Posted on 11/06/2002 4:26:32 PM PST by Commie Basher
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: November 6, 2002
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For additional information:
George Getz, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: pressreleases@hq.LP.org
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Libertarians victorious in 21 local races, but ballot initiatives fall short
WASHINGTON, DC -- Libertarians emerged from Election 2002 buoyed by a flurry of local wins and record-setting candidate performances, but disappointed by the defeat of three high-profile statewide initiatives.
On the positive side, almost two dozen Libertarians were elected to local office, and Massachusetts LP candidate Michael Cloud set a new vote-percentage record for a U.S. Senate race.
However, in not-so-good news, all three major Libertarian-led ballot initiatives - in Massachusetts, Arkansas, and South Dakota - were defeated, and several Libertarian candidates touted as possible winners fell short.
In local election victories:
* In Colorado, Bill Masters was re-elected as San Miguel County sheriff, while Bob Dempsey was re-elected as San Miguel County coroner in a partisan race.
* In California, at least eight candidates were elected in contested races for local, non-partisan offices: Vern Dahl (Oceano Community Services District); Eric Lund (Cordova Recreation and Park Board, Sacramento County); Ron Gabbart (Ready Springs Union School District); Melise Manfre (Orangevale Recreation and Park Board, Sacramento County); Jim Gardner (San Gorgonio Memorial Health Care District); Larry Torres (Los Alamos Community Services District); Francis Trowbridge (Rubidoux Community Services District); and Jack Hickey (Sequoia Healthcare District, San Mateo County).
In addition, incumbent Bonnie Flickinger was re-elected to the Moreno Valley City Council (District 4), and Lois Engel was re-elected to the Ophir Hill Fire District.
* Also in California, six Libertarians were elected to local, non- partisan office -- but did not appear on the ballot because they were running without opposition: Marshall Schwartz (Eden Township Hospital District, Alameda County); Lance Rosmaier (Southwest Healthcare District, Short Term, Kern County); Jerry A. Mercier (Independence Ranch Community Services District, San Luis Obispo County); William J. Alley (Shandon Joint Unified School District, San Luis Obispo County); Carle Hylkema (Guadalupe-Coyote Resource Conservation District, Santa Clara County); and Michael Wharton (Oxnard Harbor District, Ventura County).
* In North Carolina, Dave Gable came in first in a four-way race for two positions as Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor (Mecklenburg County). Gable won 36,895 votes (26.5%) in the non-partisan race.
"Here's to another elected Libertarian in North Carolina!" said Gable.
* In Vermont, Hardy Macia was elected as a Justice of the Peace in Grand Isle. Macia, who finished sixth out of seven winners in a 12-way race, won 417 votes.
* In Indiana, Ed Dilts won an unopposed race for a partisan seat on the Needham Township Board (Johnson County).
In other significant races:
* In Nevada, James Dan lost by 65.2% to 34.8% to incumbent Democrat Vonne Chowning in the race for State Assembly (District 28). Dan had won 45% of the vote in a similar race in 2000.
"His opponent mailed a hit piece using our platform against James," said local activist Tim Hagan, explaining the disappointing results.
* In Wisconsin, Ed Thompson won 10.4% of the vote (183,352 votes) in an eight-way race for governor. It was the second-best result for a Libertarian candidate in a gubernatorial race against a Republican and Democrat in LP history.
"We hoped we would do better," Thompson told the Wisconsin Radio Network. "I think people just didn't have a chance to see me like the other candidates and it made a big difference."
However, Thompson won his home town of Tomah (55.9%) and Monroe County (45.4%) -- and hinted he might run again in the future.
"I want to express my thanks to the countless volunteers and contributors who helped make this campaign the most successful third- party campaign for Wisconsin governor in 60 years," said Thompson. "This race is just the beginning."
* In Illinois, GOP legislator-turned-LP gubernatorial candidate Cal Skinner won 2% (73,287 votes) -- well short of the 5% required to gain the LP major party status in the state.
* In Massachusetts, Michael Cloud won 19% of the vote in a two-way race against incumbent Democrat John Kerry. It was the best U.S. Senate result for a Libertarian in party history, and the best by any third- party candidate in a U.S. Senate race since 1932, according to Richard Winger, publisher of Ballot Access News.
* In Massachusetts, Carla Howell won 1% of the vote in a five-way race for governor.
* In Missouri, Jeff Foli won 14.1% of the vote in a three-way race for State Representative (District 7).
* In California, at least three statewide LP candidates appeared poised to win at least 2% of the vote, the threshold required to maintain the LP's major party status: Dale Ogden (Insurance Commissioner), Gail Lightfoot (Secretary of State), and Marian Smithson (Treasurer).
* In Vermont, Hardy Macia won 22.5% in a four-way race for two seats in the state legislature. Running on both the Libertarian and Republican lines, Macia won 1,340 votes -- just 208 votes behind the second-place Democratic finisher.
* In Colorado, a number of Libertarian candidates earned double-digit percentages, according to state LP Media Director Mike Seebeck.
John Berntson won 16% of the vote for State House (District 14), Steve Gresh earned 15% for State House (District 20), and Rob Roberts won 14% for El Paso County Commissioner (District 1).
And in a three-way race for State Senate (District 11), Jeff McQueen won 9.6% -- three times the difference between the Republican and Democrat.
"Local Libertarian candidates showed the major parties once again why they are a force to be reckoned with, improving their vote totals for the second year in a row," said Seebeck.
* In Florida, 23 LP candidates won over 20% in two-way races for the State House, reported Florida LP activist Michael Gilson de Lemos.
Candidates breaking the 20% barrier included Barbara Bujak, 20.0% (District 2); Grier Ellis, 20.3% (District 3); Scott Palmer Carter, 21.7% (District 12); Ty Price, 20.9% (District 17); Brooks H. Nelson, 22.0% (District 23); Lida C. Throckmorton, 23.4% (District 24); James T. Coakley, 21.5% (District 33); Christopher Michael Wheeler, 24.3% (District 34); Timothy Moriarty, 24.0% (District 37); John T. Conway, 23.0% (District 40); Louis A. Cashmer, 20.6% (District 41); Mark A. Howard, 23.2% (District 56); Jason A. Downs, 22.3% (District 63); Michael A. Krech, 25.1% (District 64); James C. Clifford, 25.8% (District 65); Dirk Clary, 20.1% (District 72); Travis L. Larson, 24.3% (District 79); Ronald B. Cadby, (21.5% District 80); John P. Roszman, 24.4% (District 81); Brian Kuszmar, 20.5% (District 91); Michael J. Guidry, 26.2% (District 113); Thomas William Glaser, 26.3% (District 115); and Mark S. Eckert, 27.9% (District 119).
"The results are more remarkable in that they ran deliberately extremely low-budget, meet-the-neighbors campaigns," said Gilson de Lemos.
* In Iowa, gubernatorial candidate Clyde Cleveland won 24,512 votes (2.4%), coming in third of four candidates.
* In North Carolina, Rachel Mills -- the creator of the nationally publicized "N.C. Ladies of Liberty" calendar -- won 2,892 votes (19.3%) in a two-way race for State House (District 31).
In notable U.S. House races around the USA:
* In California, Maad Abu-Ghazaleh (District 12) won 7%.
* In Massachusetts, Ilana Freedman (District 5) won 6%.
* In Colorado, Biff Baker (District 5) won 6%.
In initiative news:
* In Massachusetts, voters rejected, by a surprisingly narrow margin, a sweeping proposal to eliminate the state's income tax.
The proposal, called Ballot Question 1 and sponsored by LP gubernatorial candidate Carla Howell's Committee for Small Government, lost by a 53% to 47% margin, shocking political pundits who predicted it would lose by 20 percentage points or more.
"It goes to show that you can't trust polls," said Howell. "It also demonstrates that the reporting of how big government must solve everyone's problems is clearly not representative of what all the people believe."
The liberal Boston Globe suggested the close vote sent "a strong signal to Beacon Hill about distaste for future tax increases as a way to solve the budget crisis."
Had it passed, the initiative would have trimmed state government revenues by 40%, and saved Bay State taxpayers about $9 billion annually.
* In Arkansas, voters rejected a Libertarian-led initiative to abolish the state's 5.125% sales tax on food and over-the-counter medicine.
With about 50% of the vote counted, the "Ax the Food Tax" initiative was losing 62% to 38%.
Those numbers were in sharp contrast to pre-election polls, which showed the proposal winning the support of up to 70% of voters.
"It's a testament to how strongly all the powers of government would come against us [with a] massive scare campaign," said Karl Kimball, chairman of the Committee to Ax the Food Tax.
Had it passed, the initiative would have saved state taxpayers about $400 million a year.
* In South Dakota, a FIJA-style amendment that would have given criminal defendants the right to argue the merits, validity, and application of laws was heading for defeat.
With 39% of the precincts counted, Constitutional Amendment A was losing 79% to 21%.
In other election news, a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana in Nevada, which was endorsed but not sponsored by state Libertarians, was decisively defeated.
Question 9, which would have allowed adults to possess up to three ounces of marijuana, was rejected by 61% of the state's voters. The initiative would also have required the legislature to regulate, cultivate, sell, and tax marijuana.
In Virginia, Libertarian-turned-independent Jacob Hornberger won 7% in his race for U.S. Senate, losing to both incumbent Republican John Warner (84%) and independent Nancy B. Spannaus (9%), who is affiliated with convicted felon Lyndon LaRouche.
In South Dakota, voters rejected, 63% to 37%, an initiative to legalize industrial hemp. That proposal, Initiated Measure 1, was supported but not sponsored by state Libertarians.
In Texas, Republican Ron Paul easily won re-election for U.S. House (District 14) with 68.05% of the vote, defeating a Democratic challenger. In 1988, Paul was the LP presidential candidate.
For continually updated results, visit: www.lp.org/campaigns/results/
Mr. Winger is wrong. Jim Buckley was elected to the Senate in 1970 on the Conservative Party ticket in New York, defeating a Democrat and a (liberal) Republican.
The proposal, called Ballot Question 1 and sponsored by LP gubernatorial candidate Carla Howell's Committee for Small Government, lost by a 53% to 47% margin, shocking political pundits who predicted it would lose by 20 percentage points or more.
Wow. Irrelevant minor candidates aside, that's pretty impressive in Taxachusetts.
Kinda says all that needs to be said about the Libertarian Party.
You can thank the Libertarians (and Jeffords) for the dems controlling the Senate for the last 2 years also. In the '00 Senate race the Libertarin scum in Washington State sucked enough votes to hand the election to the Democrat....
You lost South Dakota for us…. Nice going! When are you going to realize you’re irrelevant? Now take your legalized drugs, whore houses, gay marriage and the rest of your stupid ideas and go crawl back under the rock from whence you came.
Yep! and they won coroner too.
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