Monthly Archives: May 2017

It wasn't ultimately surprising that a Republican candidate facing assault charges for allegedly bodyslamming a reporter the day before the election won his House race in Montana anyway. But Greg Gianforte's 6 percent win over Democrat Rob Quist was far lower than most assessments of Montana's relative preference for Republicans would indicate. And Gianforte's winning margin was exactly matched by the unprecedented 6 percent total for a Montana House race for the Libertarian Party's candidate, Mark Wicks.

Wicks for CongressWicks, a rancher and mailman in Inverness, Montana, thinks the key to his unusually good results for the L.P., for a campaign that could not afford any print, TV, or radio ads and only a few signs, was that the L.P. helped pressure the hosts of a televised debate to include Wicks along with his major party competitors.

"When people saw how I handled myself, especially compared to the other two," Wicks said in a phone interview the day after the election, it helped him nearly double the last L.P. House candidate's 3.3 percent. (In Liberty County, next door to his home county, where Wicks says he likely personally known one-quarter of the voters, he pulled 16 percent.)

He credits his good showing in the debate not so much to ideology, but to the fact that he was able "to answer questions in a straightforward and honest way. My answers were consistent but [voters] could tell they weren't memorized. I would answer the question asked and not just pivot to a talking point."

Wicks expects he'll run for office again, though not sure exactly what office or when. He'd like to have more money, sooner whenever that happens. He's like to be in a better position to hit the ground running with a decent cash pile the way major party candidates usually can.

The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) did give him a rare donation of $5,000, but it came too late in the process to do much good, Wicks says. Wicks sees the LNC faced a chicken and egg dilemma--he understands their reluctance to hand over a pile of cash to an untried candidate until after the debate showed he could comport himself well and make a decent run of it, but getting the money within the last couple of weeks before the election gave him no chance to have it serve as seed money for outreach that could have lead to more money.

His campaign was able to spend "a couple thousand" on Facebook advertising, he says, but his jobs and the vast sprawl of Montana's one-district state made in-person appearances before crowds of voters also impossible. He lives about 300 miles from any major Montana city.

Most of his volunteer support came via the Feldman Foundation, a national organization dedicated to finding and helping liberty-oriented candidates (named after Marc Feldman, a deceased former Libertarian Party activist and presidential aspirant). Wicks credits them with a "tremendous job, it took so much weight off my back." They managed his press releases and phone banks, for which he recalls one activist personally made 3,000 calls.

"I've always been a very conservative Republican, very freedom oriented," Wicks says. But "I felt the Republican Party just left me. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, their budgets...they run on cutting spending and don't cut spending." He won the L.P.'s nomination against seven other candidates at a state Party convention. He knows that many in the Party "are upset that I'm not hardcore libertarian enough for them. But we have to realize we have to start in increments. We can't start with hardcore libertarianism."

At least some voters thinking about him, he says, would "read the L.P. platform and decide they didn't want to vote for me because it goes too far, a little too much freedom in it for their comfort." For example, he stresses that while he campaigned on marijuana legalization, he does not support the legalization of harder drugs. "Legalizing all the drugs is not going to fly in Montana."

Wicks also thinks it's likely he got votes based on what he found as a widespread hate for Gianforte and Quist partisans attacks on each other. Given the overlap on constitutional and free-market rhetoric between Republicans and Libertarians, it's usually the GOP who insists the L.P. is "stealing" their vote. But Wicks says Democrat Quist's fans were messaging him accusing him of having stolen votes from Quist. Wicks thinks it's more likely that a would-be Libertarian voter was scared toward Gianforte for a greater fear of the Democrat winning.

What lessons does he see for the L.P. in his result? He thinks more, and more active, county affiliates are important for candidate services such as setting up events. And he thinks the Party should aim its resources and attention in general more at state or local races and less on the "pie in the sky" of national presidential runs. "That money could be put to a lot better use for other candidates."

He reminds the L.P., and himself, that given that this was a special election and another House race looms in 2018, that "we're nine months away from having to start waving signs around again, and it's hard to build up a Party in that amount of time."

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Montana Libertarian Mark Wicks, Who Got 6 Percent Against the GOP's Gianforte, Believes the LP Must Focus More on ... - Reason (blog)

While the Libertarian Party doesnt have much political power in the United States, the libertarian philosophy is alive and well within the Republican Party when it comes to certain issues. When you listen to the most conservative Republicans denounce health care programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, their language is remarkably similar to that used by libertarians. Take Nicholas Sarwark, the chairman of the Libertarian Party. When I interviewedhim for Salon earlier thismonth about how a strictly free market approach to health care wouldaffect Americasmost vulnerable and cited real examples of a diabetic person, a severely depressed individualand someonewith unspecific lower back pain, Sarwark started out with a valid critique of the Affordable Care Actand then turned to more abstract issues. Sarwark began by describing a libertarian congressional candidate with diabetes, Andy Craig of Wisconsin, who he saiddesperately wants to be able to just buy the insulin he needs from a provider and use it. Right? Its the same stuff every day. He cant right now due to government regulation, both in making insulin a prescription-only product in his state even though its safe and effective and could be sold over the counter so its more expensive, and in requiring him to pay for health insurance, which is not really insurance if its something you already know youre going to buy.

This is a valid point, but it doesntdiscredit the conceptof government-run health care. To me, if anything, Sarwarkmakes a strong case for a government-run health care system, which would allow diabetics to receive the medications they need without having to worry about thecost. Of course, thiswould be anathema to a libertarian like Sarwark, which is why the second half of his response railed against the very notion of government-funded insurance:

We dont have car insurance that covers gas and oil changes because thats insane, Sarwarksaid. Youre insuring against a risk of something happening that you dont know if its going to happen. A chronic condition is not insurable. Theres a cost sharing that can be done; there are discounts that can be done. But the first step in having a real discussion about this is recognizing the difference between insurable risks, whichyou know onthe drive to work I get in a car accident and break both of my legs. Thats a risk that is insurable.

That is all well and good. But it doesnt address the issues of the individuals I cited, all employed in full-time jobs and making nowhere near enough money to be able to afford insurance for their medical conditions without the ACA to protect them.

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WATCH: On health care, does the Libertarian Party's plan sound like ... - Salon

Since the 2016 election, the Libertarian Party (L.P.) has gained two sitting state legislators in New Hampshire. Not by having L.P. candidates win in that election, but by having two legislators who won as a Republican and a Democrat switch allegiance to the L.P.

Caleb Dyer

The first was former Republican Caleb Dyer (Hillsborough 37, the cities of Hudson and Pelham) in February. This month, a new two-person Libertarian Caucus in the New Hampshire House of Representatives was formed when Democrat Joseph Stallcop (from Cheshire House District 4, representing the city of Keene's Ward 1) also went L.P.

Both renegades are 21 years old.

Dyer found the Republican House leadership basically trying to scuttle nearly every bill he sponsored or co-sponsored, and began to suspect it wasn't the Party for him. (The bills included one mandating police body cameras and one allowing for easier annulment of arrest records when no conviction followed.) He was told more or less that anything that wasn't a pre-set part of the state Party's platform, he'd be obstructed on. This didn't sit well with Dyer. (The Republicans currently have a strong majority in the House.)

In a February Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session, Dyer explained that when he runs for re-election as a Libertarian, he has the chance of appealing to normally Democratic voters: "I am a firm opponent of Republicans on a great many social issues. I support the decriminalization of sex work with Rep. Elizabeth Edwards (D-Manchester). I am a co-sponsor on HB656, the primary bill for the legalization of recreational cannabis. I am also fervently against the death penalty." In that same AMA he complained that the state GOP "do not seem very focused on reducing expenditures but rather focused on finding ways spend a surplus that we realistically don't have. Apart from this I also question the Republican party's commitment to the accountability of executive agents including police."

Dyer ran and won last year as a Republican with a reasonably libertarian message: for school choice and constitutional carry of weapons, against income and sales taxes and the drug war, and wanting to reduce business taxes and spending. His handout to voters didn't even mention party affiliation and called him a "young voice of liberty."

In his official statement announcing his party switch in February, Dyer warned Republicans that the Libertarian Party in New Hampshire last year winning ballot access for 2018 (with its gubernatorial candidate Max Abramson passing the 4 percent barrier), shows "that [the GOP's] constituency is slowly but surely growing discontent with their increasingly partisan representation. For elected Republicans like myself who have libertarian leanings this is a truly golden opportunity to establish ourselves as a viable alternative to this representation and become advocates for principled, classically liberal policy....We hope that in two years' time our perseverance will inspire hundreds of People across the state to submit themselves to their peers as Libertarian candidates."

Stallcop, elected in November running unopposed as a Democrat and as a junior studying political science at Keene State, was inspired into politics from a more left-learning direction; in his press release announcing his defection to the L.P. he credited "Personally witnessing the situation at Standing Rock" as a major impetus to his political awakening, as it "showed me the danger of relinquishing power and authority into an institution." (Stallcop did no fundraising for his unopposed race.)

In a phone interview this week, Stallcop says the Standing Rock situation initially disturbed him because of "shocking" scenes of protesters and media being mistreated "for the sake of protecting a subsidized industry," and at one point felt that a policeman was likely to have shot and killed him for walking across a line.

Stallcop noted that when he took a version of the libertarian "Nolan test" (which maps your political beliefs regarding economic and other freedoms in quadrants rather than just a straight line on which one can only be toward the right and left), he was firmly in the "left libertarian" quadrant. (He was passionate when elected as a Democrat at extending anti-discrimination laws in the state to cover the transgendered.)

When he ran as a Democrat Stallcop also advocated a higher state minimum wage, but says he now thinks differently.

He credits Libertarian Party member Mary Ruwart's book Healing Our World with helping shift his political attitude in a more libertarian direction. That book helped him see that "as long as you are for achieving goals without aggression, than you are essentially libertarian, and that me being more left-leaning in my classical liberalism doesn't mean I can't be a Libertarian."

A talk with Dyer helped Stallcop realize the L.P. was a reasonable option for him, though Stallcop says Dyer was "rather surprised about the speed of my decision" to switch; it took him just a couple of weeks of awareness of the L.P. option to make the jump.

Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH) Chair Darryl Perry, who sought the Party's presidential nomination in 2016 on a platform of hardcore no-state libertarianism, admits that Stallcop is "not the most libertarian guy" but is impressed by his obvious willingness to "learn more about what [Libertarian] beliefs actually are."

Stallcop, who says he felt no particular partisan attachment before running for office and even contemplated being an independent until he learned of the petition requirements, quickly found his the Democratic Party's leadership in the New Hampshire House stifling and annoying.

He felt like he was being basically ordered to vote party line without adequate factual backing for the positions the Democrats insisted he take. Stallcop particularly found their insistence on voting against "constitutional carry" (permitless concealed weapon carry) grating. "I find it funny that many people who raise issues of police brutality" never ask "if we had less of these laws that enable police to come directly up" to citizens, might that not be better? "People want to lock down police yet create all these laws that push police to be more aggressive with us."

As he said in a press release announcing his switch, "it seems there is no longer a place for me here [in the Democratic Party]. With a high regard for individuals personally working in their communities to implement positive change, I hereby transfer to the Libertarian Party."

The Power of a Two-Man Caucus

Can the new Libertarian Caucus in the New Hampshire state house grow? Stallcop isn't sure if he'll run again; it depends on where he ends up going to law school, since that choice may take him out of state.

Dyer is already committed to another run in 2018 with the L.P. banner. (His voting record, for your personal judgments on his libertarian bona fides.) It is a common complaint of state and local L.P. candidates that the Party apparatus is almost always unable to do anything to help them gain office. Perry, the state L.P. chair, says that "I know that we will be able to provide [Dyer] with volunteers for going door to door campaigning. The election is 18 months away" so hopefully more resources might be available from the LPNH by then, though "at this point we are not necessarily able to throw a bunch of money at any legislative seat."

That said, Perry is encouraged that unlike many states, New Hampshire House seats are often winnable with spending of less, sometimes even far less, than a thousand dollars. Neither Dyer or Stallcap felt they had any meaningful help from their former major parties either, beyond whatever benefit the mere label has for party-line voters.

Because of the multi-member district that Dyer represents, in which each voter gets to pick 11 different representatives (meaning the top 11 vote getters all get a seat) he could potentially end up in the House again as a Libertarian with only around 5 percent of the vote. (Back in the 1990s, when the L.P. had four sitting members in New Hampshire's House, Andy Borsa won re-election with the L.P. label in Dyer's district.)

Dyer feels good about how well known he already is around Pelham and Hudson, and feels well equipped to do the necessary door knocking to put him over. But he does hope the state L.P. will be able to help with door-knocking, setting up events, and otherwise start "building a base of voters" but even "one or two people" from the Party to help him door-knock, "I'd consider that a success. I don't expect them to provide crazy phone banks or anything that like" right away "though I hope they will get there." (He won last time spending only around $400, Dyer says.) Having activists knocking on doors will be "infinitely more helpful" than giving him another dollar.

New Hampshire's House is unusually large, with 400 members. Any individual legislator in a committee system controlled by a Party not the legislators' own will likely find actually getting bills out of committee very difficult. One of the issues Dyer hopes to legislate successfully on is easier ballot access for third parties.

Dyer, who works as a Christmas tree farmer with his dad, for that reason is on the Environment and Agriculture Committee. And even though every House member is supposed to be on a committee, the Democrats stripped Stallcop of his and he's currently committeeless.

Stallcop expects that their colorful rarity as a two-man Party caucus could make their media bully pulpit more powerful, and Dyer says the ethos of the way the House works might make it important for the Democrats or Republicans to work on making bills satisfying to them to make them technically "bipartisan."

Perry is quite sure that the New Hampshire state House has more than a few libertarian members who are so far reluctant to abandon the two-party system. Stallcop and Dyer agree, though neither will out anyone publicly. Dyer thinks as many as 10 percent of the legislature might have a natural home in the L.P.

While running a candidate for every House slot is a herculean task even the two majors generally don't manage, says LPNH head Perry, they do hope to field many more than usual next year and also hope to provide more clear "statewide branding, we are Libertarians and this is what we stand for" though he knows they won't be able to provide concrete support to everyone who runs. He expects them to try to figure out "more viable ones" and help them.

Dyer believes "If I won re-election in 2018 as a Libertarian the whole game changes. If I win in Hudson and Pelham, in the Speaker of the House's district, a warning shot will have been fired. People will really take notice. The Republican Party will be very dismayed."

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Libertarian Party Now Has Two Sitting Legislators in New Hampshire - Reason (blog)

Zoo owner Joe Exotic is one of the Libertarian Party candidates for governor in 2018. He spoke Thursday at the Oklahoma Capitol.[Photo by Dale Denwalt, The Oklahoman]

Joe Exotic, the animal handler who owns a zoo and dipped his toe briefly into politics to run for president last year, is one of two announced Libertarian candidates for Oklahoma governor.

Exotic, whose name is Joseph Maldonado, joined other Libertarian Party candidates at the Oklahoma Capitol on Thursday.

Also running for governor is Rex Lawhorn, a small business management consultant from Tulsa. If they both file for office, they'll face each other in the 2018 primary election.

Maldonado, who owns Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, said he went on food stamps before running for governor to show how broken the system is. At one point, he held up the card.

To show you how desperately it needs overhauled, I ride around in a limousine and I choose not to get paid, while the state of Oklahoma gives me a SNAP card, he said, referencing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The program is funded by the federal government but administered by the states.

He criticized other state politicians, saying that lawmakers at the state Capitol don't have a clue.

I have some of the most amazing plans to overhaul some of these programs, he said. If we're going to keep up with the rest of America, we have to legalize marijuana. Even though I don't smoke it.

Maldonado also referenced the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's practice of parking in construction zones to slow traffic, saying he could save the state millions by, among other things, hiring a private security firm to sit in their cars with emergency lights on.

Lawhorn said the state's budget situation should have been fixed two years ago.

The example is in this building right now of why you need us, he said of the Libertarian Party.

He said when he walked into the Capitol, he looked up. On the inner ring of the Capitol dome are names of individuals, families and companies that helped pay for the dome's construction.

That disgusts me. That horrifies me that our government has corporate sponsorship, he said. That is the exact reason you cannot vote for a Republican. You cannot support the Democratic Party. They're the reason we got into this situation.

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Libertarian candidates visit Oklahoma Capitol | News OK - NewsOK.com