In the end, Sun Tzu’s advice turned out to be in the best interests of the Campaign, though not necessarily in the best interests of the Party. The Browne Campaign ran its candidate. Browne fought for delegates all the way to the 2000 Libertarian National Convention, held in Anaheim, CA over the Independence Day weekend. Browne won the nomination.
What happened on the road to Anaheim?
For the first half of 2000, Campaign spending roughly matched campaign fundraising, as seen in the following table.
| MONTH | INCOME | SPENDING | Cash on Hand, End of Month |
Total Debt End of Month |
| January | $80,202 | $110,154 | $14,717 | 0 |
| February | $118,503(f) | $115,894(fs) | $17,326 | $2,000 |
| March | $78,387(r) | $89,411(rs) | $6,301 | $4,500 |
| April | $107,358 | $68,164(as) | $45,674 | $1,000 |
| May | $94,390(m) | $116,182(ms) | $23,882 | $8,500 |
| June | $130,425(j) | $111,784(js) | $43,022 |
(f) Includes $5000 loan from the candidate.
(fs) Includes $3000 repayment to the candidate.
(r) Includes $3500 loan from the candidate.
(rs) Includes $1000 repayment to the candidate.
(as) Includes $3500 repayment to the candidate.
(m) Includes $10,000 loan from the candidate.
(ms) Includes $2500 repayment to the candidate.
(j) Includes $27,500 loan from the candidate.
(js) Includes $5000 repayment to the candidate.
Monthly campaign income ranged from $78,387 to $130,425, including candidate loans that were later repaid. Monthly campaign spending ranged from $68,164 to $116,182. Income from sources other than the candidate peaked at $113,500 in February, and declined thereafter. The campaign ended January with a shade under $15,000 in the bank. At the end of June, that total had fallen to $12,000. Campaign spending followed the same track. While income and spending both fluctuated from month to month, spending over a two-month period exclusive of loan repayments was highest in January-February ($223,000). Despite the ramp-up as the National Convention approached, spending in May-June exclusive of loan repayments was lower ($221,500) than in the first two months of the year.
January 2000
For January, the Campaign paid almost $29,000 to staff, and almost $7400 to firms owned by long-time campaign associates. Another $65,000 went to outside firms in large payments. In addition to the large payments noted below, there were substantial expenses for orthodox campaign costs such as bank and credit charges, telephones, $1900 or so per month in rent, and other office support costs. In some cases, payments for several purposes were aggregated in the FEC reports, hiding finer divisions by purpose of the spending.
In January 2000 the campaign supported nine people:
Jim Babka (salary) $4,467
Erich Covey (salary) $630
Robert DeVoil (printing, supplies, data entry) $3,001
Debra Greeson (salary) $1,445
Stuart Reges (phone, supplies, salary) $3,690
Jennifer Willis (salary) $2,000
Steve Willis (phone, office, payroll) $2,793
Perry Willis (campaign management) $7,167
Stephanie Yanik (administrative services) $4,000
TOTAL: $29,193
and four firms long associated with the campaign:
J Harris Dean Consulting $823
New Media $3,831
Optopia $1,467
Web Commanders $1,269
TOTAL: $7,399
Between them, associates of the campaign and their companies received 33.5% of all January expenditures. There were also major payments to outside groups, including:
| Polaris Productions (video productions)
Copy Right Video (videotape copies) The Firm MultiMedia (media services) Newman Communications (publicity) |
$21,000
$11,033 $1,000 $5,000 |
Seabreeze Travel $1,976
AccuMail, Inc (mailing) $10,197
Walter Karl List Brokers $5,136
Sir Speedy Printing $4,446
Libertarian National Committee (list $4,112 rental)
Merkle Mailing $1,000
TOTAL: $64,919
The first set of outside groups are associated with video productions, distribution, advertising, and other publicity efforts. The second set of outside groups are potentially related to direct-mail types of activities. Additional sums totalling over $8000 went for banking and credit card services, telephones, real estate rental and property maintenance, office furniture, and computer maintenance.
