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FreeNYThe official newsletter of the Libertarian Party of New York
In this Issue:
Jeffrey Wins Nomination |
Jeffrey Wins Nomination
Scott Jeffrey was picked as the 2002 LP candidate for
Governor. With 3 other candidates and None of the
Above to compete against, Jeffrey earned a majority
of the votes on the first round of voting. However,
LP by-laws require a 2/3 majority of the vote in order
to secure the nomination, which Jeffrey easily
obtained in the second round of voting. Scott's
running mate will be Jay Greco, an attorney from
Manhattan who is also the head of the NORML chapter
in New York State.
Jeffrey's campaign will focus on school choice, youth empowerment, marijuana legalization, gun rights and the restoration of the 18 year old drinking age.
'From the right to own a gun to the right to smoke marijuana, government is denying us our most basic freedoms.'
Jeffrey says that 'The concept of our God-given, constitutionally protected rights has been distorted. Politicians talk of so-called rights to goods and services that they want the government to provide. At the same time they also increasingly attack our actual rights. From the right to own a gun to the right to smoke marijuana, the government is denying us our most basic freedoms.'
Scott Jeffrey has run for office twice before, for Congress and for Manhattan Borough President. In his second campaign he worked with others to provide a broad slate of candidates. That strategy was partly responsiblefor an increase in votes over the previous campaign. Scott's running mates include James Eisert for State Comptroller and Dan Conti, Jr. of Suffolk County for Attorney-General. Mr. Conti ran for Attorney-General in 1998 and garnered almost the vote difference between Vacco and Spitzer. In order to get on the ballot in New York State a candidate for Governor must present 15,000 valid signatures on a petition to the Board of Elections.To retain ballot status for the next four years the Libertarian party's candidate for Governor must get at least 50,000 votes.
To donate to the campaign, send your checks to:
VoteJeffrey
2565 Broadway
#135
New York, New York 10035
Scott Jeffrey's website is at http://www.votejeffrey.com.
'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.' -Archie Griffin
2002 State Convention
-Albert Dedicke
The 2002 LPNY Convention was held in Rochester April 12-14. The weekend started with a party Friday night at Jillian's, where members met and socialized before the business activities on Saturday. This was my first convention, and it was an exciting opportunity to meet the people I had e-mailed over the past year. Saturday morning began with a four hour business meeting in which state-wide candidates were nominated (see Jeffrey for Governor article). Elections for state party offices were also held. I was elected Chairman with 28 of the 38 votes cast on the first ballot, while Vince O'Neill, my opponent for State Chair, was elected Vice Chair along with Jak Karako from the Manhattan chapter. Members also elected Bill McMillan, a registered CPA, as Treasurer, and Bonnie Scott as Secretary. Five At-Large members were elected- John Clifton, Jim Harris, Steve Becker, James Eisert, and Jim Lesczynski.
23 Delegates to the Indianapolis Convention in July were also approved, but we still have room for 20 more delegates. If you are interested in attending, call me at (585)-658-3017 or e-mail me at aadedicke@yahoo.com.
The business meeting also saw approval of two proposed by-laws changes and rejection of a third.The first approved amendment was to change Article VIII, Endorsements, Section C to read 'All endorsements for public office where the geographic boundaries for such office lie wholly within a county or counties in which there is no County Organization shall be made by the State Committee'. Previously those endorsements were made by the State Convention or 'by a body designated by 2/3 vote of the State Convention'.
'Any action that is dictated by fear or coercion ceases to be moral...Freedom of the individual is at the root of all progress.' -Mahatma Gandhi
The members also voted to delete paragraph E from Article VIII which reads, 'No candidate shall appear on the Libertarian Party line for any political office in New York State who is not a member in good standing of the Libertarian Party of New York'. A third proposal, to modify the same paragraph, was defeated.
Suffolk County Libertarians
Suffolk County Libertarians are busy working on
'between campaign activities'. Barry Loberfeld, in
addition to chairing the convention committee as usual
(SCLO Convention will be held May 18 with Bob Schulz
as
the featured speaker) also organized a group to attend
a discussion on 'Choice in Education' at a local
college. They handed out appropriate LP and ISIL
brochures and 'gold cards' with the Self-Government
Compass (Nolan chart) to interested audience members.
Barry is a prolific writer- in addition to many fine
articles in Liberty magazine, Ideas on Liberty
(FEENews.org), and numerous letters to the editor in
Newsday, is now on the web at
abcdunlimited.com/ideas/education.html. Bruce Martin
created the site for Barry.
In addition, Bruce hosts a radio show twice weekly at SUNY Stony Brook's FM station 90.1 WUSB The show 'Long Island Liberty' focuses on libertarian ideas with in-studio guests and/or call-in guests. This makes it convenient for libertarians who have been on the show-Chris Garvey, Audrey Capozzi, Virginia Walker, and Scott Jeffrey, to name a few. Bruce has also interviewed Toni Nathan, George Getz, Michael Cloud, and other libertarians from the national scene. Bruce is able to cover a wide variety of topics ranging from 2nd Amendment rights to tuition tax credits and anything in between. Students are not the only audience. The station broadcasts at least thirty miles in all directions.
Audrey Capozzi-Pappaeliou spent two months in Costa Rica during their exciting period which saw the libertarian party there (Movimento Libertario) increase from one nationally elected libertarian (the world's first- Otto Guevara) to six nationally elected members of Congress. Otto appeared on national television, not only as a participant in the presidential debates, but in obviously effective ads. Radio ads, huge signs and billboards all over the country have put the party on the political map. Costa Rica's constitution provides for proportional representation. There is also a provision which requires a run-off if no candidates for president achieves 40% of the vote totals. In 2002, this occured for the first time since the adoption of the constitution in 1948. Oh, to have those provisions in our constitution!
Both Bruce and Audrey are members of the Community Advisory Council overseeing the cleanup at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Their presence provides a counterbalance to the environmental extremists who want the 'N' word- nuclear- erased from the dictionary. SCLO members also attended a hearing on April 10th to show support for the Long Island shooting range at South Haven Park which the 'Green Gestapo' is trying to close and distributed pro-second amendment literature.
Tax Protests Bring In New Members
Tax protests in New York City and Rochester have
already resulted in new member inquiries. The
Manhattan LP distributed 1,000 'million dollar bills'
to customers of the downtown post office. The leaflets
talk about the amount of money the Federal government
is spending, (a million dollars every 3-1/2 seconds)
and give contact information for the LP. On Wednesday,
the day after the protest, I had already started
getting internet inquiries from people who had been at
the protest.
In Rochester, unseasonably warm weather helped as we handed out 350 leaflets. Most of the people cheered us on. Some stopped to talk about the LP, while a small minority actually wanted to pay more taxes! I wondered if they sent extra money to the Federal government every year. Despite a few people who told us to go to....Russia, the protest was a fun way to recruit new LP members. I recommend it to all members and chapters as a great way to recruit and raise aware- ness.
"Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -- H.L. Mencken, 1936
State Constitution Available
A copy of the New York State Constitution is available
free to all New York State residents. To get your
copy, call (518)-474-6957 or write to the following
address:
Division of Administrative Rules
3rd Floor, Suite 330
41 State St.
Albany, N.Y. 12231
or send an e-mail to
adminrules@dos.state.ny.us
Second Amendment Success
On Friday, April 12 I met with Joe Errigo, Assemblyman
from the 136th district just south of Rochester. I was
there to present him with a petition with signatures
I gathered from the gun clubs and Fish and Game clubs
in our Assembly district. The purpose of the petition
was to demonstrate support for Assembly bill AO0941, a
bill to 'Limit a licensing officer's discretion in
imposing restrictions or conditions on a firearms
license'. It has become common to add restrictions to
a license such as 'for target shooting only'. These
restrictions are not legal.
Mr. Errigo not only agreed to multisponsor the bill, he also said he would ask 5 other Assemblymen in our area to support the bill as well!
This was part of my Second Amendment project, which also saw the creation of a new SCOPE (Shooter's Committee On Political Education) chapter, one of four I planned to create under the project. A second one is currently in the process of forming.
One person CAN make a difference- but a lot more can make a BIG difference!
The Many Faces of Activism
-Steve Healey, Monroe Chairman
Try to define and 'LP activist' and you will find the answer elusive. In a pursuit as vast and complex as politics, the paths we can choose to follow are many. And it would be a mistake for me or others to tell anyone the 'best' way to become active, because finding the best way does not start by examining needs in your community or your local chapter.
It starts with an examination of yourself. Everyone's strengths, weaknesses and interests are unique. I work best with structure, while others shoot from the hip. For you to be valuable to the LP, and for you to be happy being part of the group, it is imperative that you find an appropriate role.
Don't be fooled into thinking that you aren't helping the party if you are not running for office or writing big checks to those who do. Anything helps. Most pursuits involve cooperating with other libertarians in your area, which I recommend, but the options are limitless. If you don't know where to start, contact someoone on the state committee. I, for one, would be happy to speak to you.
Steve Healey
easterof1916@nospam.runbox.com
(585)-529-9354
From the Chairman
'If not me, whom? If not now, when?'
With these words Rich Cooper began his opening speech at the convention on Saturday morning. It was a reminder that freedom is not free, and that each and every one of us has a responsibility to fight for our freedom.
As libertarians, we are unique individuals. Talk to a dozen libertarians, and you will get a dozen answers in response to the question, 'What do you think is the most important issue?' Our very uniqueness sometimes works against us, as libertarians argue over the 'correct' way to end public education or the war on drugs, while the Democrats and Republicans increase funding to education or add a new law to End Drug Use.
But the time has come for us to do more than just talk about liberty. The Patriot Act, the Campaign Reform Act, and the increasing sentiment in Albany and Washington that the government is not doing enough all threaten our freedom. As libertarians, we need to do more, and we need to work together. If you have not been active, go to a local chapter meeting and find out how you can help. If you have an idea on what we can do, go to a meeting and tell your local chairman about your idea. Work with other libertarians to get things done. If you don't have time, donate to people who are running for office.
As Steve Healey said, there are many things you can do; think about what you can do to help in your own unique way. And do something.
Because if we don't stop the government from taking more and more of our freedoms, we may wake up one day to find that we are powerless to resist.
Manhattan Cigarette Giveaway a Success !
To protest a recent $.39 increase in the cigarette tax
by New York State and a proposed $1.42 increase in the
New York City, Manhattan chapter libertarians offered
a free pack of cigarettes to anyone who attended the
April 17 meeting of the chapter.
'Our cigarette giveaway was a resounding success.' said Jim Lescynski. 'We had 45 people attend, including about 25 guests, and signed up 5 new members. 19 of the guests took us up on the free smokes. When we asked how they heard about us, it was evenly divided by those who saw the article in the Daily News and those who saw our paid ad on the back cover of NY Press.'
Take Action!
How can you promote freedom? Here are a few ideas...
Donate: There are many ways you can help the LPNY. This year we are running a slate of candidates for statewide offices, including Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney-General. Donating to the campaign will help the candidates get the message out. Send your checks to the campaign for Governor at Vote Jeffrey, 2565 Broadway #135, New York, New York 10035.
Second Amendment Project: We have started a Second Amendment project to defend our gun rights and work with other second amendment groups by lobbying legislators in Albany. You can help, no matter where you live in New York State. Contact me at aadedicke@yahoo.com or call (585)-658-3017.
Tell Your Friends about the Libertarian Party: Get a bumpersticker, or some brochures from the National LP. Ask your friends to go wtih you to a meeting, or tell them about your favorite libertarian book. Spread the word!
Petitioning for Governor: We need help this summer petitioning for our candidate for Governor, Scott Jeffrey. You don't need experience- we will train you. Call me today!
Local Chapter: Go to your local chapter meeting, and bring a friend. Local chapters have their own projects and need your help. And it's a great way to meet other libertarians.
Toastmasters International Joining Toastmaster is a great way to learn public speaking, an essential skill if you want to speak up for freedom or run for office. To join the Rochester group contact me at 658-3017.
Run For Office: We are always looking for new candidates, especially at the local level. If you have never run before, we have many experienced libertarians who can help you learn how to run a campaign. Contact your local chapter chairman to help on a local campaign or start one!
Endnotes
Calendar
June 15, 2002 Deadline for FNY articles
July 1, 2002 Next Free New York issue
May 18 Suffolk Co. Convention
June 8 Queens County Convention
June 8 ReconsiDer Annual Meeting
LPNY Information
website: http://ny.lp.org/
Address: LPNY Box 728 Bellport, N.Y. 11713
lpny_announce- a low volume announcement service-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpny_announce/ Send Your Articles!
Let your fellow libertarians know what you are doing to furthur the cause of liberty in New York State! Elections and Party Politics come first, but we will consider other stories of interest to libertarians.
To Contact Free New York
Albert Dedicke
13 Lake St.
Mt. Morris, NY 14510
aadedicke@yahoo.com