We can find out what the thermometer meant by comparing it with Browne’s FEC reports. The thermometer matches the amount of money that had been raised by the Browne campaign, not how much had been saved. Browne’s money went out the door almost as fast as it was raised. For most of the campaign, the meaning of the thermometer remained…
Third Party Watch
Chapter Ten $1,000,000 by 2000 In early 1997, Harry Browne had identified two specific requirements for launching a good campaign: National Party membership needed to increase from 27,000 to 200,000. By January 2000, the Browne campaign needed to have a million dollars cash on hand for a significant advertising campaign. At the end of 1999, Party membership was only 33,000.…
On Where the Party Ends by Nick Sarwark It’s time for the Libertarian Party to become intolerant of bigotry as the Republican Party embraces it. One of the unsung heroes of the Libertarian Party is Keith Thompson. He is a brilliant graphic artist who distills libertarian values into powerful images for the Libertarian Party of Louisiana. Keith Thompson does some…
We report their half-year financials: LAMA (the Liberal Party Associate) raised $1,965.00 spent $998.31 and has $1,753.12 in its Federal account. Spending included $319 for its State Convention and $257 for postage. Liberty Tree (the state PAC of the Liberal Party associate) raised $0, spent $0, and has $1,673.47 in its state account. Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts (the LNC affiliate)…
On the brighter side, it had been anticipated that many new members would not renew their memberships after their first year. The wave that had swept party membership up from 27,000 to 33,000 might have receded, taking Party membership with it. Perhaps because the Browne 2000 Presidential campaign did bring some new members, during 2000 there was no significant change…
Of particular interest: A motion from Mr. Chadderdon “That this Board adopt the following resolution: Resolved, that a committee comprised of members willing and able to serve be appointed by the Libertarian National Committee to investigate allegations of misconduct by At-Large Representative Adrian F Malagon, which, if true, cast doubt on his fitness to continue in office, and that the…
We continue with a coverage of turn-of-the-millennium Libertarian Politics, as taken from my book Funding Liberty (Third Millennium Press 3mpub.com, 2003). Do those events matter? We seem to be recycling the same not-necessarily-bad ideas with some of the same good Libertarians running things. Did Project Archimedes succeed? In one word: No. The National Party never reached 50,000 members, let alone…
We continue with a coverage of turn-of-the-millennium Libertarian Politics, as taken from my book Funding Liberty (Third Millennium Press 3mpub.com, 2003). Chapter Nine Project Archimedes The ancient philosopher Archimedes is said to have written ‘give me a long enough lever, and a place to rest it, and I shall move the world’. Archimedes is sometimes also associated with the law…
Finally, Dasbach’s memo discussed the National Committee’s payments to Optopia and Liam Works. In April 1998 the National Committee purchased more than 900 copies of “Why Government Doesn’t Work” using Optopia as the vendor. These copies were personally autographed by Harry Browne for use as a premium—a gift that the party sends to donors to thank them for their generosity.…
The size of the ‘management fee’ is anomalous. On one hand, in Summer 1996 then-Party-Chair Steve Dasbach claimed to Dean Ahmad and Jesse Markowitz that Willis had been paid to produce a ‘document’ for Browne and that Willis produced Browne’s document “…on his own time and he was paid market rate for the work.” This document for the Browne campaign…