Rather than trying to defend his record, in early 2000 Bergland announced that he would not seek re-election to the National Committee. [Editor: During this period, I ran repeatedly for National Chair. Each time, the Chair chose not to run for re-election. Supporters of the faction running the party played whack-a-mole to keep the National Committee in their hands.] Chapter…
Third Party Watch
It has been said that some people run for office in order To Do while others run for office in order To Be. Some people want the responsibilities of a job because having the job helps them reach their real objectives. Other people want the title of a job because the title makes them feel important. Bergland made clear he…
These claims are conclusively rejected by the Minutes of the December 12-13, 1998 LNC Meeting, held at the George Washington Inn in Washington, D.C. The Minutes are entirely explicit in showing that Project Archimedes was a project of the LNC. To quote from the very long Minutes: “National Treasurer Mark Tuniewicz said that he had referred Brick Mill Studios to…
Browne also gave Bergland direct access to LibertyWire. The 18 June 1998 mailing of LibertyWire was “An Important Message from David Bergland to Delegates to the 1998 National Convention”. In this message, Bergland laid out his substantial qualifications to be National Chair. He also made clear—by being allowed to use Browne 2000’s LibertyWire message —that he was the chosen candidate…
I report on the LNC FEC Filings for 2025. For May the LNC received $57,946 in individual contributions, of which $24,103 were itemized as per FEC regulations. It also,received $392,122 from political committees, these being transfers due to the Kennedy Victory Fund. A list of the substantial contributions during May reads: 1543.80 1543.80 1042 1000 A list of the largest…
The LNC recently received a report covering, among other things, claims the LNC funds were misappropriated and spent in ways not consistent with Party bylaws and LNC actions. I am not here speaking to the accuracy of the report’s analysis. Others have done that for me.The report then advanced the false argument that since the amount that was lost, a…
Project Archimedes was the program that the Browne campaign needed. Archimedes might or might not work, but it at least promised an opportunity to recruit vast numbers of new dues-paying members, i.e., vast numbers of potential Browne donors. As it turned out, most members were not donors. Only a small fraction of LPUS members ever donated to Browne’s campaign. Bergland…
On 6/18/2025 3:09 PM, Starchild wrote: Hi George, Since you covered the Guadalupe County LP’s action that inspired it (https://thirdpartywatch.com/2025/06/06/lp-of-guadalupe-county-tx-will-no-longer-recognize-lpnh-as-an-lp-affiliate/), I thought I’d let you formally break the news (not that it’s a huge scoop or anything) that the LPSF at our meeting adopted the same statement they did, changing replacing only the name of their group with ours.…
The 1998-2000 National Committee was to be chosen at the 1998 National Convention, held in Washington, D.C. over the 4th of July weekend. Members and supporters of the Browne campaign worked vigorously to install a sympathetic National Committee. The National Chair candidate was David Bergland, Harry Browne’s 1996 Campaign Chair. In Bergland, Browne had a highly reliable supporter who was…
Browne announced in 1997 that he needed a much larger Libertarian Party, a party that by December 1999 would number 200,000 members instead of 22,000 members. Could the Party possibly recruit 200,000 members by the end of 1999? No matter what method the National Party used, Browne’s recruitment objective appeared unattainable. On one hand, to reach Browne’s objective, the National…