CONCORD, N.H. – Rep. Brandon Phinney (Strafford 24), formerly a member of the Republican Party, announced today on the State House steps he is changing his party affiliation to Libertarian.
For the third time this year, a sitting state legislator has left his party and joined the LP. Rep. Caleb Q. Dyer (Hillsborough 37) switched to Libertarian from Republican in February, and Rep. Joseph Stallcop (Cheshire 4) left the Democratic Party in May.
Darryl W. Perry, Chair of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, welcomes any others, unhappy with their party leadership, to join the LP.
“When the Libertarian Party had ballot access in the 1990s, the Libertarian House Caucus had four members,” Perry said. “It is my hope and desire that the civil libertarians, classical liberals, and philosophical libertarians in the New Hampshire General Court will show the same courage shown by Reps. Dyer, Stallcop, and, now, Rep. Brandon Phinney, and abandon the two-party system that has for so long burdened us with taxation, regulation, and legislation that has trampled our freedoms.”
Phinney will work with Dyer and Stallcop in the N.H. House Libertarian Caucus to minimize state government, lower taxes, and eliminate barriers to conducting business, and will work hard to increase individual freedom and personal liberty while protecting the rights of individuals and businesses within New Hampshire.
Full release from The Libertarian Party @ https://www.lp.org/nh-rep-phinney-switch-libertarian-party/
FYI: George Phillies gave a heads up here at IPR that this was going to happen before the news became public.
No need for surveillance on our part, brah. We know you will handle that part for us and inform us accordingly.
Brandon Phinney has a clarifying statement for those that have an interest.
It begins with “The hoopla over my political affiliation switch has died down, I think, enough for me to reflect on what this means to me.”
https://www.facebook.com/phinney/posts/765686357731
Thanks for posting this, Gene. Yours was the first I’d read about this. I found it on later in Foster’s Daily Democrat (which I used on my blog today), and I’ve seen a headline in Reason since.
Has the dinosaur media in NH been covering this adequately?
This is fantastic.
I do wonder whether Perry & Co. is monitoring these three’s voting records and public pronouncements to ensure there are no NAP violations. These seem inevitable, and it will be interesting to see what sorts of enforcement techniques are in place to discipline these legislators.
I think it is good that not all of the folks came from the Republicans. I hope the Libertarian Party makes a BIG deal of the fact that one of the defectors was an elected Democrat. Back in the day when there was hope that the Libertarian Party would really amount to something the thinking was the party would pull equally from both of the dominant parties. That hasn’t happened but perhaps this will put things back on track.
When election time comes, we’d better work to make sure these guys get re-elected!
so they’re almost up to the number they had in the 90’s