FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LIBERTARIAN DRIVE TO BALLOT ALMOST COMPLETE
KENTUCKY – The Libertarian Party of Kentucky is completing the ballot access drive to place Libertarian David Patterson on the ballot for the November election.
State Chair Ken Moellman has been leading the ballot access drive. “We’re over halfway there. We’re still collecting and we’re still validating.” Moellman is the last Libertarian to successfully get on the ballot in a statewide race outside of the presidential race. “We expect to be complete by July 31st.”
This week Independent Ed Marksberry announced he was dropping his bid for the position, so there will only be three candidates on the ballot in November. Patterson responded, “I thank him for stepping forward to improve public discourse. The petitioning process for those who aren’t Democrats or Republicans is brutal, and it is unfortunate that it has caused a legitimate candidate to no longer be a choice for voters in the fall.”
Moellman noted that Libertarians have collected 4000 signatures of the target of 8000 raw signatures. Full-time petitioners are collecting signatures throughout the state at a rate of 2000 signatures per week, and a team is validating those signatures. “We want to be finished ahead of Fancy Farm,” Moellman said. “We’ve asked to be included in Fancy Farm and other upcoming events, and we know that event organizers want to know that we’re going to be on the ballot. Let me assure them that we’re very serious; David Patterson will be on the ballot.”
Democrats and Republicans only need 2 signatures to run for US Senate. All others need a minimum of 5000 signatures. The deadline for petition submission is August 12th.
|
The Libertarian Party is the third largest party in Kentucky. Founded in 1973, the Libertarian Party of Kentucky promotes individual liberty though free markets and social tolerance. More information can be found on their website, at www.LPKY.org David Patterson is the Libertarian Party of Kentucky’s 2014 US Senate Candidate. More information about David Patterson’s campaign can be found at www.david4senate.com |
For additional information, please contact:
|
it was an honor to help take out McConnell, until my leg literally gave out.
I can’t wait until the next one i can work on, that can be that important.
Andy–
Thanks for your advice. I am in the middle of running my third state-wide petition campaign in five years. I was responsible for raising $80,000 and coordinating obtaining 60,000 sigs for Warren in 2010 and Johnson/Gray in 2012, so I think I know what to do and how to take care of my petitioners.
I also know how to practice law, at which I have been extremely successful for the last 32 years. Of course we contact the authorities if they hassle petitioners. We also have literature for the petitioners to give them on the spot, as I wrote beforehand.
Fear not. We don’t take shit in New York. This ain’t no fooling around.
Ken was great to work with the time I was there (2011, I think). He really stays on top of it, unlike some states where I have worked where the state party officers managing the drive were too busy to put much time or thought into running the drive. The Paxtons in Arkansas have also been very good to work with.
Amen! I hope they succeed in knocking out McConnell, too!
For my part, I recomment that as well, and I gave Ken some advice on people to hit up for money, petitioners to try to bring in, etc.
Mark Axinn said: “Moreover, we have literature for all our petitioners ready to hand to government thugs, oops police officers, who try to violate their First Amendment right of assembly and petition, which describe the penalties and fines the police officers will face if they do not desist in preventing open petitioning on public spaces in New York.”
Petition circulators handing letters about petition rights to cops, security guards, government bureaucrats, venue managers, etc…, rarely accomplishes anything. These people usually ignore it if it comes from a petitioner. Why? Because they do not think that the petitioner is anyone important, so they do not care what the petitioner has to say, even if they are saying is legally correct. These people tend to take the information more seriously if it comes from somebody who has the attorney at law title next to their name.
So, if you really want to be effective, you personally should mail or fax a letter to whatever location is harassing petition circulators, and you should personally follow it up with a phone call.
If anyone can get a candidate on the ballot to challenge McConnell, Ken can do it. Go LPKY! (PS. If readers can support this effort financially, I urge you to do so as I already did.)
Andy–We Libertarian lawyers do not sit on our hands in New York. We have successfully challenged and nullified three different Election Law statutes in New York, and I have testified before the NYC Election Commission on the hurdles that third party petitioners face. The City halved the number of signatures required from independent candidates after those hearings.
Moreover, we have literature for all our petitioners ready to hand to government thugs, oops police officers, who try to violate their First Amendment right of assembly and petition, which describe the penalties and fines the police officers will face if they do not desist in preventing open petitioning on public spaces in New York.
I cannot talk about the other 49 states, but we don’t need no stinkin’ permits to exercise our rights in New York.
I’ve gotten reports that Libertarian Party petitioners in Kentucky have been hassled by the police, security guards, and government bureaucrats at multiple locations, and they have been illegally run out of several of these locations, including the Blue Grass Fair which is held in a public park in Lexington. Paul and I worked on the petition drive to place Ken Moellman on the ballot for State Treasurer in 2011, and while there we also got hassled by security guards at the Blue Grass Fair in Lexington. Ken got a lawyer friend of his to call them, and they left us alone after that and we were able to return to the Blue Grass Fair to collect signatures.
This is yet another example of why the Libertarian Party needs to have a legal strategy worked out to help handle these situations, because the same thing happens over and over again on LP ballot access drives, yet hardly anyone does anything about it. Petition circulators getting run out of locations where there is foot traffic is one of the primary reasons why petition drives fail or run over cost. The Libertarian Party should have form letters written up that cite various court rulings and legal statutes that pertain to free speech and petition rights. There should be form letters like this dealing with gathering petition signatures at public festivals & fairs, college campuses, DMV’s, public libraries, etc… The letters should be signed by a Libertarian Party attorney, and the Libertarian Party attorney should follow up with a phone call. Sometimes a letter and a phone call is all it takes to get them to back down, and this can make a big difference on a petition drive, as it can be the difference between making the ballot or not making the ballot, and it can also save the party thousands and thousands of dollars by avoiding expensive last minute saves on petition drives.
The ACLU has done this, but we can’t rely on them because they are usually too busy to assist us with every problem we encounter on a petition drive.
Libertarian Party attorneys, are you listening, and are you going to take action, or are you going to continue to sit on your hands and allow these problems to happen over and over again, on ballot access drive after ballot access drive?