2025 Comment: Don’t worry, it gets worse.
Finally, keep your eye on the above list of names. It may be [decades] later, and a few of the people are less visible, but many of the same people are still active in the Party. …
In the third quarter of 1995 Willis was not paid at all by the Browne campaign. No debt to Willis was reported by the Browne campaign, so Willis’s fourth-quarter 1995 payment must refer to acts performed during the fourth quarter. What did Willis do in late 1995? Why did the Campaign compensate him for travel? I recall an anecdote supplied me by Lorenzo Gaztanaga, LNC At-Large member for 2000-2002. Gaztanaga had attended a Maryland Party meeting in the early-mid 90’s. Willis appeared, and had been expected by Gaztanaga to speak on one of the party’s outstanding issues for the period. Gaztanaga recalled being deeply surprised when Willis instead spent much of his time at the podium extolling the virtues of Harry Browne as a Presidential candidate. That is indeed travel by Willis beneficial to the Browne campaign, for which Willis might have been compensated, but it is not document preparation. If Gaztanaga’s memories are accurate, and he recalls the events very clearly because he was struck by the incongruity in Willis’s remarks, Willis was able to speak because he was National Director. Willis’s use of the podium to extoll Browne was therefore effectively a use of his Party Office to endorse a candidate, yet another violation of National Committee Rules.
Willis also performed other tasks for the Browne campaign. The Browne campaign had a fundraiser in parallel with the December 1994 LNC meeting. According to Dean Ahmad’s June 2001 memo, “…Perry set up the Harry Browne event that coincided with the LNC meeting, a fact which even confused the hotel staff, which put a ‘Harry Browne’ sign up at the LNC conference room.” It appears that no member of the National Committee was curious as to why the Hotel confused the LNC staff that arranged the LNC space with the Browne staff that arranged the Browne space.
In his letter to Ahmad and Markowitz in August 1995, Dasbach asserted that Browne’s fundraisers ‘…have all been written by Michael Emerling [Cloud], with extensive input from Mr. Browne. It was not a secret that Cloud was writing letters for Browne. Dasbach claimed that Browne made extensive inputs into Emerling’s letters for Browne. How could Dasbach know this if he had remained aloof from Browne’s campaign? Mark Tuniewicz as quoted later noted that Dasbach appeared to have had a remarkable store of inside information on the Browne Campaign.
If Browne were editing his letters vigorously, it would be very difficult for Browne not to have known who was writing them. The reader may decide for himself whether it is even marginally credible that in a campaign as small as Browne’s, on an issue as critical as fundraising, that Browne would not have reviewed all aspects of fundraising letters, including approving the proposed authors before they began writing. Indeed, John Famularo has released the text of a Browne fundraising letter being vigorously edited, with comments from the editor to Perry (Willis) and Terry (Bronson). It is extremely hard to read the document without concluding that the editor speaking to Perry was Harry Browne.
Willis did not always travel to meet with Browne. In his June 2001 memo, Dean Ahmad reported “Some months before the HQ (Libertarian Party National Headquarters) move to the Watergate [GP: occurred in July 1995], Jesse Markowitz dropped by the national office and, asking to see Perry, was told that Perry was ‘in a meeting’ and could not be disturbed. Jesse had no urgent business, so he lingered doing some volunteer work. After about an hour Perry emerged from his office with Harry Browne.”
Markowitz’s observations suggest further violations of National Committee Policy by Willis and the Browne campaign. The LNC Policy manual forbade employees to “Permit LPHQ to be used by anyone at any time to aid any candidate in …any campaign for … nomination…”. Here, however, is the National Director using Party Headquarters to hold a prolonged private meeting with a candidate for the Party’s Presidential nomination. When this issue was raised by Ahmad and Markowitz with Dasbach, Dasbach claimed “Perry gave Harry Browne a tour of LPHQ when he was in Washington. There were no meetings and no campaign business discussed.” We do not know what was discussed, but by eyewitness account Willis and Browne had a prolonged private meeting in Party Headquarters, not just the guided tour claimed by Dasbach. There are also multiple reports of Browne literature being stored in the National Party HQ, contrary to LNC Policy.
Finally, according to Ahmad’s memo, Dasbach informed Ahmad and Dean that the Browne campaign bought its uses of the mailing list “Directly from the LP Office. This is standard procedure for all internal rentals, including all rentals by prospective candidates.” The significance of this statement will be clarified when we examine Browne’s 1996 FEC reports, how Browne spent his money, and how the LNC gave Browne’s nominating campaign direct financial assistance in January-June 1996.
