Learning From History

Chapter Twenty Eight

Learning From History

This has been a painful book to write. For most of the past decade, (ending in 2000) our Party has been in the grip of a cabal whose working methods, principles, and objectives have been less than entirely consistent with Libertarian Principle.

Who is responsible for what happened? And what should we do about it?

A first list of responsible persons contains the people who actively participated in the events: Harry Browne, whose campaigns are in question. Browne’s 1996 campaign staff, notably co-Chair David Bergland, Campaign Manager Sharon Ayres, Michael Cloud who hired Kiana Delamare, and Jack Dean who laundered money from Browne to Willis. [From all available evidence, Ms. Delamare is blameless.] It is difficult to believe that National Chair (later National Director) Steve Dasbach was unaware of substantial aspects of the situation, as witness the published memo from Willis to Dasbach coaching Dasbach on the charges raised by Jesse Markowitz and Dean Ahmad, not to mention the extraordinarily generous arrangements Dasbach granted to Willis and other staff members. National Chair David Bergland, who protected LNC’s book purchases of Browne’s book during Browne’s 1997-2000 campaign is also responsible.

Bringing up the rear of the list are Bill Winter and Perry Willis, who took Browne’s money when offered in 1996 and later. There are a lot of Winters and Willises in the world. There are a lot of people who make statements so that other people will mail them money. Their deeds were perfectly legal: Political speech has the highest level of Constitutional protection. But this duo is a symptom, not a root cause, of our difficulties.

Invoices do not pay themselves. If Willis received money, it was because someone paid him that money. That payer is an active participant in the scandal. When you see these events referred to as the “Willis Scandal” you should realize you are seeing a smoke screen going up to protect the actual key participants. And you should realize that the person throwing up the smoke screen is another de facto participant in the scandal.

A second list of responsible persons names the people who de facto supported Browne’s actions. That list is in the hundreds.

In June, 2000 any interested observer should have recognized that Harry Browne’s Presidential campaign was in part based on interesting practices:

The ‘Campaign Thermometer’ that recorded a growing campaign warchest? There was no war chest. Money was spent almost as fast as it was received, as proven by published FEC reports available at the time.

The $750,000 in cash and pledges, sufficient to pay campaign operating expenses from Fall 2001 to the election? The cash was under $20,000. The pledges vanished without a trace, as proven by published FEC reports available at the time.

The imminent campaign shutdown with $80,000+ in debt? The actual debt was $8000+. The day of the threat, the campaign chair was cut a sizeable paycheck, as proven by published FEC reports available at the time.

The truth was out there as soon as Browne’s FEC disclosures were published. That happened in May 2000.

The 4500 volunteers? Where were they when Browne campaigned? The truth was out there for anyone who went to a state convention and opened his eyes.

The Libertarian in the street might have ignored these issues. Those Libertarians might have allowed: Wouldn’t the National Party sort everything out? Wouldn’t the National Convention and the Party’s leadership make informed judgements?

The people at the National convention are our Party’s establishment. They are the people who decide who will be our party’s nominees. They decide what our platform will be. They select the National Committee that steers our party across the electoral seas. What did they do about Browne?

A few of them did see what was happening. These are the people who supported Gene Cisewski for National Chair. These are the people who supported Don Gorman, Bumper Hornberger, Rick Tompkins, and Barry Hess for President. What about the people who voted for Harry Browne and his hand-picked National Chairs, David Bergland and James Lark? Presented with a leading Presidential candidate whose campaign was unmistakably revealed to rely on deception, the bulk of the Party Establishment stayed behind Browne in 2000. That decision must be recognized as a critical leadership failure.