Sources inside both the Gravel and Jingozian campaigns have confirmed that Mike Jingozian intended to endorse Mike Gravel at the LP convention as much as two months ago. This news infuriated the Ruwart campaign, which had given Jingozian tokens to help him participate in the debate, and the nominating speeches.
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trinman wrote: “The mere fact that Cloud was still able to show his face, let alone speak to an audience, is enough to tell us something …”
So, was there wrongdoing? Had I been voting, I would not have considered anyone but Barr simply because Barr was the only one with a good track record on vote getting…the others, every one of them, has an abysmal or non-existent record.
On officer related matters, I find myself in the somewhat odd position of agreeing with David Nolan’s position…since Redpath is someone with whom I could not work, either of his opponents were fine with me.
That said, were one or more of the presidential candidates at any time operating under an agreement with one or more of their supposed rivals?
Did anyone with an obligation to the party membership (such as a party officer or staff member) connive to twist things in favor of one or more candidates (presidential, veep, platform issues and/or LNC positions)?
Was this just a return of the Browne Cloud?
There was obviously “politics as usual” … perpetrated by experienced politicians … all over Denver. It appears that someone was able to “force” Bette Rose Ryan (man I’d like to see that fool in his hospital bed or coffin?) to tweak the speakers list to include Richard V; the last minute buyout and purge of TPW, the apparent coalitions among those three candidates (and this Williams fellow, who put Root over the top – where did he come from?)
The only difference this time was that the coup succeeded, and was not at the usual levels of ineptitude we have come to expect from the “partyarchs” (so many examples in the past, hard to know where to start …)
The mere fact that Cloud was still able to show his face, let alone speak to an audience, is enough to tell us something …
Were Barr, Root and Jingozian operating under an agreement arranged between the 3 campaigns prior to the convention?
Was the fix in?
What if Jingozian never intended to “help” Gravel, but to help Root and, by extension, Barr?
What if it was a 3 way deal, all of it intended to secure the nomination of Barr?
At least one of the Root floor workers originally was hired by Jingozian…this I know simply from having caught some of the CSPAN coverage and seeing one of Root’s floor workers (Richard Burke, who for a few years held the full time paid position as Oregon LP Exec Director). He was hired by Jingozian and at that time still held the full time paid position of Oregon LP Exec Director (if my memory serves the Jingozian job began well over one year ago).
It’s just a thought, and I don’t know if there is another explanation for why at least one of Root’s floor workers originally worked for Jingozian (it could simply be a change of employer).
Aside from the one Root floor worker I spotted during CSPAN’s coverage there were many interesting job changes in the days immediately prior to the convention (Shane Cory, everything happening with Third Party Watch and people related to it, etc).
There also were some interesting and previously discredited Libertarians being invited to hold forth at the convention (Michael Cloud and Jack Dean, to name just two).
Was it all connected, all part of a three way plot to secure the nomination for Barr and, presumably to secure the Veep nomination for Root?
As for the use of previously discredited Convention speakers (Cloud and Dean) that necessarily would mean that those overseeing the convention itself would necessarily have been involved.
If something like this ocurred, obviously there are serious FEC implications for the LP, all three campaigns, and for a number of individuals.
As a Libertarian, before I concern myself with possible FEC violations, I look first at the possibility of fraud against those who contribute to support one or more of these political entities—I’m obviously opposed to such fraud, and often find that FEC “violations” are for things which do not involve any wrongdoing…to give just one example of how fraud might have occured at the LP convention and prior to it: the person who detests Bob Barr and who supports Jingozian with a contribution to Jingozian’s campaign, not knowing that Jingozian already had a deal to help Barr (if in fact that was the case)—obviously, any other parties to such a deal also would be implicated, directly and/or indirectly, with the fraud on that donor…
It’s just a question, because there were an awful lot of strange job shifts just prior to the convention and it was unsettling seeing Cloud and Dean resurrected.
Hehe, I knew about this about a week before the convention from a tip. Now they both lost, so no secret. It feels great to know what will happen in advance.
I personally would have LOVED Gravel/Jingozian.
From what I heard the “child porno” smear pushed Gravel away, and Ruwart’s folks made no serious effort to fix that misunderstanding.
Meanwhile, I think Austin is correct that it also had to do with “electability” (even though I doubt Mike is delusional enough to believe Barr can win the election … neither is Barr but it makes for great fundraising copy!)
Gravel said specifically that his political career was at an end.
He probably backed Root and Barr over Ruwart because they were both more political in their delivery. This guy is a former Senator who probably puts more value on political skills and elected experience than most of the other Libertarians at the convention.
New Federalist, no, that might be me. G.E. I must say, either your coverage is really great or The Previous Website is really slow.
Gravel said on C-SPAN that he’s done now. He’s going to write books and speak.
What does Gravel do now? Does he remain in the LP or drift off to seek the Greens’ nomination in July?
Jingo seemed like a nice guy throughout the weekend, even if he had a hard time finding a “hook” to set himself apart from the field. However, if the Ruwart people did give tokens to him, then they have every cause in the world to be upset.
I’m still trying to figure out who Barr gave tokens to. I know that somebody received a chunk, and I had been speculating that it was Jingo. I also heard rumors that it was Gravel, but in the voting Gravel seemed to have enough support to indicate that he didn’t need tokens.
No surprise here either, however, I think it was rather cold to accept tokens from Ruwart, knowing full well he was going to support Gravel. That’s politics for you.
Doesnt surprise me. Jingozian’s rhetoric was very similar to Gravel’s.