Wyllie and friends tour the brewery.
Tom Knapp at Kn@ppster:
Went out last night to Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville to support Adrian Wyllie, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for governor of Florida. Wyllie is on a month-long “craft brewery” tour of Florida, beginning on the 1st in Key West and winding up in Pensacola at the end of August. That’s the “beer” part of the Hunter S. Thompson parody title.
The “clothing” part is the Wyllie for Governor t-shirt I scored — I’ll be wearing it around the town and county on my daily bicycle rides.
Some brief impressions:
- First time I’ve met Wyllie. Personable guy! So far I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen of his campaign, and even more so after last night. Florida LP vice-chair Alex Snitker was parked outside the brewery with campaign literature, yard signs and t-shirts for anyone interested in promoting the campaign and the party. Meant to get a picture of that but you know me — I started talking with people and forgot to take many pics.
- Speaking of the party, I’ve heard at least one complaint that Wyllie’s campaign is about promoting Wyllie, not the party. That’s not what I’ve seen. His yard signs, unlike those of some candidates, prominently feature the word “Libertarian.” His campaign team proved very enthusiastic about helping us get an Alachua County Libertarian Party affiliate going.
- If you like craft beer, you’ll love Swamp Head. I very much enjoyed their Big Nose IPA. Three different varieties of hops and an alcohol content of 7.3%. It has a … more crisp, best wording I can come up with … bite than my usual IPA, Red Hook’s Long Hammer. I’ll be going back for more of that.
Go, Adrian! I’m expecting a nice vote total from him in November. Not just because he’s running an active and engaging campaign, even though he is. He also has two other big things going for him:
- He’s not Rick Scott; and
- He’s not Charlie Crist.
Just sayin’ …
I’d like to clarify my comments. In the past, I made some remarks that Adrian wasn’t doing enough to promote the party. I stand by those comments. I think he’s done a much improved job, but still has room for improvement. I’d love to see him during a televised debate say JOIN THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY TODAY AND VOTE FOR ME IN NOVEMBER.
Here’s to a speedy recovery for JWS!
Mike,
I can only report on my own experience.
I’m not going to pretend that Wyllie ran up and down the street naked screaming the word “Libertarian” (in fact, I had a beer and then left during the brewery tour to go outside and chat up Alexander Snitker, so I really don’t know what Wyllie may have had to say in the venue).
The venue (Swamp Head Brewery) had asked that sign/t-shirt/brochure/overt politicking stuff be kept outside, so it was. But the yard signs (which Snitker posted all around the area, in addition to handing out on request) and the t-shirts (which the campaign freely offered) both prominently feature the word “Libertarian,” which is more in the way of party promotion than we see from many candidates (at least in my prior experience, which has all been outside of Florida).
I don’t have any past Florida campaigns to compare this one with in an apples to apples way, since my entire observation of Florida politics before this election cycle took place from a thousand miles away. So I admit it is possible that by Florida standards Wyllie’s campaign is weak with respect to party promotion. If that’s the case, I look forward to seeing some strong ones!
I should also add that in addition to handing out LP literature I was also the only person handing out Bill Wohlsifer for AG stuff too
When I attended the event here in Key West I was the only person who was handing out LP brochures and asking people to join the LP.
I attended the event and thought Mr. Wyllie has vastly improved on his talking points, even though he didn’t necessarily advocate for some of the things I’d like him to.
I asked him to please place a prominent join the LP link on his website and he said he would. It’s been over 2 weeks and a quick scan of http://wyllieforgovernor.com/ shows no such a link.
-Mike Kane
Chair – Libertarian Party of the FL Keys
As for JWS, he told me he had his gall bladder removed and some tumors. He’s on bed-rest for a few weeks. Please wish him well.
I’m actually giving them one shot to prove me wrong. I’m waiting to see if any new people come to my affiliate’s meeting next month because of this tour. Most of my affiliate is involved in this tour, we have promoted this tour in Hillsborough, so now lets see what happens.
I doubt it will amount to much, but I am biased and could be wrong.
I’ve stated my thoughts on why brewpubs are a great place for LP candidates to campaign in a prior thread.
In other Florida news, Joe facebook messaged me that John Wayne Smith got out of surgery the other day.
I think Adrian Wyllie is running a fine campaign and I look forward to voting for him in November. I like the craft beer tour. Cool idea.
Joe, in addition to what Tom said in his latest comment,
I was hoping you would address this from his original article:
“Speaking of the party, I’ve heard at least one complaint that Wyllie’s campaign is about promoting Wyllie, not the party. That’s not what I’ve seen. His yard signs, unlike those of some candidates, prominently feature the word “Libertarian.” His campaign team proved very enthusiastic about helping us get an Alachua County Libertarian Party affiliate going.”
Schorch’s take may be the dumbest thing I’ve read this week (and I’ve read a LOT of dumb stuff this week).
When you’re campaigning for public office, you go to places where there are people who might be talked into voting for you.
Craft brew pubs are places where there are people who might be talked into voting for Wyllie.
Are there other places where there are people who might be talked into voting for Wyllie? Sure.
But that doesn’t make the craft brew tour a bad idea. He picked a specific type of place that he could reasonably expect to find in most towns/cities of substantial size and took off to visit that specific type of place in a number of such towns and cities.
In the particular case of Swamp Head in Gainesville, the ownership asked that the campaign operation — literature, signs, t-shirts — not be located in the establishment itself. So Alex Snitker set up outside, at the edge of the parking lot. I hung out with him and quite a few folks stopped to ask for yard signs and such.
As such things go — and I’ve been to a lot of Libertarian campaign events and run a few myself — I’d call this one a success.
As a side note, the campaign also loaded down the newly created (we’re having our organizational meeting on August 26th) Alachua County Libertarian Party with goodies to help us hit the ground running and try to make an impact this November.
Here’s something to read:
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/154507
Why should I comment on a Pub Crawl? He’s going to thriving business and talking about how government is an impediment to the success of businesses (if you can’t see the contradiction in that, I’m sorry you’re special). He’s not going to struggling businesses or failing businesses, he’s just going to the trendy hipster bars that are doing quite well under the current Governor. He’s made a bad bill that DIED in the State Legislature a focus of this tour… congradulations, you’re beating a dead horse. Oh no, the State Senate passed a bad bill that would hurt micro-brewers… only to have the State House kill the bill (oh no, the system actually worked for once). This whole tour is just stupid.
I’m not going to blame Knapp for the opinion he expresses, I just have a different opinion.
Vote for Adrian Wyllie. http://www.WyllieForGovernor.com and VotaPorWyllie.com
The Super Brochures is very powerful so donate what you can to that and get the word out.
Democrats are not happy with their candidate as the Republicans are not happy with theirs either (and rightfully so), Adrian Wyllie is the right choice for all voters. He has my vote along with all my family & friends. If Florida gets stuck with Scott or Crist again, sad to say but our state will continue going downhill at a even faster pace. None of us will benefit from that, that’s for sure. Think hard before you vote and I hope you end up doing the right thing by voting for Adrian Wyllie. Chances like this don’t come along often and we certainly don’t have the time to wait until the next opportunity comes around. This is a very serious election, let’s get this one right!
Surprised to see Wendt et al haven’t commented on this one yet…
The actual problem with the Florida brewery industry is something much more critical, which was first addressed on April 28, 2014 by Farid Khavari, independent candidate for Florida governor. This may help Floridians understand the related issues much better.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Beer-Cartel-and-the-Be-by-Farid-Khavari-Beer_Corruption_Corruption_Everglades-140428-710.html
To learn more about solving small business problems in Florida: http://www.khavariforgovernor.com