From former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie, reposted to Libertarian Viewpoint:
I’m very pleased and excited to announce that our quest for liberty in Florida continues to gain serious momentum.
Our candidates received record-breaking vote totals in 2014. Many of our platform policies are gaining popular support, evidenced by the 58% of Floridians who voted for medical cannabis. Our legislative initiatives are being taken seriously, and LPF-supported bills are moving through Tallahassee as we speak. Some, such as the 2013 Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act, have already become law.
All of the sacrifices we have made together, and all of your hard work and dedication, are beginning to truly change the political landscape in Florida. But there is one small thing that I need you to do that will make a VERY big difference.
Though the number of registered Libertarians has grown dramatically in recent years, the Libertarian Party of Florida is still classified by state law as a “Minor Political Party.” Since the laws regarding minor parties in Florida are written by Republicans and Democrats, it’s easy to understand why this puts the LPF at a major competitive disadvantage.
What if the rules for a baseball game were written by one of the teams? What if two candidates in a debate could write the rules to exclude the third? You get the idea. That’s exactly how politics currently work in our state.
But you can help change that. If the number of registered Libertarian voters reaches 5% of the total voters in Florida, then the LPF will be classified by law as a “Major Political Party.” Major party status will truly level the playing field, and give us a real opportunity to achieve economic freedom and individual liberty in our lifetimes.
Imagine living in a state that has a true balance of power, where your voice is just as loud as those of Republicans and Democrats. Imagine our candidates never being excluded from media coverage and debates again. Imagine elected Libertarians casting votes of sanity and principle in legislative bodies across the state and in the capitol.
It can happen. But I need you to do one simple thing to help make this a reality: Register to vote as a Libertarian.
If you’ve already changed your voter registration, then I thank you.
If not, it’s simple to do. You can get a voter registration form at any county supervisor of elections office, your local Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office, or even your local library.
Fill out the form. If you’d like to help us reach our 5% goal, check the “Minor Political Party” box, and write “Libertarian Party of Florida” on the line next to it. REGISTER HERE
Once you’ve changed your voter registration, or if you’ve already registered, please spread the word in person and on social media. Ask your family, friends, and neighbors to join you in switching their voter registration to Libertarian.
With your help, we can achieve our goal, and make the Sunshine State shine with the light of Freedom.
Sincerely,
Adrian Wyllie
LPF Membership Committee
Excellent!
You should get geared up then, because the petition is paying right now and these things tend to have a lot of money behind them, which means it will almost certainly get enough signatures to be on the ballot.
Mobilizing early to kill it could be key.
To Mr Wyllie,
Since, given your status as not being a member of the LP Hillsborough County and Chair of the LPF at the time, your nomination/suggestion was out of your preview. In fact, it can be viewed as a violation of the affiliate’s autonomy under the bylaws of the LPF. Everyone in the EC at that time knew I was not seeking the office. In a meeting that did not have the quorum under the LPHC bylaws to hold officer elections, elected officers who shouldn’t have be legally elected, you Mr Wyllie suggested people run for party office. In addition, considering you appointed a person incapable of filing a simple audit in a timely manner (and in the process risk the LPF’s status as a registered political party in Florida) as LPF Treasurer just because you trust her and work with that individual, you have no standing to claim or hint a high horse from which you can judge me or anyone else. You are an example of the very corruption that has ruined America.
@Paulie,
I do not support top-two at all, and I would fight against it in Florida. It’s possible that some members of LPF leadership support it, but I haven’t heard anyone say they do.
Some time back, I asked Joe Wendt why he despised me so much. I was hoping we could work out what ever the problem was. But, his reason absolutely dumbfounded me.
Joe said it was because I nominated him for the position of Treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Hillsborough County. I nominated him because I believed he would do a good job.
Apparently, he didn’t want the position. However, instead of declining the nomination, he accepted and was elected. Soon after that, he turned his anger toward me.
I don’t know if that is the truthful reason for his vitriol, but it is the reason he gave. If it is true, I cannot even begin understand that kind of rationalization.
That’s bizarre. I’d like to hear from them if this is true and if so why.
If I am not mistaken, there are several leaders in the LPF support top-two. Don’t ask me why, I don’t get it.
Hopefully there will be a boost in voter registrations as well as other activity. LPF also needs to get active in opposing the top two only amendment which is currently paying for signatures there.
Martin,
That isn’t the issue, the issue is Wyllie never coordinating with the local affiliates. He set up events, without consulting the local affiliates; never coordinated possible voter registration efforts between his campaign and the affiliates; never offered the local affiliate’s leadership an opportunity to promote the affiliate at any event the Wyllie campaign set up. In other words, Wyllie would rather be associated with and promote the TEA Party, than the party that essentially handed him the nomination for Governor. That’s the issue.
The teabaggers wouldn’t be my first choice, but I think it does make some sense to go to public events where people who are not already LP members gather, as opposed to preaching to the choir.
Idk who else Mark is referring too, however my retort to him is this:
If Wyllie actually wanted to grow the party and not his political base, how come he hasn’t coordinated once with a county affiliate to help register voters? If he cared, why would he & hi surrogates go out of their way to avoid LPF affiliates while still going to TEA Party groups? The answer… because they don’t care. They’ve carpetbagged into the party and are using it to promote themselves, not the LP.
Who are the guys you are referring to, Mark? As far as I know Joe is one person, at least if you are talking about people who have commented in this thread so far.
And while your bitching go register some libs. At least he’s trying to.
Hey, the guys pushing for more lib voters and you guys attack him? Go f yourself you jerks!
Andy,
Let’s see, when he was Chair, the LPF did lose a few affiliates, botched an officer election in 2013, and has done nothing more than promote himself instead of the Party. More importantly, I know of a few affiliates he has never visited, while he or his surrogates prioritize visiting the TEA Party groups in those same counties. I could go on but it is late and I need some sleep.
“Andy Craig
April 6, 2015 at 5:49 pm
I guess that wasn’t clear, but I was saying Wyllie wasn’t one of the candidates who’ve reached 5%.”
It is not 5% of the vote that they need to gain major party status, it is 5% of the people who are registered to vote in Florida to be registered under the Libertarian Party label. I think that Florida has a population of around 19.89 million people (I heard that it recently passed New York in population, and is now the 3rd most populated state). I checked Florida’s voter registration statistics a little over a year ago, and 59.2% of Floridians were registered to vote. So the LP of FL would need 5% of the approximately 59.2% of the population that is registered to vote to be registered to vote under the Libertarian Party label. This is where they got the (approximate) 600,000 registered voters figure.
Getting 5% of the registered voters to register as Libertarians is a lofty goal, but I think that it is something that could be done over a period of several years. Voter registration drives, if done properly, can be a great way to build the party (but of course the key is, IF DONE PROPERLY).
Even if they don’t get to 5% anytime soon, it is still a worthwhile thing to do as a party building activity.
Every state LP affiliate ought to work to increase the number of registered Libertarians. Even the states that have non-partisan voter registration ought to try to get more libertarians to register to vote and actually show up and vote Libertarian on election day.
“Joe Wendt
April 6, 2015 at 6:40 pm
I think it’s rather polite to tell Wyllie that he was excluded from the debates because he didn’t meet the criteria, as opposed to telling him he’s a gigantic buffoon and idiot to his face, lol.”
I have never met the man, but I have watched a lot of his videos online, and Adrian Wyllie did not appear to be an idiot or a buffoon to me.
Has anybody here besides Joe Wendt ever met Adrian Wyllie in person, and if so, what was your impression of him?
Maybe Joe Wendt knows a bad side of Adrian Wyllie of which I am not aware, but so far, I think that Joe Wendt has presented a very weak case in his crusade against Mr. Wyllie.
I think it’s rather polite to tell Wyllie that he was excluded from the debates because he didn’t meet the criteria, as opposed to telling him he’s a gigantic buffoon and idiot to his face, lol.
As for the debates, my point is if they want to exclude a candidate, they’ll find a reason. The actual behind-the-scenes calculations that go into that are the deciding factor, whatever threshold they articulate after-the-fact is just a fig leaf for their decision. Even if they want to include some alt/party-ind. candidates while excluding others, they’ll come up with some convoluted justification for that, it’s happened before.
I won’t disagree that some Libertarian nominees make the practical case for excluding them stronger than it should be with their behavior and/or relative lack of a serious effort. Which particular candidates for Governor or Senator fall into that category, isn’t something I’m willing to comment on outside of my own state. 😉
I guess that wasn’t clear, but I was saying Wyllie wasn’t one of the candidates who’ve reached 5%.
Andy Craig,
First, Wyllie isn’t an example of “polling thresholds being suddenly & arbitrarily raised” to exclude a Libertarian candidate. In the same election, Wohlsifer was invited to the only debate for AG candidates. Wohlsifer never showed the arrogance that epitomized the Wyllie campaign, and was invited to a debate that same year. The same with Netherwood and Overby. Could it be that Wyllie was excluded because of his attitude, behavior, and publicity stunts made him look like a buffoon? Most likely. And more over, Wyllie should be grateful he was excluded, since his participation in a debate would only prove how much of a buffoon he actually is.
Second, Wyllie won 3.8% of the vote. He came no where close to 5%.
Several debate sponsors pointed to the legal major/minor party definition to justify their debate exclusion in Florida. Of course that was just a fig leaf for a decision they could have easily found another rationalization for. Exclusionary debate sponsors are never short of excuses and ostensible justifications. If they can’t find any other psuedo-objective threshold to articulate, they’ll just flat-out state they only want the Republican and Democrat to participate. Wyllie himself provided the clearest example to date of polling thresholds being suddenly and arbitrarily raised when a Libertarian candidate meets them.
I also agree that 5% voter registration is very optimistic to the point of being unrealistic. Only a handful of LP candidates have even topped 5% in a Gov/Sen race, not including Wyllie. And it has to be 5% of registered voters, not just 5% of actual voter turnout, making it even harder.
In states that have a 5% or 10% threshold vote test for major party status, or a more workable registration total, then I don’t think it’s a bad thing to hold that out as a goal. Getting major-party status *sounds* a lot more impressive than it actually is though, in terms of what the party gets. It’s not like anybody is going to suddenly stop referring to the Ds and Rs as the “two major parties.”
Here’s my mandatory snipe at Wyllie, as expected, lol
1. “our quest for liberty in Florida continues to gain serious momentum.”
If you call no elected Libertarians in Florida and few candidates running as Libertarians, than sure we’re gaining the same kind of momentum Joe Lieberman’s Presidential run got in 2004.
2. “Our candidates received record-breaking vote totals in 2014.”
umm… no. Other parties have performed better, with maybe the exception of Wohlsifer (don’t remember off hand).
More importantly and on another note, this 5% campaign they’ve advanced isn’t well thought out and is poorly planned.
First, in order to get to that 5%, the LPF would have to register 600000 voters. Considering Wyllie himself received slightly over 1/3 of that in the election, after spending about $180000. How on earth is that a realistic goal.
Second, if we by some miracle obtained that amount new voters, we would lose the right to require members sign the ZAP/NAP pledge in order to be members.
Third, we would have to radically change the bylaws to reflect the requirements State Law places on Major Parties.
Fourth, the LPF would be expected to file quarterly finanical reports, just like the other major parties. They can’t pull the crap they’ve been pulling and not file a report.
Fifth, and probably the most relevant, there’s no plan to counteract the effects of a possible Rand Paul GOP Presidential campaign, which will draw some Libertarians out of the party during this 5% campaign and could potentially be a obstacle for recruiting libertarian Republicans (the target audience of this campaign) into the LPF.
These are just some of the practical reasons why I do not like this 5% campaign. The LPF just does not have the infrastructure, manpower, or the finances at this point. We are putting the cart before the horse, and wasting resources in the process. By the way, this is AFTER 4 years of leadership from the Liberty First Network (Wyllie, Snitker, Alexandre, etc), a lot of hype but not much else.