Lone Star Liberty
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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. Ron Paul, 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 LibertarianStNic@yahoo.com. 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 tclppatjdixon@earthlink.net 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 Wesliberty@aol.com 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 Laura@LibertyWorks.org 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 jim@vanbeek.us 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 daniel_falconer@sbcglobal.net November 5 by the San Antonio Cur- Lew Rockwell, 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! Name :________________________________ Address:_________________________City & Zip______________ Phone (evenings):__________________Phone (day):_______________ Email: _____________________________ County:__________________ Occupation:_______________________ Employer:__________________________ ______ I can distribute Libertarian Party outreach materials. Print this form and mail to: ______ I can hold or attend a meeting in my county. ______ I can design or host a website for a candidate or county party. Libertarian Party ______ I am considering running for a local office in 2005. PO Box 27932, ______ I am interested in being an appointed County Chair. Houston, TX 77227 ______ Enclosed is a one-time contribution to help reach our goals. ______ Monthly Pledge (please bill my credit card on a monthly basis.) Amount: ____$1,000_____$250______$100_____$50_____$30_____$10 _____Other Please enclose a check or money order made payable to the Libertarian Party of Texas. (No corporate checks, please.) Or provide the following information to authorize billing to your credit card. Name on card:_________________________ Signature:_____________________ ____ Visa _____Mastercard _____American Express ____Discover Account number: ____________________ Expiration: (mm/yy)_________ Federal law requires political committees to report the name, mailing address, and occupation and name of employer for each individual whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 in a calendar year. The Libertarian Party of Texas also submits finance reports to the Texas Ethics Commission. 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.