Photo Credit: Randall Terry
IPR: We are here at FreedomFest with Joe Slovenec, the Campaign Manager for the Constitution Party candidates Randall Terry and Stephen Broden. What’s the latest news? How is the campaign going?
SLOVENEC: Well, Joe, I’d say it’s going well. It always has its challenges. Every day is different, and every state is different. With ballot access, some days I think: Am I two steps ahead or two steps behind? Because every state is different and there are nuances with every state. They don’t make it easy for anyone. The officials don’t always know what the law actually says.
For example, Idaho had an early date for getting the ballot access completed. I think it was March 15th. Randall was in Idaho with some volunteers, you look at their website, but you cannot trust their websites. So you talk to somebody in the Secretary of State’s office. The person I talked to said the signatures have to be from “eligible voters.” I ask – can you define “eligible voters?” That means they are 18 years or older, and not a felon. So I said, They don’t have to be registered voters, correct? The state official said, “That’s correct.” I checked with that person twice and they confirmed it both times.
When we get to Idaho I check again, but then also asked if I could speak to somebody else. It turns out, No, they have to be registered voters. Not a big deal, but you have to be so careful. Because if we would have gotten all the signatures of eligible voters, they would have been invalid. So that’s just to give you a little flavor for the nuances from state to state.
IPR: Congratulations on North Carolina. Can you share a bit about the issues there?
SLOVENEC: The North Carolina Constitution Party state chair and vice chair, did a wonderful job. We needed 13,870 valid signatures. They acquired about 20,000 signatures. When they turned them in, they had 700 signatures above and beyond the required valid amount. The Board of Elections, which had three Democrats and two Republicans, voted three to two to not accept them. So we were thinking, okay, are we going to have to sue them? What are we going to have to do? So we started raising some money for that. We said to the donors that if we don’t end up needing it here, it will go to ballot access in other states. So our donors were generous. But lo and behold, Jim Jordan’s committee in D.C. came to our aid, in a sense, and they decided to challenge the decision, and have a hearing. I think it was scheduled for the 10th of July. Their second meeting in North Carolina was scheduled for the 9th of July. Then their state legislature took this issue on as well.
It was craziness because their reasoning was that the Constitution Party’s state chair, Al Pisano, had his address on the form as required but he had moved during that three-year period that signatures were gathered. So they threw all of the signatures out. There’s no legal precedent for that. That decision was reversed last week unanimously. So that was a nice relief because that was a lot of work for that state party to gather that many signatures.
IPR: Are you aware of what’s going on with the other independent political campaigns in North Carolina; Cornel West and RFK, Jr?
SLOVENEC: Yes. I put out a press release that day and said we got it, and they still do not have it. They might get it. They have different issues. Probably not as simple as ours was. Ours was pretty straightforward that this was just prejudice against the Constitution Party.
IPR: Where are you on the ballot now?
SLOVENEC: That’s a good question because there are states that just may need just this one little thing, and then it’s done. Maybe just a signature from Randall, or the like. We are solid right now at 14 or 15 states and that’s growing. We’ll finalize Michigan on the 27th of this month. So it’s one state at a time. Finalizing things in Colorado. I have a whole list where there’s just a very little bit of paperwork that is required.
IPR: What’s your aspirational goal for ballot access by November?
SLOVENEC: Originally all we really wanted was 10 states. That’s all we really need for our media campaign. Originally we were doing this as independents, but I was the executive director of the U.S. Taxpayers Party in the late 90s. So I contacted the chairman of the Constitution Party (which was originally the US Taxpayer’s Party) Jim Clymer. So we went through their process and presented our case to a number of the state executive committees prior to their national convention. Then at the national convention we won hands-down as their nominee. So that helped us with the ballot access.
So our original goal of 10, if we were doing it by ourselves, all of a sudden we knew we would have that. We have no realistic aspiration of ever being in the White House. That’s not going to happen to a minor party at this time. But our goal is to get 10 states, because if you are on the ballot in 10 states, you can place national ads in all 50 states, and the FCC cannot censor your ad 60 days prior to the election. The key states we wanted were Virginia because of its proximity to DC. We wanted New Jersey so we could advertise in New York, etc.
Our whole goal is putting our commercials on television, our radio spots on the radio. You can see those at our website, www.Terry2024.com and while you’re there, hey, feel free to make a donation! You want to see any of these ads on television? Make a huge donation and we’ll make sure we get them on.
IPR: That’s useful background, but what’s your aspirational goal for November? How many states do you hope to have?
SLOVENEC: 20 would be solid; the Party thinks that we could do a little better, but 20 would be great.
IPR: Tell us about the Ice-T endorsement.
SLOVENEC: Yesterday, Ice-T spoke here. He had an interview with Kennedy from Fox news. Kennedy used to be with MTV, so she’s very knowledgeable on the music world. It was a fun interview. I mean, Ice-T was hilarious, honest. I loved it. It was a blast. So afterwards we approached Ice-T and got a video with him and Randall. Ice-T put his arm around Randall and . . . I don’t know if I can in all integrity say he endorsed the campaign, but he certainly endorsed Randall’s hair!
IPR: So he’s starting by endorsing your candidate’s hair and working his way down from there?
SLOVENEC: Exactly! So, as he gets to know us better, he’ll probably endorse the campaign.
IPR: If you get that endorsement, we’ll be happy to break it here! You’ve got a big debate coming up tonight.
SLOVENEC: Yes, we do.
IPR: Dr. Jill Stein and Chase Oliver, but no RFK, Jr. So it’s Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party nominees.
SLOVENEC: Right.
IPR: What can you tell us about preparing for the debate. Is your guy in good shape? Have you had people role-playing Dr. Stein, and Chase Oliver? Have you conducted mock debates to prepare?
SLOVENEC: No; the answer to that is no. When you meet Randall Terry, you realize he doesn’t need to be prepared in that fashion. He’s probably been prepared for the last 40 years. So I don’t think there’s much preparation necessary. We went over his initial two-minute introduction, which is great. He shared that with the team. We loved it. That was about as close to preparation as we got.
IPR: Probably closing remarks, too?
SLOVENEC: We’ll see how it goes. The debate is scheduled for two hours.
IPR: I’ve got to ask you about Joel Skousen and ballot access in Nevada and Utah. What do you have to say about Constitution Party state parties that are putting somebody other than Randall Terry on the ballot?
SLOVENEC: I think that it’s treachery. Pure and simple treachery. Because the Constitution Party clearly endorsed us. At the convention, we had 140 votes for Randall. Joel Skousen was the next in line at 90 votes. He clearly lost. He is a sore loser. He’s from Utah so they wanted Joel. Understandable. But he lost. Clearly lost. So what they did is, and they have the right to do that in our Constitution Party, they decided to put him on the ballot in those states. Then they tried to solicit other states and tried to get them to switch. They tried in Wyoming and failed. They tried in South Carolina, failed a few other states. Tried in Idaho.
IPR: Will you gather signatures and get on as independents in Utah and Nevada?
SLOVENEC: In Utah, we have to do a thousand signatures. So more than likely we’ll do that. Still have time. It’s not a critical state to us. We have our ten states, our original goal. We don’t need to waste time in Utah because our goal is not to get elected. Our goal is to place these ads, and raise enough money to do it. I am very comfortable right now. Maybe I still don’t sleep at night, but I’m comfortable with that we will be fine. We will achieve our goal.
IPR: I’m sure you’re aware some Libertarian state parties are likewise apparently disinclined to put the National Party nominee on in their states. Mr. Terry told us earlier that he would accept Libertarian Party nominations from state parties that are not putting Chase Oliver on. Are those discussions happening anywhere? Can you speak to that?
SLOVENEC: Not at this point. Not at this point. They’re not. Not that I can’t speak on it, they are just not happening.
IPR: Thanks for your time and good luck in the debate tonight.
SLOVENEC: It was my pleasure. Thank you. I know Randall will be great.
“Hey! Check this out! I am Ice-T. I want you to vote for my man, Randall Terry, for no other reason than he has the best hair . . . of all time. (LAUGHTER) Alright my brother, good luck!”
“We have our ten states…our goal is not to get elected. Our goal is to place these ads, and raise enough money to do it.”
Pretty much sums it up.
Joe (Slovenec) is looking great, as is Joe (Buchman)’s beard – both are aging very gracefully!
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“The officials don’t always know what the law actually says […] you cannot trust their websites […] I checked with that person twice and they confirmed it both times. When we get to Idaho I check again, but then also asked if I could speak to somebody else. It turns out, No, they have to be registered voters. […] the Constitution Party’s state chair, Al Pisano, had his address on the form as required but he had moved during that three-year period that signatures were gathered. So they threw all of the signatures out.”
Isn’t it interesting how the Secretary of State’s office, or any other government employees for that matter, are never held liable for damages resulting from their spreading of harmful misinformation, whether accidentally or deliberately, or from their decisions that later turn out to have been unlawful? Joe says “Not a big deal”, but this should be a felony.
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“I don’t know if I can in all integrity say he endorsed the campaign, but he certainly endorsed Randall’s hair […] as he gets to know us better, he’ll probably endorse the campaign.”
I have no clue who “Ice-T” is, but apparently he has at least three children by at least three different women, only one of whom he married, and that one’s a pornographic actress and model. Furthermore he does not appear to believe in the existence of just wars, and seems to hold precious little sympathy for Israel. So even if he were a staunch anti-abortionist, I doubt he is likely to endorse anything more than Terry’s luscious locks, and I’m sure you should not want his endorsement.
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How can “state parties that are putting somebody other than Randall Terry on the ballot” be guilty of “Pure and simple treachery” if “they have the right to do that in our Constitution Party”?
The real treachery was holding the convention on Skousen’s turf, allowing him to seat an enormous delegation entirely pledged to him, giving him five and a half times more speaking time than the other candidates, and trying to change the rules mid-game so as to prevent delegates not physically present from voting.
But state affiliates have every right to nominate a ticket of their own choice. Whether it is because they are sore losers (like with Skousen), or because they cannot in good conscience support the candidate nominated by the national convention (for example if Skousen had won), or because the convention’s nomination process was fraudulent (as with the Libertarian Party), or for whatever other reason, is irrelevant. The state parties answer to their own members and not to the national party or to other state parties.
If the LP were even 1% as libertarian, they would ensure their state parties had that right too, instead of threatening to disaffiliate them for not towing the national party’s line and making an embarrassing spectacle of themselves. (If you want a good laugh, try following their business mailing list, the national committee has more quarrels and temper tantrums than a caffeine addicted kindergarten class on a sugar rush.)
ICE-T??!! The guy did the “song” Cop Killer. The ironic or double standard is that he was on a cop show for who knows how many years. Then he did the background vocals on the “song” By the Time I Get to Arizona which advocated the assassination of Governor Evan Mecham.