Dullard Mush
Thursday, July 07, 2011
How Not to Run for Office, or: Does Nevada Still Have a Libertarian Party?
About two weeks, while perusing the raft of characters running for Nevada’s CD-2, I noticed one missing component — the Libertarian Party. I mean, the Independent American Party had sent up the usual suspect, Tim Fasano, and there were a handful of “independents.” And, while I was a little surprised Craig Bergland wasn’t representing the Greens, I remembered they had lost their ballot status (though something called Americans Elect Party does). But where was the LP?
Seeing how a minor party needs all the publicity it can get, I emailed them asking if they had a candidate ready or a list of potential ones. Needless to say, nobody is apparently home at LP headquarters as I never received any response. But, by chance, I noticed a Libertarian candidate had recently materialized on the SOS site.
His name B. Dale Gremban and while I would have liked to contact him, you’ll see why that failed by noting what is wrong with his candidate info on the SOS site.
Yeah, I guess he takes his privacy rather seriously.
But in the end it didn’t matter as, following the Nevada State Supreme Court ruling, the roster of players was trimmed to just four with Mr. Gremban failing to make the cut. Apparently Gremban was never officially “designated” by Nevada’s Libertarian Party as their candidate.
So was Gremban just a lone wolf who marked down “libertarian” when he walked into the SOS to file the minimum of paperwork, or did the LP drop the ball on their end? Either way, it doesn’t say much for a political organization that likes to tout being the biggest third party. This is a major election and they couldn’t be bothered to muster a qualified candidate? Unbelievable. Couldn’t they have put Wayne Root up?
One member of the Nevada LP, David Colborne, answered some of the questions in the comments of the article. Anon Guy published this article today:The Mundane, But Real Reason Nevada Libertarians Failed to Field a CD-2 Candidate
Thanks to David Colborne, part of the mystery as to why Nevada’s Libertarian Party failed to successfully place a candidate on this year’s congressional special election, has been solved. And, it’s a relatively mundane one. One, I suspect the NLP will work to change at its next annual meeting.
From the comments section in the original post:
“Hi! I’m David Colborne, Northern Regional Representative for the Libertarian Party of Nevada. Though I’d love to blame the consolidation for the LPNV’s failure to field a candidate for CD-2 (I voted against it, after all), I’m afraid the truth is a bit more straightforward than that. Simply put, our party bylaws weren’t designed to take special elections into account.
Unlike other third parties, the Libertarian Party of Nevada does not allow its Executive Committee to file nominations for public office to the Secretary of State unless the candidate has been approved at a convention by the membership at large, either locally or statewide. Since CD-2 is not a local race, it would have to be handled at the state level. According to the LPNV’s bylaws, the state party is only allowed to conduct one convention per year (an “annual” convention) and 60 days notice must be provided to all members in the state before the convention is conducted. This works fantastically for normal campaign cycles – it gives everyone sufficient time to get together, discuss possible candidates for various offices, and fully vet everyone in the field, while preventing those with “connections” from slipping friends and family in as “libertarian” candidates for public office. For this particular special election, however, it made it functionally impossible for the state party to file a candidate since the actual filing deadlines were in court-mandated flux and we already held our annual convention back in January.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of the consolidation – eliminating local parties was a stupid, stupid, STUPID move and it’s not doing us any favors here or in Clark County. However, CD-2’s geographical boundaries span several counties, so this would’ve been a statewide issue anyway. Unfortunately, we managed to legislate ourselves into a tidy little corner that procedurally prohibited us from participating in this election.”
Now, if we only knew who B. Dale Gremban was and why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate Wayne Allyn Root?
For the Libs, an ole ole story!
Sadly true.
Who is Dale Gremban? Prior to filing my candidacy for the special Nevada CD2 election, when I noticed in early June that the Nevada LP was not running a candidate for the congressional race, I watched and waited for them to act…. Although an out-of-stater for several years now, I was registered as a Libertarian in Nevada when I was a resident, first registering so in the early 1980s. Fyi, several years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that any qualified U.S. citizen can run for a U.S. House or Senate seat in any State with the caveat that he must be a resident of that State “when elected”. (Now at the time I filed my Nevada candidacy on the last day possible, I gave out no phone number, email address, etc., because I would wait to see if I would appear on the ballot and would update the information if I did get ballot access.)
From the time the Special Election was announced on April 29, the Nevada LP eventually had 62 days to place a candidate with the Nevada Secretary of State, which eventually, after the Republican suit, designated the filing period to be between May 25 and June 30. Around June 15, a little over two weeks before the filing deadline, seeing that still no Libertarian had declared, I contacted the Nevada LP and offered my services. I was told by Kris McKinster that they would not be running any candidate. I encouraged them about week later, explaining that this might be a great opportunity for the LP, as polls indicated the electorate was dissatisfied with both big parties and looking for a third party, and additionally there might be 20+ Democrats and Republicans on the ballot to dilute their vote. This time I received no reply. Thus, with a few days remaining, I contacted the national Libertarian Party to see if they could incentivise the Nevada LP to run a candidate, and again I offered my name as willing and able. Apparently, the national LP got no further than I did. For when checking on the last day to file, June 30, there still was no Libertarian candidate in the election, even though the LP has automatic ballot access in Nevada. If the Nevada LP leadership was hampered by their own bylaws, it is no excuse; because, bylaws are a leadership issue and the leaders should have taken special elections into account beforehand, like other parties’. Yet there was still another opportunity: Since there was talk of the possibility that the Nevada Supreme Court might rule for a “free for all” election, a Libertarian might yet appear on the ballot along with the two dozen Democrats and Republicans who had already filed candidacy, despite the LP bylaws.
For this reason, I took the initiative. Even though I may not be “designated” by the Nevada LP, at least if I declared, a libertarian might then be on the ballot and on the radar. Having encouraged the Nevada LP leadership and given them all the time possible to designate a candidate, or to file someone for a “free for all”, finally in the last hour of the last day, at a little past 4 pm on June 30, I declared my candidacy.
A week later, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled for a “party boss” election wherein only the leadership of the various parties would choose whom the voters would be allowed to elect. Because, for whatever reason, the Nevada LP leadership failed to designate a candidate, no Libertarian will appear on this ballot. This is not the first time a state LP has missed running a candidate for an important office; currently in New York, there is no Libertarian running for CD9. Whenever I ask a non-Libertarian, “What is the purpose of a political party that doesn’t run candidates?”, I always receive the same answer: “None.” At least I tried.
“Now, if we only knew who B. Dale Gremban was and why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate Wayne Allyn Root?”
One possible explanation is that people exposed to Wayne Root’s dynamic personality perceive the subliminal projection of self-loathing coming from Root. The root of Root’s self-loathing originates from the intense envy of his own false persona.
I think Root could regain his self-respect by joining the GOP and taking up an honest profession, like selling used cars. This might also help him resolve the issues regarding his mother, the wife of a butcher.
I suggest that those who hate Root replace that negative emotion with pity for this pathetic and broken man. This cycle of hatred must end in order for Root to heal.
Perhaps, one day, we will see a well-adjusted and happy Republican Root selling quality used cars for $1 down on Las Vegas cable TV stations.
Yeah, looks like you’ll need to change your bylaws on nominating candidates.
And in the meantime, consider backing Tim Fasano- the IAP candidate.
“:…why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate…”
Hatred is always at root self hatred. And “so many” seems a stretch, since there are so few NV Ls to begin with…
“if we only knew w… why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate Wayne Allyn Root?”
Wayne’s career is a strong argument for validation of the old saying “familiarity breeds contempt.”
Somebody said my name three times, so I guess I better show up.
George, I’d love to agree with you, but our bylaws state that Robert’s Rules apply except where our bylaws override them, and Robert’s states that bylaws cannot be ignored or changed on the fly whether everyone thinks they should be ignored or not. Since we’ve had… issues with legal action in the past, and since there wouldn’t have been a single candidate that everyone in the LPNV would have approved of (meaning there was no hope of a “gentleman’s agreement” or “getting away with it”), we were dead in the water no matter what we did. Bylaws are designed according to Robert’s to be immutable outside of convention-driven amendment procedures, which is why they recommend that bylaws should be as small as possible. Sadly, we use bylaws for EVERYTHING and that’s biting us in the rear right now.
TE @ 1: I can assure you that envy is not the reason I have a problem with Mr. Root. Misrepresenting Libertarian principles and insulting our views is the reason I don’t like him.
This is old news, and I believe he as well as his supporters know very well what our complaints are.
So is there some update from the dissenting local parties??
My guess is envy
Penis envy?
You see here what happens when Parliamentoonians get loose. The LPNV State Committee leadership could have asked ‘did anyone think of this when we wrote the bylaws” and having answered “no” could have said ‘then the bylaws do not tell us what to do” and fielded a candidate.
I would urge local libertarian groups in Nevada to be ready to field candidates by petitioning, if that is within your resources, mindful that you may need a different party nae on the ballot.
Remember, Joe Kennedy ran as “Liberty”, but the press always said he was a Libertarian.
@2, agreed.
The fix has been in quite some time by the GOP, Tea Party and U.S.
“Now, if we only knew who B. Dale Gremban was and why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate Wayne Allyn Root?”
My guess is that libertarians don’t like Root’s authoritarian, controlling, “I’m the Leader!” streak.
The LPN has been busy preparing to stuff its 2012 delegation, and preparing to influence the California delegation, and the national convention (pulling strings to have the convention in Las Vegas), all to crown Root.
Can’t waste time on special elections when there’s a King to crown.
“Now, if we only knew who B. Dale Gremban was and why so many Nevada Libertarians seem to hate Wayne Allyn Root?”
My guess is envy.