[Lnc-business] Fwd: LNC Contact Form - 23 PA wins – Wes Benedict & Chuck Moulton comments

[Elizabeth Van Horn]

Forwarding to the public LNC email list with permission from Wes
Benedict and Chuck Moulton. 

---
Elizabeth Van Horn 

-------- Original Message -------- 

 		Contact all LNC members

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 		SUBJECT

 		23 PA wins - Wes Benedict & Chuck Moulton comments

 		AFFILIATE

 		Pennsylvania

 		NAME

 		Wes Benedict

 		EMAIL

 		wesbenedict at gmail.com

 		PHONE

 		(512) 659-8896

 		STATE

 		Texas

 		ADDRESS

 United States
Map It [1] 

 		MESSAGE

 Subject: 23 PA wins - Wes Benedict & Chuck Moulton comments

In addition to celebrating and taking some credit for the 23 wins in
Pennsylvania, I wanted to provide some background to make sure
Libertarians don't learn the wrong lessons from the PA success.

That's because I'm a big fan of winning "winnable" races, and I'm also
for running for offices you're unlikely to win so you can promote
libertarian policies. 

Pennsylvania has a unique situation where the deadline for Republicans
and Democrats to file for the primary ballot is in March. Sometimes,
mostly in small races, no R or D files. The primary happens in May. If
no R or D files, and if no write-in candidate gets at least 10 votes in
the primary, that leaves an opportunity for Libertarians. Once primary
election results are posted in June, third party and independent
candidates can see which races have no R, D, or successful write-in
candidates, and have until August 1 to file. Often, if a Libertarian
files for one of those races, the Libertarian is the only candidate on
the ballot and usually wins the general election. 

That's how we got 23 Libertarians to win partisan races on November 5,
2019. Several additional Libertarians likely won via write-in campaigns
as well.

I don't know of any other state that has this situation like
Pennsylvania where the deadline for Libertarians to file is after the
deadline for D's and R's so that it's easy to run unopposed. 

Additionally, Pennsylvania has lots of government and many more elected
offices (all partisan, I think) than most states. In Texas, for example,
you can live outside of any city limits or municipal area, called the
"unincorporated area" of a county. While you are subject to the county
government, if you're in an unincorporated area, there's not an
additional city or town government, and therefore, not a local council
to position to run for. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, has a municipal
government for all of its land, often called boroughs and townships in
the more rural areas. Offices in these rural, low-population areas are
the ones Libertarians often get to run for unopposed. 

I'm proud of the 23 Pennsylvania Libertarians who won uncontested races
on November 5, 2019, and I hope we're able to win even more in the
future. We sent over 3,000 letters to registered Libertarian in PA to
recruit those 23 winning candidates. 

Chuck Moulton suggested the project to me. Please see his positive
comments about my efforts further down below. (I asked him to write up
something positive about me to help me get support for more projects in
the future. I'm very thankful he wrote up something so nice.) A
colleague of mine, Arthur DiBianca, helped with a lot of the database
work. I also did a lot of database work, wrote the letter, and prepared
the mail merges in PDF format, and followed up with leads with detailed
filing instructions. PA Vice Chair Jenn Moore organized or personally
did most of the printing and mailing of the letters, including paying
for most of the postage. The Libertarian Booster PAC did not spend funds
on this effort. I did spend my time on it.

Here's the letter I wrote https://tinyurl.com/y3f6waa9

I'll be recruiting candidates in Texas for the 2020 elections. I want
Texans to realize that what works in Pennsylvania won't work in Texas
due to the different election laws. It's not because Texas Libertarians
are too radical, too lazy, or that Texas voters are different. 

I'm pretty sure Libertarians in Pennsylvania have won more partisan
elections than Libertarians in all other 49 states combined. Texas
Libertarians have never won and served in a partisan office. Texas
Libertarians won a couple obscure elections unopposed, for something
called "weigher," but the position was eliminated before the candidates
actually served.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I could get 100 Libertarians elected to
partisan offices in Pennsylvania more easily than I could get one
Libertarian elected to a partisan office in Texas. 

Texas Libertarians do win non-partisan races like city councils. Five
Libertarians currently serve in non-partisan offices in Texas. All are
in small cities or small districts in larger cities. Most Texans don't
live in small cities or places with small districts so most Texans don't
have small non-partisan races to run for. I once ran for an at-large
position for Austin City Council and got 35%, but that was an anomaly.
Most Libertarians, including myself, are unlikely to run in a big city
like Austin and win, or even get 35% of the vote.

The vast majority of Libertarians in Texas live in medium or big cities.
What are they to do? 

They could help people in small towns run for winnable races, but even
that has limitations. Most people that win local races in small towns
win by personally meeting with voters and organizations. They spend less
than $1,000. Lots of out of town money and volunteers is just as likely
to raise red flags and turn off voters as it is to help someone win.
Plus, many Texans aren't willing to drive a long way, daily, to help
someone in a small town.

Big City Texans could send all of their donations to the LP Pennsylvania
or donate to me or my PAC for my efforts in other states. But, something
tells me that's not likely to be a big hit.

What I want to see Big City Texans do is run for partisan offices even
knowing that they probably won't win, and they should do it to promote
Libertarian policies. 

Taking it a step further, I wish Libertarians running for unwinnable
partisan races would be honest with themselves about their chances of
winning. I've seen so many Libertarians run for partisan offices,
sometimes even getting higher percentages than the average Libertarian,
but lose, and then report how surprised and disappointed they are. We
can debate the merits of admitting to the public we know we're going to
lose, but I wish we could at least be honest with ourselves most of the
time. Over the years, when I've admitted Libertarians would almost
certainly lose an election, I often get a lot of irate feedback from a
few Libertarians. Yet I often wonder whether Libertarians might actually
get higher vote percentages and be even more effective if we proclaimed
proudly and publicly "Yes, I'm going to lose, but here's why you should
vote for me anyway." 

I've personally recruited several hundred Libertarian candidates and
have probably communicated with well over a thousand. I'm pretty sure
I've had well over a hundred tell me something along the lines of "I'm
not like other candidates. I'm serious and I'm going to win." It's rare
for me to bluntly say "I don't think you're going to win." More likely,
I'll hint at it. "Great. Libertarians have never won a race for U.S.
Congress. You'll certainly be a hero when you win." 

I encourage Libertarians to run for office, but I don't want to con them
into thinking they can win something that practically everybody knows
they won't win. 

Candidates who are accurate and honest with themselves about their
chances of winning tend to be the ones who stick around the Libertarian
Party after election day. Candidates who know they're running for
unwinnable offices are often better about getting a good Libertarian
message out. Losing a race but changing some hearts and minds does more
than losing with a weak message. 

More comments from Chuck below. -Wes Benedict

===Comments from Chuck Moulton===
I have been aware for over a decade that a quirk in the Pennsylvania
election law (Libertarian filing deadline months after the Republican
and Democrat filing deadline) could be exploited to elect a lot of
partisan Libertarians to local office. Despite sharing my plan
frequently with anyone who I thought could help, no one stepped
forward... consigning it as a solo dream limited my my own time
constraints. Several election cycles I shared a list of openings at
county meetings resulting in a few elected officials (if someone at the
meeting happened to live in a municipality I highlighted), but it
remained largely a missed opportunity.

Then Wes Benedict answered my call. He was excited by my plan, bringing
both enthusiasm and a suite of useful skills to the project. Wes wrote a
captivating recruitment letter and mail merged the list of opportunities
with the list of registered voters (over 3,000 letters sent). Whereas
some of the other organizers had limited time to respond to the many
voicemails left by prospects inquiring about the letter (my phone was
ringing off the hook for weeks!!), Wes was available 9 am - 9 pm by
phone and email to answer questions, vet candidates, and walk them
through the process in more detail.

After that he got each candidate his or her paperwork as a printable PDF
pre-filled in with all the information we had. He helped stack
candidates from the same district on nomination papers and get them in
touch with each other to coordinate petitioning. Then he followed up
with people and lined up alternative candidates when anyone dropped out.
Wes even contacted the board of elections in multiple counties to get
appropriate forms, double check procedures, and get signature
requirements for each office. On top of all of that, he personally
looked up petition signers in the database to verify candidates'
signature validity rates!

Without the help of Wes, Art, and the Booster PAC, the great success we
achieved electing Libertarians in Pennsylvania 2019 would not have been
possible. I hope he helps again in 2021 and we can start earlier to
expand our reach to every county instead of less than 1/5 of the state.
Wes is a huge asset to libertarianism. I hope through generous donations
he is able to continue devoting his time to this great cause.

-Chuck Moulton 

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