Bludgeon and Skewer (articles from December 5 and 11):
Biggest news of the last two days is the run off victory of republican Mike Dugan over republican Bill Hembree way out there in Georgia State Senate District 30. The expectation was that veteran politician Bill Hembree would get the nod and face off against Libertarian James Camp in the actual election on 8 JAN 2013. So much for conventional wisdom.
Now the hard work starts for James Camp.
While Dugan is not an entrenched republican incumbent, he will have access to resources that James Camp is gonna have a hard time matching. Sooner or later the rest of Georgia’s media will catch on the fact that this special election for the Georgia Senate is going to determine whether or not we all get blessed with a republican super-majority down at the capitol. Sooner or later the voters of Georgia Senate District 30 will realize they get to call the shot on this. And it probably won’t take all that many of them to determine if we run lemming like into republican state government that won’t say no, or pause and and take a moment to consider.
The differences in participation rates between the 6 NOV 12 general election and the results of the republican run off yesterday are staggering. Going from a 70% general election participation rate to a 6.9% run off participation rate for yesterdays contest really helps illustrate how valuable a vote becomes in the rare and exotic land of run offs. A vote on 8 JAN 2013 is worth 10 votes from 6 NOV 2012. A great return for tapping a touch screen.
If you’re one of the 19,000 Douglas county citizens, the 10,000 Carroll county citizens or one of the 15,000 Paulding county citizens that voted for either Libertarian Brad Ploeger or Libertarian David Staples for PSC last November then you really should consider hitting the polls and voting for Libertarian James Camp in the special election. Not all of those guys and gals will get to vote in the special election, but if only half of them take the time and make the effort, that’s probably close to victory for James Camp.
Close should be good enough but it ain’t. If you haven’t been to his facebook page, go! If you haven’t commented over at the Douglas County Sentinel, go! If you haven’t hit the donate button at his campaign website, go!
Times a-wastin’!
And:
First there’s the special election over in Georgia State Senate District 30 with Libertarian James Camp carrying the banner of Liberty. Now we have Libertarian Jeff Bivins jumping into the special election for Georgia Senate District 11 way down south near the Florida/Ala-damn-bama line.
All of this activity has been prompted by an unusual flurry of republican discontent and/or medical/family issues that have caused three duly elected republican office holders to bail out of the legislature. Two of ’em are headed towards greener full time employment pastures in state government courtesy of Governor Deal.
The end result is that the Libertarian Party of Georgia has two candidates qualified and running for State Senate seats in the affected districts. I also note that the other part of our fair states two party duopoly that has unrestricted ballot access, you know, the democrats, have failed to find anybody willing to run in either district 11 or district 30. Shouldn’t they lose their “real political party” card over that?
There’s still one day left in the qualifying process so there may be a surprise or two tomorrow but I kinda doubt it. The big news of the day is that the Libertarian Party of Georgia has two, count ’em, two State Senate candidates running for office.
That’s good news for Liberty!
And at LP.org blog:
Libertarian James Camp Calls for Ending State Income Tax in 2-Way GA Senate Race
posted by Staff on Dec 19, 2012
A special election for state senate on Jan. 8 in Georgia brings another opportunity to give voters a choice for much less government. Libertarian candidate James Camp will face off in District 30 against Republican Mike Dugan in a two-way race. Incumbent Bill Hamrick had resigned from the senate in September to accept a judicial appointment.
Camp’s call to end the state income tax is a major centerpiece of his campaign.
“Several states neighboring Georgia have no income tax,” Camp wrote on his campaign website. “These states are putting Georgia to shame by attracting businesses that would have otherwise called Georgia home.” He says that eliminating income taxes would attract new businesses and jobs to the state, while jump-starting economic growth and putting more money in the pockets of Georgians.
The field of Republican primary candidates took an unexpected turn in November. Bill Hembree, a former state representative who gave up his seat in the House to run for the vacated Senate position, won 48 percent of the vote on Election Day, much higher than his challengers. But he came short of the 50 percent vote total required to win the office. Instead, this triggered a Dec. 4 run-off vote that Dugan, a building contractor without a prior political career, handily won in a low-turnout election decided by just 6% of the voters.
James Camp would bring much lower taxes and new accountability to the state legislature, with a focus on eliminating regulatory burdens that choke off economic growth. His practical free-market solutions stand in stark contrast to a state Senate that spends more and more every year, despite being controlled by Republicans who only pay lip service to smaller government.
Camp points out that another Republican win in this race could give that party a Senate supermajority, granting it even more latitude to expand the state government.
“While Republicans held a large majority for the past few sessions, we saw an increase in the state budget for FY 2013 greater than the rate of inflation and population growth,” said Doug Harman, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, in a press release. “That certainly is not the limited government spending promised by Republican candidates on the campaign trail in 2010.”
James Camp for Senate website: VoteJamesCamp.com
Get out the vote efforts are the key.
Greetings All,
Many thanks for linking to my modest efforts at Bludgeon&Skewer on the state of the race in Georgia State Senate District 30. Early voting is done and only 572 ballots were cast, less that 1% of the registered voters have participated so far.
I haven’t seen any early voting totals for Libertarian Jeff Bivins race in State Senate District 11 but I doubt they exceed the 1% average the other special elections here in Georgia have drawn. Both District 30 and District 11 are Libertarian on republican match ups and at that level of participation both of our candidates have a shot at victory.
Anyone know for sure if they are still both 2-way races?
This actually is a golden opportunity for the LP, especially in South. If the Democrats can’t find opponents for these seats then it leaves a vacumn for the LP to fill, especially if they make the right pitch. Hopefully they take advantage of it and show in (presumably) majority white areas of the South don’t have submit themselves to one-party rule like in the past.
And some background on my name, since ya’ll seem to like it so much 😉 My parents were Polish immigrants, I was born in Chicago though. Paulie, you’re from Russia, I’m sure we could have a dialogue, lol. I once tried learning Russian, it’s an awesome language, and quite similar to Polish, I might add. If my high school offered it, I would’ve taken it instead of Spanish.
Thanks Jill. I think I became Paulie 4,999th friend and I am now subscribed to your account Jill.
I also hope to write at least three or four articles a week for IPR, maybe more if time allows for it. Unless, of course, there is no notable news in Third Party Land, lol.
Wow, I don’t think I’ll disclose here what I was doing in high school. In fact, I had no political interests at all until I started a business and started paying taxes.
I think Paulie’s maxed out of FB friends, too, and it does seeem to be fairly arbitrary that they cut us off at 5000 friends on FB. I wish I could purge all of my inactive accounts, because I’m sure that ‘s a high percent. I don’t know of a way to do it.
I have a subscribe button that still takes people. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I think you still can read my comments.
Anyway, congratulations on your early start, Krysztof. I’ll think you’ll be a great addition here.
@18
Basic arithmetic fail there. I was actually 12 in 2008. I’m sure you wouldn’t be surprised to find out math is my least favorite subject, lol.
And I think the youth of this country are becoming more and more interested in politics, thanks in large part to Ron Paul. Ron Paul actually got me interested in politics in the first place. I supported him in 2008, when I was 14. I had campaign paraphernalia all over my house, lol.
So just for the record, here’s my Facebook, anyone who wants to add me, feel free to do so:
https://www.facebook.com/krzysztof.lesiak.96
I’m 16 Paulie (though I turn 17 in March). I plan on joining the CP on my 18th birthday, going to their 2016 convention, and being active in third party politics in general, including writing for IPR and starting a weekly radio show, which I hope will be carried by the Republic Broadcasting Network (RBN) on Sundays. Yeah, I’m pretty interested in politics, lol. Don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.
@11
Jill, yep, that’s me. I tried to add you as a friend, but it said you already had too many friends. I wish Facebook didn’t cap off the number of friends at 5,000, they should move it up to 10,o00 or something.
Personally I was a political junkie at age 8 and a political operative at age 16. I think Ross Levin was in high school when he started writing here. I haven’t actually checked to see how old Krzysztof is. I suppose it’s possible there’s a Jr. and Sr.
Well, if that’s him, we have quite an extraordinary young man with us. I certainly wasn’t interested in politics at his age.
If there’s someone else with that same name, especially in the US, I would be surprised.
Kryzsztof, I see someone with your name on Facebook. Is that you?
Yes, more people should post articles 🙂
Let me know when you have the next one done.
Awesome. I’m enjoying IPR so much more now, lol.
Published.
Ok, cool. BTW, I submitted a new article, and am currently writing another one.
You can subscribe to it. It costs the same as a basic membership, the only difference is you would not be signing the membership oath. If anyone can scan it in that would be great!
Could someone maybe upload LP News as a pdf? I’d be interested in reading it. Also, is it mailed only to LP members, or can anyone subscribe to it?
I wouldn’t really count Dan Gordon, he claims LP but LP does not claim him. It’s been a decade or so since we have had a bona fide LP legislator, and Alaska, New Hampshire and Vermont are the only states that have had them. It’s true the LP needs some now. For anyone with the new LP News see Judge Gray’s article on pp. 8 and 14; unfortunately not available in electronic form as far as I know.
I hope Camp and Bivins get elected. Since Dan Gordon in RI is leaving the state house in a few days, the LP will be left w/0 a single state legislator. They came close in SC this year, with Jeremy Walters getting 46.77% in a State House race. I think the LP really NEEDS at least one state legislator, I mean come on, the Greens even have one.
Same goes for the CP. To my knowledge, the only legislator they’ve ever elected is Rick Jore in MT.
Best wishes to James Camp and Jeff Bivins.
Great news