. Visit the TEC @earthlink.net. online at www.ethics.state.tx.us or call 1-800-325-8506.