Where did the 1996 money go? For the same period, FEC reports reveal
1996 Post-Nomination Aggregate Expenses
Recipient Purposes Amount
Libertarian National Committee administrative and contract services $117,000
Sharon Ayres payroll, travel, supplies $57,000
Carlson Wagonlit Travel travel $47,000
Mount Vernon Printing printing $44,000
Terry Bronson payroll, travel, supplies $33,000
JH Dean consulting, travel, and Consulting supplies $29,000
Michael Cloud consulting, travel, and supplies $28,000
Harry Browne candidate reimbursement $27,000
Robert Martin payroll, travel, office supplies $24,000
Jack Williams books $23,000
PrimePay payroll and tax services $20,000
Stuart Reges consulting, reimbursement for travel $19,000
Accumail postage and mailing $18,000
Lisa Paley payroll, reimbursement $7,000
Jo Jorgenson VP campaign expenses $6,377
Debra Greeson payroll, travel, supplies $6,181
Advertising WTOP, WBZ, WKOX, WRKO $6,120
Muni Savyon mailing $4,769
Phone answering $3,329
Multiple polling $2,596
One sees that money went to staff, and to outside vendors for travel, printing, and mailing. Near the bottom of the list, $6120 was spent for a few radio ads. The Browne campaign talked about outreach, but when it came time to reach out to the public it spent one cent on the dollar.
Chapter Six Browne Launches His 2000 Campaign
1997—Browne Announces His 2000 Strategy
Browne ran for President in 1996. His campaign was, by most measures, less than successful. He finished fifth, the worst positional outcome by a Libertarian Presidential candidate in several election cycles. However, he did receive more votes than any other Libertarian Presidential candidate since Ed Clark. In 1996, then-LP National Director Perry Willis wrote of the 1996 election that LP membership had increased by more than 8500 during 1996, and concluded “…why am I making it sound like the members we recruited are so much more important that the votes we did (and did not) get? Because they are.” After the 2000 campaign, Willis would be unable to make similar claims, because in 2000 Party membership did not increase substantially.
Mutual funds warn you that past performance is no promise of future gain. The 1996 Browne campaign had given no hint of real performance, but many Libertarians were told to just imagine that Browne would do better in the future. Despite—or perhaps because of—his 1996 campaign, Browne and supporters soon made plans for a 2000 run. I can’t read the minds of the Browne staff. I don’t know what they were actually thinking. However, the Browne campaign distributed an extensive series of fund-raising letters. Many of those letters discussed campaign strategy. The letters tried to convince potential donors to support Browne and his strategy. The announced strategy may not have been the true strategy. It was, however, the strategy in which donors invested. We now know, as Libertarians did not know at the time, where Browne’s money actually went.
In early 1997, Browne launched his campaign to secure the 2000 Libertarian presidential nomination. He spoke of doing better in 2000 than he had in 1996. The new campaign would differ from the old; it would do the old things in better ways. There would be more Party members. More money. An earlier start. Browne 2000 would be a louder echo of Browne 1996, perhaps with some new bells and whistles.
