<div dir="ltr"><div>While I don't think that we should NOT work against bills that hurt our electoral prospects, I certainly don't believe that we should excuse our lack of success with the hurdles placed in our path by Team D and Team R. Those are the rules for the game, and until we can change them, we have to play by them and win within them. </div><div><br></div>One of the most exciting things I'm seeing in Indiana is that the short-sightedness of the GOP super-majority looks to be on its way to eliminating the mechanism that would prevent my running for office here, straight-party voting.<br><br>Something to consider: Georgia has the second-highest filing fees in the country (behind Florida), coupled with the worst ballot access laws in the country, yet has been one of our most successful state affiliates. They have elected multiple Libertarians, and offered multiple statewide candidates who earned more than a million votes. <div><br></div><div>Something else to consider: If a couple hundred dollars for municipal, county, and legislative races or a couple thousand dollars for Congressional and statewide offices is such an imposition to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot, how can we reasonably expect that our candidates raise enough money to run an effective, winning campaign? We can argue about whether money SHOULD be a factor in electoral politics, however the current landscape points to its necessity to a winning campaign. </div><div><div><br></div><div>On a tangentially-related note, I've been impressed (for the most part) with the decorum and mindfulness of this body in our interactions with one another and staff in-person, though I've noticed that we are markedly less so behind the keyboard, as we communicate via e-mail. It would be terrific to see that decorum and mindfulness extend to this list as well. :-)</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature">Brett C. Bittner<div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:brett@brettbittner.com" target="_blank">brett@brettbittner.com</a></div><div>404.492.6524</div><div><div><br></div><div>"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson</div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 4:26 PM, Scott L. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scott73@earthlink.net" target="_blank">scott73@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">First of all, most exit polls have
shown that Libertarians draw votes more or less equally from the Republicans
and Democrats. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">In fact, I would not be surprised
if I could find such a claim made by one of our Chairs, or by one of our ED’s,
over the past few years. And I agree that that is probably closer to the
truth. So I wonder why the ED is all of a sudden going back on that claim in
an effort to imply that my “strategy” helps Republicans. Remember –
filing fees also keep Green Party candidates off the ballot. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">I doubt that Republican
Legislators would try to keep Green Party candidates off the ballot.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><br>
Second of all, it is extremely inappropriate for the Executive Director of the
Libertarian Party to libel a board member by printing something about a Board
member that is maybe ¼ true. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">My strategy is not to “discourage
Libertarians from running for most partisan offices in <u></u><u></u>Texas<u></u><u></u> that they have been running for.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">My strategy is to attempt to get
our state affiliates to steer most potential candidates into running for
offices that they can win,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">after the affiliate has filled
their ballot-access-retention races.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">LP.org lists 4 elected
Libertarians in <u></u><u></u>Texas<u></u><u></u>.
All of them are in non-partisan offices. Does the Executive Director possess<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">a secret sauce that will all of a
sudden let Libertarians start winning partisan races in Texas in 2015 and 2016?<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"> Scott Lieberman<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font color="black" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font color="black" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext"> Lnc-business [mailto:<a href="mailto:lnc-business-bounces@hq.lp.org" target="_blank">lnc-business-bounces@hq.lp.org</a>] <b><span style="font-weight:bold">On Behalf Of </span></b>Wes Benedict<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, April 09, 2015
12:31 PM<span class=""><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> <a href="mailto:lnc-business@hq.lp.org" target="_blank">lnc-business@hq.lp.org</a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Lnc-business] <u></u><u></u>Texas<u></u><u></u> bill to reduce the
number of third party candidates who make it onto the ballot</span></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The Republicans and
Democrats are considered "primary nominating" parties in Texas and
pay filing fees that are intended to help cover the cost of having the state
run their primary elections, whereas parties like the Libertarians are
prohibited from participating in the primaries, but hold conventions that are
not tax-payer financed, and therefore should not have to pay filing fees.<span class=""><br>
<br>
If this bill passes, it has the dual effect of helping Republicans and also
will help Dr. Lieberman's strategy of discouraging Libertarians from running
for most partisan offices in <u></u><u></u>Texas<u></u><u></u>
that they have been running for. <u></u><u></u></span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Wes Benedict, Executive
Director<br>
</span></font><font size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt">Libertarian National
Committee, Inc.<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Sam Goldstein wrote on 4/9/2015 2:09 PM:<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Do the old parties in TX have to pay filing fees? <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Sam<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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