Our recent State Convention was a huge success! It was held April 28-30 in Santa Clara. More people attended than at any recent convention in memory, and I noted great enthusiasm among those who did. The state LP hosted compelling speakers, including economist David Friedman, Eric Garris of Antiwar.com, and Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com. The entire convention was filmed, so you will soon be able to find all the speaker presentations on YouTube. The date they’re available will be posted soon.
New officers and Executive Committee members were elected. I was honored to be re-elected state chair, and welcome both new and returning committee members. I think we have a dedicated group of activists lined up to lead the party for the next two years, which is good because we’re set to promote liberty in a myriad of ways before the 2018 elections.
Officers are Dr. Kenneth Brent Olsen, Northern Vice-Chair; Jonathan Jaech, Southern Vice-Chair; Honor “Mimi” Robson, Secretary; and Steve Haug, Treasurer. Executive Committee members are: Alex Appleby, Wendy Hewitt, Boomer Shannon, Robert Imhoff, Jennifer Imhoff, Tyler Kuskie, Zachary Scott, Susan Marie Weber, David Bowers, and Jason Wu. Alternate is Baron Bruno.
The next Executive Committee meeting is Sunday, June 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the party office at 825 S. Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia (two cities east of Pasadena). An action-packed agenda is in the works. Note that another Alternate will be selected for the ExCom, so if you want to apply, let me know. It’s also not too soon to be planning for our 2018 State Convention, since extensive lead time is needed to arrange hotel accommodations. The convention can either be put on by the ExCom (as has been the case for the last few years), or by a local party organization or individual (as was the case in the past). If you’re interested in submitting a proposal for the next convention (in Southern California), please let me know, and I’ll send you relevant information.
Election 2018 is right around the corner. Candidates start taking out papers to run in February, but of course should plan to run a lot sooner. A dizzying number of slots are up for grabs, including all statewide offices (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Controller, Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Public Instruction), U.S. Senator, four seats on the State Board of Equalization, all 53 U. S. House seats, all 80 State Assembly seats, and 20 State Senate seats (even numbered districts).
The best way to present Libertarian ideas to the public is during political campaigns, since people might pay attention to political issues then. However, it’s gotten expensive to run for these offices — filing fees range from $1,000 to $3,500, and candidate statements (optional) run about $5,000. And, frankly, the Top Two election system makes it very difficult for Libertarian candidates to move on to the general election. But that shouldn’t dissuade us from finding Libertarian candidates to represent our views to voters.
We have a PAC known as the Candidate Support Committee that raises money for state candidates, and we plan to set up a federal committee in the near future. A doable goal is to raise $50,000 before the end of the year to pay for filing fees and candidate statements. Dynamic activist Baron Bruno has volunteered to head this up. You should be hearing from him over the next few months. Consider rewarding his volunteer efforts with a donation for our candidates.
We continually seek qualified, principled Libertarian candidates to carry the torch of liberty. If you’re interested in running for any office in 2018, please contact me at: tbrown@ca.lp.org.
I also hope we can transmit the Libertarian viewpoint outside the election cycle. We have a new Communications Director, Jennifer Imhoff, and I expect her to send out statewide press releases reporting our views on current issues. She’ll use Twitter to promote the Libertarian angle on social media. Be sure to look for us on Facebook, too. We have a “Libertarian Party of California” page as well as groups called “Libertarian Party of California (Official)” and “Libertarian Party of California”. Follow (and post) articles and read news of interest to the Libertarian community.
Has your membership expired? Renew it to be connected and show your support for the state LP. Go to:
http://ca.lp.org/membership/ Make a monthly pledge if you possibly can. Thank you for being involved in the Libertarian Party of California. Feel free to contact me with your questions or concerns.