The Lucas Overby For Congress Campaign has officially been relaunched, so to get things rolling we are doing a weekend MONEY BOMB. During the last campaign, we did some amazing things during our opening Money Bomb, raising nearly $12,000, so this time we are going to go even bigger and raise $20,000!
Please donate what you can to this Libertarian vs Republican race!
Please donate online today at www.rally.org/lucasoverbyforcongress
For those who live in the Tampa Bay area, you are welcome to come by the campaign office in person at 1910 Drew St in Clearwater, FL 33755.
in FL*
Considering that LP National Membership is up 2% in the past 12 months, I doubt that would ever happen.
It would, wouldn’t it?
That would be a very interesting selling point for a FL campaign.
The Overby campaign should get a DC office.
There, now I tied it in with the thread 🙂
The Alexandria location is in the immediate DC area. I don’t want to go into a big explanation as to why (I typed one out, then realized it was really boring reading), but it is not unreasonable to call an office in that location a DC office. Or, if you prefer, a Washington office.
For the record, I live about 7-8 miles from the Alexandria office location.
Appears to be on the money to the many people I spoke with who were actually there and actively involved back then.
A few minutes outside DC should not make much difference.
The claim that the move to Texas caused the collapse because the move was to Texas, as opposed to the other issues at the same time, does not appear defensible. But it’s good propaganda. By the way, the office is no longer in DC, so we get to see if Virginia is salable.
YOU are not the issue. But I bet you have donated more than you would have because of the global ripple effects that many other donors and media taking the LP more seriously because we have an office in the DC area produces.
Sure you do. I donated $100 to the new office and hundreds or thousands of people donated hundreds of thousands more, with other hundreds of thousands of additional dollars that will be raised. I bet you know many of those donors. You may or may not remember that moving to the Watergate, in its time, was a major selling point to donors. And the party was rescued from absolute collapse when it moved back to DC from Houston.
It doesn’t really translate to the state level. And LPCA has far more fundamental issues than where its office is or is not, as does LP national.
LPA needs to start raising more money if it wants to keep a physical office. If LPA was an individual, the percentage of its annual income which it spends on rent would violate state law. And we have next to no voluteers of any sort in Montgomery, nor any money to hire staff. When we get 6 figures a year I would like to have an office in Montgomery as well as Birmingham.
You would be surprised, and you are not a major donor; it matters more what they think than what you mistakenly assume people think when it comes to donations.
Not that your donations are not valuable, but they are not as valuable in US dollars or anything they can be exchanged for as some people’s.
“paulie May 6, 2014 at 8:00 pm
‘Let’s just be honest and admit that having the office in Washington DC is a case of STYLE (OR IMAGE) OVER SUBSTANCE.’
Style (or image) IS substance. DUH!
What do you think leads to more and larger donations, more and better news coverage, and everything else that cycles off those things (more members, more candidates, etc, etc)? Image, that’s what.”
I’ve donated money to the LP for years, and I never once made a donation based on the party having an office in Washington DC. I don’t know anyone else in the party who has donated because the party has an office in Washington DC either.
If having an office in a capital city makes such a big, positive impact, why is it that the LP of California is currently at the lowest point the party has been at there in many years? The LP of CA moved its office from Los Angeles to Sacramento, so going by this logic that being in a capital city means more donations, why is the LP of CA raising less money now. The LP of CA was at its peak in the late ’90’s and early 2000’s, and they had an office in Los Angeles during that time.
If the LP having offices in capital cities is so important, why doesn’t the LP of Alabama move its office from Birmingham to Montgomery?
I don’t think that most Libertarians give flying fuck where the LP office is located.
This incredibly absurd statement just goes once again to show that you, or at least the character you play on IPR, wouldn’t know libertarianism from your own ass with both hands if someone shone a 50,000 watt light straight down your tunnel. Not that showing this redundantly obvious fact yet again was even remotely necessary or helpful, given that everyone here was already well aware of it.
Root was right. As I’ve said, if the LP wasn’t willing to nominate Jim Burns, it might as well have nominated Mitt Romney. He was just as libertarian as Gary Johnson. At least we wouldn’t have four more years of the anti-libertarian Obama.
Style (or image) IS substance. DUH!
What do you think leads to more and larger donations, more and better news coverage, and everything else that cycles off those things (more members, more candidates, etc, etc)? Image, that’s what.
Donors and media would take LP less seriously if we moved out of DC, just like the last time we tried such a boneheaded move.
Then there’s the issue of where we would move it to.
The location would become a political football on the LNC with different factions and states trying to move it to their own states or wherever their faction has the most support and probably moves across country every two to six years, with all the disruption involved, and half of every LNC term spent fighting what city or state to move the office to next.
It’s an absolute non-starter and a tried and proven disaster.
National political parties or ones that may hope to one day ever be taken seriously as one have their offices in the DC area. That’s just a given and should not even be controversial.
It is absolutely mind boggling that this tired old debate gets trotted out every time, even on completely unrelated threads like this one, as if there was ever any serious consideration of moving out of DC area any time recently.
There hasn’t been, and won’t be. The only time it was even floated (and this is a rumor ONLY) was to have it moved to Vegas area because Wayne Root lives there. Allegedly this is what was behind some of the people on LNC opposing buying a building in the King/Duke area of Alexandria last LNC term. Even if this is true, none of them have admitted it publicly and probably wouldn’t, so I am treating it as a highly suspect rumor.
But suppose it is true; wouldn’t we have looked really, really stupid after moving there to be close to Wayne and then have him go back to NSGOP and formally endorse Romney over Johnson a few months later?
I’m still befuddled as to what if anything this has to do with Overby.
A bit harsh, but CLC does have a point. Ron Paul’s supporters were the only ones who could pull off a true moneybomb.
LOL. These poor fools think every fundraising effort is a “moneybomb”. I hate to break it to you but you are not Ron Paul. Earning $5 panhandling on the street is not a “moneybomb”.
“David Colborne May 6, 2014 at 2:43 am
Andy:
‘I don’t think that where the office is located has much of anything to do with how successful the party is.’
Given the current state of the LPCA, I’m inclined to agree. I do think that, if the LPCA can only have one office, it should be in Sacramento for reasons I’ve already specified.”
The LP office in Sacramento has accomplished as much as the LP office in DC when it comes to lobbying the legislature or Congress, and that is nothing. I’m not even aware of either office doing this, and like I said before, from what I’ve heard, the LP office in Sacramento is unmanned most of the time, with only one volunteer coming in once in a while. The offices in DC and Sacramento are more about style/image over substance.
“Personally, I loathe dues. If your organization is primarily funded through dues, it means you’re primarily funded through obligation and guilt, not because you’re doing anything worth opening other people’s wallets for.”
I have no problem with dues. If an organization is to be able to do anything it needs to raise money, and dues are a way to raise money.
“Having said that, I understand that part of what drew the convention to Visalia was they had some libertarians elected to positions of consequence out there. Was that correct or did I misunderstand?”
They had few Libertarians that were elected to local offices somewhere in California at the convention. There were Libertarians elected to local offices in California when I was active in the LP of CA back in the last ’90’s to mid 2000’s. This is not exactly a sign of progress.
“I’m okay with less money going to the national LP, at least until there are some signs that the national LP is interested in doing something useful beyond fundraising letters and Facebook posts.”
I don’t like everything that the LNC does, but I also do not like everything that every state and local LP affiliate or LP candidate does in regard to how they spend their money. Regardless of this, just because I may not agree with the way every penny is spent the fact remains that it takes money to run organizations and campaigns. This party and movement will never get anywhere without money. So yeah, less Libertarians in California due to a dysfunctional state party means less money for Libertarian projects both in and out of California, and this is not a good thing for the party/movement.
If I were a government plant looking for ways to sabotage the LP, screwing up the state affiliate of the most populated state so the party stagnates and shrinks there would certainly be a good tactic to utilize. There’s an expression that goes something like, “So goes California, so goes the rest of the nation.” A weak Libertarian Party in California means a weaker Libertarian Party in the rest of the nation.
Andy:
Given the current state of the LPCA, I’m inclined to agree. I do think that, if the LPCA can only have one office, it should be in Sacramento for reasons I’ve already specified.
Personally, I loathe dues. If your organization is primarily funded through dues, it means you’re primarily funded through obligation and guilt, not because you’re doing anything worth opening other people’s wallets for. I personally suspect that it’s partly due to an over reliance on guilt-based fundraising – dues, convention floor fees, and so on – that has led the LPCA to such dire straights in the first place.
Having said that, I understand that part of what drew the convention to Visalia was they had some libertarians elected to positions of consequence out there. Was that correct or did I misunderstand?
I’m okay with less money going to the national LP, at least until there are some signs that the national LP is interested in doing something useful beyond fundraising letters and Facebook posts.
“Jill Pyeatt May 5, 2014 at 4:42 pm
I’m in Southern California, so I’m not hanging out with the Northern CA people. I don’t think the move to Sacramento has done much good at all; Andy is right that the party’s decline in CA shouldn’t be ignored.”
The decline of the Libertarian Party of California really hurts the party in the rest of the nation. Why? Because California is such a population monster being the most populated state with over 37 million people. A dysfunctional state party apparatus in California means less dues paying Libertarian Party members in California. Less dues paying members in California means less money going to the national LP from California, and less money available for other Libertarian Party projects, such as less people to donate to the LP Presidential tickets from California, etc…
“Jed Ziggler Post authorMay 5, 2014 at 10:23 pm
‘Hi Jed, Why is the candidate nominated by the Democratic Party going to be listed as an independent? That is very unusual.’
Because the nominee, Ed Jany, had been a registered Republican last year, and state law does not permit candidates who want to run in primaries to have been registered in any other party in the previous year, so he will be on the ballot as an independent with the Democratic Party’s support.”
This is something that could work to the advantage of Libertarian Party candidate Lucas Overby.
“Hi Jed, Why is the candidate nominated by the Democratic Party going to be listed as an independent? That is very unusual.”
Because the nominee, Ed Jany, had been a registered Republican last year, and state law does not permit candidates who want to run in primaries to have been registered in any other party in the previous year, so he will be on the ballot as an independent with the Democratic Party’s support.
Hi Jed, Why is the candidate nominated by the Democratic Party going to be listed as an independent? That is very unusual.
David Colborne May 5, 2014 at 8:18 pm said: “The LPCA has issues – serious ones. Competing factions. Pretty much anything noteworthy that happens in San Bernardino County. Conventions with low attendance in awkward locations. However, one thing it does have – and I’ve talked to people in Sacramento and elsewhere about this – is an increasingly solid understanding of how California’s legislature works. There’s even a former LPCA member that’s now working as a staffer for one of the State Assemblypeople; as I understand it, this particular individual still keeps in touch from time to time.”
What does the office in Sacramento have to do with this? The reports that I’ve gotten is that the office in Sacramento sits empty most of the time, and that they’ve got one dedicated volunteer who comes in and does some office stuff once in a while. It is not as though there are a bunch of people in the office and that they are going back and forth from the office to the state legislature.
“I’ll admit that it’s definitely a long term project.”
I’d say that it is a very long term project, and that the LP of California has more pressing issues, such as getting back to where they were in terms of dues paying members, fund raising, number of candidates, and number of candidates who actually got elected to something, back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
“I’ll also admit that the LPCA has some other, much more pressing issues that need to be dealt with ASAP (flagging membership, sporadically effective chapters in major metropolitan areas, bitter infighting, etc.) and that the office in Sacramento doesn’t directly address any of them. However, from what I’m seeing and from what I’m hearing – bear in mind I’m in Reno, so it’s not like I’m getting report ‘cross country’ here – the office is definitely doing more good in Sacramento than it ever could in suburban Los Angeles.”
I was at the old office in Panorama City a few times back in the early 2000’s. It was in a little non-descript office building. Panorama City is in San Fernando Valley, and it is a low rent area by Los Angeles standards.
I don’t think that where the office is located has much of anything to do with how successful the party is.
That’s possible, but I have the sneaking suspicion that would have happened anyway. There’s a fair amount of historical antagonism between southern and northern CA (I grew up in Torrance before I moved to Nevada, while a lot of my family still lives in central and northern CA), so that probably feeds into it. Frankly, California is too big for its own good.
It also doesn’t help that there are at least three factions that I’m aware of trying to steer California in various directions and none of them get along particularly well.
I’ve vented here in the past about the last convention and I stand by the majority of what I said earlier – Visalia is a… counter-intuitive destination for a convention, to put it diplomatically. Now, having been confronted about it by various people, I understand the placement was a little more nuanced than I initially gave it credit for – Bakersfield supposedly flaked out (I think you dodged a bullet on that one), the Tulane County LP has been pretty active lately, there are Libertarians on the City Council out there or something along those lines, plus California is not near as rich in affordable convention venues with affordable hotel rooms (less than $100/night) as we are in Nevada. As it’s been explained to me on countless occasions, Visalia was the “least bad” option.
Even so, personally, I would’ve gone with Santa Maria if I was going to pick a spot in the middle of California. At least it’s near the beach and it’s not that much more expensive to play there than the San Joaquin Valley. I guarantee you the Central Valley folks would’ve made the trek and would’ve been happy to do so. At the very least, you would’ve broken the “50 Delegate Barrier”.
Congratulations to Jonathon for reaching Southern Vice-Chair, and congratulations to you as well for becoming the Chair for your region! That’s a fantastic accomplishment.
Southern California has a lot more than 48% of California’s population. A lot more. I understand the Visalia convention skewed the numbers a bit – a lot of SoCal people that thought they were shoe-ins found themselves on the outside looking in since their supporters didn’t bother to show up – but still, when you have somewhere between, what, 55-60% of California’s population? or so?, you should always be in the majority.
Which is more like it (except for the web site part)!
If it helps you feel any better, getting and keeping qualified web maintaining volunteers is a major chore for every LP chapter I’ve dealt with or looked up. Seriously, check out some other state LP sites some time – you’re actually doing better than most. We’re in better shape than any of them here in Nevada because, well, our State Chair ran a web hosting business so it’s kind of our core competency at this point. However, when you’re asking volunteers to do something for free that most people pay hundreds – if not tens of thousands – of dollars for, it’s only a matter of time before “things that pay the bills” start to outweigh things that don’t.
Back to the core point, the LPCA has a lot of issues, but I really doubt moving the HQ or even closing it is going to fix any of them. Besides, Janine is doing good work out in LP-Sac, but you can’t count on a county affiliate to do the grunt work for the entire state and babysit a full-time legislature. That’s what state HQ staff is for.
I’m in Southern California, so I’m not hanging out with the Northern CA people. I don’t think the move to Sacramento has done much good at all; Andy is right that the party’s decline in CA shouldn’t be ignored.
The San Bernardino group remains very effective, but some of us in Los Angeles County are doing very well despite our Chairperson’s “leave of absence”. Jonathon Jaech is running for Attorney General. He is the chairman of the central LA/Hollywood region, and was just voted in as Southern Vice Chairman. Ted Brown and I recruited Jonathan to run for office at an event put on by the San Bernardino group. The region I’m chairperson of, Pasadena/Glendale sent 6 people to the convention, which ended up being more than 10 % of the people who went (even though my husband and I didn’t go at the last minute). Of the 21 people currently holding office in the state, 10 are in Southern CA. Of the current ballot-qualified people running for office in our state, I can’t tell you how many are from SO CA for sure because no one has bothered to update the website, but I’m fairly certain the majority are from Southern CA.
The only thing moving the office to Sacramento has accomplished, in my opinion, has been to further divide the already troubled state party.
The LPCA has issues – serious ones. Competing factions. Pretty much anything noteworthy that happens in San Bernardino County. Conventions with low attendance in awkward locations. However, one thing it does have – and I’ve talked to people in Sacramento and elsewhere about this – is an increasingly solid understanding of how California’s legislature works. There’s even a former LPCA member that’s now working as a staffer for one of the State Assemblypeople; as I understand it, this particular individual still keeps in touch from time to time.
I’ll admit that it’s definitely a long term project. I’ll also admit that the LPCA has some other, much more pressing issues that need to be dealt with ASAP (flagging membership, sporadically effective chapters in major metropolitan areas, bitter infighting, etc.) and that the office in Sacramento doesn’t directly address any of them. However, from what I’m seeing and from what I’m hearing – bear in mind I’m in Reno, so it’s not like I’m getting report “cross country” here – the office is definitely doing more good in Sacramento than it ever could in suburban Los Angeles.
Besides, with the way LA is gentrifying these days, the real estate in Sacramento is probably cheaper.
“I’ve yet to see one piece of evidence that the LP of CA moving their office from Los Angeles (it was in Panorama City, which is in San Fernando Valley, but was within the Los Angeles city limits, as most of San Fernando Valley is city of Los Angeles), if anything”
Should read, “I’ve yet to see one piece of evidence that the LP of CA moving their office from Los Angeles (it was in Panorama City, which is in San Fernando Valley, but was within the Los Angeles city limits, as most of San Fernando Valley is city of Los Angeles) to Sacramento has been of any benefit. If anything…”
” even most people in the Watergate building where the office is do not know that the LP office it there.”
Should read, ” even most people in the Watergate building where the office is do not know that the LP office is there.”
“I think the Democratic Party is not going to run anyone.”
They did nominate a candidate, but he will be listed on the ballot as an independent.
“David Colborne May 5, 2014 at 12:53 am
Regarding the LPHQ in DC, after having some time to reflect on it while also reflecting on LPCA’s HQ in Sacramento,”
I’ve yet to see one piece of evidence that the LP of CA moving their office from Los Angeles (it was in Panorama City, which is in San Fernando Valley, but was within the Los Angeles city limits, as most of San Fernando Valley is city of Los Angeles), if anything, the opposite has taken place, in that the LP of CA has continued to go even further down drain after moving its office to Sacramento.
“I think there’s definitely value to be had in having our national HQ in DC if the office is run right. For better or worse, if we ever win elections, our candidates are going to be expected to be competent while on the job. Competency at the national level means knowing who to talk to, who not to talk to, how power is managed in the Capitol and beyond, how business is conducted in the Capitol (and the rest of the Capital) and so on. If the national LP focuses on getting that sort of intelligence and grooming future staffers”
Hardly anyone outside of Libertarian Party members and people who really follow minor political parties (a very tiny segment of the population) even knows that the Libertarian Party has an office in Washington DC.
I’ve been to and by the LP National office in Washington DC several times. Trust me when I say most people have no idea that it is there, even most people in the Watergate building where the office is do not know that the LP office it there.
The LP does not have any staffers lobbying Congress or anything like that. Let’s just be honest and admit that having the office in Washington DC is a case of STYLE (OR IMAGE) OVER SUBSTANCE.
Regarding the LPHQ in DC, after having some time to reflect on it while also reflecting on LPCA’s HQ in Sacramento, I think there’s definitely value to be had in having our national HQ in DC if the office is run right. For better or worse, if we ever win elections, our candidates are going to be expected to be competent while on the job. Competency at the national level means knowing who to talk to, who not to talk to, how power is managed in the Capitol and beyond, how business is conducted in the Capitol (and the rest of the Capital) and so on. If the national LP focuses on getting that sort of intelligence and grooming future staffers for future LP congresspeople and senators, it could do some real good, and that’s not something that can be done from, say, Auburn, Alabama.
Whether the national LP is actually doing that sort of work is a different story.
As for Overby, good for him! It’s refreshing to see a Libertarian congressional candidate take the race seriously and, more importantly, actually have the energy and resources to put a serious challenge together. Here’s hoping he gets over the hump.
I am glad that Lucas Overby changed his mind. I think the Democratic Party is not going to run anyone. I will be voting for Lucas in November.
I don’t agree. Donor dollars are not a constant. History and logic show that donors, media and (via ripple effects) additional donors stop taking us seriously as a national political party when we leave the DC area. But this is an old argument, and somewhat of an irrelevant tangent on this thread. Whether Overby deserves donor dollars has little to do with whether LPHQ deserves donor dollars, and is a largely independent variable.
And buying an office in the DC area rather than someplace with more plausible prices is going to throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Actually Neale says that being tossed out of the ‘gate early is going to save us an extra 30k.
Much better! Keep it up! And money sent to candidates is much better than money sent to the ‘being tossed out of t he Watergate early’.