Last updated on August 9, 2025
Excerpted from my book Funding Liberty, for sale from Third Millennium, 3mpub.com
May, Continued.
In total, during May the associates of the campaign received more than $30,000, while firms connected with associates received almost $12,600, for a total of 37% of campaign spending of $116,182. For the month, the campaign received more than $94,000, spending down its cash on hand until on May 30 it had less than $24,000 on hand. The campaign began the month $1000 in debt to the candidate, borrowed and made partial repayments, and ended the month with $8500 in debt and obligations, all to the candidate.
Payments to associates, including both salary and other expenses, included:
Jim Babka $4,000
Barbara Braun $1,185
Robert Brunner $3,750
Erich Covey $138
Robert DeVoil $3,874
Debra Greeson $2,284
Stuart Reges $3,500
Jennifer Willis $2,000
Steve Willis $2,500
Perry Willis $4,500
Stephanie Yanik $2,500
TOTAL: $30,231
while firms connected with the traditional associates received almost $12,600, namely:
New Media $4,000
Optopia $2,286
Web Commanders $6,310
TOTAL: $12,596
Other major expenses for the month included:
Accumail $14,470
Polaris Productions $10,000
Liam Works $10,000
Newman Communications $9,333
Mount Vernon Printing $7,105
The Firm Multimedia $3,874
Walter Karl $2,575
Bank and credit card charges $2,744
Seabreeze Travel $2,111
Phone $2,054
In addition, the candidate himself received $2353 for travel, phone, supplies, and related expenses and $2500 in repayment on loans to the campaign.
June 2000 “Is There a Volunteer in the House?”
Harry Browne wrote in the June 24 LibertyWire about his June spending, saying “A number of our over-worked and underpaid staff people are going without pay again to keep things moving. My campaign manager has been juggling his own bills and delaying his own pay, trying to make money available to purchase ads the week after the convention.” Contrary to Browne’s claims, every one of Browne’s regular staffers is reported as being paid in June. Payments to the Campaign’s staff were larger in June than in any prior month of 2000.
In late June, the Browne campaign trumpeted its supposed accomplishments, including producing four one-minute television commercials and a 30 minute infomercial, generating a new book “The Great Libertarian Offer”, and recruiting and organizing 4600 volunteers. The 30-minute infomercial proved to be highly resistant to distribution over the airwaves. The book had just appeared. Curiously, not a word was said about the FEC lawsuit, for which $25,000 had been set aside in the Trust account. What happened to the lawsuit? Wait a month.
And the volunteers?
There are strong reasons to suppose that the claimed volunteers were not what they sounded like, though it may well be that there was some definition of ‘volunteer’ under which that number of volunteers were out there:
