Eric Sundwall is the New York Libertarian Party’s chairman and a former Libertarian National Committee member. But now, he is weighing a run for Congess, too. Kirsten Gillibrand was just appointed to the open U.S. Senate seat in New York (to replace Hillary Clinton), so her old congressional district must hold a special election. Sundwall has set up a website for the occasion, although he is not yet an announced candidate.
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From the campaign site:
Comments (6)
Bonnie:
I say, go for it! I agree that the independent body special election petition requirements (same as for a regular election, but nowhere near the time) are ripe for a legal challenge. Where did ‘3 weeks’ come from? I saw 12 days in the election law.
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/law/2008NYElectionLaw.pdf
Posted by Bonnie | January 26, 2009 9:06 AM
Posted on January 26, 2009 09:06
Jim Ostrowski:
Eric, I was just about to contact you about this when Bonnie noted your candidacy on an e-list.
See my post.
http://politicalclassdismissed.com/?p=3746
Posted by Jim Ostrowski | January 26, 2009 11:01 AM
Posted on January 26, 2009 11:01
George Whitfield:
If you decide to run as the Libertarian Party candidate, I will contribute to your campaign.
Posted by George Whitfield | January 26, 2009 5:18 PM
Posted on January 26, 2009 17:18
Stewart Flood:
This is an important race, and having a candidate is important to the cause.
You’ll have a lot of hard work ahead of you if you decide to run. You need to know if Libertarians will help, so let’s see some contribution committments here. Real pledges only folks. Let’s show our support!!!
I’ll start it off: if you decide to run, I’m in for $250.
Stewart
Posted by Stewart Flood | January 26, 2009 6:41 PM
Posted on January 26, 2009 18:41
Andrew:
Hello all,
I’m a political scinece student so needless to say I have an interest in politics… in the 08 congressional election I didn’t like either candidate so I did some research on Mr. Sundwall and actually wrote him in on my absentee ballot. I don’t have much (remember, I’m a student), but if Mr. Sundwall gives a full commitment to running I’ll throw in $10, for whatever it’s worth.
Posted by Andrew | January 26, 2009 7:47 PM
Posted on January 26, 2009 19:47
Jake Witmer:
I wanted a map of your district when I came here, so I’m linking to one here:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/New_York_District_20_109th_US_Congress.png
I am also happy to come to NY and do the petitioning necessary to get you on the ballot if it’s made financially possible for me to do so. I am also willing to stay there and walk districts for you if you arewilling to buy the voter rolls and run a high-level campaign.
I have seen too many weak Libertarian campaigns. If you are serious about success, you also need to contact Greg Dirasian, who was instrumental in electing several Libertarians in the suburbs of Michigan around 2002, and now lives in NY.
Posted by Jake Witmer | January 27, 2009 3:55 AM
From email: I wrote, Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 11:59 PM
To: Eric Sundwall, Andy Jacobs, Jake Witmer
http://www.sundwall4congress.org/2009/01/putting_on_the_armor.html#more
District is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York's_20th_congressional_district
Date of special election not yet known as of telephone conversation with Eric this morning.
“For this special election, over 3500 signatures (valid) would need to be collected in possibly as little as 12 days or as much as three weeks.”
The time of year we would have to do this is not yet known.
Jake Witmer (included on this message) told me he has petitioned successfully in subzero weather before, and would consider doing so again if the campaign can provide money for a decent motel. I don’t remember if I discussed the possibility of staying with LPNY activists or campaign supporters with Jake.
I know that Andy has petitioned in some very cold weather before as well, but he has a job in [ a warm weather state] right now.
However, this petition drive could also be as late as June. If it is in May or June, weather will not be a problem – but we may have ongoing commitments to other campaigns by then, so we would have to see whether we would be able to break away, and whether doing so would not cost us a prohibitive amount of money.
As per my conversation with Eric this morning, it is hard to set a price per signature without knowing what time of year the petition drive will take place, what else we have going on at the same time, how long we will have to petition, etc.
Obviously, the price will also depend on what the campaign can realistically raise.
[….]
If there is not much else going on, I have a job in the meantime which allows me to build up some cash reserves, my expenses are covered, and the weather is nice, I might seriously consider working as a semi-volunteer IE making a large in-kind contribution to the campaign. However, I can not at this time guarantee that I will be in a position to do so.
http://www.sundwall4congress.org/2009/01/putting_on_the_armor.html#comments
Not the case here.
See
http://www.sundwall4congress.org/
Paulie @5 – In some state’s – like Georgia – there are no petitioning requirements for special elections. The LPGa was able to get an LP candidate – though not much of a libertarian from what I saw – on the ballot in the special election in 2007 to replace Charlie Norwood without petitioning.
Emailed to [email protected]:
The D’s might nominate New York’s lone elected Independence Party assemblyman to hold the House seat vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand.
http://washingtonindependent.com/27309/democrats-might-tap-independent-candidate-for-gillibrand-seat
—
David Weigel
In case someone else wants to take first crack at writing it up…
Eric will fail.
That sounds good too. Kind of inspirational, actually.
VirtualGalt,
I don’t think this is being discussed in terms of a ‘run to win’ campaign, but a fly the flag, spread the message, build the party type of campaign.
Sundwall is better at those than your typical LPer.
Anyone know whether there has been any word yet on when the petitioning has to take place? (I talked with Eric on the phone yesterday and he did not know yet).
Can he raise a million dollars in short order? Or is this for name recognition for a future state assembly/senate run?
Go, Eric, go!
Eric is an ethical and effective libertarian. It would be good to see him win election. And surprising.
Go for it Eric. Steal those Republican votes so the Democrats can keep this noble congressional seat. Amen.