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:
1) The author has been in close contact with Richard Watras, Jr., chair of the Massachusetts Browne volunteer group. Mr. Watras allowed me to examine the complete roster of Browne volunteers in Massachusetts, all one dozen of them. Watras estimated that when it came time to do work, he had four real volunteers who were actually prepared to be active in Massachusetts.
Watras was also the appointed head of the Browne New Hampshire volunteer organization, because—he noted— Browne had not a single active volunteer in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has long been a hotbed of Libertarian activity. However, after Browne’s 1996 campaign, Browne had few supporters among New Hampshire activists.
Based upon the Massachusetts-New Hampshire sample, from two states that have historically been strongholds of the Libertarian Party, the Browne Campaign appears to have had around one nominal volunteer per Congressional District, or perhaps 500 nationwide, and rather fewer active volunteers.
2) Libertarian Presidential candidate Donald Gorman went coast to coast to Libertarian state conventions. At each convention he looked for Browne volunteers: people handing out brochures, holding signs, shaking hands—doing things you expect volunteers to do. Four thousand volunteers represents nearly ten per Congressional District, at least some of whom would be expected to show up voluntarily at their state convention to see their candidate. Almost without exception, Gorman only saw members of the Browne paid staff working the convention crowds.
3) After the National convention, Browne was the nominee. There were then ballot access crises in Arizona, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. The Libertarian National Committee overcame these problems the American way, by burying them in money, spending a half-million dollars rather than the budgeted $100,000. In each case, there was a need for volunteers or paid petitioners to collect signatures to get ballot access for Browne. The campaign was repeatedly and publicly called upon by prominent Libertarian activists to ask its volunteers to help in the effort. After all, during the Illinois ballot access crisis two years earlier, Libertarians had travelled across the country to help their Libertarian brethren in Illinois. Wouldn’t at least a few of the 4600 Browne volunteers have travelled as far as their supermarket to help their man?
The campaign said not a word. It never asked its volunteers to raise a finger to help Browne get on the ballot in Pennsylvania, Arizona, or anywhere else.
The silence from the campaign is very difficult to understand if the volunteers actually existed. 4600 volunteers is an average of 10 volunteers per Congressional District. Even if few of them collected many signatures, in Summer 2000 petitioners were charging $1-3 each for valid signatures. Every dollar spent on collecting signatures was a dollar less available for advertising and other activities.
The silence is very easy to understand if: There were in fact far fewer than 4600 volunteers. The campaign knew that in fact there were far fewer than 4600 volunteers. The campaign realized that a failed mobilization call would reveal to the Libertarian community that the 4600 volunteers were a campaign gimmick. Popping the bubble on the estimated count of volunteers might have popped the fundraising bubble.
Whatever the actual reasons, Browne’s volunteers were never asked to help Browne with ballot access.
During the month leading up to the National Convention, the campaign’s associates received almost $35,000, while a firm connected with associates received almost $6,300, Campaign associates and their firms thus received slightly less than 40% of the campaign’s contributions for June. Those contributions amounted to $103,000, counting a $10,000 contribution by the candidate. The campaign borrowed a further $27,500 from the candidate, leaving it on June 30, 2000 with $43,000 in cash on hand, and $31,000 in debts to the candidate.
For June, associates of the campaign received:
Jim Babka $4,908
Barbara Braun $500
Robert Brunner $3,376
Erich Covey $306
Robert DeVoil $4,912
Ryan Goldfinger $688
Debra Greeson $2,992
Stuart Reges $3,000
Jennifer Willis $2,000
Steve Willis $3,542
Perry Willis $4,334
Stephanie Yanik $4,300
TOTAL: $34,858
while a firm connected with the traditional associates received almost $6300, namely:
Optopia $6,279
Major disbursements to vendors were:
Polaris Publications $13,000
Liam Works $10,000
Seabreeze Travel $6,058
Talent Dynamics (media training) $5,500
William J Olson (legal) $5,000
Newman Communications $4,666
Libertarian National Committee (list rental) $4,458
The candidate was given $1035 for various expenses and $5000 toward repayment of his loans. Various telephone companies and an answering service received approximately $5700.
