From an “LP Monday Message” sent to subscribers by the Libertarian Party:
posted by Nigel Lyons on Dec 19, 2011
Dear Friend of Liberty,
It has been a pleasure serving as your Executive Director for the past 2 1/2 years. I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot over this time, and I thank you all for your support of the LP.
However, in September I gave 90 days notice that I was leaving the job of Executive Director at the national headquarters in Washington, D.C. at the end of the year because I’m getting married and moving back home to Louisiana.
And now, I am delighted to announce, LNC Chair Mark Hinkle hired long-time Libertarian activist Carla Howell to serve as your new Executive Director.
Ms. Howell has an impressive resume of political and business experience.
Political:
- 308,860 votes – 12% of the vote – as Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate against Ted Kennedy and a Republican candidate in 2000. The highest % in party’s history for a Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate in a 3-way race (against both a Republican and Democrat). Her campaign raised over $821,000 for that race-an amount unheard of for most Libertarian campaigns.
- Two-term Massachusetts Libertarian Party State Chair (1997-1999)
- Organized and ran the most successful regional Libertarian Presidential campaign fund-raiser in party history (Harry Browne, 1996); filled Faneuil Hall and Parker House to capacity in Boston (where John Kennedy announced his 1960 presidential campaign).
- Successfully fund-raised for and ran 5 Libertarian candidate statewide petition drives in 1998, 2000, and 2002 with 100% success rate in making ballot.
- Organized and managed two statewide libertarian ballot initiatives to End the Income Tax in Massachusetts in 2002 and 2008. Endorsements from Wall Street Journal, Steve Forbes and National Taxpayers Union. Almost one million votes each time.
- Featured stand-alone guest on O’Reilly Factor, Neil Cavuto, Glenn Beck, and Fox Business News Happy Hour as well as hundreds of TV interviews and debates during the last 12 years.
- Covered by Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, The Economist, and USA Today.
- Co-founded Center For Small Government which advocates for specific proposals to shrink Big Government.
- Spearheaded 2010 statewide ballot initiative to roll back the sales tax garnering 966,973 votes – in liberal Massachusetts!
- Ran against Presidential candidate Mitt Romney for governor in 2002.
Business:
- MBA 1985, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts
- Twenty years experience in product/project management, marketing, and software development
I am especially pleased that we have found someone with such an impressive background to continue working to build the Libertarian Party and reduce the size of government.
I am most impressed by the fact that Carla Howell ran the most successful campaign for U.S. Senate in the history of the LP, and that she got an initiative to end the income tax on the ballot in Massachusetts which almost won with 45% of the vote! Wow!
Join me in welcoming Carla Howell to the Libertarian Party national headquarters. Carla can be reached at [email protected].
Finally, I want to send out one last LP Monday Message thank you to all of the Libertarian Party activists, donors, candidates and supporters like you. You make the LP what it is.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not already done so, please join the Libertarian Party. We are the only political party dedicated to free markets, civil liberties, and peace. You can also renew your membership. Or, you can make a contribution separate from membership.
See the original article here.
“George Phillies // Jan 2, 2012 at 11:52 pm
Massachusetts timing: Depending on the ongoing litigation, the petitioning may or may not be able to start before early May.”
That’s OK because there’d still be plenty of time to finish it if it starts in June. There’s supposed to be several petitions going on in Massachusetts in June of next year so the LP petition could easily be a part of that mix.
Massachusetts timing: Depending on the ongoing litigation, the petitioning may or may not be able to start before early May.
I did propose to my association state committee that we should line up a set of electors now. I did not get agreement.
They may or may not be workable, depending on several factors.
For example, as I’m sure you recall, in 2009 we were able to get the Kennedy petitions done for less than they would have normally cost due to petitioners already being in the state with several other projects at the same time. On the other hand, if all the other parties enter a spending race — say, if Bloomberg runs AE and Trump also runs, but separately from AE as an independent or yet another party — and if their ballot access people work against each other rather than with each other, the LP could find itself at the bottom of petitioners’ boards or off them altogether due to the others paying more.
Depending on the timing, it may or may not coincide with round two of the initiatives. However, the initiative season was not as good this time in Mass.
I’d be surprised if, were ballot access in Mass partially but not fully done, the LNC would not come up with the difference.
You were talking about an emergency situation where ballot access could fail in a fairly large population state. If the LNC would not come up with the remaining money, which itself seems unlikely that they wouldn’t, I think the presidential campaign would, which is somewhat different than contributing to the overall ballot access fund of the LNC.
Phillies:
I was at the center of Massachusetts ballot access issues in 2008, namely I was the fellow who discovered what our Secretary of State was doing to keep Barr off the ballot, contradicting his own prior written statements, and found the people — thank you, ACLU and Foley Hoag — who gave us the lawsuit that got Barr on the ballot. I also spent thousands of dollars of my own money, the use of most of my house, and large amounts of my own time to handle the nominating papers.
For anyone more apt to believe me than George Phillies, I attest that I was there and that all of the above is completely true.
Has the enemies list gotten longer?
There was also the matter of my having saved 1996 Massachusetts ballot access, but that was more than a decade ago.
@24 You’re right. I was at the center of Massachusetts ballot access issues in 2008, namely I was the fellow who discovered what our Secretary of State was doing to keep Barr off the ballot, contradicting his own prior written statements, and found the people — thank you, ACLU and Foley Hoag — who gave us the lawsuit that got Barr on the ballot. I also spent thousands of dollars of my own money, the use of most of my house, and large amounts of my own time to handle the nominating papers.
So I was at the center of the Massachusetts issue.
What about 2004? I was one of several people who pointed out that certain things had to be filed in a timely way. They were filed. There were no issues with that in 2004. I also ran Badnarik’s 2004 Massachusetts campaign fundraiser.
In 2000, our state party was run by Carla Howell and her cronies, not me.
So I was involved with ballot access here. Just not the way you might have inferred from Mr. Montoni’s comments.
My reward for my Massachusetts effort was to be blamed by the 2010 NatCon rules committee for causing problems in Massachusetts.
I see no reason to give them another chance to do that. My entirely positive contribution to 2012 Presidential Ballot access will be strictly limited to pointing out that the plans to date do not appear to be workable, an assertion I will continue to repeat until they are fixed, if this ever happens, at which point I will tell people they have been fixed.
Having the Presidential campaign add a few tens of thousands to the quarter-to-half million the LNC is already spending on Presidential ballot access appears unlikely to make a substantial difference nationally. (If they spent it all here, which I did not consider as a possibility, because the possibility is absurd, it would be enough). That’s assuming that the Presidential campaign has the money to spend. A five percent change in money spent is, well, someplace near the fluctuation in eligibility rates on signatures.
Its future seems cloudy.
Any idea what this appointment means for the Center for Small Government?
Since you asked, here is a new email from them. The short answer is in bold (emphasis added):
The Center For Small Government
Proudly Endorses Ron Paul
for the Republican Nomination
for President of the United States
We urge our friends and supporters to join us:
Volunteer, Donate – and VOTE for Dr. Paul
in your Republican state caucus or primary.
“Action is Eloquence,” wrote Shakespeare.
Ron Paul’s actions – his legislation, his votes in Congress – are the only eloquence that matters.
Joseph Sobran calls for shrinking the federal government to the point where “it’s small enough to fit inside the Constitution.”
Ron Paul consistently votes to roll back and reduce the federal government. Every bill. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses.
While other Republican Presidential candidates criticize and complain about federal government waste, overspending, and deficits – in vague and fuzzy words…
Congressman Ron Paul offers us a budget that dramatically reduces federal spending from this year’s $3.8 Trillion to $2.8 Trillion in 2013 – a $1 Trillion spending cut the first year of Ron Paul’s Presidency.
Dr. Ron Paul follows the Constitution. He always votes with the Constitution.
Especially on military and foreign policy issues.
Ron Paul votes for true American defense. For enough military might to defend America’s shores and soil, our people and property against foreign attackers and invaders. But Ron Paul votes against Unconstitutional, undeclared wars. He votes against military adventurism, interventionism, meddling, and gunboat diplomacy. Against sending American soldiers to kill or be killed, maim or be maimed in endless foreign wars.
Ron Paul votes for defense and peace.
Ron Paul votes to dramatically reduce the size, spending, taxes, power and authority of today’s Big Federal Government.
Ron Paul is the shining torch of liberty and small government in the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary.
Join us. Vote for, donate to, and support Ron Paul for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States.
Small government is possible,
Michael Cloud
President and Co-Founder
Center For Small Government
I agree, Dan.
Wes did an awesome job. It’s sad to see him go.
But as Wes did before, I know that Carla will raise the bar again.
I take Carla’s appointment as a strong sign that the national LP is finally starting to come into its own concerning the need for a solid focus on marketing and division of labor.
Knapp @ 15,
Had Phillies not spent the better part of the last decade and a half sliming, and scheming against, other Libertarians, perhaps my reaction would have been different.
Sorry, but I have learned not to trust him.
In any case I apologize for jumping to conclusions in this instance.
@GP, what is clear is that ballot access in MA (and NH) always seems to have problems in the last decade, and Phillies always seem to be at the center of it.
I trust the advice and counsel of Richard Winger without reservation. Phillies, on the other hand, mostly came to my attention in 1999-2000 when he participated in a campaign of overblown, hyperbolic attacks on other Libertarians, including in one or two instances, me. I find him not trustworthy.
Chuck Moulton has spoken of similar concerns about trustworthiness.
Phillies has made his own bed.
Right. I hope she does a good job as well.
jcj,
I’ve heard, but can’t personally attest with certitude, that Carla Howell and Michael Cloud are no longer … “close personal associates” … if that’s what you’re talking about.
She’ll do a good job or she won’t. I hope that she does. And I hope that those with negative opinions of her based on past events will take a wait and see attitude instead of revving up the hatercycles immediately.
Is this good? Let’s hear the dirt/opinions. I recall hearing/reading a lot about her a long time ago- late 90s/earls 00s, but not so much recently.
Is she still with that guy? You know what I’m talking about. Honestly didn’t have a great impression of them back them.
Thank you Wes Benedict for a great job. Congratulations to Carla Howell! I have helped her on projects in the past and hope to assist her more in the future.
@16 There is also a serious drop in funding for petitioners at this end, $6-8,000 either from the state party (but we’ve already spent close to $2000) and private individuals. They are still spending money, but are looking at Barr redux as a threat.
@15 Against stupidity, the Gods themselves strive in vain.
@13 At least you are consistent in getting things wrong.
The State Association has no role in certifying anything to the “state’s bureaucracy”, so we probably will not do that this time either, because there is no such legal process here.
The Presidential Ballot access issue for 2012 has been discussed by our State Committee. I opined that there were going to be some serious difficulties this time, notably:
Of the people who did a lot of work on the last petitioning effort, let’s see: Four moved out of state. Two have medical issues. One had a large tree fall directly on top of him. Then there was the one who was accused by the national party of creating problems with the last ballot access effort. Do you begin to get a picture here?
Me? I was the fellow who bothered to check, so that we learned in June rather than August 2008 that we had a legal dispute.
I did not get a lot of interest in the issue.
I anticipate that ballot access will cost upward of $35,000, but probably not $40,000. Yes, I did point this out the the LNC regional representatives.
Marc@13,
I’ve seen some pretty unreasonable interpretations of language before, but this one takes the cake.
@10…it gets smaller?
Since Ms Howell is in the far north, I have not been involved in any projects she worked on.
I managed to have several conversations with her in Vegas. I get the clear impression that she knows what the job requires and she knows how to accomplish the goals of our organization.
I am very encouraged, which is why I voted yes during the decision to hire her.
Phillies @ 4:
So, George, are you saying that your associates control the organization recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and that you have all agreed in advance that you will 1) not certify the LP convention’s choice to the state bureaucracy, and 2) will not be helping with the ballot drive to get the Presidential candidate on the ballot on the ‘Libertarian’ line?
I really thought Wes did a great job, Carla looks like she will give him a real run for his money.
Quite an impressive resume! Go get ’em.
Yes, Thx Wes !
Wish Carla Howell the best and hopefully she (and us) will see the greatest days ever for the LP !!
It’s past time for major progress in the LP nationwide at the local levels !!!
Any idea what this appointment means for the Center for Small Government?
Carla Howell is a capable professional. I think she’s definitely gonna GIT-R-DONE!
Wes Benedict did a great job as Executive Director. I expect that Carla Howell will do the same.
God it sucks to see Wes go , congrats on your upcoming wedding , we’re all invited right??
Carla Howell is an excellent choice , I wish her(us) all the best…
Maybe some people should apologize to her ahead of time.
@2 However, in defense of Carla Howell, she has had absolutely no relationship with the State party in close to six years.
@2 Core Massachusetts ballot access is in good shape. You collect the signatures, they are verified in advance, and you turn them in. The Presidential campaign needs 10,000 valid signatures, hence 15,000 raw signatures, following Joe Kennedy on the “Liberty” line; the only residual difficulty is that the 2008 Presidential ballot access in-state people are for various reasons unavailable.
While the details remain to be settled, it appears we will have an unprecedented number of Federal candidates, of whom an unprecedented number will be supported by the State Association’s Federal PAC. The count on non-Federal candidates is up in the air.
Congrats to Carla!
I hope Carla does well. You just wish Massachusetts was in better shape ballot wise these days.
1. Congrats to Carla. I hope she does well.
2. I expect the robots to come out of the woodwork any moment now.