1600 BEACON ST. 402, BROOKLINE, MA 02446
PHONE 617-396-4253 E-MAIL [email protected]
DAVID E. BLAUPOSITION SOUGHT*
At Large Representative on the Libertarian National Committee.
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
I am a current member of the Libertarian National Committee, with 15 months of experience in the body. I have not missed a meeting during that time. I know what is expected of LNC members, and I will fully commit to all of the financial, legal, and ethical responsibilities of the At Large position.
I believe that all people have the right to live their lives without coercion from others. I am socially tolerant and financially conservative.
I have several years experience leading a mid-size volunteer organization (over 400 members) and setting departmental policies from a goal-oriented perspective.
I am an attorney admitted to the bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. I have studied election law, and taken continuing legal education on the topics of election administration, campaign finance laws, and lobbying.
I think both strategically and tactically, and I am very organized, but I am also not afraid to get my hands dirty with grassroots activism.
POLITICAL CHRONOLOGY & EXPERIENCE
May 2012 to present: Massachusetts Director, Gary Johnson / James Gray campaign. Ran successful drive to put these candidates on the Massachusetts ballot.
May 2011 to present: Regional Alternate, Libertarian National Committee. Chair, Headquarters Building Committee from March 2012. Member, Employment Policy and Compensation Committee from August 2011.
October 2008 to present: Chair, Libertarian Association of Massachusetts (LAMA). State delegation chair, Libertarian National Conventions in 2010 and 2012.
October 2007 to October 2008: Editor, Massachusetts Liberty (LAMA newsletter).
October 2007 to present: Member, LAMA State Committee.
January 2005 to May 2007: Member, Libertarian Party of Chicago.
*Because of the resignation of Wayne Allyn Root, there is now an opening for an At-Large Representative on the Libertarian National Committee. The candidates for the position have been asked to write a 2-page letter of why they would like to be on the LNC. IPR would like to feature the letters ahead of the meeting. This way, our readers can get to know about the choices and can take an opportunity to contact their Regional Reps and the Executive Committee of the candidate they’d like to see elected.
@25: My vision for the LP is to move America to a future that is more free, responsible, and tolerant by electing Libertarian candidates, influencing or writing libertarian federal legislation and working with Congress to get it enacted, and assisting our state affiliates to do the same at their level. Yeah, that sounds like something a stuffed shirt would say, but effective organizations lay out clear, reachable, measurable goals and then put laser-like focus on them. And key to that is actually articulating those goals.
In the next four years, I would like to see the LP focus more on these goals. In particular, we need to get more candidates elected. While that will be difficult at the federal level, we can easily build a farm team of elected Libertarians in state and local offices (many of which are even non-partisan). It will be much easier to convince the average voter to choose our Presidential candidate when we can point to an elected Libertarian “in a town near you.” As for writing laws, there are an endless stream of laws that need reform, starting with BCRA. Yet we don’t have a dedicated team of people working on getting the laws changed. We can and should build that team over the next four years.
As for Carl’s candidacy, I will say honestly that I don’t know him very well. We’ve spoken a few times and he’s likeable. Some of his pet issues and stances seem a bit unusual for someone who wants to be a leading spokesman for the American Libertarian movement, but we all have our quirks.
If you can get to it tonight that would be good.
You’re welcome to post it, Paulie, although I plan to get caught up on this tonight. I had a huge priority during the week, which has now been completed.
It’s been a few days, and I’m back to posting articles now. Should I post it, or would you like to, or someone else?
Mr. Blau,
What is your vision for the LP and what direction do you want to see the LP go in the next 4 years? Also, what are your thoughts on Carl Person’s candidacy for the same position?
@16 and @19: Thanks Stewart!
Does anyone have any other questions for me?
Sorry for the delay in responding, I’ve had a hellacious two days.
@12, @17 and @20: I’d like to clarify my position here. I said I don’t want to discuss the voting procedure because I am both a candidate AND a member of the group that will be setting the rules for voting. Believe me, I have strong opinions on the matter, I just think it would be wrong for me to risk tainting the election process by expressing them.
Yes. Please see the thread about the motion.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/09/libertarian-national-committee-considers-e-ballot-to-fill-open-position/
I just posted several updates there.
Comments 57-60.
My understanding is that the current motion calls for a secret vote using the opavote system online which does publish individual votes.
Paulie, do you have an update on Ruth’s motion? I see that Dr. Lieberman voted “no”, although he is an alternate and Wiener probably will vote.
Also, do you know if Ruth’s motion meant for the vote to be secret?
I did not refrain from commenting on the vote process.
However, I will abstain from voting on candidates.
@17, which is why he abstained. As a candidate for the office, that is certainly appropriate.
Some people will actually vote for themselves (I’ve seen it happen in the past on the LNC), rather than abstain as those with ethics will tend to do. Mr Blau, like several of the other candidates, has ethics.
If anyone has any other questions for him please post them here.
David has said he is not willing to discuss his feelings about the voting process because, as a candidate, he feels it is inappropriate for him to do so.
@12, Mr Blau is on the LNC.
The problem with this type of appointment process is that there are several very good candidates. Mr Blau is certainly on my list of people that I would have no objection to having as one of our five at-large representatives. **
Mr Blau is not, and never has been, either a hooded key-holder or even a minion of the cabal, as the former holder of the now vacant seat on the LNC was.
** South Carolina is not in a region. Our state party chose in 2012 to secede from the regional formation process, and therefore has no regional representative.
And since a candidate clearly already has a majority (my guess would be 10 from the votes), it would actually be a disservice to others applying to ask them to travel to DC, knowing in advance that they would lose.
That said, I still insist that they report the votes as cast by our REPRESENTATIVES on the LNC!
@5,
By looking at your report of those voting so far, we can easily play LNC sudoku and fill in the gaps. The answer to who the candidate is that has a majority vote is obvious to anyone counting voting blocks.
When is this LNC vacancy supposed to be filled? I want this to end already.
Mr. Blau, how would you feel about secret ballots if you were currently on the LNC? I’ll ask the others the same question.
Disagreement isn’t the issue. Irrelevance is.
Does anyone have questions for David Blau?
He said he would answer them here if anyone does.
Good. Henry doesn’t belong here if he’s just going post things he knows we’re all gonna disagree with.
Well, he removed the comment
RE @ 7: I was just wondering who invited Henry to this party.
^^^ Spam Alert ^^^
Whenever you have time and inclination to post it would be fine.
No additional votes have been cast since the last time I reported,
For the motion: Bennett, Hagan, Kirkland (co-sponsors) [Vicki has not technically voted yet, but she’s a co-sponsor so…], Redpath, Myers, Cloud
Reportedly for: Neale
Against (votes that count): Vohra, Pojunis, Mack.
Reportedly against: Starchild
Against, kind of sort of maybe: Wiener
Against, but don’t count because our region reps voted: Goldstein, me
No.
Is the mail ballot decided on for sure? I don’t mind that, but I DO mind a secret vote. Is it too late for me to write the committee members to give them
my request for a roll-call vote?
Okay. How about I wait until tomorrow, in case someone else shows up? We’re at 9 now and I like even numbers. Anyone else interested???
Thanks Jill!
If you have time, please do a compilation post linking all nine posts as well as Steve Newton’s and the one about the motion to have a mail ballot.
Here is the ninth candidate statement to be posted here. To my knowledge, it is everyone who has expressed interest in the position. If anyone else sends an application or candidate statement for the open at-large position, please let us know here on IPR, or send it to me at [email protected].