® The Party of Principle® IN SIDE Mass. LP tax repeal 3 effort goes to ballot PARTY Michigan LP lauds 4 top-of-ticket law Kentucky LP activists 10 beat emissions law LIBERTARIAN Jim Richardson aims 23 for sheriff’s office ................................................................................................................................................................ How to remedy the July 2002 The Official Monthly Newspaper of the Libertarian Party ★ Volume 31 / Issue 7 26 health care crisis Libertarians gather in Indianapolis Given America’s new political By Bill Winter LP NEWS EDITOR realities following the September ............................................... 11 terrorist attacks, the convention all it the Melee in is shaping up as a defining event in party history, said Steve Dasbach, the Middle America. Or LP’s executive director. an Adventure in Indianapolis. Or Renewed faith Cjust your Holiday in the “Every National Convention is important, of course,” he said. “But Heartland. the 2002 convention is arguably Whatever you call it, it’s the more important than most, because Libertarian National Convention it is the first — four days of debates, elections, to deal with and speeches that will define the the fall-out destiny of the Libertarian Party for from the at- the next two years. tacks on the From July 3-7, the city best known World Trade for the cheers of basketball fans and Center and the Pentagon: The War the roar of the Indy 500 car race will on Terrorism, renewed faith in gov- be transformed into the epicenter of ernment, the USA/Patriot Act, and Libertarianism in America. so on. “Delegates have an enormous Flock into the city ■ The nighttime skyline of Indianapolis, Indiana, the site of the July 3-7 Libertarian National Con- challenge in front of them. They’ve A thousand or more Libertarian vention. There, Libertarian delegates will elect party officers, debate changes to the LP platform, and hear got their hands on the Libertar- delegates from every corner of the speakers like New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, LP gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson, party founder ian Party’s steering wheel, and will nation will flock into the city, arriv- David Nolan, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), futurist David Brin, and Colorado Sheriff Bill Masters. determine where the LP goes from ing by plane, car, train, and bus. They here, and how fast, and in what will flood into the Marriott Downtown starkly different vision for the future govern its staff and officers, and the whether to metamorphose, modify, direction.” Hotel and the Indianapolis Conven- of the party. relationship between the national or maintain the party’s Platform However, the convention is not tion Center — and get to work. They will decide whether to and state organizations. — the document that serves as the all elections, politicking, and philo- Their assignment: Select among change the party’s Bylaws, the And, perhaps most crucially, they ultimate definition of what it means sophical Sturm und Drang, he said. the three announced candidates who manual that serves as the “constitu- will debate the philosophical essence to be a Libertarian Party member, Attendees will also be treated to a are vying for the influential position tion” of the party — determining of the party. Delegates will decide and shapes the party in the eyes of world-class array of libertarian speak- of LP National Chair, each offering a its structure, the ethical rules that the public. See CONVENTION Page 16 LP targets races Uncle Sam versus in the Marlboro he Libertarian Party has bent Killer Strategy.” launched the next phase of The goal is to scare other House A quick history of the ‘War on Smok- its sweeping Drug War Strat- and Senate members into backing In 1995, he filed a lawsuit against By Jonathan Trager egy, targeting five U.S. House away from their support for the War LP NEWS STAFF WRITER Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corpo- Tmembers and U.S. Senators for defeat on Drugs, said Crickenberger. ............................................... ration — the manufacturer of Lucky in the 2002 election. “Of course, our primary goal as a rady Carter, a 68-year-old Strike cigarettes — demanding that The five federal incumbents — political party is to run candidates Floridian, got rich using a the company compensate him for three Republicans and two Democrats and get them elected,” he said. “But rather unconventional his illness. — are the worst drug warriors in having the worst drug warriors go method: Smoking ciga- A five-year legal battle ensued. Washington, DC, said LP Political down at the hands of the Libertarian Grettes. Ultimately, the Florida Supreme Director Ron Crickenberger, which is Party will show that it is politically After more than 40 years of Court upheld a lower court verdict why the LP will try to bounce them dangerous for sitting Congressmen daily puffing, Carter was di- ordering the company to pay Carter from office as part of a new “Incum- See DRUG WAR Page 2 agnosed with lung cancer. See SMOKING Page 20 PAGE 2 ◆ Libertarian Party News ◆ July 2002 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ NEWS BRIEFS . Party announces targets . Steve Kubby cleared of fugitive charges . ormer California LP gubernatorial candidate . Steve Kubby has been cleared of charges . F that he violated Canadian immigration law. in . On May 10, Canadian Judge D. Shaw Dyck . Continued from Page 1 vertising, said Crickenberger. ruled that Kubby had entered Canada legally, . to oppose drug reform measures,” Overall, the party expects to . and that he is eligible to apply for Canadian . he said. spend about $100,000 on the strat- . citizenship as a political refugee. The process is . The new “spoiler effect” will be a egy, he said. expected to take at least a year. key component of the LP’s attempt to The money will be raised from . Kubby had been arrested at his British . end federal drug prohibition by 2010, current LP members and from the . Columbia residence in mid-April for growing . said Crickenberger. drug-reform movement, using direct- . medical marijuana. He was also branded as a . “If we can take out just two to mail letters and e-mail appeals, said . “fugitive” who had fled Placer County, California . six drug warriors over the next few Crickenberger. to avoid jail time for a prior drug conviction. election cycles — and get credit for Even non-Libertarian drug reform- . Kubby’s wife Michele said she felt vindicated . doing so — we can show legislators ers should support the strategy, said . by the decision. that increasing punishments for Crickenberger, because it could have . “A Canadian court has confirmed that Steve is not a fugitive, and . nonviolent drug users is not what the a chilling effect on the willingness . I think the Canadian police and courts now recognize that they were . public wants,” he said. “I believe this of other politicians to continue to . lied to by Placer County officials,” she said. is an issue where public opinion is support the War on Drugs. At the hearing, the Canadian Immigration Service argued that . beginning to turn in our direction.” “It is important not only to defeat . Kubby should be immediately deported to the U.S. to face a 120-day . The five politicians targeted in some of the worst drug warriors, but . jail term, a sentence ordered by a California judge in July 2001. the 2002 election are U.S. Rep. Bob ■ U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA): to defeat them because they are drug . But Kubby’s attorney, Alex Stojicevic, said because U.S. prison of- . Barr (R-GA), U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla “People find it unconscionable warriors,” he said. “Our goal is for . ficials block access to medical marijuana, deporting Kubby to serve his . (R-TX), Senator Max Cleland (D-GA), that drug warriors like Barr some of the worst drug warriors to . jail term would put his life at risk. Kubby suffers from adrenal cancer, . Senator Tim Hutchison (R-AR), and have continued their attack on wander the halls of Congress in 2003 . and uses medical marijuana under a doctor’s recommendation. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). sick patients,” said LP Political as lobbyists, and say to their former . “Mr. Kubby is a member of a particular social group who are being . The five were selected according Director Ron Crickenberger. colleagues, ‘The reason I lost was . persecuted in the U.S.,” said Stojicevic. “As such, he is entitled to ap- . to three criteria, said Crickenberger. because of the Libertarian Party and . ply as a political refugee under the U.N. Convention.” . ■ First, the politician had to be The LP will run targeted advertise- those damn drug reformers.’ ” . Judge Dyck agreed, and Kubby was released. He still faces a Cana- . “one of the worst in Congress on ments focusing on one aspect of the . dian drug hearing for illegally growing medical marijuana. the drug issue,” as measured by the . drug reform agenda that has broad Generic TV ads . number of pro-Drug War bills he public support, said Crickenberger: In addition to the targeted rac- . Planned Atlas Shrugged mini- . sponsored over the last three legisla- Medical marijuana. es, the LP is developing a generic . tive sessions. “In the wake of September 11, a medical-marijuana television ad- . series in limbo . ■ Second, the politician had to lot of people find it unconscionable vertisement for use by Libertarian . be in a tight race, so the Libertarian that drug warriors like Barr have candidates, said Crickenberger, and . plan to turn Ayn Rand’s epic novel Atlas . Shrugged into a miniseries for Turner . Party will have a reasonable chance continued their attacks on sick pa- a “briefing booklet” for LP candi- . A Network Television (TNT) has been can- . to affect the outcome. tients,” he said. “Most people oppose dates to use against pro-Drug War .