[Lnc-business] LP Donation to Mark Miller Campaign

Mon Sep 19 11:03:48 EDT 2016

Daniel,

This is excellent and well thought-out.  I am eager to support a proposal
moving in this direction.

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org/>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org/>

On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:51 AM, Whitney Bilyeu <whitneycb76 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Daniel, this is a welcomed, and unexpected, gesture.  As I disclosed to
> this body in June, I have been serving as Mark Miller's Gulf Coast Regional
> Coordinator since 2015.  I don't just want Mark to secure 5% of the vote
> for ballot access - I want Mark to win.  We all stand to benefit from the
> momentum Mark's campaign has right now.  Expanding Mark's reach will have a
> major positive impact on future politics/policies across Texas, where so
> much is at stake.
>
> Whitney Bilyeu
> Region 7 Representative
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Daniel Hayes <danielehayes at icloud.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Mr. Chairman and fellow LNC members,
>>
>>
>> We have been asked to make donations recently to certain campaigns.
>> Despite having more money to do so than in the past, we clearly don't have
>> the means, time or frankly, even the desire to donate to every person's
>> campaign that is running as a Libertarian.  We need to develop some
>> criteria to apply to the process to make it as fair and efficient as we
>> possibly can.    I think that there should be implications of the campaign
>> beyond just electing that one person to office.
>>
>>
>>
>> I intend to bring or support a motion for the NLP/LNC to donate funds to
>> Mark Miller's campaign for Railroad Commissioner in Texas.  What's at stake
>> is ballot access in Texas.  If they do not have a statewide candidate
>> achieve 5% in this election, they lose their current ballot access and with
>> the size of Texas, it will likely cost us multiple 6 figures getting it
>> back.  At present Dr. Miller's campaign is the only one that could be
>> considered more than a paper candidacy.  As we had been having discussions
>> about which campaigns should the LNC be donating to, it crossed my mind
>> that Mark Miller's was exactly the sort we should be lending assistance
>> to.  It also occurred to me that we might be hearing a little less about it
>> than we might because his campaign manager is also our Special Projects
>> Director, Lauren Daugherty and I know she works very hard to try and keep
>> those roles separated.
>>
>> Making it brief, Mark Miller has raised significant money already, his
>> campaign stands to benefit the whole TX Affiliate and save it and the NLP a
>> LOT of money, he is highly qualified for the job,  he has gotten major
>> endorsements.
>>
>> With that in mind I reached out to Lauren yesterday.  Apparently, some
>> other people were having some of the same thoughts at the same time.
>> Here is Lauren's response to my inquiry.
>>
>> "
>>
>> Mark Miller is an exceptional candidate. He’s highly qualified for the
>> position he’s seeking and more qualified (by far) than his 3 opponents. If
>> he was elected, he would be well prepared to serve. He’s been a Libertarian
>> since the 1970s and is well versed on Libertarianism and able to
>> communicate Libertarian ideas well. And, he’s also a solid leader. He’s
>> well liked, kind, and personable. Rarely do we find candidates of any party
>> that are so well rounded.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark’s race is the top of the ticket in Texas this cycle. The Texas
>> Railroad Commission is one of the most powerful agencies in Texas. It
>> regulates oil and gas and has nothing to do with railroads. In Texas, oil &
>> gas often trump property rights. It’s messy and outrageous and will make
>> any normal human being hopping mad if they look into it. Mark is outspoken
>> about protecting property rights.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark has a PhD from Stanford in petroleum engineering and has spent over
>> 40 years in the industry. In contrast, none of his opponents have worked
>> one day in oil & gas.
>>
>>
>>
>> For the Libertarian Party of Texas to retain ballot access for 2018, we
>> need one statewide candidate to achieve 5% of the vote. This cycle, the
>> only statewide candidates on ballots in Texas are Railroad Commission
>> (Mark’s race) and judicial races. Almost all of our judicial candidates
>> this year are “paper candidates”. Mark is running the most active campaign,
>> by far.
>>
>>
>>
>> We started this campaign 1 and a half years ago, when I left employment
>> with LPTexas. We’ve raised over $70k so far and received 2 of the biggest
>> media endorsements in Libertarian history. I expect that we’ll break $100k
>> within the next 2 weeks. Mark is a full-time candidate. We anticipate that
>> he’ll very likely get more media endorsements over the coming weeks. He’s
>> talking with reporters almost daily and traveling extensively.
>>
>>
>>
>> We’ve just started robo calls to strategic areas and will have mailers
>> promoting our endorsements starting in the next few days. We are planning a
>> major radio buy that will flood the talk radio airwaves across Texas with
>> Mark’s name and info on his endorsements and the LP for 2 weeks before
>> early voting begins. This will cost $50k and we think this is critical to
>> achieving the 5% needed to ensure ballot access. We’ve raised approximately
>> $30k towards this so far and we expect to receive the final funding on that
>> within the next week.
>>
>>
>>
>> If we are unable to achieve the 5% needed to secure ballot access, it
>> will take approximately 80,000 verified signatures to regain ballot access.
>> I’m told we’d need to shoot for approximately 125,000 signatures or more to
>> make sure we have enough “good” signatures. In Texas, if someone votes in a
>> primary, they are not eligible to sign a ballot access petition and this
>> makes it more difficult. The signatures would have to be gathered within a
>> 75 day window. Experts tell me that this would likely cost between $250,000
>> and $500,000.
>>
>>
>>
>> In my opinion, it is far better to spend money now, promoting an
>> exceptional candidate, rather than having to scramble to raise even more
>> money to regain ballot access in 2018 or 2020. I know the fundraising
>> situation in Texas better than anyone. If we lose ballot access, it will
>> likely be 2020 before we can afford to regain it.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark is a candidate that makes us all extra proud to be Libertarians.
>> He’s highly qualified, and skilled communicator, and represents us very
>> well. He can walk into a room of people who are skeptical or even of the
>> Libertarian Party and when he walks out, they respect us and many support
>> us.
>>
>>
>> Here are our goals for Mark’s campaign: 1) achieve 5% (or far more!) of
>> the vote in order to retain ballot access for 2018; 2) grow the Libertarian
>> Party. Mark’s a team player. We are promoting Libertarians up and down the
>> ballot whenever we can."
>>
>> "
>>
>> If the LNC donates to Mark’s campaign, we’d use the money on radio buys,
>> and/or carefully targeted robo calls, and/or large postcard to strategic
>> areas, educating voters about the endorsements, Mark’s credentials, and the
>> LP.
>>
>>
>>
>> I think the max that the LNC could give Mark’s campaign directly, by law,
>> is $5k. My understanding, based on what Bob Johnston has told me, is that
>> if the LNC wanted to give more, they could donate it to LPTexas (which is
>> currently an FEC filing entity) with the understanding that LPTexas would
>> then donate the funds to the campaign. LPTexas receives directed donations
>> regularly and I don’t foresee any problem with working with them in this
>> way. One SLEC member said in the SLEC meeting yesterday that “Mark is our
>> shining star”. SLEC, the officers, and key players, all agree and I think
>> they’d be delighted to help in this way.
>>
>>
>>
>> Folks can read more about Mark here: miller4tx.com"
>>
>> "
>>
>>
>>
>> "Thank you for considering supporting his campaign. If anyone would like
>> to talk with me directly, they can call/text me at 931 249 9924 or email
>> me at lauren at miller4tx.com"
>>
>>
>>
>> Here are some links she sent to me also:
>>
>>
>> http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/recommendations/arti
>> cle/For-the-RRC-9206271.php?t=76087424ea438d9cbb
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160915-we-
>> recommend-mark-miller-for-texas-railroad-commissioner.ece
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Daniel Hayes
>> LNC At Large Member
>>
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>> ...
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>> [Message clipped]
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>>
>>
>
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>
>

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
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