Thursday, September 29, 2011

Libertarian Party Of Northampton County, Pennsylvania Elects Officers

At the Organizational Meeting of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County (LPNC) held on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, the following individuals were elected to serve as officers:

County Chair - Dr. Tom Stevens
First Vice-Chair - Patrick R. Killy
Treasurer - Dylan Duraes

At an Executive Committee Meeting held immediately after the Organizational Meeting, the Executive Committee appointed the following individuals to officerships pursuant to Article 3, Section 6 of the LPNC Bylaws:

Second Vice-Chair - Shane Wolfe
Secretary - Aaron Rosengarten

The current officers will serve a term of office ending at the Annual Meeting of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County that will be held during the first quarter of 2012.

Dylan Duraes, Patrick R. Killy & Thomas Robert Stevens Designated Founding Members Of The Libertarian Party Of Northampton County

The Organizational Meeting of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County was held on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 10:00 p.m.

During that meeting, Dylan Duraes, Patrick R. Killy and Thomas Robert Stevens were designated as the Founding Members of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County.

Northampton County is located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. It has a population of approximately 300,000 and its county seat is Easton. Northampton County is located in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Its northern edge borders The Poconos. The eastern section of the county borders the Delaware River, which divides Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It is bordered on the west by Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The county is industrially-oriented, producing anthracite coal, cement, and other industrial products. Bethlehem Steel, once one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel, was located there prior to its closing in 2003.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Libertarian Party Of Northampton County Executive Committee Requests LPPA Board Of Directors Recognize It As A County Committee

The Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County met on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 and passed the following resolution:

MOTION: Pursuant to Article III, Section 1 of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Bylaws, the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County (which has at least four (4) members of the LPPA in good standing residing in Northampton County; i.e.Dylan Duraes, Patrick R. Killy, Aaron Rosengarten & Shane Wolfe) hereby requests the Libertarian Party of Northampton County be recognized by the LPPA Board of Directors as a "County Committee" of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania.

The motion was made by Dylan Duraes and seconded by Patrick R, Killy. It passed unanimously.

Article III, Section 1 of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Bylaws reads, in part, as follows:

Any group of two or more members in good standing residing in the same county, shall, upon their request to the Party to be recognized by the Board of Directors as a "County Committee"...The county or regional committee must select an executive board consisting of two or more people and they must choose as their Parliamentary Source any version of Robert's Rules.

Dr. Tom Stevens, County Chair of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County, commented on the Executive Committee's request for recognition as follows:

On or about September 13, 2011, Patrick R. Killy, Dylan Duraes & Shane Wolfe (all LPPA members in good standing residing in Northampton County) asked the Board of Directors of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania for recognition as a "County Committee". Although Mik Robertson made a motion to grant recognition to the Libertarian Party of Northampton County, no further action was taken.

On September 21, 2011, an Organizational Meeting was held and the Libertarian Party of Northampton County was formed. An Executive Committee "consisting of two or more people" was elected and bylaws were adopted designating Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised as the group's Parliamentary Authority.

As noted above, the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County has now unanimously passed a resolution asking the LPPA Board of Directors to grant "County Committee" status to this newly formed organization. Four (4) members of the Libertarian Party of Northampton County (i.e. Dylan Duraes, Patrick R. Killy, Aaron Rosengarten & Shane Wolfe), all who are members in good standing of the LPPA residing in Northampton County, now seek formal recognition of this new organization.

I hope the LPPA Board of Directors acts soon with respect to this request.

The Libertarian Party of Northampton County was formally organized on September 21, 2011.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Proposed LPUS Bylaw Amendment Takes Away Local Affiliate Authority & Could Significantly Reduce The Number Of State Affiliate Delegates

The Libertarian Party Bylaws Committee has proposed the following bylaw amendment to be voted on by the delegates in attendance at the Libertarian Party's National Convention scheduled to be held from May 3-6, 2012 at the Red Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada:

No individual enrolled as a registered voter affiliated with another political party, if he or she has the option of affiliating with the Libertarian Party, shall be eligible to serve as a Party employee, National Committee member, committee member, or delegate, or hold any other position of trust or responsibility within the Party.

Dr. Tom Stevens, Political Director of the Libertarian Party of Queens County, has objected to the impact this proposed bylaw amendment would have and commented as follows:

My objection to this bylaw amendment is that it trumps state affiliate bylaws and attempts to dictate which of their state affiliate members will be permitted to attend Libertarian Party National Conventions as delegates.

The New York State Libertarian Party bylaws, for example, permit its members and elected state and local officers to be enrolled members of other political parties. This has always been the case in New York but recently, because of a law suit the NYLP joined in on, the New York State Board of Elections must now keep track of who enrolls as "Libertarian". Despite this victory, many County Boards of Elections still list enrolled Libertarians as "Other". This is wholly a symbolic victory since the New York Libertarian Party cannot nominate candidates in Convention in accordance with New York State Election Law and for all purposes, the Libertarian Party is treated as if it does not exist. In each election, every candidate must still file an Independent Nominating Petition, just as an Independent Candidate with no party affiliation is required to do. This is why many New York Libertarian Party members remain enrolled as members of other political parties.

The national Libertarian Party bylaws may soon be amended to require Libertarian Party National Convention Delegates to be either Sustaining Members of the national Libertarian Party or members of the State Affiliate Party from which they have been designated as delegates. If the proposed bylaw amendment regarding "enrollment" passes, a large number of designated New York Libertarian Party Members, who are members of their local State Affiliate will be disqualified as Delegates to the Libertarian Party National Conventions unless they are enrolled as Libertarian even though their State Affiliate does not have such a requirement.

Under the proposed bylaw amendment, not only will the National LP try to dictate who the State Affiliates may designate as delegates but the amendment could also be interpreted to dictate who may be allowed to be State and Local Officers of that State Affiliate. The last part of the proposed bylaw amendment indicates a person not enrolled locally as "Libertarian" will not be eligible to "hold any other position of trust or responsibility within the Party". According to the National Libertarian Party Bylaws, "the Party" refers to the "Libertarian Party" and arguably to all its chartered affiliates. As a result, even officers serving in a County Libertarian Party Organization such as the Libertarian Party of Queens County may now be subject to this proposed national rule. Some might claim the bylaw amendment cannot be used in this manner but if it can be used to dictate who may be delegates from a State Affiliate, I see no reason why it cannot be used to claim that certain State or Local LP officers are ineligible to hold their positions.

Finally, many Libertarian Party members have enrolled as Republicans in order to vote for Ron Paul or Gary Johnson in the upcoming Republican Party primaries. Many consider themselves loyal Libertarian Party members and may be designated by their State Affiliates as delegates to upcoming Libertarian Party National Conventions. These delegates hope that Gary Johnson or Ron Paul seek or accept the Libertarian Party's Presidential Nomination in 2012 or 2016. With Libertarian Party membership on the decrease, the last thing we need to do is alienate these Libertarian Party members who may be technically enrolled in their home state as "Republicans". 

For these reasons, I urge you to oppose this proposed bylaw amendment and to post your objections on all Libertarian Party message boards, blogs and lists.

Dr. Tom Stevens is the elected State Representative, Political Director and Membership Director of the Libertarian Party of Queens County. He also serves as the Chair of Empire State Libertarians.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Libertarian Party Of Northampton County Seeks Charter From Libertarian Party of Pennyslvania

On September 13, 2011, Shane Wolfe, Patrick R. Killy and Dylan Duraes, three members of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPA) living in Northampton County, wrote an e-mail to Lou Jasikoff, LPPA Chair; Vernon Etzel, LPPA Secretary; and other LPPA Board of Directors members, formally seeking a charter for the newly organizing Libertarian Party of Northampton County. In that e-mail, they wrote the following:

Pursuant to Article III, Section 1 of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Bylaws, Patrick R. Killy, Dylan Duraes and Shane Wolfe, three members of the LPPA in good standing residing in Northampton County, PA, hereby request the Libertarian Party of Northampton County be recognized by the LPPA Board of Directors as a "County Committee" of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Tom Stevens, LPPA Liberty Action Student Network Chair, wrote to Shane Wolfe, Patrick R. Killy and Dylan Duraes to understand their motivations for getting involved in the formation of the new Libertarian Party of Northampton County.

Shane Wolfe responded:

I started getting involved with politics at a young age. I had a huge passion for freedom and liberty. I was a young idealist and believed that communism was the road to freedom. Boy, was I wrong. Now that I'm older and more mature, I've realized that my passion for freedom and liberty fits best with Laissez-faire Capitalism (something which I was a huge opponent of) and a Constitutional government. The Libertarian Party is what I've been looking for all along.

Patrick R. Killy responded:

My name is Patrick Killy and like many, I've witnessed the erosion of what were once staples of American greatness. Becoming heavily immersed in government and the political process at a young age, later being privileged to serve as Vice-President of Northampton Community College's Political Science Club and simultaneously Campaign Manager for State. Rep Candidate Cory Miller in 2010, I canvassed too many houses to count and took various trips to Harrisburg among other duties.

While I still believe we are blessed to live in a great country, much work is still necessary. The most disturbing erosion has taken place in the areas of personal and economic freedoms. From the overt (numerous bailouts, rampant spending under the guise of "Stimulus", The Patriot Act, Eminent Domain, etc.) to the more pernicious subtleties (Executive Branch power grabs, destabilization of our currency, the Fed's questionable actions and very existence, corporate welfare) we are certainly headed toward ruin and serfdom. Many blame "capitalism" or a certain party for these ills but the fact is both parties violate our Inalienable Rights where " the greater good" is used as justification. As for capitalism, truly we do not have a free market economy, but one that favors corporatism and hand picked winners and losers thus curtailing competition, innovation and entrepreneurship.

To briefly cap, we've lost our private property, 1st, 4th, 2nd Amendment and States' Rights. Again this has been mostly pernicious, gradually accustoming Americans to these "new norms". These mindsets are passed on to our children, essentially indoctrinating the next generation. Despite the advent of the instant 24/7 information flow, fewer and fewer Americans are seeing reality for what it truly is.

I have pledged to defend the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights with their personal & economic liberties and justice for all. Countless numbers of people have shed blood & died to secure these liberties; the least I could do is participate in this amazing project in an effort to restore respect and adherence to our founding principles once again. Every year more people are giving these principles and actions more thought and coming to terms with all I previously mentioned, and this gives me immense hope. Let us all reignite the waning flame of true liberty and find commonality uniting under this banner.

Dylan Duraes responded:

I am a resident of Easton, Pennsylvania. I am an undergraduate studying economics at Lycoming College, PA. After reading the book "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt, I began to think critically about, and of, the government for the first time.

I'm convinced that libertarian philosophy is a blueprint for the fiscal solvency of this nation. I look forward to availing myself of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania's resources to make a difference in my community.

An organizational meeting for the Libertarian Party of Northampton County is scheduled to take place soon at which officers will be elected and bylaws will be adopted.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Liberty Activists Boycott Overpriced Liberty Fest II While Carl Person, Candidate For The LP Nomination For President, Makes His Case To Attendees

Empire State Libertarians, Downstate Libertarians, Long Island Libertarians, Stonewall Libertarians and the Objectivist Party of New York boycotted Liberty Fest II, which was held on September 10, 2011 from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at Club Amnesia located at 609 West 29th Street in Manhattan. Organizers Gigi Bowman, Ian Cioffi, Danny Panzella and Amanda Trbovich charged each attendee $30.00 if they purchased their tickets at the door for an opportunity to hear 25 speakers talk for 5 minutes each. In addition, they charged $195.00 for people who wished to attend a luncheon with a few of the guest speakers and $500.00 for any organization wishing to have a booth to distribute liberty-oriented literature.

While Gigi Bowman, the Suffolk County Libertarian Party's State Representative, found room for 25 speakers, including convicted criminal Chris Cantwell (who failed to get on the ballot as the Suffolk County LP's candidate for Congress in 2010), she could not find five (5) minutes for Carl Person, a Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate who lives in Manhattan. Because of this slight, the Libertarian Party of Queens County also did not promote or attend Liberty Fest II.

Carl Person, a member of the Libertarian Party of Queens County, also did not attend the event. However, he and an entourage of campaign supporters owned the street in front of Club Amnesia handing a multi-colored campaign flyer to almost all Liberty Fest II attendees, which contained a 22-point critique of President Obama's American Jobs Act Speech before Congress on September 8, 2011. The flyer, entitled "Obama's Jobs Act Can't Create New Permanent Jobs", contained a comprehensive analysis of why President Obama's proposals won't work followed by Carl Person's alternative program for putting Americans back to work in long-term private sector jobs created by the small businesses of our country.

Dr. Tom Stevens, Campaign Manager for Carl Person, said:

This was a great opportunity for Carl to reach over 500 pro-liberty activists with his consistent message of how he will create over 10 million new jobs with his proposals to allow all small businesses to have their first three employees treated as independent contractors, by opening up educational opportunities so that new careers such as Assistant To Small Business Owner can be created, and by allowing small business owners to raise capital. Given that Carl founded the Paralegal Institute, which trained thousands of people to enter a promising new career, there is no doubt he knows what he is taking about when he speaks of the potential for the new job title of Assistant To Small Business Owner.

Carl received extremely favorable feedback from those he spoke to outside Liberty Fest II and I would venture to say they will remember his practical solutions to create jobs without intrusive governmental interference far longer than they will remember what was said by any of the 25 speakers inside Club Amnesia who spoke for 5 minutes each over a loud speaker projected throughout a large and crowded club.  

Carl Person described his activities outside Liberty Fest II as follows:

Nazarius (Noz) Cavan (my New York State Coordinator and one of the best petition gatherers in the country), my son Nick and I arrived at Club Amnesia 30 minutes before the doors opened. Already, a single line of about 250 people had showed up waiting to enter the club, with nothing to do until then. We handed out my flyer to all 250 people in line as well as to an additional 250 attendees who came during the next hour or so. I was able to speak with about 200 of them to explain how we can get the economy moving again through the creation of millions of new jobs.

I want to give a big thanks to Gigi Bowman, the co-organizer of Liberty Fest II, who was unable to find 5 minutes for me to speak at the event because as a result of her refusal to find me a speaking slot, I found a more effective way to reach the attendees.

I am taking my Presidential candidacy to the Libertarian Party convention delegates, going from meeting to meeting, city to city, state to state, and explaining how the Libertarian Party knows how to create jobs while the Republicans and Democrats are only good at creating snow jobs.

Carl Person did not speculate regarding why Gigi Bowman denied him a speaking slot. However, her previous moralistic positions on social issues and flirtation with the Constitution Party may have played a factor given Carl Person's open-minded "live and let live" attitude when it comes to other people's lifestyles.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Carl Person, Candidate For The Libertarian Party's Presidential Nomination, Says Republican Presidential Debate Offered No Specifics For Job Creation

Carl Person, who is seeking the Libertarian Party’s nomination for President, viewed the Republican Presidential Debate held on September 7, 2011 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and states that “the candidates offered no new insight or specifics into creating new jobs for the nation’s unemployed.”

Person went on to say that “Three main candidates (Governors Romney, Perry and Huntsman) gave statistics on new job creation during their period as Governor as claimed proof of their ability to create jobs, without explaining what actions they took as Governor which resulted in the alleged new jobs.”

“Many of the 8 candidates,” according to Person, “wanted a reduction in regulation without stating what specific regulations they would terminate. Also, many of the candidates wanted a reduction in taxes. Some of the candidates recognized that small business was over-regulated, without stating in what specific respects.

“As a Presidential Candidate and somebody vitally interested in job creation, I learned nothing at all from the debate and heard no specific things the candidates would do, if elected. One exception could be the specific proposal which came from candidate Herman Cain, who “would do away with the existing tax code and replace it with a nine percent tax on corporate income, a nine percent tax on personal income and a nine percent national sales tax. This proposal is too far reaching to be enacted. Also, Ron Paul urged elimination of the minimum wage laws to promote job growth, which has been debated for years and unlikely to be adopted, even if millions of jobs would be created and become a useful bridge between apprenticeship and full-salaried employment.”

“The deregulation proposals are almost meaningless,” said Person, “because they do not identify which regulations are most destructive in creating jobs. Since the Republican Presidential Candidates do not seek the end to all regulation, they must identify which of the millions of regulations they would terminate.”

“I have identified IRS payroll withholding regulations as one of three types of regulation needing change”, according to Person. “My program “The 1st 3 Are Free” can and should be adopted by the IRS to allow 3 designated employees of any business to be treated as independent contractors, so that the business does not have to withhold taxes or file payroll reports, or maintain workmen’s compensation or disability insurance as to such 3 employees,” according to Person. “This would be the incentive for the nation’s 26,000,000 small businesses to create millions of new jobs.”

Person went on to say that “the Republican candidates’ plans to use tax incentives to encourage businesses to create new jobs are faulty because small business, the only net creator of new jobs, does not take advantage of tax incentives. Tax incentives are for major corporations, which have demonstrated they make more money by sending jobs overseas, in spite of tax considerations. GE, for example, did not pay any income taxes on $14.2 billion in net income last year.”

“What small business needs, and nobody addressed, is the termination of the federal and state laws that prohibit small businesses from raising capital through advertising or public solicitation. This has been illegal since 1933 (Securities Act of 1933). Because compliance with the Act costs more than the money that small business needs, small business does not raise capital from investors and remains small, and does not create as many jobs as they could be creating. Investors need this ‘protection’ far less than unemployed Americans need jobs,” according to Person, “and this restraint should be eliminated, to enable millions of new jobs to be created through the public financing of small businesses.”

Person went on to say, “the most damaging regulation of all was not mentioned. This regulation is the required state licensing of vocational training programs. Colleges and universities have not kept up with technological advances and are not training students to go to work for small businesses, especially the 20,000,000 persons who are self employed, and need a highly skilled person to become the first employee. The combined federal and state licensing laws, accrediting requirements, and student loan programs, have made it impossible for any training programs to be created by small businesses to train persons to go to work for small businesses as an ‘Assistant to the Owner of a Small Business’,” according to Person. “If these laws regulating vocational training programs are terminated (which the U.S. government could do by preemption under the Interstate Commerce Clause), private enterprise would create schools and training programs and more than 10,000,000 skilled, high-paying jobs would be available to students who receive the small-business training,” according to Person. “And perhaps 40% of these 10,000,000 would wind up owning their own small businesses, opening up another 8,000,000 jobs.”

“The Republican candidates either have no business experience, or have (like Romney) business experience at the level of destroying jobs in America, but not creating jobs through small businesses,” according to Person.

“Because of the foregoing, I can conclude that the Republican Presidential Debate on the most important topic of Job Creation was a snow job and meaningless.”

Person said, “President Obama has nothing important to add to his already failed policy of trying to create jobs through spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer money. Whatever jobs are supposedly created in this fashion are too focused and overly priced, and doomed to fail because government does not excel in creating jobs with other persons’ money. These decisions should be made by businesses and their owners and investors, and not by government.”

“Sadly, Obama is in a position to create millions of jobs prior to the election without spending any money, by adopting my plan ‘The 1st 3 Are Free’, but because his staff is not looking for new ideas, and because the main media also are not looking for new ideas, this no-brainer idea for creating millions of new jobs will not be implemented, and Obama’s second term will be in serious jeopardy,” said Person.

“The Libertarian Party is in a position to adopt my ideas for regulatory reform and job creation, and draw millions of votes away from the Republicans and Democrats, enough to swing the election,” according to Person.