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Volume 1, Issue 1
The petition drive to
restore the ballot access of
the LPM kicked off on
May 5, 2001. As of July
14, 2001, we had
11,818 signatures
checked and logged in at
headquarters. The num-
ber of valid signatures we
are required to collect
within 180 days is
30,272. We plan to col-
lect 50,000 as “cushion”
against the inevitable in-
valid signatures collected
in every petition drive.
We split the petition
drive into three “phases”
in order to assess how we
are doing along the way.
This is to avoid coming to
the end of our 180-day
limit and realizing we are
short the necessary num-
ber of signatures. We
need to collect 17,000 sig-
natures in each phase to
stay on track. Unfortu-
nately,
coming back to win this year should serve as an inspira-tion to former Libertarian candidates everywhere." "This is a huge Libertarian victory because the GrandRapids school district has over 180,000 residents, mak-ing Steinport a very high-ranking elected official," saidChris Azarro, head of the PAC. "[Also], Steinport, just21 years old, is now one of the youngest elected Libertar-ians in the country. Future young LP candidates need tolook no further than Jeff Steinport to see that victories
can be won on the local level, regardless of age, ifyou run a good campaign with a quality candi-date." Steinport was also one of the first candidatessupported by the Liberty Leadership Council,the new Michigan PAC founded by LPM vicechair Ghazey Aleck and Tri-Cities chair StephenTownsend specifically to support and advisecandidates for public office. FollowingSteinport's election the LLC issued a statementsaying of the young elected official "He is notjust a rising star in Michigan politics, Jeff is ashooting star!" Steinport also had substantial local support
outside of LP circles. He was endorsed by the city'smajor daily newspaper the Grand Rapids Press. He was also endorsed by an organi-
GRAND RAPIDS. Jeff Steinport, who rose to be-come chair of the West Michigan affiliate of the LPMwhen barely old enough to legally celebrate his positionwith a beer, has now won election to the Grand RapidsBoard of Education. Garnering 14% of the vote in the June 11 election,Steinport finished third of eight candidates vying forthree seats, just 62 votes ahead of the first runner-up, inhis second bid for the office he missed byonly a few hundred votes in 1999. "The enormity is starting to sink in," hesaid of the responsibilities associated withbeing on the school board for Michigan's sec-ond largest city. Intelligent, knowledgeable, eloquent andcharismatic, Steinport is a natural candidatewho quickly drew support from his Libertar-ian Party compatriots. He was provided free training and con-sulting services by the Nevada-based Liber-tarian Victory PAC. His race was recom-mended for support by that group's nationalpublication Libertarian Victory News which noted after-wards, "The kind of tenacity that Jeff has displayed by
The Libertarian Party of Michigan has organized anew committee chaired by veteran activist Bill Shotey tolobby for (or against) state level legislation of particularconcern to the party and its members. The effort was begun early this year when then statechair Stacy Van Oast and I, as executive director, metwith Inside Michigan Politics publisher and widely re-garded Lansing pundit Bill Ballenger.
We had a single purpose in mind -- making con-tacts in the legislature in order to get a bill introduced toamend Michigan election law. The 2000 general election saw the party once againlose ballot status, despite the fact that we fielded 115candidates who garnered a total of over 1.5 million votes,
because of our state's unique "top-of-ticket" rule (underwhich our fate rested entirely on the success or failure ofour candidate highest up on the ballot). Faced withanother expensive and non-productive petition drive,we wanted the rule changed. Permanently. The standard is arguably unconstitutional, making asuccessful legal challenge a possibility. But lawsuits arecostly. And even if we won, the courts would at bestmerely strike down the existing law, ultimately sendingthe matter of creating a new standard to the legislature inany event. Such a circ*mstance could easily spiral out ofcontrol. We certainly didn't want to end up trading the1% "top-of-ticket" standard for one that could be metby any candidate but raised the thresh-
Michigan Libertarian Volume 30, Issue 4 July/August 2001
Libertarian Party ofMichigan619 E. 9 Mile RdHazel Park, MI 48030Tel: (248) 591-FREEFax: (248) 591-0190
Steinport Wins!
by Jason Miller
Ms. Liberty Goes to Lansing
by Tim O'Brien
Petition's
Progress
(cont'd on pg. 4)
(cont'd on pg. 6)
by Nancy O'Brien
(cont'd on pg. 11)
Greetings, fellow Libertarians. I am very pleased and proud of the progress that the LPM has
made in just a couple of months since the state convention in Frankenmuth. You have undoubtedly noticed the new look of the newsletter. It
was decided by the executive committee at our last meeting that the jobhad become just too big for one person to do and a committee wasappointed to handle it. On behalf of the entire party I would like toexpress our sincere gratitude to Keith Edwards for his years of service inwriting, editing, designing, publishing and distributing the newsletter --almost single-handedly.
Thanks to your efforts, the ballot access restoration drive is in fullswing. The Fourth of July weekend was a great opportunity for collectingsignatures, and many of you took full advantage. For example, at lastcount, Al Titran had collected almost 700 hundred signatures, on hisown! Many other dedicated Libertarians have impressive totals as well. Iam quite confident that all of us will chip in, and we will succeed in thiscrucial task.
Summer is the best time to collect signatures, so get out there and gofor it! On the other hand, please don't think that the LPM is letting alittle thing like oppressive ballot access laws stand in the way of our battlefor freedom. I am very pleased to report that the LPM has begun a seriouslobbying effort in Lansing (See the story Ms, Liberty Goes to Lansing onpage 1). Last month, both our Executive Director, Tim O'Brien, and Itestified before legislative committees in Lansing against a new effort toenforce the Use Tax on purchases made outside of Michigan. The newbill, which would create a multi-state entity to force out-of-state busi-nesses to begin collecting the tax, is now stalled, and may never reach thefloor of the legislature. This despite the fact that our governor has put allof his political muscle behind the bill. We will be monitoring this legisla-tion, as well as several others in Lansing, and you can expect to hear moreabout Libertarians testifying in future committee hearings.
In June, the LPM Executive Committee (technically, "The Com-mittee," as several informed Libertarians pointed out), met for over sixhours at the LPM Headquarters in Hazel Park. Dozens of Libertarianswere in attendance as well, and there was spirited debate on a wide rangeof important issues. The next Committee meeting will be on August 5that 1:00, and I am hoping for an equally large turnout. Additionally, if youhave an issue you would like to see addressed by the Committee, pleasecontact me, or any Committee member. We are in the Leadership Direc-tory.
Before I sign off for now, some additional thank-yous are in order.First, I would like to thank those of you who were able to attend the stateconvention, and who chose me as your state chair. I hope to earn yourapproval throughout the year. Secondly, thank you for your kind thoughtsand various offers of assistance during my wife's battle with breast cancer.I am very happy to report that her treatment appears to be working, andshe is doing well.
That's it for now. I look forward to reporting on more Libertariansuccesses in upcoming newsletters.
������������������������������������ Chair, LPM
From the Chair
�
LPM Officers
and Directors
ChairVice ChairSecretaryTreasurerAt-Large DirectorAt-Large DirectorAt-Large DirectorAt-Large DirectorAt-Large Director
Executive DirectorDatabasePledge ProgramCampaign ManagersCampaign FundAssistant Treasurer
Michael CorlissGhazey AleckKeith EdwardsTrafton JeanDiane BarnesGreg DirasianKeith EdwardsNancy O'BrienLeonard Schwartz
Tim O'BrienBen BachrachDan LaFaversBarbara GoushawDianne SzablaMarnie Edwards
[emailprotected]@[emailprotected]@[emailprotected]
[emailprotected]@lpmich.org
[emailprotected]@lpmich.org
[emailprotected]@aol.com
[emailprotected]@aol.com
[emailprotected]@aol.com
Newsletter
InformationThe Michigan Libertarian is published bimonthly as the officialnewsletter of the Libertarian Party of Michigan, 619 E. Nine Mile Rd.,Hazel Park, MI 48030. Phone: (248) 591-FREE
Submissions: Please email articles to [emailprotected] electronic format will be accepted. Acceptable formats are plaintext, Word97, WordPerfect 6.X/5.X, RTF, HTML, Pagemaker 6.5.Any other formats, please ask first.
Deadline: The next deadline for submission of articles and advertisingis September 1, 2001.
Advertising: Please email advertising to [emailprotected] electronic format will be accepted. Because of the nature ofvarious programs, please send ads in .p65 format. Above formats arealso acceptable, but layout or resolution may be lost in the publicationprocess. Please mail payment to:
Libertarian Party of MichiganNewsletter Advertising619 E. Nine Mile Rd.Hazel Park, MI 48030
Advertising Rates: Full Pg $200, Half Pg $100, Quarter Pg $50.25% discount for LPM Candidates, 50% discount for LPM Affiliates.
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Re-Elect Libertarian
Fred Collins
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Fred Collins, Councilman
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zation called the Coalition for Community In-volvement which advocates increased parentalinvolvement in education and decreased rolesfor administrators, as well as by several commu-nity groups and PTAs. Steinport ran a very active campaign, appear-ing at public forums throughout the district,displaying his articulate style and solid grasp ofthe issues. "I built a lot of bridges in my campaign andit paid off," he said. All the advice and supportfrom his fellow Libertarians was the other im-portant factor in his victory. "This year," henoted with a sigh, "I worked smarterrather than harder." Did the young Libertarian find any truth inthe frequently heard observation that LP affilia-tion is a liability? "Most [voters] had heard I was a Libertarianand asked me about it," he said. "I told them Iwas, and that it completely gibed with my plansfor the district." The Libertarian school board member saidhe will work for decentralization, fiscal responsi-bility, and contracting out government schoolservices to private companies. Although confident he will be able to forge acoalition with other board members, Steinportsaid the job will be a challenge. "With some local schools closing down latelybecause of budget crunches, I have my workcut out for me," he said. "But I'm looking for-ward to it. I'm excited to work for the parents ofGrand Rapids," said Steinport.
Steinport Wins!(cont'd from Pg. 1) Lessons Learned
by Jeff SteinportI've been telling everyone who asks me
"How did you do it?" one thing above all. KnowYour Stuff. I have been attending Grand Rap-ids Public Schools Board meetings, work ses-sions, public forums, and committee meetingsfor two years. I've been researching as much as Icould, getting district profile information, visit-ing schools, getting input from parents and staff,and reading everything I could on the district,Know Your Stuff. Voters won't vote for you ifthey don't believe that you understand the is-sues. I had one gigantic thing working againstme; my age. Everyone knows I am 22, but Imade up for it with knowledge and sincerity.
Second, I would say that direct mail is thenext most important campaign tactic. Not ev-eryone gets to hear you speak or discuss the is-sues, so you have to reach the average voter andget your name in front of them. Last year I hada relatively boring flyer with a couple of picturesof myself. The text and graphics were blue orblack. This year I made a flyer that had onepicture of myself on the front and all text was inblue or red. On the inside my name was huge.In small races, especially school board, the race isoften solely about name recognition. Get yourname in front of the person, with some personalinformation, as well as a few main points high-lighting your views. I had a web site and myphone number on the brochure, so if voters weretruly interested, they would have a way to findout more. This flyer was sent to about 10,000people who either were voting this year as ab-sentee voters, or had voted last year in the schoolboard election.
Get your voter list from the local clerk (beit city or county). In my city you can ask for thelist of voters for a particular election, so it is easyto find out who actually votes in that election.This is particularly important for a low turnoutelection, like mine (8%). My city also offers toemail the names and addresses of all the voterswho had requested absentee ballots. The namescame in to me as the ballots were being mailedout. I sent out about 1,700 flyers to absenteevoters so that my flyer arrived the same day astheir ballot. In this election, absentee voters madeup about 28% of the total number of voters. Toignore them can be fatal.
As mentioned, I sent flyers to about 10,000people. This also included a number of peoplewho had voted in previous school board elec-tions. I ran out of flyers, and had 2,500 post
cards printed (again, with my name really big),those were sent out as well. In all, I reached about14,000 voters with my flyers and post cards.Anyone who voted in a school board election inthe last five years received something from me.
Third, it is important to talk to commu-nity groups. I spoke with PTAs, the Chamberof Commerce, the NAACP, and concerned par-ents. Again, this is where the "know your stuff"adage comes in. Very important. I would printup a balance sheet for the school I was speakingwith to point out where budgetary savings couldbe realized if central administration were cut out.Everyone was very receptive and no other can-didate was even close to my knowledge level.
Fourth, I had 500 yard signs printed upfor last year's race and was able to place onlyabout 100 around the city. It is extremely diffi-cult to get yard signs placed when no one knowsyou. I had a friend place around 100 of themhimself this year. The trick was to take his youngson with him, so no one could say no. The signswere placed in the yards of the homes surround-ing each precinct's voting spot, regardless of ifthat person was a voter or not. My signs sur-rounded each voting location so each voter hadto see my sign on the way in. An additional 100signs were placed around the city by other sup-porters.
Finally, I would like to go through a fewthings that didn't work. I ran for school boardlast year and spent a lot of money on radio ads.Radio ads are bad for such a local race. They arevery UNtargeted. Your money is much betterspent on direct mail. Also, and this is just for me,but precinct-walking was very unproductive. Ilooked at the precincts that I and other volun-teers walked through last year and the vote to-tals for me were only marginally higher than theother precincts. Although I'm not a statistician,I would say that the effect of precinct-walkingwas statistically insignificant. One candidate thatwalked about every precinct this year came indead last in votes - among 8 candidates.
Of course, your experience as a candidatewill be uniwue to you and your race. The singlemost important lesson I learned in my campaignfor the Grand Rapids school board was bestsummed up by President Calvin Coolidge, whoonce said: "Nothing in the world can take theplace of persistence. Talent will not. Genius willnot. Education will not. Persistence and deter-mination alone are omnipotent."
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The Libertarian Party of Washtenaw
County announces its sixth annual Sam Adams
Dinner. The event will be held on Saturday,
September 29, 2001 starting at 6 p.m. at theCreekside Grill, 5827 Jackson Rd, Ann Arbor.
Guest speaker will be Terence Pell, chief
executive officer of the Center for Individual
Rights. CIR is the Washington, D.C.-based
public interest law firm that is representing in-
dividuals in their legal challenge of the admis-sions policy at the University of Michigan. The
title of his speech is “Affirmative Inaction at the
University of Michigan.”
In what Time Magazine describes as "the
Alamo of Affirmative Action," the Center for
Individual Rights has brought two lawsuitsagainst the university: Gratz v. Bollinger filed
Washtenaw Libertarians Announce
6th Annual Sam Adams Dinnerby Lawrence Purdy on October 13, 1997 against the undergradu-
ate College of Literature, Science and the Arts;
Grutter v. Bollinger, against the Law School, filed
on December 13, 1997. Each case alleges thatthe defendants discriminate on the basis of race
in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of
the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
The university community is vigorously
resisting the challenges to its admissions poli-cies. Lee Bollinger, president of the university,
has publicly proclaimed his commitment to de-
fending affirmative action at Michigan. The
university hired one of the country's most pres-
tigious law firms to represent it and even com-
missioned research to scientifically prove thebenefits of affirmative action. Total tab so far:
$4.5 million.
In December 2000, Judge Patrick Duggan,
gave the university a victory by upholding its
current undergraduate admissions policy, a
point-style admissions system that awards 20points for minority status, but, by contrast, only
12 points for a perfect SAT score or 3 points for
an exceptional essay. However, in late March of
this year, the CIR was victorious when Judge
Bernard Friedman ruled that the admissions
system at the Law School was illegal because itfavored black and Hispanic applicants. Both
cases have appeals pending. One or both could
end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. For more
information, visit the CIR’s web site at:
www.cir-usa.org
The Sam Adams event is open to the pub-lic. (See advertisem*nt on page 8 for details).
All proceeds from the dinner will be used to
before we went into session on cable TV. The
last thing I wanted was for the two Councilmembers I knew would support this resolution
to have a chance to posture about it for the cam-
eras.
Ultimately, the good guys won. We got a
majority vote to have it REMOVED from our
agenda – so it was never even debated The votewas 6 to 0 (one member absent)
Unfortunately, it will probably be back. I
don’t think they will give up that easily, and I
know that I may have handed potential oppo-
nents an issue on a silver platter. But if I had not
fought this, what would be the point in beingan elected Libertarian?
I am glad that I had previously created the
opportunity to discuss this issue in an informal
setting, so that when it was presented, my fel-
low council members already had the facts.
That’s part of what the consensus building pro-cess it about. It’s what I have tried to do over
these four years on council; promote the free-
dom agenda as a common sense approach to
governing.
This issue will undoubtedly be brought
before YOUR City Council too. Without anelected Libertarian there to stop it, it will prob-
ably pass. Be on the look out, and get to your
council members now. Go to the meetings and
speak out! Citizen involvement with the coun-
Know Your Councilby Councilman Fred Collins
Berkley MI.It started out like
any other Friday
before a councilmeeting. A large
yellow envelope
arrived at my door.
Sometimes it’s as
much as a couple
of inches thick,filled with the mo-
tions and memos,
newsletters and notices that the council will ad-
dress a few days hence. But, this packet held a
very special bombshell.
“Whereas…. The Berkley City Councilresolves it’s opposition to any legalization ofMarijuana for any purpose.”
The “whereas” statements were filled with
inaccuracies and the anti-marijuana hype that
the opposition loves to quote. This resolution
has been making the rounds of City Councilsacross the state. I believe it’s a political ploy to
have the names of every council listed as oppos-
ing PRA, if they are successful in getting on the
ballot this year.
“I don’t THINK so!” I bellowed, startling
the people in my immediate vicinity.
But what to do? I knew that there were 3other council members who agreed (after a few
late-night-informal-over-a-beer conversations)
that the war on drugs was a travesty. And that
they would, (at least in those conversations)
support medical marijuana. But all of us are up
for re-election. Would they give me their voteson this important resolution, knowing that it
could come back to haunt them in November?
Most City Councils are just passing it without
opposition, covering their political behinds. In
fact, the only Council I know where it was even
debated was Troy. And Troy passed it 6 to 1,with only my fellow LP councilman, Martin
Howrylak opposing it.
The first thing to do was call my strongest
ally on the council. To my surprise, she was as
upset about it as I was. She agreed with me that
it was wrong for this to even BE on our agenda,much less to be on our “Consent Agenda” which
implies automatically that we are in agreement.
(Glad I spent all that time and money on beer)
I left messages for the two other council mem-
bers and continued the process of preparing for
the upcoming meeting. But I knew that I hadto speak with my allies before the meeting. I
had to make sure that I had the votes lined up
Ms. Liberty Goes to Lansing
chair Jennifer Faunce (R-29) to ask if they wouldbe willing to take testimony on the subject fromthe executive director of the Libertarian Party ofMichigan. Rep. Faunce said she would bepleased to add us to the witness list. The house committee appearance had barelybeen confirmed when there was a developmentconcerning another issue the LPM had beenbattling for more than a year. Gov. Engler'seffort to facilitate taxing e-commerce was beingadvanced in the form of a Senate Bill 433 --scheduled to come before the Senate Financecommittee for a hearing... at 1 p.m. on May 1! Shotey contacted that committee chair,Joanne Emmons (R-23), and got us addedto this witness list, as well. The May Day trip to the capital was a spec-tacular success. I followed Macomb County prosecutor CarlMarlinga at the house committee hearing, ex-pressing strong agreement with his testimony infavor of the confession-taping requirement. I suggested that the power of the state overcriminal defendants had become so overwhelm-ing that any representative who had any doubtcould easily see a demonstration by asking mostanyone: "How many of the amendments in theBill of Rights protect the rights of criminals?"The correct answer, I observed, is: "One." The8th amendment prohibits excessive fines andcruel and unusual punishments. All of the otherprotections are for the rights of the accused. "Thefact that the distinction escapes so many people,"I concluded, "is proof enough of the need forthis additional protection."
old to, say, 10%. So it wasdecided to try negotiation instead of confronta-tion, skipping the courts and going directly tothe legislature -- to not only do away with thecurrent standard but, just as important, replaceit with one we wanted. With former LP member Greg Kaza now gonefrom the legislature (where he had served threeterms as a Republican state rep) and no othersympathetic legislators, the best we could do isto simply knock on the front door of the houseand/or senate committee that considers changesto election law. Then, as if in fulfillment of the old businessproverb "The harder I work the luckier I get,"Leon Drolet, a long-time libertarian activist inthe Republican party (who had always had acomfortable alliance with the LP on most issues)won a special election to represent Macombcounty's 33rd district in the state house. Rep. Drolet and his whole staff attended theLPM convention in May. He was among thefirst to sign our petition to restore our ballotstatus. He unhesitatingly offered to introducethe kind of election law reform we wanted thatwould not change the current 1% threshold forretaining ballot status but simply permit it to bemet by any of a party's candidates, rather thanonly its top-of-ticket candidate. (Jack McHugh, former aide to Rep. Kaza andcurrent aide to libertarian-leaning state rep Rob-ert Gosselin (R-42), also attended our state partyconvention. McHugh and his boss will be re-joining our story a bit later.) A preliminary meeting with Rep. Drolet andhis staff was scheduled for May 1 in Lansing.The LPM contingent would include campaignguru Barb Goushaw, Berkley city councilmanFred Collins, Shotey and me. The date had no sooner been set when a smallitem appeared in the papers noting that a houseCriminal Justice committee hearing on a pro-posal to require police to videotape confessionshad been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on May 1.The impetus for the proposal was a Macombcounty incident in which two teens were heldin jail for six months after being browbeaten bypolice into falsely confessing to a murder subse-quently shown to have been committed by oth-ers. Seeing the possibility of getting a "two-fer"out of the trip, Shotey contacted committee
We then met up with fellow LibertariansGoushaw and Collins in Drolet's office for aworking lunch with the representative and hisaide Ken Braun. The six of us defined inbroad terms the kind ballot access reform wewanted. We even offered to provide actual draftlegislation for Drolet to review and submit.However, he preferred to follow standard pro-cedure and put in a request through channelsfor draft legislation -- commonly called a"blueback" -- which he would then forward tous for review and amendment before introduc-ing it (See "The Blueback is Back" article on pg.7). Unfortunately, we had to skip the lunch partof the working lunch in order to make it to thesenate hearing in time. SB-433 would authorize Michigan represen-tation at a National Council of State Legisla-tures conference to unify state sales and use taxes.The plan, being aggressively promoted by Gov.John "31 Tax Cuts" Engler (who is set to as-sume leadership of the National Governors As-sociation in August), is to permit reciprocal col-lection and remittance of taxes on Internet pur-chases among the states -- something that, un-der current law, is inconveniently prohibited bythe U.S. Constitution. It was apparent from the beginning of this"hearing" that it was a mere formality. The Re-publican members were obviously in thrall tothe Engler administration. And the Democrats,of course, never saw an opportunity to get theirhands on more revenue that they didn't instantlylove. Still, the committee dutifully sat through acouple of hours of testi-
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(cont'd on next pg.)
�
mony. The Chamber ofCommerce would support SB-433 as long asthey could be guaranteed that nothing wouldinterfere with the phase out of the Single Busi-ness Tax. Officials from the teacher's union werepractically hyperventilating, dollar signs spin-ning in their eyes faster than lemons and cher-ries in a slot machine window. I made a valiant, but doomed, defense ofboth consumers (pointedly noting that, con-trary to MEA assertions, no money was being"lost" but was merely staying in the pockets ofthe people who earned it) and the free marketsystem (proposing that Michigan become amodel for the nation by instead declaringCyberspace a free trade zone). Indeed, Sen. Emmons and I had some rathersharp exchanges -- notably over the Engleradministration's commitment to tax reduction. But, inevitably, the committee voted unani-mously in favor of SB-433. And it was on thefloor and out the senate door faster than youcan say: "How many tax cuts was that gover-nor?" But the bill still had to get through the house.To do that it had to get past the house Tax Policycommittee. And guess who just happen to betwo of the nine Republicans on Tax Policy? Leon Drolet and Robert Gosselin. NEXT ISSUE: "The Battle to Derail theGovernor's E-Tax -- We're havin' some fun, now!"
Following a meeting with LPM officials,State Representative Leon Drolet (R-33) re-quested a proposal for new legislation — infor-mally called a “blueback” because the originalcan be identified by its blue paper backing —from the Legislative Services Bureau
The specific request was for language tomodify MCL 168.685 of Michigan election lawthat bases a political party’s ballot retention en-tirely on the election results of its “principal can-didate,” defined as the candidate whose nameappears highest up on the ballot.
This standard, informally known as the“top-of-ticket” rule, is unique to Michigan andmakes so-called “third parties” especially vulner-able to the Wasted Vote Syndrome. The LPM’s2000 slate is a perfect example this phenom-enon. The party ran well over 100 candidates— more than twice as many as all the otherminor parties added together — collectively gar-nering a total of more than 1.5 million votes.Nevertheless, the relatively weak showing ofHarry Browne in the historically close presiden-tial race between Republican George Bush andDemocrat Al Gore resulted in the entire partytripping over this ballot access hurdle.
As if to underscore the bizarre consequencesof the top-of-ticket rule, the Reform Party re-tained ballot status despite losing to every LPcandidate in every race in which both partieshad a candidate. (Secretary of State CandiceMiller’s refusal to permit Pat Buchanan to ap-pear on the ballot as the Reform Party presiden-
tial candidate dropped that party’s top-of-ticketto its senatorial candidate — whose vote total,though lower than LP candidate Michael Corliss,was sufficient to retain their ballot status.)
Forced into yet another expensive petitiondrive, LPM officials are seeking to modify thelaw — not so much to change the threshold forballot retention as to merely allow any of a party’scandidates to meet the standard.
The proposal as returned from the Legisla-tive Services Bureau is simply to change the defi-nition of “principal candidate” from “the candi-date whose name appears nearest the top of theparty column” to “the candidate who receivesthe greatest number of votes of all candidates ofthat political party for that election.”
Representative Drolet expects to introducea bill to make this change shortly after the legis-lature reconvenes in September. After being as-signed a bill number, it will be referred to theHouse Redistricting and Elections committeefor hearings.
We will be looking for cosponsors for thebill. Any state rep can sign on as a cosponsorand we will be pleased to add as many as pos-sible. However, we are especially eager to haveas cosponsors Redistricting and Elections com-mittee members Bruce Patterson (R-21), An-drew Richner (R-1), Jason Allen (R-104),Michael Bishop (R-45), Nancy Cassis (R-38),Doug Hart (R-73), Nancy Quarles (D-36), RuthAnn Jamnick (D-54), LaMar Lemmons (D-2)as If you are in a position to help persuade anyof these committee members to become cospon-sors, please contact the LPM at 248-591-3733.
by Bill Shotey
The Blueback is Back
Lady Liberty wins another award. The VanBuren County Libertarian Party's lady libertystatue won second in the Jamestown TownshipMemorial Day Parade.
Lady Liberty was entered as a float by theMiller for School Board campaign. This awardis the latest in a serious of awards this float haswon. If you'd like to use lady liberty in an up-coming event, please contact Bill Bradley of theVan Buren County LP.
Lady Liberty
Wins Again!
by Jason Miller
(cont'd from prev pg.)
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The Sixth Annual
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On the 4th of July, Clare-Gladwin Lib-ertarian Party not only put a unit in the parade,but James Miller of Clinton Twp. (a dual CGLPand Macomb County member) and GhazeyAleck, CGLP Chair, petitioned for signaturesalong side the parade route at the same time.Dennis and PJ Gargin and family along withbrand new members Albert and Salwa Tadrosput a unit in the 4th of July Parade in Harrsion,Michigan in Clare County. Not only was theLibertarian parade entry well accepted along theroute but a lunch was served for parade partici-pants at the VFW and many citizens and elected
officials (from congress, state and local offices)made a point to inquiry of the Libertarian pointof view from these CGLP members.
Both James Miller and Ghazey Aleck wereable to get one signature per minute for about25 minutes just prior to the parade. James Milleralso made a point to tell Congressman DaveCamp, State Senator Bill Shuette and State Rep-resentative Sandy Caul to keep the Internet freeas they came down the parade route. Only con-gressman Dave Camp committed to keeping theInternet free. All in all, the parade was a majorsuccess in many ways at once as well as beingfun in the process.
Parading And Petitioning
Clare-Gladwin Style
by Ghazey Aleck
Celebrating Independence Day
LPOC Gets
Statue of
Liberty
by Keith Wesselmann
The Libertarian Party of Oakland Countycontinued its longstanding tradition of havinga float in the Clawson Independence Day Pa-rade. Clawson is sandwiched between Troy andBerkley, the two cities where we have Libertar-ian city councilmen, so we were, once again,well received.
This year, the LPOC purchased a Statue ofLiberty and built a float for the parade. FredMartin, accompanied by Greg Dirasian, flewdown to Peru, Indiana to pick up the statue.
When LPOC Chair, Chris Pellerito, wasasked if he was embarrassed about copying anidea from the LP affiliates in western Michigan,he responded, “No, of course not! It’s a greatidea, no matter who thinks of it, and when anidea is tried and proven, we should be quick toadopt what works!"
While waiting for the parade to start,Leonard Schwartz petitioned. Some people de-clined to sign the petition, including: formerGovernor James Blanchard, Sen. DebbieStabenow, Sen. Carl Levin, and Rep. SanderLevin. We suspect they fear the competition.
LPOC members walked along with the floathanding out a flyer specially prepared for thisevent. On one side, it told the story of whathappened to the signers of the Declaration ofIndependence. On the other side, it had someintroductory information, contact information,the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, and a mem-bership application. This flyer made a great com-panion piece to the Declaration of Independencethat we handed out 2 years ago. 3,000 flyerswhere distributed during the parade. Next year,we will get 5,000 printed.
After the parade, LPOC members had anOPH booth where we gave people the World’sSmallest Political Quiz and continued our peti-tioning efforts. Many thanks to AndyLeCureaux for organizing the booth.
The LPOC float is available to other affili-ates for a nominal rental fee.
�
Petition's Progress
we only collected approxi-
mately 6,000 signatures during Phase I.
We have contracted for 10,000 signatures
from paid petitioners to make up the shortfall
we experienced in Phase I of the petition drive.
The good news is that we are cautiously opti-
mistic that the 17,000 signatures necessary to
complete Phase II can be gathered entirely by
our volunteers. In fact if all of the affiliates come
through with the signatures they have prom-
ised, we will exceed our Phase II goal.
Want to know what your affiliate’s “fair
share” is?
At the beginning of the petition drive we
divided the number of signatures needed for
success by the number LPM members. We then
multiplied the quotient (27) by the number of
members in each affiliate. The table below is
the resulting signature goal for each affiliate and
how each is doing so far.
Congratulations Shiawassee and
Washtenaw! You guys really know what it means
to kick butt and take names!
It should be noted that the totals do not
reflect monetary contributions from members
of each affiliate, although these will ultimately
be counted toward their signature totals. Re-
member: if you don’t have the time or inclina-
tion to collect signatures, you may always make
a contribution instead, and we will contract for
your “fair share” from paid professionals. Every
dollar you donate to the BARC effort counts as
one signature toward both your individual and
affiliate goals. Send checks to: LPM-BARC, 619
East Nine Mile Road, Hazel Park, MI 48030.
Volunteers Needed forSpecial BARC Project
Do you hate to petition? Would you like,
nevertheless, to help the ballot drive by doing
something equally important? Are you at least
moderately proficient in word processing tech-
nology? Can you commit to work-
ing at HQ for a few hours between
now and November 1?
If you answered “Yes” to all of
these questions, BARC needs you
to help with a project that could save
us thousands of dollars and hun-
dreds of hours of petitioning dur-
ing Phase III of the campaign. We
have obtained the state’s voter regis-
tration list on CD ROM. If we can
verify a higher validity rate than we
have assumed for the signatures we
have, it will reduce the number of
signatures we need to gather as a
“cushion” against the inevitable bad
ones collected in every petition drive.
It will require you to work on a spe-
cial database at HQ, checking names
and addresses of signers to see if they
live where they say do and are really
registered to vote. If you are inter-
ested in helping with this project,
please email me at
[emailprotected], or call me
at (313) 562-5778.
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BARC
Announcements
(cont'd from pg. 1) � Please submit your petitions as soonas they are completed. We can’t check and logthem, nor give you credit for the signatures youhave collected until we have them in the HQ. Ifyou don’t trust the U.S. mail (a prudent con-cern), mail them certified to my address: NancyO’Brien, 17015 Cicotte, Allen Park, MI 48101.To mail a stack of 300 or so petitions certifiedmail will cost approximately $7.00. I will signfor them and let you know they have arrivedsafely.
� Remember: the submission deadlinefor Phase II is Saturday, August 18. All peti-tions — even those with only one signature —must be returned to HQ so we can assess whatwe still need to do in Phase III. This is crucialto the effort, so please don’t let us down on this.Keep petitioning, but send in what you havecollected up to that point!
Petitioning
� Many cities have free concerts in thepark. These are great places for petitioning. It iseasy to gather 40 signatures an hour while lis-tening to good music. - Leonard Schwartz
� Evening softball games are excellentplaces to petition. Softball games generally havesome slow spots and people look for distractions.- Ben Bachrach
� I left my petitioning clipboard at mymother's house after getting her to sign. Shecalled me up the next day and asked if she couldtake it to her senior citizen luncheon. She got60 signatures. - Greg Dirasian
� The best opening line that I havefound for getting people to sign the petition is,"Can you help me out with a signature?" Peopleusually ask what the petition is for. I tell them itis to get the Libertarian Party back on the ballotand we need to get 50,000 signatures. If theyask what the party believes in, I tell them webelieve in less government, but signing the peti-tion doesn't mean that you support us, just thatyou want the choice available in case you everdecide to. - Greg Dirasian
Affiliate Contest
Underway!
Seven LPM affiliates submitted goals forthe 2001 Affiliates Contest by the July 1 dead-line. Those affiliates and their goals are:
Libertarians of Allegan County (4 goals):1. To collect more than "their share" of sig-
natures for the ballot drive (at 31 signatures permember); meaning they will collect more than600 signatures.
2. To increase LP membership in AlleganCounty by 50%; bringing them to at least 30members.
3. To go out and meet each Allegan CountyLP member and donor, current or lapsed, faceto face, at their homes; that is a total of 34 peoplethey will have to visit.
4. To defeat the Kalamazoo Valley Com-munity College annexation by opposing thecounty-wide election if it comes up, or by con-vincing the Allegan County Commissioners thatopposition is so strong and organized againstthe plan, that it would be a waste of money tobring it to the voters.
The Clare-Gladwin Libertarian Party:To participate in five specific events: a St.
Patrick's Day Parade, 4th of July Parades in Clareand Harrison, manning a fair booth, and host-ing "Freedom Banquet 2001."
The Libertarian Party of Lapeer/GeneseeCounties:
To have no less than 25 people in Lapeer
by Ben Steele and Genesee Counties circulating petitions forthe ballot drive.
The Libertarian Party of Ottowa County(three goals):
1. To collect 1,000 signatures for the ballotdrive.
2. To double their average meeting atten-dance.
3. To do a "Tax Rebate" fundraising mail-ing.
The Libertarian Party of ShiawasseeCounty:
To collect 5,000 signatures for the ballotdrive.
The Libertarian Party of Wayne County:To host a successful 2001 Liberty Fest
Awards Banquet ("success" defined as gettingmore than 100 people to attend).
The Libertarian Party of West Michigan:To grow their membership by twice the
rate they did in 2000.Wow! I certainly hope that each of these
affiliates meets its goal, as we will all win if theydo! Each affiliate which does meet its goal byApril 15, 2002, will be entered into a drawingto win a $150 certificate for the Advocates forSelf-Government, which can be used for fur-ther outreach and improvement.
Watch this newsletter for updates on theprogress of each affiliate toward meeting its goal.Good luck, everyone!
Do you want to go to a Libertarian Partymeeting in your county only you have foundthat no county party exists?
Are you willing to help start a Libertar-ian Party in your county but just need somehelp?
The Libertarian Party of Michigan ishere to help you. We will provide you with allof the help you need to start a local LibertarianParty. Just call us.
We will help you find other Libertar-ians in your county and we will help with yourfirst mailing notices. You will be provided witha packet on how to start and maintain a local
Libertarian Party. Even more important, StateVice-Chair Ghazey Aleck will come to your firsttwo meetings to make sure that you are solidlyon your way. He will even remain available byphone or e-mail to assist you in building yourlocal party into a political powerhouse.
There are still many gaps of unorganizedareas around the State of Michigan. Our goal isto organize the entire State of Michigan by 2002and we could use your help. Starting a localLibertarian Party will be one of the most impor-tant things anyone can do for the cause of free-dom. Call or e-mail Ghazey Aleck today(989)386-2699 or [emailprotected] today!
Want A Libertarian Party
In Your County?
by Ghazey Aleck
When thousands of bikers rolled into theMichigan town of Baldwin, May 18th - 20th,for the annual "Blessing of the Bikes," they prob-ably never dreamed that anyone would ask themfor their political opinions, let alone agree withthem. And when members of the LibertarianParty of Midwest Michigan set up an "Opera-tion Politically Homeless" booth for the sameevent, they certainly never dreamed they wouldfind so many closet libertarians. Fortunately forboth groups, the weekend was a blessing in dis-guise.
Of the 156 motorcycle enthusiasts whotook the "World's Smallest Political Quiz," awhopping 114, or 73%, landed squarely in thelibertarian portion of the Nolan chart. "What alot of libertarians!" said 6 year old Danielle Peck,as her parents Trevor and Lisa Peck, who spon-sored the booth, and LPMWM Chair BrianKluesner, tabulated the final results of the sur-vey.
"This event was a huge success for severalreasons," said Kluesner. "But the two that standout most for me are the way the bikers - un-knowingly - confirmed our belief that the vastmajority of people are peaceful, honest, reason-able individuals who neither need nor deserveto have politicians and bureaucrats keeping tabson them. The second reason, of course, is theidea that so many people have found a newpolitical home."
Blessing of
the Bikesby Trevor Peck
BALDWIN — The Lake County Liber-tarian Caucus held its first meeting on June 12.Trevor Peck, the Libertarian who organized themeeting, described it as “a hit.”
While only seven people attended, Peckdescribed this as a good start. The meeting re-sulted in a few new members and the potentialfor many more. “We look forward to growth infuture meetings," he said. "We will make a dif-ference in our community.”
The meeting may also be a spring-boardfor recruiting local Libertarian candidates in theLake County area. The group will now meet onthe third Tuesday of every month at the Gov-ernment Lake Lodge in Baldwin.
Lake County
"a Hit!"by Jason Miller
�
LeCureaux Campaign Revvving Upby Dave Collver
Andy LeCureaux kicked off his campaignfor Hazel Park City Council recently. There areseven candidates running to fill the four seatson the Hazel Park City Council and only twoincumbents are running. Andy has lived inHazel Park since 1994, but he has been a resi-dent of the southeast Oakland County area hiswhole life.
Andy’s father, Tom LeCureaux of RoyalOak, who is also a party member, has been help-ing Andy, using his lifetime of contacts in south-east Oakland County to garner support and en-dorsem*nts.
Andy kicked off his campaign at the LP ofOakland County’s April meeting. He has alsospoken at other LP affiliate meetings, includingWayne and Macomb. At the state convention
in Frankenmuth, Andy also spoke, and aidedby his campaign manager, Dave Collver, raisedthe seed money for his campaign.
Andy was in the Hazel Park Memorial DayParade. He walked behind a Viper sporting hiscampaign signs (see picture below) with hisdaughter and some of her friends handing outcandy to folks in the crowd.
During the school board election on June11th campaign volunteers were at the polls hand-ing out LeCureaux refrigerator magnets andencouraging voters to support Andy and votefor him in November.
To gather the signatures necessary to get onthe ballot, Andy went door-to-door in his neigh-borhood and was pleased to see how much hisneighbors welcomed him. He plans to continuegoing door-to-door and visit every registered
voter in Hazel Park before election day.Thus far, his campaign and message of lim-
ited government have been well received bymembers of the Hazel Park political establish-ment, residents, business owners, and Libertar-ians.
Andy has received the endorsem*nt of themayor of Hazel Park and several prominent busi-ness owners.
Tuesday, July 31st at 6:00 PM, there willbe a fundraiser for the campaign at the HazelPark Bowl & Lounge, at Hughes and Wood-ward Heights. (From the HQ, go east on 9 Mile,turn left on Hughes, go north about 1/2 mileuntil you see the bowling alley.) This is a familyevent. $25 for adults, $12 for kids - includesthree games of Cosmic Bowling, shoe rental,pizza and soft drinks.
THE FIRST LIT DROP will be Saturday,August 11th. Volunteers will meet at the LPMHQ in Hazel Park at 1:00 PM. Please mark yourcalendars and bring your kids! After the lit dropwe will have a BBQ picnic at the HQ - compli-ments of the campaign.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to geta Libertarian elected, THIS IS IT!
For more information on the LeCureauxcampaign, email Andy at: [emailprotected] visit the campaign web site at:www.lecureaux.org.
Libertarian Outreach--Your Way!
by Leonard SchwartzWhat’s the most efficient way to encourage
people to vote Libertarian and join the Libertar-
ian Party? What issues should we emphasize?
How should we present those issues? Should we
use leaflets, newspaper ads, magazine ads, radio
ads, or TV ads? Where should we place those
leaflets and ads?
Some complain about their national, state,
or local Libertarian Party outreach methods.
My suggestion: Instead of complaining, use
one of these options:
(1) Give money to independent organiza-
tions that are doing Libertarian outreach the way
you want.
(2) Make an offer to your national, state, or
local Libertarian Party to pay for a special out-
reach project that you designed.
(3) Do your own Libertarian outreach. Pro-
duce your own leaflets and ads. Place them
wherever you want.
If you do your own outreach, you some-
times must register as a political committee. Here
are the rules according to Michigan’s campaign
finance law:
If two or more individuals (acting collec-
tively) spend more than $500 a year encourag-
ing voters to vote for or against any specific can-
didate or ballot issue, the group must register
with the Bureau of Elections.
If a group spends less than $500 a year on
such activities, it need not register. As long as the
outreach material is not for or against specific
candidates, a group can spend as much as it
wants encouraging persons to vote straight Lib-
ertarian.
If only one individual pays for the out-
reach material, that person need not register, even
if the person spends more than $500 a year
encouraging voters to vote for or against specific
candidates or ballot issues.
[Leonard Schwartz is the LPM's campaignfinance law adviser]
The Libertarian Party of Wayne Countywill now be meeting the first Tuesday of eachmonth at the City Tavern at 14316 MichiganAvenue in Dearborn, MI.
LP of Wayne
County
Meeting Change
�
Editorial
A Call to Armsby Stephen Townsend
In the three years since I became a “card-carrying” Libertarian I joined the Tri-City affili-ate, ran for County Commissioner — receiving27% of the vote — and was elected to the chair-manship of the local affiliate. This was no acci-dent. Not only am I devoted to the cause ofliberty, I am willing to give it everything I have.
Lately I have been noticing a trend withactivists in the LP. Too many Libertarians arefeeling sorry for themselves since the election. Ithas to stop. We can’t change the past. And tochange the future we must take action now. Wecan no longer do things the same way we didbefore and expect to move the cause of libertyforward.
We all believe in a society that allows youthe right to pursue happiness, as you see fit, solong as you do not interfere with another’s rightto do the same. We also believe that you aloneshould bear the responsibility and consequencesof your decisions.
Our country is the way it is today becausewe have allowed it. I am reminded of a scene inthe movie The Patriot.
The Mel Gibson character is talking to hissister-in-law. One of his sons has been mur-dered by redcoats. Another is going back torejoin his unit, against his fathers' will. Thesister-in-law says to him, “You have done noth-ing for which you should be ashamed.” Hereplies, “I have done nothing, and for that Itruly am ashamed.”
What have you done for liberty? Lookingat our country today, the answer must be: notenough. If we are going to succeed, each andevery one of us MUST do more!
Until now I don’t believe there has been astrategy laid out for success. We at the LibertyLeadership Council do have a strategy.
We need qualified candidates to run foroffice. We can’t start at President or US Con-gress and expect to win. Lets face it, to changeanything we must first be elected to office. Sohere is my proposal.
I would like Libertarians everywhere to con-centrate on local offices. Specifically, your localCounty Commission. Why County Commis-sion? First, it is a partisan office. To win, peoplewill have to cast their vote for a Libertarian can-
didate. Second, County Commissioner is a racethat is small enough to win. Finally, not only doCounty Commissioners have the ability to lobbytheir state legislature, it is a good backgroundfor running for a state representative.
This is a version of the “Just One” plan laidout by the LPM. I believe that this will be amuch better use of our limited resources. I askthat our affiliates use strategy. Look for vulner-able races. And go after them! I propose thatour affiliates run someone for every county com-missioner district. Some will be “educational”candidates. But who will ever take us seriouslyif we can’t field candidates?
We have some very good things working inour favor. 2002 is an off year. That means therewill not be a large voter turnout. Lower voterturnout is usually a very good thing for thirdparties. The Liberty Leadership Council willprovide professional experts to train you in run-ning a campaign, debating your opponent, andso much more.
The Liberty Leadership Council is a Politi-cal Action Committee (PAC) devoted to gettingLibertarians elected to office in Michigan. We
have a staff of professionals to help you get startedin a run for office. If you haven’t heard of us yet,just wait. Our professionals volunteer their timeto the cause. No one is ever compensated inanyway.
If you are in a county not served by anaffiliate, don’t worry. The Liberty LeadershipCouncil will assist you in filing your paperwork,getting trained, and getting your campaign offthe ground. You may even find that enoughenthusiasm is created by your campaign thatyour county may be able to start an affiliate. Ifthat should happen, then the Liberty Leader-ship Council will be there to get it off the ground.
This is a full time fight. Our opponentsare moving us to a socialist society faster thanever before. They know politics is war and it isabout time we start playing to win. Take a longlook at what you can do. We need you for thecause of liberty.
To get started, contact the Liberty Leader-ship Council at (800) 608-7375 or go towww.makingfreedomring.com. Don’t wait. Ouropponents have already begun.
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Eisenbacher Trounces Incumbent
Perhaps “trounces” is too strong a word.After all, he only beat the incumbent by 108votes. But, considering that Eisenbacher, a rela-tive unknown, beat an incumbent, and that theincumbent outspent Eisenbacher by almost 3to 1, “trounces” may be an accurate descriptionof what happened.
Eisenbacher still lost the election. But, withnine candidates running for two seats, placing arespectable third leaves Eisenbacher positionedwell for a future race. The cable TV reportercovering the election referred to Eisenbacher asthe “heir apparent,” and advised the audienceto “watch this young man and expect greatthings from him.”
The Troy Eccentric tried to turn this non-partisan race into a partisan race by publishingEisenbacher’s political affiliation. This tacticbackfired on them when a flurry of letters to theeditor asked why only one candidates’ politicalaffiliation was published. The Troy Eccentric thenbegan publishing all candidates’ political affilia-tions - infuriating some candidates with a Demo-crat background in predominantly RepublicanTroy.
The political establishment in Troy wasclearly concerned about another Libertarian can-didacy - so concerned that they put up two shillcandidates. Antoine DeLaForterie claimed thathe wanted to petition the federal governmentto end Social Security in Troy. He seemed to bea gross caricature of a Libertarian. James Rocchiowas a more mainstream candidate, and evenspent $7,000 on his campaign.
Election night, DeLaForterie, Rocchio, and
various members of the political establishmentwere all sitting together, laughing and joking,and sucking on unlit cigars. A person whospends $7,000 on a campaign is generally sit-ting on the edge of his seat waiting for the re-turns to come in. Rocchio seemed to have an-other agenda.
The turning point in the Eisenbacher cam-paign came during the League of Women Vot-ers debate. Taking a page from the recent NewYork Senate race, Eisenbacher asked all nine can-
Pledge was so popular that the mayoral candi-dates also asked if they could sign. The cam-paign issued a press release the next day and thelocal papers picked up the story. The only can-didate who got more coverage than Eisenbacherwas the one accused of spousal abuse. (I do notrecommend this as a means of getting public-ity).
There were also letters to the editor in thelocal paper, which pointed out that Eisenbacheris a Libertarian and implied that he had a hid-den agenda.
Ultimately, good campaigning and a sin-cere candidate overcame the negative propa-ganda. The Troy Eccentric published a headlinearticle about campaign web sites and promi-nently featured the Eisenbacher site, Eisenbacherquotes, and Eisenbacher supporters. You cancheck out the Eisenbacher web site yourself at:www.Eisenbacher.org.
Eisenbacher’s principal issues resonatedwith the residents of Troy. They were simpleissues. But they were sincere. inspired confi-dence, and showed respect for the residents.
Although the close loss was disappointing,it was a well-run race, and we look forward tocoming back and doing it even better next year.
didates to join him in signing a pledge to op-pose pensions and benefits for the part-time,term-limited city council. The pledge was onan 8½ x 11 sheet of paper, as well as enlarged toposter size. Co-campaign manager, GregDirasian, was ejected from the debate for hold-ing up the poster version in the back of theroom (i.e. “using a prop").
Six of nine candidates signed the pledge.One of the candidates who refused to sign wasthe incumbent. The Eisenbacher Pension
by Barbara Goushaw
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Libertarian Helps Stop Animal Ordinance
by Trevor Peck
Manistee – After two public hearings andthree drafts, a proposed ordinance to regulatethe possession of “ Wild and Exotic Animals” inManistee county has been dropped. In a meet-ing of the county’s Public Safety Committee,on June 4, it was decided that current state lawswould be sufficient to address the issue, with-out the need for a new ordinance.
“I don’t have any animals myself,” saidLPMWM chair Brian Kluesner, who spoke atthe last public hearing on May 15. “But, I know
that permits – of any kind – are routinely usedas an excuse to enter private property without awarrant, and that was all the reason I needed tovoice my opposition.” Although Kluesner op-posed the ordinance on the basis of propertyrights, his comments to the County Commis-sion focused on the need for, and the enforce-ment of the ordinance.
“Perhaps I missed the headlines concern-ing wild beasties running rampant around thecounty,” Kluesner told the Commission, “ butit seems to me that this is a regulation in search
of a problem. If someone is injured by anotherperson’s pet, it’s a matter of personal liabilitywhich can and should be handled by thecourts.” He also noted that the ordinance wouldonly penalize responsible pet owners, since theirresponsible would most likely ignore it.
"I don’t know if my comments made a dif-ference,” explains Kluesner, “but they sure didn’thurt. I was expecting the Commission to rub-ber stamp this thing so I’m delighted that it’s nolonger an issue - regardless of the reasons for thedecision.”
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Michigan Libertarian
Libertarian Party ofMichigan619 E. 9 Mile RdHazel Park, MI 48030Tel: (248) 591-FREEFax: (248) 591-0190
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