Absolutely not.
Allow me to briefly editorialize here:
There’s been a lot of complaints directed at IPR’s coverage of the Libertarian Party of Florida situation or whatever is happening there. I posted just about all the articles, so I’m the only one who can really take responsibility for this alleged “degeneration” of IPR.
Infighting is the one thing third parties are VERY good at. Infighting within the LP has been rife since the party was founded. Whether or not it is a good thing is irrelevant. IPR has dutifully covered the Oregon LP fiasco, the Pennsylvania LP fiasco, the Nevada LP situation and many others including neocon statist Wayne Allyn Root’s not-so-quiet infiltration of the LP. It should go without saying that IPR’s coverage of these events at least got people talking, and words eventually turned into action.
Anyway, besides Richard Winger’s excellent Ballot Access News, IPR is the ONLY daily third party news source on the interwebs. Other websites have tried to emulate IPR, and they have failed. I helped out a bit with two of those websites, Independent and Third Party News and Views and the Independent American and Consitutional Review. Both sites are now offline. IPR has stood the test of time since May 2008 and it will no doubt be here for years to come.
A little about me: I’m 17 and currently a junior in high school. My life doesn’t (and probably won’t) consist of scouring Facebook or various third party websites for hours to find something that may fit well for publication on this website. Facebook is an incredibly addicting website that sucks its users in and can lead to countless hours of producitivity to be thrown out the window. There’s plenty of third party news out there that’s too hard or takes too long for just one person to find. The reason the recent LPF articles were published was that they were sent directly to my inbox. Since they were relevant to third party news, I published them. Several readers have complained, but these LPF threads have garnered a great deal of views and comments. Often, “positive” news stories will only receive a handful or even no comments.
There has been what may be termed a small deluge of recent articles on controversy surrounding Libertarians in Florida, but there have been so many more positive articles. Those have been ignored by commentators. They say IPR has degenerated into a tabloid-esque “gossip site.” Again, these individuals ignore all the other articles that have been published on IPR that highlight what are generally considered to be neutral or positive developments in the third party world. IPR has given a microphone to many candidates to tell the world who they are. The lamestream corporate-controlled media won’t do this, but IPR will.
Furthermore, and to close out the whole LPF thing, I only posted what was forwarded to me. The source and “side” in the conflict was irrelevant to me. Anyone from the LPF who has opinion that’s article worthy can email me at [email protected] and I will publish it. I take no sides and I intend to uphold every standard of journalistic integrity.
That goes for anyone. Have a news story about third parties? Have a column by a third party figure or an upcoming event you’d like to share? Email me at [email protected] and I will get it up. However, since there seems to be a relative consensus among readers that “positive” and “feel good” stories are preffered, I will try to publish more of those. It’s only really a matter of finding them.
If you want to see these positive stories I keep hearing about, then nothing’s stopping you from allowing for their publication on IPR! Just email me and I will get them up.
It’s easy to complain about the big money media shunning out third parties from the spotlight. However, there is one news source, with over 2.1 million hits and 200,000 unique visitors a month that exists EXCLUSIVELY to cover third party news. That news source is IPR.
So once again, email me at [email protected] and your third party story will be covered on this website. It’s really that simple.
Thanks for slugging through my editorial comment. Keep reading IPR, invite your friends to read it, and while you’re at it, invite them to “like” the Facebook page as well.
– Krzysztof Lesiak
The opinions above are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of anyone else on IPR. Normally, contributors are not allowed to publish their own commentaries, but due to the urgency and necessity of getting out this information, I have decided to bypass this informal rule just this one time.
“Again – No one here is being paid. I see no viable path for IPR to generate enough revenue to have paid staff. Ad revenue is less than $100/month, and is less than cost of operating (about $100/month).”
Cost of operations weren’t that much when I ran it. Ad revenue, at IPR’s height, approached $400/month. It allowed me to actually focus on editing, message control, recruiting writers, and spreading the word–without feeling like I was wasting time and effort.
But that was when IPR was Google News indexed.
@40… how insightful you are. Thanks for stopping by. Please don’t come back.
Infighting in the third parties is one of the two main reasons they will likely never gain traction with the general public. Folks in the LP (and some other groups) tend to delight in killing and eating their own. Its a blood sport. There’s no discipline, professionalism or focus there. Given the colossal messes the two parties have created, one would think that the dissidents of the world would hold their fire for the real target. No way. They are just as happy to shoot and kill their own as they are to shoot at the white elephant standing just ten feet away. Mindless, hate-filled bickering reminds me of something else. What could that be? Hm . . . wait for it, wait . . . the Middle East. Yeah, its the Middle East right here in the good ‘ole U.S. of A.
Chris,
As another IPR editor, I am grateful for your efforts.
I have been busy with my business and so haven’t had time to do a lot of article posting, but I have the same habits as you.
Thanks for all you do!
Ah, feels like old times, arguing about Root again, 🙂
Shane @33: Wayne gained nothing from the LP aside from wasted time, money and energy.
Root got a book deal, for one.
Do you really think Root would have gotten a deal for Conscience of a Libertarian had he not been the LP’s VP candidate? That nomination gave him the credibility for the book.
He also parleyed that VP nomination into media appearances, which he further recycled into more book deals and media appearances.
Yes, Root works hard. He has lots of energy. But what he does, he does for himself.
And even Root can’t sell himself unless he has something to sell. A hook, story, angle for the news media. Being the LP’s VP candidate gave Root that something, that hook, that story, than angle, which he used for his own purposes.
All lifted from the pages of the latest Liberty for America LibertyForAmerica DOT com.
Tennessee
Allan Wallace on Facebook reports “The Libertarian Party of Tennessee in a Special Convention that took place in Knoxville yesterday (Aug. 31), LPTN Chair, Jim Tomasik was selected officially for a run as our state House Representative in the Special Election in District 91, a suburb of Memphis.” The Memphis Daily News memphisdailynews.com reports that Tomasik will face the winner of the ten-candidate Democratic primary in a two-person general election race.”
Louisiana
There is a special Congressional election ongoing in Louisiana. The Libertarian party has a candidate, Henry Herford herfordforcongress.com/ He is visibly trying to do fundraising on Facebook. The election is this October. Herford had been a Republican until he was “manhandled” at a Republican convention.
Texas
Saturday September 28 in Fort Worth the Libertarian Party of Texas is staging a leadership conference emphasizing campaign and local leadership training.
Massachusetts
Activist Jon Loya has been vigorously recruiting people to launch town and city Libertarian Party committees. Readers should recall that Massachusetts has substantially abolished county government. While Massachusetts has counties as geographic areas, few of them have county governments; all of them are not geographically contiguous units.
Michigan
Michigan had some local elections. Their State Party newsletter reports “In the Livingston County Commission race, Michael Brennan received 176 votes, 9% of the total. Scotty Boman in the race for Detroit City Clerk received 4,451 votes or 5% of the vote (4th place). In the campaigns for city commissioner of Kentwood, William Wenzel won 217 votes or 12% of the vote (4th place). Erwin Haas is running for Kentwood city commissioner in the November 5, 2013, election. Similarly, Pat Clawson (49th District of the Michigan State House—special election) and Alex Fera (city council of Novi) are running in the November 5, 2013, general election.”
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Libertarians have joined with many others in a campaign to block Concord, NH from buying a police tank, a mine-resistant Bearcat vehicle.
New Jersey
State elections in New Jersey are in odd-numbered years. The LP of NJ has five candidates this year: Ken Kaplan of Parsippany for NJ Governor; Don DeZarn of East Windsor for NJ State Senate; Sean O’Connor of East Windsor for NJ State Assembly (14th District); Steve Uccio of East Windsor for NJ State Assembly (14th District); and Patrick McKnight of Hillsborough for NJ State Assembly (16th District).
Vermont
September 18 is caucus day for the Vermont Libertarian Party.
State Chair Jeremy Ryan writes “Dear Vermonter,
It’s time for all parties in Vermont to reform their town committees. The Vermont Libertarian Party will hold its town caucuses on September 18. If you are interested forming a town committee in your town, then email me at [email protected] asap so I can send you the forms you need and the directions.
We hope to be adding some new towns, but we also will be losing some town committees so your help is vital in making sure we can easily put presidential, statewide, and local candidates on the ballot to give Vermonters a choice of lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
Caucusing is simple to do, but there are some laws that must be followed. For example, you need to post a notice in two places in your town at least 5 days in advance of your caucus, and if you have more than 1000 people in your town, then the notice must also appear in your local paper.”
Wayne Allan Root is a neocon statist and he & Bob Barr did infiltrate the party & attempt to poison it. The characterization is accurate. That’s why I’m not at all opposed to Florida’s vetting questionnaire.
“Shane // Sep 18, 2013 at 3:09 pm
Neocon Statist Wayne Root?
If you’re going to pretend to be a journalist, then you should at least be able to back up statements like that. Neocon? Maybe but Wayne is by no means a statist and I don’t think he ever has been. Fiscal conservative is fair.”
He appeared to have been a statist on some issues, foreign policy being one, and it is foreign policy that is a definitional issue for a neo-conservative.
“As far as an ‘infiltration’ that really is laughable. Factions used Wayne as a tool for their purposes.”
I don’t know if it is laughable or not. He may have been an infiltrator, or he may have just been an opportunist that was used by a certain faction. Who knows?
“Wayne gained nothing from the LP aside from wasted time, money and energy. The same goes for Barr, Badnarik, etc.”
I would not say that he gained nothing. He gained some added fame/name recognition, plus he gained “third party” credentials.
“To infiltrate the LP would be like infiltrating a homeless shelter with the intent to get rich by association.”
I don’t think that this is the primary motive for anyone to infiltrate the LP. I suspect that the primary motive to infiltrate the LP is to sabotage it from within, as in to make sure that the party does not become too successful. Another motive could be for opportunists who know that they can’t make it through the Democratic or Republican primaries to use the party as a means of obtaining ballot access.
“If you’re going to be a journalist, then be one and be good at it.”
Krzysztof is usually good, but I agree that he should have left those comments out of the article, or phrased them differently.
Neocon Statist Wayne Root?
If you’re going to pretend to be a journalist, then you should at least be able to back up statements like that. Neocon? Maybe but Wayne is by no means a statist and I don’t think he ever has been. Fiscal conservative is fair.
As far as an “infiltration” that really is laughable. Factions used Wayne as a tool for their purposes. Wayne gained nothing from the LP aside from wasted time, money and energy. The same goes for Barr, Badnarik, etc.
To infiltrate the LP would be like infiltrating a homeless shelter with the intent to get rich by association.
If you’re going to be a journalist, then be one and be good at it.
I check IPR & BAN every day. & I’m not really an “in the know” kind of guy, I’m just a third-party voter who’s tired of hearing about the Rs & Ds.
Richard @ 30: Thanks, and it’s nice to hear that. Your site is certainly a valuable page for us, as well.
IPR is an extremely valuable web page for me.
I totally agree with @9 and @12. And to Chris, my criticism of you in the “Mike Kane says urgent action needed” thread wasn’t meant to be personal or to say you shouldn’t post negative 3rd party articles, but to say that a little more filtering needs to be done. I’m really impressed with what you do; I was pretty much politically in the same place you are when I was in high school (I was even a Ron Paul fan before it was cool :p ), but I was FAR less productive about it that you are! Bravo for having more initiative about something meaningful than most high school students.
However, like Jed said @12, when you post one positive 3rd party article with 5 comments, against 10 negative articles about internal disputes with 105 comments, it sends a bad message to outsiders. We see one article about LPF’s outreach and registration drives vs. 15 about EC disputes; ultimately the former probably has greater positive effect than the latter’s negative effect, but an outsider wouldn’t get that impression and would write off the LP as the next Reform Party. So, I think 10-15 toxic articles about one subject can become 2-3 profiling each side of the dispute, with updates and select passages from emails. A) This makes it far easier to follow disputes without a lot of effort (honestly I’m a little lost on the various LPF sub-conflicts) B) It gives a better picture of the total impact of these disputes C) It probably means as much or less work for everyone in the end since less total articles = less total comments to respond to. If you want to post a long email chain to show your work/demonstrate that you’re not cherrypicking to mislead people, that can probably be done in the comment section. With all that being said I really do appreciate all the hard work you and others volunteer for this site!
A live talking heads show with Milnes, Imperato & Finan would generate 100K a month in Honda & GE commercials.
@8 – Do the interview yourself and send it to us.
Again – No one here is being paid. I see no viable path for IPR to generate enough revenue to have paid staff. Ad revenue is less than $100/month, and is less than cost of operating (about $100/month).
If someone has a suggestion about how IPR could become a site that generates $100K/year in revenue, then I’d be happy to get some paid staff on board to do the kind of reporting you want.
Without that, please do your own reporting and we’ll be happy to put it up.
@5 – Example please, and in the future please e-mail me and I’ll fix those.
“this site would have been in real trouble when Paulie left.”
Paulie didn’t really “leave” IPR. He’s been busy working and has not had easy access to the internet. He’ll be back on IPR at some point.
I sure would like to hear what paulie thinks of this.
Making an article at IPR whose headline questions the credibility of the site is…not advised.
If I declared for the LP POTUS nomination, IPR would publish my every thought about human affairs . . . hmmmmm
Well said Chris!
The best part about IPR isn’t the articles. It’s the comments, and the freedom to comment without moderation.
For example, Chris has been posting the Green shadow cabinet articles, which usually don’t get much attention. Apparently either there is not much drama in that area right now, or they don’t feel like posting on IPR.
I feel like IPR has evolved from a news site into something more like a message board. All of the focus is on the comments and the “stories” are really just first posts in a thread.
Flurries of “stories” are posted that detail email flame wars, while other much more significant news is largely overlooked.
To be honest, and I hate to say this, but I rarely drop by IPR any longer. Ballot Access News covers all the bases and avoids most of the noise found on this site.
That’s just my 2 cents though.
Great job Chris. I admit that like you, I enjoy the flame wars. Perhaps I’m not as emotional about them since I’m not a libertarian. I’ve been around here since 2008 and I think this site is as good as ever, and without you (Chris) getting involved, this site would have been in real trouble when Paulie left. Also good point about the positive news stories not getting much attention.
For the record, I don’t post all the articles that people send to me to post. For example, Robert Milnes has asked me to post some articles, although he hasn’t lately, aand Tom Stevens sent me a couple that I thought weren’t appropriate to post. Most of the articles I post I have found myself through checking news sources and some Facebook pages. I also try to post some original material when I have time. I don’t check all the info in the articles, except in my original material, but I post my source. To my understanding, that’s the way most other blogs and online new sources are done.
I disappeared from IPR for over three weeks during the summer because I took the criticsm that it was me causing much of the arguing very much to heart. I thought others would step in to post articles. I kept finding things to share here, plus I missed the site, but I’m trying to mitigate the arguing and name-calling. IPR won’t be a valuable news source if people get chased away due to everyone’s nastiness.
Absolutely.
Agreed Andy.
Krzysztof has been doing a great job. I hope he sticks around for a long time.
The debacle on Florida is worth reporting on, I just don’t think we need 15 bajillion articles about it, no matter how many people comment on it. It’s one of those things that can be kept to one thread, with new articles posted in the comments section. This isn’t meant to be mean to anyone or say that Mr. Lesiak isn’t doing a good job (he is), it’s just a suggestion to tidy things up a bit.
I love the positive articles, I just don’t comment on them because, really, how many times can you say Amazing! or Excellent news! before it gets old? We really need a “like” button.
Considering the National Enquirer (a tabloid) broke the news about John Edwards extramarital affair, being called a tabloid isn’t a bad thing; especially since traditional newspapers are slowly dying.
IPR is fine. It’s kinda like an old school forum, a blog, and a news site all rolled in to one. It does a reasonably good job of filling all of those roles.
As for what gets posted here, I say that the (volunteer) contributors should post whatever the hell they want, within the owner’s guidelines.
I am not going to argue about IPR and what utility it has left. It, like anything, can improve with discipline and hard work.
But here is what I know.
Most of the people who post articles here do not seem to understand filtering process at all. I would never claim to hold IPR to Wharton or Stanford levels. When you publish a magazine about X, then the readers should assume safely, that all articles from X should pertain to X.
And if the people posting in X over time post some articles that are not X, then the credibility is going to devalue X. Simple enough.
Posting information about the Sarvis Campaign is News.
Posting articles about who you would like to see run for the LP presidential nomination is opinion.
The adult table and the childrens table are separated by certain things like intellect. Being able to separate opinion and news is called intellect. The ability to combine news and opinion is called amateur.
I don’t care how old you are or where you went to school. I don’t. What I do care about is how people here complain and complain about the dysfunction at the LNC or about the CP and their total lack of structure or the Green and the residual of Nader is still present.
If we know david cobb then we know wayne root. Being able to name tag Nero is not a skill. He never tried to hide.
When the two major parties are falling into themselves trying to maintain order, if there has been a time for logic and reason this is it. And what dear friends does IPR post about?
Tom Stevens
Endless lawsuit in Oregon
A new circus forming in Florida
Does it mention candidate recruitment…No
Does it mention grass root activism…No
Does it post articles about meet ups or rallies…No
Why do you expect the third party membership to increase or operate more efficiently in Florida or Nevada when this is the level of function.
We need laughter or else we might cry.
A joke is a joke.
I am not posting anything to hurt any person who volunteers at IPR. I am not here to damage anyone and I can’t imagine my words mean anything to anyone here, but calling each other names and complaining about 2% of the vote is lame.
If this is a place for opinion then go to Fox news. Just be done with it. This is a language game you can’t win. No matter how you feel opinion is not news.
Florida is the flavor of the month. What dysfunction will you complain about next month?
Arkansas and Missouri are presently recruiting candidates who care about freedom. No need to mention that here. It is boring.
Let us speak of PLAS and things that rhyme with aluminum foil.
Personally, I’d like FFFm analysis of the candidates. Start off with Jim Burns. I’ve heard many assertions, but I’d like analysis of him. I want more stories on potential functional candidates like Ross Perot, Jr., Warren Redlich, and Phil Davison. Could somebody interview them? I also want policy proposals by third party experts, not useless crap from uninformed losers. Focus on policy. Focus on legitimacy.
TLK @ 5: Ditto.
Mark:
Twitter is a “social networking” thing kind of like Facebook only with more dick & fart jokes.
IPR would be more credible if there weren’t rogue apostrophe’s in it’s headline’s.
No, sorry. I shut down my Facebook after it got hacked. I’ll give gmail a try. I use it for the address of an LGBT rights group I co-chair & it seems to be fairly user-friendly. 🙂
Chris–Keep up the great work. I really appreciate it.
Jed–What’s a Twitter? I remember this great game we used to play at parties called Twister, but I think Twitter’s different somehow. Or is it that website Tweetie-Bird that Anthony Wiener used to show his, um, Twister?
@1 Jed
If you’re on Facebook, you can add me
https://www.facebook.com/krzysztof.lesiak.96
I’ll have to set up an email account then lol. I actually have one, but I never use it as
1) The service sucks (It’s Yahoo, I hate their new updates) and
2) Who needs email when you have Twitter?