Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Jim Gray is scheduled to speak at the University of Connecticut at Storrs on Sept. 20, his campaign announced this week.

Gray, who was a judge from 1989 to 2010 on the Orange County, California Superior Court, is scheduled to headline a speakers program that will last from noon to 1:30 p.m. in UConns Homer Babbidge Library. The program is free and open to the public.

Gray is best known for his outspoken support for eliminating harsh punishments for victimless crimes. He is No. 2 on the ticket headed by former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, who visited Norwich and New London earlier this year.

For more information, contact Johnsons Connecticut campaign co-director Joshua Katz at (516) 476-0055 or email him at JAlanKatz@gmail.com.

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Libertarian Party VP candidate to speak at UConn on Sept. 20

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will be on the Iowa ballot in November.

Polk County District Court Judge Arthur Gamble says in a ruling filed Tuesday that Libertarians fulfilled legal requirements to get their candidate on the ballot.

Two Iowa voters last week asked Gamble to review the decision of a panel of three state officials that allowed Johnson on the ballot. The panel said in its decision that Iowa's law isn't clear in its definition of a caucus.

Libertarians say they held a caucus at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson the ballot. The challengers say there was no caucus.

The challengers decided not to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

A spokesman for Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz says Johnson has been certified to the ballot.

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Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson on Iowa Ballot in November

RICHMOND, Va. --

The Republican Party of Virginia is challenging the ballot qualifications of the Constitution Party and Libertarian Party nominees for president, marking the latest twist in the high-stakes battle for Virginia's 13 electoral votes.

The State Board of Elections, meeting this morning, is scheduled to announce which presidential candidates qualified in Virginia for the Nov. 6 election and to determine the ballot order.

The meeting likely will take on a dramatic tone with former Virginia Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., the Constitution Party nominee, planning to appear in person to rebut the Republicans' claims.

"We believe the Republicans, in particular, are worried about this state and anything that would affect the balance in this state," said Mitch Turner, chairman of the Constitution Party of Virginia.

Turner said the Republicans "probably rightly believe" that Goode would take more votes from Republicans than from Democrats, though Turner believes the Constitution Party also has appeal for Democratic voters.

A spokesman for the state GOP was not immediately available to respond to Turner's comments.

In order to qualify for the presidential ballot in Virginia, a candidate must amass at least 10,000 valid signatures, including at least 400 from each of the 11 congressional districts.

On behalf of the state Republican Party, Christopher R. Nolen, a lawyer for McGuireWoods, sent a 28-page document, dated Thursday, to Charles Judd, chairman of the State Board of Elections, challenging Goode's ballot qualifications.

"The VRP's review shows that Goode has not submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures to qualify for the ballot in Virginia," Nolen's letter says. He says that although "Goode submitted approximately 19,981 raw signatures, approximately 36 percent of the signatures have material errors or omissions and cannot be counted."

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Va. GOP challenges ballot petitions of Goode, Libertarian

By Charles Ashby Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Colorado Libertarian Party isnt happy that its candidate in House District 54 wasnt invited to next weekends Club 20 debates. Though its the groups

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Libertarian not invited to debate

A district court judge says he plans to rule Tuesday whether to block Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's listing on the Iowa ballot in November.

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Libertarian ballot ruling scheduled for Tuesday

iStock

Two Iowans who challenged Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's listing on ballots in Iowa are taking their case to court. A hearing is set for Friday morning.

Attorneys for the two voters filed documents Thursday in district court in Des Moines asking a judge to review the decision of a panel of three state officials that allowed Johnson on the ballot.

Secretary of State Matt Schultz, Attorney General Tom Miller and Warren Jenkins, the chief deputy for Auditor David Vaudt, voted Wednesday to allow Johnson on November's ballot.

Libertarians say they held a convention at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson onto Iowa's ballot.

The challengers say Libertarians didn't hold a real convention. They say the panel of officials made an erroneous decision not supported by the evidence.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Libertarian ballot challenge taken to court

TAMPA—Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan may not be a libertarian, but he is one of the few high-profile members of Congress who spend a lot of time hanging out with them. For years, Ryan has taken deliberate steps to nurture relationships with the libertarian intelligentsia in Washington, D.C., making himself available to the movement's [...]

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Paul Ryan and the libertarians: It’s complicated

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will be on Iowa's ballot in November after officials concluded Wednesday that a state law requiring a convention to get on the ballot is too vague.

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Libertarian candidate put on Iowa ballot

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will be on the Iowa ballot in November.

Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz, Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, and Warren Jenkins, the chief deputy for Republican Auditor David Vaudt say Iowa's law on holding conventions to get on the ballot is vague and they chose to err on the side of open ballot access.

Johnson's candidacy was challenged last week by two Iowa voters. Jay Kramer, who works for Republican Mitt Romney's campaign, signed the documents as a witness.

Libertarians say they held a convention at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson, a former Republican, onto Iowa's ballot.

The challenge says Libertarians didn't hold a real convention.

The panel says it will ask lawmakers to better define the convention process in state law.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Libertarian candidate fights to get on Iowa ballot

Posted on: 6:41 pm, August 29, 2012, by Staff Writer, updated on: 06:47pm, August 29, 2012

Republican turned libertarian Gary Johnson will be on Iowa ballots in November.

Thats the finding of a panel of state officials Wednesday.

Iowa law requires a candidate either be nominated at a convention or submit a petition with 1500 signatures to be considered a presidential candidate on an Iowa ballot.

Iowa libertarians claim they held a convention to nominate the former New Mexico governor at the Iowa State Fair this year, but that claim was challenged.

Wednesday, a panel including Matt Schultz and Tom Miller ruled in favor of Johnson.

They say Iowa laws are vague when it comes to defining a convention, and they prefer to err on the side of open elections.

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FOR PRESIDENT: Panel Decides If Libertarian Will Be On Ballot

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will be on the Iowa ballot in November.

Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz, Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, and Warren Jenkins, the chief deputy for Republican Auditor David Vaudt say Iowa's law on holding conventions to get on the ballot is vague and they chose to err on the side of open ballot access.

Johnson's candidacy was challenged last week by two Iowa voters. Jay Kramer, who works for Republican Mitt Romney's campaign, signed the documents as a witness.

Libertarians say they held a convention at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson, a former Republican, onto Iowa's ballot.

The challenge says Libertarians didn't hold a real convention.

The panel says it will ask lawmakers to better define the convention process in state law.

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Libertarian Candidate Allowed on Iowa Ballot

A committee of three Iowa officials has set another meeting to further consider whether Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson should be listed on the November ballot.

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Libertarian's candidacy challenged

In a speech Tuesday, Jim Gray, a Libertarian vice-presidential candidate, said the time has come for a third party to occupy the White House.

Gray, who spoke to about 15 attendees in the Student Union, is the running mate of presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

He said a Libertarian presidency would achieve two things: decrease the federal governments control, and restore civil liberties.

We are in the mainstream of American political thought today, Gray said. We are both financially responsible and socially tolerant. And were the only ones that are.

Grays speech focused almost exclusively on drug policy reform.

A longtime advocate of decriminalizing narcotics, Gray, who served as a superior court judge in Orange Country, Calif., has worked in his home state and across the country to end the war on drugs.

Gray said he would like to see drugs regulated like wine is now legal to produce and consume on private property, taxed when sold, and prohibited from sale to minors.

Current policy has only succeeded in creating a black market for drugs that benefits select groups, including drug dealers, juvenile gangs and private-sector industries that make money off of increased crime rates, Gray said.

You cannot repeal the law of supply and demand, he said, adding that people will find a way to obtain drugs whether they are legal or not.

Gray points to programs in other countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, that focus on reducing the harm caused by drugs by treating drug use as a medical problem.

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Libertarian VP hopeful visits UNC

Ellis Parrott has refused to debate Will McVay before their Republican Primary Sept. 11 because of McVays remaining, strong ties to the Libertarian Party.

Parrott sent an Aug. 15 letter to Kent County Republican Party Chairman Hans Reigle to explain why he declined an invitation to participate in a candidate debate to be held by the Kent County Young Republicans. In that letter, Parrott expressed concern that McVay had changed his party registration seven times between January 2010 and May 2012, including a switch from Libertarian to Republican on Jan. 11, 2010 and again on May 25.

He paid the fee as a candidate, Parrott told the Dover Post. That doesnt make him a legitimate candidate. I have no problem debating any legitimate candidate.

Parrott said he would debate McVay if he had run as a Libertarian candidate and his Democratic opponent had agreed to these terms.

The winner between Parrott and McVay will face the winner of the Democratic primary William McGlumphy and Andria Bennett.

The problem is, where do you draw the line if you allow a Libertarian to debate? Parrott said. You have two major parties in this state. Do you allow the other minor parties to debate as well? Nationally, there is the same question.

Ive never had an fear of debating anybody, he added. I was a judge for 25 years. So, I think Im quite capable of debating anyone.

McVay had announced his immediate resignation as vice chairman of the Libertarian Party of Delaware in a mass email sent back on Aug. 8. He called Parrotts reasoning for refusing to debate him a pretty convenient excuse.

If Im such a Libertarian, then I should be a pretty easy debate and he should basically shame me out of the race, McVay said.

Meanwhile, Reigle still questioned McVays allegiances in an Aug. 23 email. Namely, Reigle and Parrott had learned from the Delaware Department of Elections for Kent Couny that on Aug. 14 two Libertarians running against other Kent County Republicans had submitted election paperwork signed by McVay in his capacity as chairman of the Kent County Libertarian Party.

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Parrott questions McVay’s Republicanism given strong Libertarian ties

The question of whether to place Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson on the ballot arose when two Iowa voters challenged his candidacy.

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Second meeting set in Libertarian ballot challenge

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's effort to be listed on the Iowa ballot in November has been challenged.

Documents challenging Johnson's candidacy were filed Friday by three individuals including Jay Kramer, who says he's the Iowa election day operations director for Republican Mitt Romney's campaign.

Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon. Shultz, a representative from the state auditor's office, and Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller will decide whether to uphold or deny the challenge.

Libertarians say they held a state convention at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson, the former Republican governor from New Mexico, onto Iowa's ballot.

The challenge says Libertarians didn't hold a real convention or sign up actual delegates.

Candidates must be certified for Iowa's ballot by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

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Romney Campaign Targets Libertarian Ballot Effort

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's effort to be listed on the Iowa ballot in November has been challenged.

Documents challenging Johnson's candidacy were filed Friday by three individuals including Jay Kramer, who says he's the Iowa election day operations director for Republican Mitt Romney's campaign.

Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon. Shultz, a representative from the state auditor's office, and Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller will decide whether to uphold or deny the challenge.

Libertarians say they held a state convention at the Iowa State Fair to get Johnson, the former Republican governor from New Mexico, onto Iowa's ballot.

The challenge says Libertarians didn't hold a real convention or sign up actual delegates.

Candidates must be certified for Iowa's ballot by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Challenge raised to Libertarian candidate in Iowa

GREENSBORO The Libertarian Partys vice presidential candidate swung through the Triad on Monday with his pitch: Give the nations third party a chance. You might like it.

Retired Judge Jim Gray did not play to large crowds. Just six people including the candidate himself had arrived for his 6:30 p.m. Greensboro fundraiser as of 7 p.m. But Gray insisted that he and the partys presidential nominee, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, are in the presidential race to win and that they back ideas most Americans agree with.

That includes a 43 percent reduction in the federal budget to end deficit spending, replacing the federal income tax with a sales tax, ending the war in Afghanistan, closing military bases around the world and legalizing marijuana.

You can agree with us or disagree with us you know where we stand, said Gray, a former federal prosecutor and California Superior Court judge. But agree with us on the big things. ... Be Libertarian with us this election, and if youre not happy with prosperity, equal opportunity and freedom, youre always welcome four years from now to vote back for politics as usual.

Gray called for a complete overhaul of the education system, replacing school funding with tuition vouchers for parents. Parental choice would lead to vastly better schools, he said.

He called for an end to the government war on drugs, which he has dubbed the biggest policy mistake in this country since slavery. He discussed tiered Social Security reforms that would raise the retirement age to 70 and turn the safety net into a private savings plan for people under 30.

He called President Obama and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney Robamaney, saying there was little difference between them. He also said he doesnt believe the president has proved he was born in this country.

This common theory, disproved for many when the president made his Hawaiian birth certificate public, would disqualify Obama from office. So would, for example, being under 32 years old, Gray said twice.

Questioned on this, he acknowledged the Constitution requires presidential candidates to be 35.

I sit corrected, Gray said. Its the only mistake Ive made on this campaign. I think its 32 to be a member of Congress.

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Ideas outnumber attendees at Libertarian’s fundraiser

Libertarian vice presidential candidate Jim Gray called the country's anti-drug policies a failure during a speech at Salem College on Monday.

"We couldn't do it worse if we tried," Gray said. "Drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in America."

Gray, a retired superior court judge from California, said the country's drug enforcement laws and efforts to stem the flow of drugs put big profits into the pockets of major drug dealers without making a real dent in the drug supplies in the U.S., and the efforts fail to mitigate drugs' effects on society and the people who use them.

Gray is on the Libertarian ticket with Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, who served from 1995 to 2003. During his tenure, Johnson vetoed bills 750 times, earning the nickname "Governor Veto."

Gray spoke to a small audience of about 20 at the college. Before speaking, he acknowledged that his party faces a challenge in breaking through the dominance of Democrats and Republicans.

But Gray said that if he and Johnson could just get into the presidential and vice presidential debates, their party's blend of "minimum government, maximum freedom" would win over voters.

Gray said programs in countries such as Switzerland and Holland have worked much better in combating the drug problem.

In Switzerland, for instance, drug users were provided with prescription drugs and offered help with their addiction problems.

The byproduct of that program was a lower crime rate, because drug users no longer had to commit crimes to get money for drugs.

"I would feel pretty comfortable in saying that 10 percent of the problem is the drugs themselves and 90 percent is the drug money," Gray told his audience. "We are churning low-level offenders through the court system for no purpose."

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Libertarian candidate hits anti-drug policies

TAMPAGary Johnson is serene. Sitting down to a lunch of grilled shrimp and tomato salad at a Latin restaurant in historic Ybor City, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee says his less-government philosophy is gradually spreading across the country and that many pundits and political strategists will be surprised at his showing on election day.

He didn't make any predictions on exactly how well he will do. But he expressed confidence that his campaign will "exceed expectations," which could mean that anything upward of 1 or 2 per cent could be considered a successful outcome. The current Rasmussen Reports poll gives President Obama 48 per cent, Republican challenger Mitt Romney 48 per cent, and Johnson 1 per cent. But Johnson says simply being listed by name in the poll is progress.

In any case, he says, a leader needs to be optimistic. "The majority of Americans in this country are fiscally responsible and socially accepting," which is his own political philosophy, Johnson explains.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]

One annoyance for the soft-spoken Johnson is the failure of organizers to include him in any of the three presidential debates scheduled for October. The organizers say he will be included only if he reaches 15 per cent in the national polls, and he lags far behind. He has raised about $2 million, which is considered a low number.

Johnson is a rarity in politicsa leader who ran as a Republican but governed as a libertarian for two terms as governor of New Mexico. Johnson became known for vetoing many bills for programs that he felt cost too much and represented too much government intrusion into society.

As the Libertarian Party nominee, Johnson is taking positions similar in some cases to those adopted by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who ran unsuccessfully this year as a libertarian for the GOP presidential nomination. "The Paul campaign is coming to an end," Johnson told me Sunday. "That's really key, getting that support."

[See a collection of political cartoons on the Republican Party.]

But Paul, who has been the Libertarian Party's nominee in the past, hasn't announced his support for either Romney, his fellow Republican who will be formally nominated in Tampa this week, or Johnson, his fellow libertarian.

At the end of our meal, the waitress politely interrupted our interview and said she recognized Johnson and was a fan. They shook hands and Johnson beamed. He was exceeding expectations in Ybor City, and he took it as a good sign.

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Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson Happy With His Campaign