Monday, April 23, 2012

Working For Rutherford

I am excited to announce that I have joined the Mark Rutherford For Chair team, and will be volunteering for him at the Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas some two weeks from now.

My role will be that of Floor Whip. The job entails being assigned several states, and then working to drive votes from those states' delegations to Mark.

One thing I really like about the Libertarian National Conventions is that things are very rarely decided before the voting starts. These are real conventions- not the coronations that the Rs & Ds host. Gary Johnson is the frontrunner for the presidential nomination, but I've been at conventions where the frontrunner was surprised very late in the day (e.g.: when Michael Badnarik overcame Gary Nolan in 2004). The Chair elections are always contentious. This one will be no different, as Mark needs to unseat current Chair Mark Hinkle, so I will have to work to earn votes for him.

Contentious conventions are electric. That 2004 event was everything we read about in history books, minus the smoky back room. In that election, Nolan was the frontrunner, but Aaron Russo was thought to be a very strong second. Badnarik gave the performance of a lifetime in the debate, and when the first ballot votes were revealed, all three were within 12 votes of each other. The place exploded with a flurry of activity, as conventioneers ran to their state or regional caucuses, and whips for the candidates worked each group for votes in the suddenly new landscape.

Check out the CSPAN video of the 2004 convention: At the 4:01:00 (that's the 4-hour mark) the cameras found the Region 3 caucus, and delegates took to a chair to speak in favor of either of the three candidates. I took my turn at the 4:05:20 mark to stand on a chair before our caucus to speak on behalf of Nolan. Afterwards, Rutherford thanked the caucus and urged them to vote their conscience.

I am hoping that when the 2012 Convention votes its conscience for Chair, it selects Mark Rutherford.


5 comments:

patriot paul said...

What's wrong with the current Chair?

Mike Kole said...

I don't get any indication that the current Chair has any particular direction or goals. He's a perfectly innocuous Chair.

I really like Rutherford because I have seen results here in Indiana as Chair, and because he has a plan that appeals to me. In sum, for too long the LP has been a member's services organization and not a political party. Rutherford would change this.

Two things the party has shied away from have been fundraising and lobbying. The LNC loves to battle over the finer points of ideology, especially when it can be substituted for trying to find potential donors. I prefer think tanks, philosophers, and candidates to establish those points, and the party to organize and build structure. IMO, the only good reason to have the national party headquartered in DC is to lobby the members of Congress. Rutherford has a plan to address these.

http://markrutherford.org/the-plan-for-the-lps-future/

Mike Kole said...

Mark Hinkle is the current Chair. On his website, he promotes the desire to continue as a member's service organization. I think that's a gigantic mistake if it's a political party you are running. The job of a political party is to elect people to office, and to move policy in your direction.
http://mark4chair.com/goals/proposed-goals-for-the-lnc-2010-2012/4213

Member services doesn't do that. It may make people feel comfortable, but that job would be best left to a national social or fraternal club- something like the Elks or Masons. I don't want that of the LP.

Moreover, Hinkle still has his goals for the previous term posted. He did not achieve any of them.

Phil said...

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Here's a list of some blog post titles we've done in the past:
- How to Get Your Marriage Visa
- Things To Know Before Applying For Your Immigration Visa
- How to Get Help With Your Immigration Process

Our budget is around $15 for the post. Is this something you'd be open to?

Also we might be interested in a small banner ad if the price is right.
Our budget is $40/year - something like this:
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Let me know if you'd be open to either or both of these.

Also if you have some other sites just send them over and we might be interested in doing a sponsored post on there as well!

Regards,

Phil
rapidvisa@thebirdmail.com

Mike Kole said...

Hi Phil. Thanks for the inquiry, but not interested.