John Procida, LPQC Chair, Grants Permission To LPNY, Inc. To Use The "Libertarian Party" Name

Pursuant to the provisions of the New York State Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, a newly forming corporation using the name of an existing political party must attach to its Certificate of Incorporation the consent of the chairman of that political party in the county where the new corporation will maintain its principal office. John Procida, the duly elected Chair of the Libertarian Party of Queens County, a chartered chapter of Free Libertarian Party, Inc., the officially chartered New York State affiliate of the national Libertarian Party, recently gave his permission for a new Queens County-based Libertarian Party organization to be incorporated. The name of that new Libertarian Party organization is Libertarian Party of New York, Inc. and it was incorporated pursuant to the laws of the State of New York on August 9, 2010.

Dr. Tom Stevens, Political Director of Libertarian Party of Queens County, commented on the incorporation of Libertarian Party of New York, Inc. as follows:

I do not believe that the consent of John Procida, LPQC Chair, was required for the incorporation of Libertarian Party of New York. Both the words "libertarian" and "party" have been used generically for decades and the "Libertarian Party" as an entity has never obtained "political party" status under New York State Election Law because it has failed to obtain 50,000 votes in any past gubernatorial election. However, just in case the argument is made that a consent was required because the Libertarian Party is a recognized "political party" under the laws of the State of New York, the incorporator of Libertarian Party of New York, Inc. obtained the consent of John Procida, LPQC Chair, to use "Libertarian Party" in the name of this new Queens County-based corporation. I thank John Procida for using his legal authority in a manner that will continue to promote libertarianism more effectively than it has been promoted in the past.