Liberty Activist, Georgina “Gigi” Bowman, Creator and President of LibertyCandidates.com, Past Chair and Current Treasurer of the Suffolk County, NY Libertarian Party and NY State Caucus Leader of freeandequal.org is running as the Libertarian candidate for State Senator, District 5, in New York.
Her website is:
http://gigibowmanforsenate.com
Under state law (§ 6-138 (4)) the first day for gathering the required 3,000 valid signatures in order to be granted a place on the ballot was 08 July 2014. The window for submission of those signatures (according to § 6-158 (9)) is: “8/12/2014 – 8/19/2014.”
Any candidate other than the Rs and Ds has only six weeks, or 42 days (38 as of the date of this article) to meet this requirement; for an average of about 80 valid signatures a day (perhaps 150 raw per day to ensure that).
IPR readers desiring to support Gigi’s campaign with a monetary donation may do so HERE.
IPR readers living in the 5th District area of New York State who wish to add their signature to the required 3,000, and/or who would like to assist in signature gathering may download the appropriate form(s) HERE.
IPR readers who wish to LIKE her Campaign Page on FACEBOOK may do so HERE.
Ms. Bowman writes:
“I am not running for office to create new laws, I am running to repeal bad ones. It is time for me to step up to the plate and spread the message of liberty. To do my part to help repeal some of these liberty grabbing laws! I am a mother and an activist who became aware that corporations are running our lives — our food supply, our educational system and our healthcare after I lost my daughter at the age of 15 to suicide. We have to get corporatism out of our government. Lets start with repealing liberty-sucking laws!”
Ms. Bowman was born in Bayside Queens and attended Benjamin Cardozo High School. She moved to Baldwin, Long Island in 1975. She attended Hofstra University where she earned a degree in English/Publishing in 1981. She is the Creator and President of LibertyCandidates.com, the Past Chair and Current Treasurer of Suffolk County, NY Libertarian Party, NY State Caucus Leader of www.freeandequal.org, an Organizer of Nassau/Suffolk Ron Paul for President campaign (2008-2012), President Central Nassau Long Island Board of Realtors, Director Huntington Chapter Long Island Board of Realtors, and Vice Chair NY State Libertarian Party.
The issues she is emphasizing in her campaign include:
Using Nullification to repeal Liberty Grabbing Laws.
Nullification of Industrial Hemp laws to bring Jobs, Manufacturing and Production to Long Island.
Nullification of the NDAA.
Returning 2nd Amendment rights to New York State.
Ending Red Light Cameras on Long Island.
Stopping Agenda 21
Freedom to Label GMO/Organic foods.
No Forced Vaccinations or State Mandates EVER.
The correlation between Big Pharma and Child Suicide/School Shootings is Lobbying and Corporatism at its Worst. Save the Children from being labeled with psychiatric disorders without background checks on nutrition and environmental conditions before prescriptions are written.
Past IPR Coverage about Ms. Bowman includes:
Opposition News: Libertarian Gigi Bowman Leads by Example in NY State Senate Bid
Gigi Bowman of the Libertarian Party NY: A Letter About My Campaign
Video: Gigi Bowman Challenges Bloomberg’s Empire
Liberty Candidates’ Creator Gigi Bowman Runs for New York State Senate
Gigi Bowman’s Candidate Statement for Libertarian National Committee’s Open At-Large Position
A doesn’t necessarily follow from B. The Whig Party was really big at one time, too, and its collapse was fairly sudden. The Republican coalition could likewise break apart.
On the other hand, you may be right. There are many historical examples of people predicting the imminent collapse of one or both establishment parties, where they adjusted their coalitions instead and kept right on going.
Absolutely, it is.
Andy
Always use your enemy against themselves, not your own resources — they are always strong enough to destroy themselves. 🙂
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/02/1326534/-Journalist-arrested-at-public-event-for-Georgia-Republicans?detail=facebook
The Republican Party is not going to disappear anytime soon. Republicans greatly outnumber both big “L” and small “l” libertarians.
I’m starting to this it’s a national stategy for the GOP, too, to squeeze us out of existence. I honestly think they think Libertarians without a political home will then join the Republican Party! Hilarious! They definitely deserve the slow and agoaizing death they’re experiencing.
The antics of republicans in Oregon to attempt to use Burke to put a proxy government in control of our party was a casus belli for outright political warfare against them.
I recommend that all libertarian parties everywhere declare war on their respective local GOP.
This is obviously a coordinated attack… we should respond in kind and persecute this political war against the GOP until they are extinct.
Bad news on Gigi–Republicans filed an action in NY Supreme Court yesterday (last day to do so) claiming that all of her petition signatures are fraudulent.
Needless to say, we are going to fight this.
Worthy of a new thread, for which I will send info to Paulie and Jill.
>Well, he ended up getting challenged, and because of the way he ran the petition drive, had no chance of surviving that challenge, which he did not.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
There are a few other states which require petitioners to be residents, but NY is the only one I know of which still tries to enforce a rule that petitioners must be registered voters, in direct contradiction of US Supreme Court (Buckley vs. Vallejo IIRC).
That’s different from primary petitions, where some states do require that the people circulating as well as the people signing must be members of a certain party and/or district.
If I find the item I am thinking of about the prior NY case I will let you know.
Mark Axinn said: “Sam Sloan, hardly a litigation genius, managed to lose a similar case last year when he ran as a Republican and failed to have his petitions witnessed by New York registered Republicans.”
Another problem with the Sloan petition was the validity of the petition signers. Sloan started his petition drive for the Republican primary ballot at the last minute, and in New York on people who are registered under the same party banner as the candidate can sign a petition to place that candidate on the primary ballot, so since Sloan was running as a Republican, he needed signatures from registered Republicans. I know people who worked on his petition drive, and they told me that he told them to just have anybody sign the petition, regardless of whether or not they were registered Republican, and for that matter, regardless of whether or not they were even registered to vote, or even qualified to vote (in New York or elsewhere). Sloan was basically throwing a “Hail Mary” pass and hoping that nobody challenged his signatures. Well, he ended up getting challenged, and because of the way he ran the petition drive, had no chance of surviving that challenge, which he did not.
” Mark Axinn September 2, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Thank you Paulie and Andy.
Right now, the law requiring circulators (we call them witnesses here) to be New York residents is still in effect in New York. Bill Redpath advised me that we’re probably one of only five or six states left, and certainly the largest, which still requires all witnesses/circulators to be registered to vote in the same state in which one is petitioning.”
There are also some states which have out-of-state bans that apply to initiative and referendum petitions, but not to candidate or party petitions (Maine comes to mind for an example of this, as does North Dakota).
Another issue in New York is this notion that petition circulators have to be registered to vote. What if a person is a New York resident, but for whatever reason they are not registered to vote? They should be able to gather signatures on petitions as well, and there are court rulings that have affirmed this in other states.
Thank you Paulie and Andy.
Right now, the law requiring circulators (we call them witnesses here) to be New York residents is still in effect in New York. Bill Redpath advised me that we’re probably one of only five or six states left, and certainly the largest, which still requires all witnesses/circulators to be registered to vote in the same state in which one is petitioning.
Sam Sloan, hardly a litigation genius, managed to lose a similar case last year when he ran as a Republican and failed to have his petitions witnessed by New York registered Republicans.
I am not aware of the Democratic challenge; if one of you finds it, please let me know.
The more I think about it, the more I want to raise a test case to challenge the statute next year. But that’s after a few little matters like keeping all our candidates like Gigi on the ballot and getting 50,000 votes for Governor so we can finally achieve automatic ballot access.
I thought I saw something from Richard Winger a while back about that NY law having already been thrown out in the past but I can’t remember the exact reference.
“Mark Axinn
September 2, 2014 at 5:36 pm
Andy–
It’s on the to-sue list.
I think we may ask an out-of-state petitioner to gather some signatures next year for a local election where we don’t have as much at stake as we do this year, and purposely submit them to have jurisdictional grounds for the lawsuit.”
Mark, the ACLU has filed these type of law suits in some states, and I know that in some states different parties/candidates have thrown in together on some of these law suits.
There have already been court rulings that have said that it is unconstitutional to say that a person who is not a registered voter can not circulate a petition, and there have also already been court rulings that have said that it is unconstitutional to prevent non-state residents from circulating petitions. The government officials who are enforcing these edicts in New York are either idiots, or tyrants, or perhaps a combination of both.
I did hear a few months ago that there was some person who I believe was a resident of Georgia who gathered signatures for some Democrat to be in the primaries in New York, and their signatures got thrown out because they were not a New York resident, and I believe that this was taken to court. I’m not sure what happened after this, but if this person wins this case, it could set a precedent for our side in New York.
If you need an out-of-New York resident petition circulator for a law suit in New York, let me know, and if I’m able to do it, I’d be more than happy to fill that role.
Didn’t mean to comment about her hair, but now that you mention it, they are both from Long Island…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Snider
Andy–
It’s on the to-sue list.
I think we may ask an out-of-state petitioner to gather some signatures next year for a local election where we don’t have as much at stake as we do this year, and purposely submit them to have jurisdictional grounds for the lawsuit.
Litigation is expensive and we have to pick our battles. The last big one was Credico which we won and got reimbursed approximately $40,000 by the State (but the total cost was over 50K).
If you want to finance this lawsuit, I will let you know how to do so.
There have also been multiple court rulings that have said that petition circulators do not have to be residents of the state or district where they are circulating, including recent court rulings that have said this in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia, and Ohio, so why is the government in New York still claiming that petition circulators have to be state residents, when this is unconstitutional and has already been thrown out in court multiple times?
There have already been court rulings that have said that a person does not have to be a registered voter to gather signatures on a petition, so why is the government in New York still claiming that petition circulators have to be registered voters? Somebody should challenge that in court.
And on a serious note, here is today’s letter to the BOE:
September 2, 2014
VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS
Robert A. Brehm
Co-Executive Director
Todd D. Valentine
Co-Executive Director
New York State Board of Elections
40 N. Pearl Street, Suite 5
Albany, New York 12207
Specifications of Objection to Nominating
Petition of Georgina Bowman
Senate District 5–Libertarian Party of New York
Gentlemen:
I am the Chairman of the Libertarian Party of New York which assisted in filing a nominating petition for Georgina Bowman for Senate District 5 on August 19, 2014.
I write with respect to the objection specifications filed against said petition alleging that two of the witnesses to the petition are not registered voters.
The first objection is to those signatures witnessed by Alessandra Penzato-Viletto. In fact, Ms. Alessandra Penzato-Viletto is registered to vote at 90 Osborne Hill Road, Wappinger Falls, New York 12590. Accordingly, the 97 signatures which she witnessed should not be disallowed.
The second objection is to those signatures witnessed by Gene Farmer. In fact, Mr. Farmer is registered to vote at 9 Pine Cone Street, Middle Island, New York 11953. Accordingly, the 132 signatures which he witnessed should not be disallowed.
Pursuant to Election Law 6-140(1)(b),”[t]here shall be appended at the bottom of each sheet a signed statement of a witness who is a duly qualified voter of the state.” Both Mr. Farmer and Ms Penzato-Viletto so qualify. Accordingly, the signatures which they witnessed should not be disallowed.
Significantly, the total number of valid signatures submitted on this petition exceeds 3000. Accordingly the objection should be rejected as Ms. Bowman has submitted more than the statutorily required number of signatures,
Thank you for your prompt consideration and review of the matters I raise herein.
Very truly yours, Mark N. Axinn
cc: Georgina Bowman
John Ciampoli, Esq.
I have seen past comments about Gigi’s hair, but it’s nowhere as wild as in this video! 🙂
“If that’s your best, your best won’t do”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xmckWVPRaI
If that’s really the best the Republicans can do, that’s awfully pathetic.
Should be good grounds to challenge the number of signatures required in court.
Three Republicans challenged Gigi, claiming ALL of her signatures were fraudulently obtained as no one could have legitimately gotten that many signatures in her district!
First they make the stupid rules, then when hard-working candidates jump through their hoops, they try to stifle debate by seeking to keep us off the ballot.
We’re not giving in on this one.
Gigi can use all the support (financial and otherwise) anyone can send her right now.
We will beat them just as LPIL just did.
Awesome!
Mission accomplished!
5000 sigs filed this morning for Gigi Bowman for the Libertarian line as the nominee for the 5th New York State Senate District.
Go Gigi!!!!
Thanks for the update, Mark! Excellent news!
Here’s some great news: We have over 5,000 signatures to submit on Tuesday for Gigi Bowman for Senate!
I hope she can keep that kind of schedule up once she is on the ballot!
Thanks for the update, Mark!
Gigi is going to make it.
She and her husband Ken have worked their tails off for the last five weeks. Our Gubernatorial candidate Mike McDermott has been collecting petition signatures which count for both Gigi and him almost every day since July 8 as well.
I truly admire their dedication in seeing this through.
Where is Gigi Bowman FINAL WEEK!!!
We’re coming down the home stretch! Please come down and help collect signatures or just sign a petition!
Find Gigi at the Following Places this week:
Tuesday August 12th:
Northport Family Fun Night 6:00 – 9:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/334049213386689/
Wednesday August 13th:
Hicksville Holy Family Festival 6:00 – 9:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/1455299191423644/
Thursday August 14th:
Northport Concert in the Park 6:00 – 9:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/1447172235556988/
Friday August 15th:
Glen Cove Downtown Sounds 6:00 – 9:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/517496898395605/
Saturday August 16th:
Locust Valley Farmers Market 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1482420132006282/
Hicksville Holy Family Festival 6:00 – 9:00
https://www.facebook.com/events/281651522037557/
This is the end……
Wow! I wish more candidates could be that active.
Found on Facebook today:
Where is Gigi Bowman this Week you ask?
Tuesday:
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Oyster Bay Cruise Nights
Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay
https://www.facebook.com/events/1437862989828390/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
Wednesday:
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
St. Rocco’s Feast
The Best Feast in the East!
18 Third Street, Glen Cove
https://www.facebook.com/events/706443912736492/
Thursday:
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Concert in the Park
Northport Village Park, Main Street
https://www.facebook.com/events/757574440971859/
Friday:
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Feast of St. Rocco
18 Third Street, Glen Cove
https://www.facebook.com/events/531703366956853/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
Saturday:
8:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Northport Farmers Market
Main Street, Northport Village
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Our Lady of Mercy Church Festival
500 S. Oyster Bay Road, Hicksville
https://www.facebook.com/events/885617461468153/?
Sunday:
8:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Huntington Farmers Market
25A Main Street, Huntington Village, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/325315917631058/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Bethpage Federal Credit Union Car Show
899 South Oyster Bay Road, Bethpage
https://www.facebook.com/events/885617461468153/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Morgan Park – Chicago Band Concert
Morgan Park, Glen Cove
https://www.facebook.com/events/519055448240059/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
If you can help daily Tuesday – Friday please text for details 516-318-9003
If you can not help collect signatures but can donate to the campaign so we can get paid petitioners then please donate to http://www.GigiBowmanforSenate.com
Thank you so much for taking an interest in Gigi Bowman for Senate Campaign.
Real People, Real issues = REAL GRASSROOTS!
That sounds about right. Concurred with Andy and Mark.
Andy’s comments are spot-on.
In New York, we have pages and pages of goofy rules to disqualify signatures written by politicians who don’t want challengers to their position of power. So it’s very easy to challenge and disqualify petition signatures for literally dozens of reasons.
Gigi’s district is on the north shore of Long Island in a poorly defined area. It includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, but does not include other parts.
Generally, it is much easier to get signatures in NYC or other large cities where lots of people congregate, but the validity rate is not as good as in suburbia where one is much more likely to encounter registered voters who actually live there.
So there are many considerations. In Gigi’s case, she needs 3000 valid signatures and is shooting for 5000 raw.
Joseph Buchman Post authorJuly 14, 2014 at 1:02 am
I’m wondering if Paulie or Andy has insights into this part of the article.
I wrote:
“for an average of about 80 valid signatures a day (perhaps 150 raw per day to ensure that).”
What is the running average of raw to valid, I wonder. And what are the major influences on that — weather?? locations?? gathering sigs for more than one candidate at the same time???
Andy, Paulie, others? What’s your experience?
joe”
It depends upon a variety of circumstances, such as:
1) What percent of the population in the given area where the petition drive is taking place are eligible to sign the petition, which in the majority of states means what percent of the population are registered to vote? A higher percent of the population being registered to vote will lead to higher validity rates, a lower percent of the population being registered to vote will lead to lower validity rates.
2) Does the area where the petition drive is taking place have clearly defined boundaries that most of the public understands, as in does most of the public know whether or not they reside within the area where the petition drive is taking place? Almost everyone knows in which state they reside. Most people know in which county they reside (although there are some who do not). Most people know in which city or town they reside, although this can be tricky in some places, because there are unincorporated areas around some cities, and some people do not know that they actually live in the unincorporated area and not within the city or town limits, or they will mistake living in a suburb which is its own city or town for living in a major city. The majority of people do not know in which congressional district they reside, or in which state senate district or state house (aka-state assembly) district they reside, and this is something that can cause lower validity rates. I recommend that if one is doing a petition for a district office, that they try to find a place to gather signatures in the middle of the district, or they try to find a city or town that is entirely in the district. I also recommend carrying a list or cities, towns, and zip codes that are in the district, as well as a map of the district. If it is possible, one may want to consider gathering signatures door-to-door with a walking list of registered voters that are in the district, however, depending upon the situation, this is not always feasible.
3) Are there any goofy rules that can disqualify signatures? Some states have some really stupid rules (or interpretations of rules) that can cause signatures to get thrown out. Find out what the rules are and what constitutes a valid signature in your state before you start your petition drive.
4) How thoroughly does the petition circulator screen potential signers before having them sign the petitions? A petition circulator who does a good job of thoroughly screening potential signers by asking them questions such as if they are registered to vote at their home address, if they have moved since the last time they voted, when they last voted (if it was too long ago, they may have been dropped from the voter rolls), whether or not they live in the district or area for the petition (most people do not know in which district they reside, so the petition circulator should be familiar what cities/towns/zip codes are in the district), will have better validity than a petition circulator who does not thoroughly screen people before signing. The petition circulator who spot checks the signatures to make sure that all of the legally required information is filled in and that the printed parts are legible, and who makes sure that any legally required missing information or illegible printing is corrected before the signer walks away will have higher validity than the petition circulator who does not do this, however, it is not always possible for the petition circulator to spot check and correct the petition signature information every time somebody signs, particularly if the petition circulator is working in a high traffic location and lots of people are signing.
I’m wondering if Paulie or Andy has insights into this part of the article.
I wrote:
“for an average of about 80 valid signatures a day (perhaps 150 raw per day to ensure that).”
What is the running average of raw to valid, I wonder. And what are the major influences on that — weather?? locations?? gathering sigs for more than one candidate at the same time???
Andy, Paulie, others? What’s your experience?
joe
Excellent article, Joe! I wish Gigi well! From what I’ve seen on Facebook she seems to be getting a fair amount of media, which could make her candidacy quite effective. But, first she needs to get those signatures!
Please contribute to Gigi’s campaign today.
She is out on the streets, at the shopping centers, libraries, parks and other places in her district every day getting signatures so she can bring the Libertarian message to Long Island.
Please send her $50 right now–I just did; it’s really easy and will help tremendously.
Thanks so much!!