Document:LP News 1974 January-February Issue 18
LP Candidates are off and running!
Heartened by the success of the New York Mayoralty campaign last year, and determined to spread the libertarian philosophy even more widely in 1974, LP members around the country are already starting to announce their candidacies for this November's elections.
Altogether, between 25 and 50 LP candidates will be running for the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and various state legislatures this year, and we plan to cover all of their races in LP NEWS. Here are the first five to announce.
SANFORD COHEN
Sanford Cohen has been running for Congress in N.Y. State's 25th District ever since last January. To date, he has raised and spent several thousand dollars, and has achieved a great deal of publicity, partly as a result of a nude campaign poster he issued last year; he has been written up in many newspapers, interviewed on radio and TV, and was covered by PLAYBOY magazine. One of Sandy's main campaign planks is his advocacy of a "pay what you want" tax plan; he has also signed a contract binding him to keep his campaign promises, and has challenged his opponents to do the same. He describes his campaign as "going unbelievably well." Sandy is a member of the LP National ExecComm; his main opponent, GOP incumbent Hamilton Fish, has the dubious distinction of having the lowest Royce Report score of any Republican in Congress. Contributions should be sent to Citizens for Cohen, Box 1776, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.
KAY HARROFF
Kay Harroff, our Ohio Chairman, is running for U.S. Senate in the Buckeye State. As of the time we went to press Ohio LP members had gathered the 5,000 signatures necessary to put Kay on the ballot; they plan to get several thousand more, just to make sure. Kay has been active in libertarian causes for over a decade; at one time she was Ohio Chairman of the Liberty Amendment Committee, and she currently serves as LP National ExecComm representative from Region 5. Kay reports that one of the strongest areas of support she has encountered to date is the gun-owning community, which has responded very favorably to her strong stand against anti-gun laws. Contributions should be sent to Harroff for Senate Committee, 204 Solon Road, Cleveland, OH 441465.
BOB STEINER
Bob Steiner will soon publicly announce his candidacy for Congress in New Jersey's 12th District. Bob, a Life Member of the LP, and our New Jersey Chairman, is an accomplished public speaker. He is also exceptionally knowledgeable on economic issues, and is becoming well known in New Jersey as a champion of the overburdened taxpayer. He has published two books, and plans a third, entitled "How We won," to be released after his campaign, which will draw on the talents of experienced libertarians from New York and Virginia, as well as New Jersey. The incumbent Congressman in Bob's district is a freshman Republican with a Royce Rating of 36, whom Bob says is "extremely vulnerable." Perhaps the most unusual event related to Bob's campaign so far is the unanimous endorsement has has received from "Alaskans for Independence," as a result of his support for Alaska's right to secede from the United States. Contributions should be sent to Bob Steiner for Congress, Box 112, Westfield, NJ 07091.
KARL BRAY
Karl Bray, a well-known figure in the tax strike movement, will be the Utah LP's candidate for Congress in that state's Second District. Karl, a Life Member of the Party has been an active LP supporter from our earliest days; he was on the Temporary National Executive Committee and the 1972 Platform Committee, and served as Utah's first LP Chairman. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Utah Party. Karl has been harassed by the IRS because of his outspoken advocacy of tax resistance, and plans to make the tax issue a main element in his campaign. Current campaign strategy is for Karl to enter the GOP primary, in order to gain exposure, and then to run in the general election as a Libertarian. The incumbent Congressman in Karl's district is Wayne Owens, a Democrat with a Royce Rating of 27. Contributions for Karl's campaign should be sent to the Utah LP, Box `5506, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, and marked as campaign contributions.
KEN KALCHEIM
Ken Kalcheim, like Karl Bray, is a leader in the tax strike movement; he is the editor and published off "Rip-Off Resistance" a monthly magazine containing material by tax fighters of both the far right and far left. Ken has announced for Congress in New York's 17th District, where he will be running against John Murphy, a Democrat with a Royce Rating of 6, a score equalled or surpassed in its atrociousness only by two other Congressmen's. Ken Kalcheim began his career in libertarianism as a conservative Republican, but is now associated with the extreme radical faction of the libertarian movement. He hopes to receive an official endorsement from the Free Libertarian Party of New York for his campaign. Contributions should be sent to Kacheim for Congress, 3459 East 65th street, Apt. C, New York 10021.
Other libertarian candidates whose plans we have heard of include Paul Pferdner, who is running for state legislature in Oregon, and John James, who plans to run for congress in Colorado's First District. Stories on these and other campaigns will be carried in LP NEWS as information becomes available.
SPOTLIGHT ON STATE PARTIES
ALASKA LP now has its own newsletter, called ACTION, edited by Paul Beaird. ALP Chairman Grant LaPoint was recently down in the "South 49," and planned to stop by National HQ, but the Denver Airport was closed by a blizzard. Perhaps Grant brough his state's weather with him?
ARIZONA LP has been distributing literature at the University of Arizona, and staged a tax protest on December 17. Several new members have joined as a result of "letters to the editor" by State Chairman Ken LaFave. This can work for other state LP groups, too; keep your letters brief and calm, and ask that the newspaper include your address.
CALIFORNIA LP, which finished out '73 with a stupendous total of 552 members, remains active on many fronts. Tom Palmer has been appointed to handle campus activities, and most of the state's 20 regional LP groups are busy holding public seminars, and getting spokesmen on radio and TV stations. LPC plans to have its '74 state convention in Berkeley, with over 200 expected to attend. John Hospers continues to stump the state, in response to speaking invitations.
CONNECTICUT LP continues to grow under the dedicated leadership of Fran Moore, who has produced an attractive brochure summing up the case against gasoline rationing, based on material from an article in the National Observer. Connecticut LP will be distributing the brochures through gas stations.
FLORIDA LP held a formal state organizational meeting on November 17, and elected Charles Breeden as Chairman, with Jordan Keathley as Vice-Chairman. FLP, long dormant, is now blossoming forth and has over 50 members.
HAWAII LP plans to usher in the New Year by launching a four-month-long anti-tax effort in co-operation with several other groups, and also is supporting the Hawaii Free Speech Council, an outfit fighting censorship. HLP hopes to get the necessary 4,000 signatures to achieve ballot status this year; their efforts will be aided by the regular radio appearances of State Chairman Don Smith and others.
LOUISIANA LP will hold its state convention this month, and plans to field at least two candidates for public office. LPC's members in the 4th Congressional District have been active in a fight against a school tax proposal in Bossier Parish.
MARYLAND LP, which began organizing only this summer, is now the 5th-largest state LP group, yet describes its situation as "just beginning to pick up momentum." A tax protest planned for December l8th had to be postponed until January 15th because of weather; over 100 people outside the party's membership had replied favorably to the announcements for the December l8th scheduling.
MINNESOTA LP held a dinner on December l6, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party; speakers included Michiel van Notten of Holland, who spoke on the progress of the libertarian movement in other countries.
NEW HAMPSHIRE LP has sent a petition to the State Legislature condemning censorship, and is supporting an effort by Nashua School Board member Alan Thomaier to make Nashua schools independent of Federal aid/control. NHLP also plans to campaign against US involvement in the MidEast War.
NEW JERSEY LP's 1973 gubernatorial candidate, John Goodson, received over 3,000 votes, despite diversion of a major portion of the NJ members' efforts to the NY Mayoralty race. Goodson ran 4th out of 10 independent candidates, and two other independents who ran on tax-cut or tax-repeal platforms pulled another 4,500, indicating enough potential support to make NJLP the state's third-largest party, after the Dems and GOP. Bob Steiner is confident that he can handily defeat American Party candidate Howard Freund in his upcoming Congressional race; Freund is the AP's top gun in NJ, so a Steiner victory over Freund would be highly significant.
NEW YORK'S Free Libertarian Party has reported final results on last November's campaign; top vote-getter was Fran Youngstein, who got 8,8l8 votes, or 48% of the total for the five small parties (eat your hearts out, Marxists!). Gary Greenberg ran close behind, with 8,301; he was on the ballot in Manhattan only. Gary's share of the Manhattan Attorney General's race was 3.65%, and he pulled better than 6% in some districts; in two of the city's 13 assembly districts, Gary outpolled the Conservative line. In other races, Tom Avery pulled 5,903 votes city-wide for Comptroller, and Bill Lawry got 2,898 for City Council President. Lou Sicilia got 2,507 in Manhattan, running for Borough President, and Paul Streitz received 1,480 for Councilman at Large from Manhattan. FLP sent out a press release (info) on the anniversary of Roger MacBride's historic Electoral Vote last year, and is now gearing up for '74; membership has grown from 160 to 270 since last May.
UTAH LP is beginning a program whereby every member will (hopefully) write at least one "letter to the editor" every week; this is one of the best ways to get our ideas out, and to gain recognition for the LP.
WASHINGTON LP was another of the many state LP groups which staged anti-tax demonstrations at IRS offices during the December 16-18 period; theirs was preceded by a press conference on November 27, to assure good media coverage.
NO NEWS about LP activities in your state this time? Then send us some! We can't print it if we don't get it.
"BIG THREE" MEMBERSHIP TOTAL PASSES 1,000
LP membership in our three best-organized states passed the 1,000 mark at the end of 1973. Congratulations are in order to California (552 members), New York (270) and Texas (l82). If all states had equivalent per-capita membership, our national total would be 4,000+.
ExecComm meets
The LP National ExecComm met in Denver on November 24th, with eleven of the 17 voting members present; about a dozen observers also attended. Affiliation petitions were accepted from LP organizations in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington State, bringing the total of affiliate state parties to 28 (we've since lost Missouri, bringing the number back down to 27, plus four states still awaiting affiliation).
National Vice-Chairman Ed Clark was chosen to head the Platform Committee at the '74 Convention, with National Treasurer Pipp Boyls chosen PlatComm Vice-Chairman. Bill Westmiller was appointed to head the Constitution, By-Laws & Rules Committee. National Secretary Georgiann Trammell was confirmed as Credentials Committee Chairman; Winston Duke will serve as Co-Chairman. Texas LP's appointment of Guy Story Brown as Convention Arrangements Chairman was ratified.
Finance Committee Chairman Bob Meier spoke on fund-raising possibilities; he will present a comprehensive report on possible Special Projects--including a film about the LP--at the meeting of the new ExecComm this June. $200 was appropriated to finance legal research by Gary Greenberg, to find out more about election laws in every state. $100 was appropriated to Scott Royce, to use in fighting Federal financing of elections. $900 was appropriated for magazine advertising.