I made a phone call to Allen Hacker to discuss the situation. Allen explained to me some of the specifics about the Portland convention where the National LP had not delivered all of the services associated with the agreements from the Badnarik campaign to contribute thousands of dollars towards the expense of the convention.

On the other hand, the Badnarik campaign’s participation in the convention did help pay for significant amounts of the convention and had they not participated at all, the convention would have probably experienced even greater losses than the tens of thousands it lost. I explained this to some LNC members privately and that’s probably partly why the LNC decided to proceed with a deal as described elsewhere.

I also mentioned how other past LP presidential candidates, all of whom had made considerable sacrifices to run for office, subsequently were demonized for this or that and that we shouldn’t dwell on every past mistake, but learn from the experience and move on, hopefully in a way that keeps our past candidates supportive of the Libertarian Party in the future.

Very few campaigns go exactly as planned. I am not an apologist for the Badnarik campaigns. I was one of only 3 or 4 Texans who voted for Aaron Russo or Nolan instead of Badnarik for President in Atlanta, despite considering Badnarik to be a personal friend and one heck of a libertarian warrior from my hometown of Austin, TX.

I recognize lots went wrong with the Badnarik for Congress campaign, but I have to give Allen and Badnarik credit for doing their best and putting their hearts, souls, and reputations on the line for a monumental challenge.

I wish Arin Sime the best. I respect his forthrightness about his chances of winning while also providing us with a hopeful scenario for victory. I already consider Sime’s campaign a success regardless of the ultimate outcome of his election.

Austin Cassidy has made his predictions about the campaign, and we’ll be able to judge Austin’s wisdom at the appropriate time. At the risk of offending everyone I was just praising and defending, I expect Arin Sime to be the Anti-Austin Cassidy.

I thought you could make millions of dollars if you weren’t working on the campaign? What happened to all your secret billion dollar corporate consulting clients?

And how’s the campaign book coming? I’ve been eagerly waiting for it.

I normally don’t reply to anonymous posters; if you won’t say who you are (even if some people already know), then your credibility is automatically supect. Further, I wish to respect Austin’s request at the opeing of this topic, so this will be my last reply to this thread.

You are incorrect on all three of the points you assert. What we understood ourselves to be buying was not delivered; LNC can not be paid until a correct invoice is received; not one contributor restricted his/her contribution to paying the LNC, so the money that came in was used to pay whatever was valid and payable at the time received, including continuing hard operating costs.

I am at the CLC in Reno-Sarks NV right now, and have had several conversations with LNC members and staff. It has become clear to me that there have been some communication failures that probably put some or most LNC members out of the loop on the negotiations, but these were not mine, unless we included my not getting that “It would be good if you could come to our next meeting and discuss this,” was intended to be a direct invitation. Sorry, it didn’t sound like one, and this campaign had bankrupted me temporarily, so I didn’t go.

There are way too many experts with way to much inaccurate or missing information behind their pronouncements in this matter. I ask that anyone not directly involved in a discussion with me refrain from assuming that s/he knows everything that transpired. There have been a lot of lies told, some even from elsewhere inside the campaign, and only embarrassment can follow any misguided reliance or jumping to conclusions.

Otherwise, Austin and Tom are fine in being concerned about the effects of B4C on current and future races. Although, that effect may change drastically as public understanding changes.

I thank you all for your restraint in the meanwhile.

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The renegotiation was not due to the services not having occurred. It was because you offered $2500 and they wanted t close the matter, seeing no prospects of collecting the remaining money. Incidentally, I should mention that you put the LNC dead last on the list of people to be paid past due bills and ignored the wishes of donors who gave you money after the campaign was over specifically to settle the debt to the LNC.

I agree with Austin that Sime is doing everything right which your campaign did wrong. I haven’t checked how old Sime is, but if he is constitutionally qualified, maybe there should be an attempt to draft him for President once this campaign is over, and then he can likely win the next legislative race if he does not win this one, or maybe position himself for a competitive race for US House (Carl’s idea is a good one, even if badnarik was a really bad test case). Sime sounds better to me than the current crop of LP candidates, which is the weakest field I can remember in the history of the party. He probably won’t want to take the time out traveling around the country with all his community involvement, though.

Carl, since we have you here: are you planning to start a new party or not? I read one piece of yours from 9/5 which indicated you would, but another letter from the same day said you were joining the Republicans?

The Badnarik campaign owes the LNC $2500, not $8500. The number is different because of a renegotiation following a determination that some of the services billed for did not occur.

The situation is amicable.

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http://quiz2d.com/essays/lfa/RealisticVision.pdf

Then again, in all humility, in this same essay (first run around 2002) I suggested that running a former presidential candidate down-ticket was also a good strategy for focusing resources. The first try of that strategy didn’t work out so well. But I was talking state house, not U.S. Congress, so I am partly off the hook…
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Reminder folks, it takes time to make media buys! The election is this November. Donate soon if you are going to donate!

http://thirdpartywatch.com/2007/10/09/our-interview-with-arin-sime-a-libertarian-candidate-for-virginia-state-senate/