IPR Exclusive: Interview with Geoff Neale of Americans Deserve Better SuperPAC

Geoff Neale, former LNC Chair and member of the Advisory Board for Americans Deserve Better Super PAC sat down for an interview with IPR a few days ago. Highlights of the transcript of that interview follow.

IPR: Welcome Geoff. Let’s start with explicating your role at the Americans Deserve Better SuperPAC.

NEALE: I serve as Treasurer, Spokesperson and the person tasked with FEC filings because I just love dealing with the federal government.

(Laughter.)

NEALE: We are out there with the Purple PAC and other PACs supporting Libertarians. When we were initially forming, we committed to support whoever the Libertarian candidates would be coming out of Orlando. We are not a “Gary Johnson PAC;” we are a Libertarian PAC for federal candidates. Right now we are supporting the LP POTUS candidates; we might support other Libertarian candidates for federal office, we won’t be supporting candidates for state office mostly because each state has its own unique rules for that. We also expect to be around supporting Libertarian candidates for the 2018, 2020, 2024 election cycles and beyond.

IPR: What is unique about the Americans Deserve Better PAC?

NEALE: Aside from some very minimal operational costs – post-office box, credit card fees, filing fees and the like, 100 percent of donations to our PAC go to media advertising.

We have no paid staff, no consultants, no meals, no entertainment expenses, no travel, no office space; the only person paid for their work is some minimal attorney fees. Our production staff and polling staff are all volunteering their time right now. We are committed to running the lowest-cost, in terms of overhead, SuperPac in history. We do have some research expenses. We have pre- and post-advertising-campaign polling data to show potential donors the kind of impact their dollars will have.

IPR: You have targeted the 2nd Congressional District in Maine with television advertising; why Maine? Why that district?

(Note: If Donald Trump wins Florida, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, and if HRC wins all other swing states, Maine’s 2nd Congressional District would offer the 270th and determinant Electoral College vote. More HERE.)

NEALE: There is a single, relatively isolated, relatively low-cost media market there. There is also a significant population of undecided voters. What we are attempting to do is find out how far our advertising can move the needle toward Libertarian support. We do that by polling both before and after the campaign, as well as some polling during the campaign. Once we have the data we will publish them along with a full financial disclosure so everyone can see what they got for their money, and what they can get for their future donations. To the best of our knowledge, no other Libertarian campaign or Libertarian PAC has ever done this kind of research.

IPR: Any results to report so far?

NEALE: Early research data is encouraging, and our hope is that we can move the needle there by 10 points or so. It may be less than that.  When we know, we will send out a Press Release.

(NOTE: Prior Press Releases by the Americans Deserve Better PAC can be found HERE.)

IPR: You are running broadcast television, cable insert, radio; any print or outdoor/billboard?

NEALE: No billboards, yard signs, bumper stickers, or anything like that. We are doing some Facebook inserts. We do not know how much money we may be able to raise, but we will be able to show how far we can move the needle with what we have spent. Where we go next will be up to the donors who say, “We will give you money to go here or there.” If the donors don’t have a particular market requirement, then we are going to focus on where we have the best chance of winning our first electoral college vote.

IPR: You have spent about $80,000 so far. How much have you raised?

NEALE: About $100,000.

IPR: How can people donate?

NEALE: Send checks to Americans Deserve Better PAC, PO Box 49942, Austin, TX 78765.  Keep in mind that federal law requires us to ask for your occupation and your employer. Or go to www.votefortheadults.com (NOTE: the direct donate page is HERE).

IPR: How did you come up with the “Vote For The Adults” URL?

NEALE: One of the messages that we wanted to send was that Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, if you compare their behavior and their records to the two old party candidates, it’s obvious that they are the only adults in the race. Donald Trump? He is 6 years old going on 70. And Hillary should be put in time out. Each of these candidates is acting like a dishonest, upset child. The vast majority of Americans believe Americans Deserve Better, and that’s the name of our PAC. The AMERICANS DESERVE BETTER PAC, with a website URL that says to, “Vote For the Adults.” It was carefully chosen to be a statement of attitude as opposed to a dogmatic approach. We want Americans to see that Libertarians are the most reasonable candidates in all the races around the nation. Our politics are rational, reasonable, well-thought-out. They are good positions. We offer the only adults in all those races.

IPR: You have several goals – moving the needle, researching what is most effective, ultimately winning the LP’s first earned electoral college vote. Let’s talk about other benefits of your work such as ballot access implications, national party membership, and the consequences of earning 5 percent of the vote nationally on November 8th.

NEALE: The number one goal is votes. In order for the Libertarian Party to remain viable it has to get a higher percentage of votes than it has ever gotten before. 1 percent is not enough to be viable. My hat is off to all the Libertarians who have worked for 45 years or more to keep us viable with less than one percent of the POTUS vote every four years. But the game changes if we can hit 5 percent, and it changes big time if we can hit 10 percent. The Americans Deserve Better SuperPac is working to change the game. We would love for Gary Johnson to win it all. Maybe that is possible, but we as a PAC cannot do it alone; the Johnson campaign cannot do it alone. And while we cannot coordinate to do it “together,” what that means for us is that our advertising has to come from materials in the public domain, which is what we are doing.

(NOTE: The PAC’s television and radio advertising can be seen/heard HERE as well as at the links at the end of this transcript.)

NEALE: We are also hoping to get enough votes to ensure ballot access in 2017 and beyond. Once you have ballot access, then those funds can be used to increase votes for our candidates. But this is a secondary goal. We want enough votes to get to 5 percent plus nationally, so we focus on where our campaign can advance that as much as possible.

We are also hoping to break the all-time record for national party membership. Eventually we will be looking for data from the LP national office about what effect we have had on national party memberships from the 2nd Congressional District in Maine.

IPR: Do you think this might be the year that the LP gains another “faithless elector,” a new Roger McBride, from one or more of HRC’s or DT’s electors?

NEALE: This is the year when anything could happen; nobody knows how it is going to turn out. I think it is possible for Johnson to win, who knows? Maybe Hillary and Donald will pick up their microphones in that first debate and beat each other to death. Trump could say something to offend even his most rabid right-wing supporters. Hillary? Who knows what October surprise Julian Assange may release.

I want to see a viable Libertarian Party. I think 5 percent of the national vote is entirely possible; I’d like to see us stretch into double digits. But if we don’t at least double our highest vote total ever, then I’d have to question the efficacy of our collective efforts.

We are hoping our polling and test marketing will show donors what is possible and what it will cost.

We are also hoping that down-ticket Libertarian vote totals are enhanced by an effective national Presidential campaign. Historically, local and state-level candidates have done better than our past POTUS candidates. We’re working to create a positive coat-tail effect for down-ticket candidates.

IPR: And then there is the goal of reducing tyranny and advancing liberty generally, yes?

NEALE: The Libertarian Party is a political party; while its roots are in Libertarian philosophy, you do not have to run candidates to advance that philosophy. Historically we might say that policy groups have been more successful at advancing liberty, or authors like Ayn Rand may have been more effective at advancing liberty than the Libertarian Party has been, so far. The Libertarian Party’s goals are political, not philosophical. That does not preclude any Libertarian voter from also being involved in non-political, liberty advancing activity. Nancy, my wife, and I are involved in other non-political things that advance Libertarian philosophy. Our SuperPac is focused on generating more votes, new voters, for Libertarians. We are looking for political change.

Our long term goal? To put ourselves out of business politically.

IPR: Any last words?

NEALE: More than anything, what I would say to IPR, which I respect – I value feedback from members – as I said earlier, the Americans Deserve Better PAC was in the process of forming before the Orlando convention to support whoever the delegates chose. This is about the party ticket. We are doing a campaign to maximize voter turnout and results. That said, we are also willing to run these ads anywhere that a donor insists they be run. We will not turn down that money.

IPR: Thanks Chair Neale.  On behalf of IPR and our readers I’d like to thank you for your time.