York State
I just got back from the Annual Convention of the Libertarian Party
for New York State, held on April 29, 2006 in Albany NY.
I was defeated in my quest to become the candidate for governor.
William Weld, a former Governor of Massachusetts, was nominated on the
third ballot by a vote of 24 to 15 over Don Silberger.
Jeff Russell defeated Steve Greenfield by 27 to 15 as nominee for US
Senate. This campaign had been especially hard fought. Greenfield left
the meeting immediately, as soon as the vote count was announced.
Greenfield is also seeking the Green Party and the Independence Party
nominations.
Richard Cooper was elected party chairman, defeating Joseph Dobrian by
20 to 16. Cooper is a Weld man. Dobrian was neutral. Joseph Dobrian
and M. Carling were elected Vice-Chairmen. Eric Sandvall, Chris
Garvey, Audrey Caprizzi, Gary Donoyan and Don Silberger were elected
members-at-large.
Gary Popkin was elected Treasurer by unanimous vote. This was a minor
victory for me because I had nominated Popkin. Blay Tarnoff was
elected Secretary.
Sandra Sloan was nominated by M. Carling for Member at Large of the
State Committee. Unfortunately, the chair ruled that Sandra was
ineligible because she is only four years old and not a paid member.
Sandra did manage to get her picture on Channel 9 All News Channel in
Albany as a result.
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=177458
Sam Sloan complained that the election had been rigged. William Weld
was allowed to speak for 30 minutes and then had a long question and
answer session afterwards. The other candidates, Don Silberger and Sam
Sloan, were only allowed three minutes each and no time for questions
and answers. No debate of any kind was allowed. Audrey Caprizzi was
allowed to make a long speech nominating Weld. Of greatest concern was
that the order of nominating candidates was reversed to accommodate
Weld. The normal order is first the governor is nominated, then
lieutenant governor, then comptroller and then attorney general.
However, for some unknown reason, the Weld campaign insisted that
first there be attorney general, then comptroller, then lieutenant
governor and then governor. A vote was taken on this issue. The result
was an exact tie 18 to 18. Blay Tarnoff, who was chairing the meeting,
broke the tie by voting for the Weld agenda. Mark Axinn, who would
have voted the other way, arrived after the vote because his Amtrak
Train broke down on the way to Albany.
Several nuts were allowed to speak. One nut spoke at length about how
New York State needs 20 new nuclear power plants. Another was an
Israeli who advocated Palestinian Rights. Their remarks might have
been appropriate for another meeting, but not for a convention of the
Libertarian Party that had serious business to conduct.
I must say that I was mildly disappointed that Richard Cooper was
elected Chairman and Chris Garvey was nominated for Attorney General.
Richard Cooper has been Chairman before and Chris Garvey has been a
candidate for office so many times that everybody has lost count. I
think the party has to be more open to giving the new guys a chance.
In fact, I think Garvey and Cooer should step aside unless they are
prepared to promise that they will do better than they did the last
time they ran for these positions.
Recommendation for the Future: Bring in Mike Nolan, Parliamentarian of
the United States Chess Federation. People who think that a USCF
meeting is chaotic have never seen a Libertarian meeting. However,
Libertarians have there own pet variation on Roberts Rules, which is:
There are no rules.
Everybody, including the defeated candidates, except for Greenfield of
course who left, were upbeat. William Weld is no Libertarian, not at
all. He is not even in favor of medical marijuana. He never offered to
reduce taxes. Nevertheless, he offers the promise to bring us 50,000
votes. Then, for the next four years, we will be able to get freedom
loving candidates on the ballot fairly easily instead of having to get
huge and impossible to obtain signature totals. For example, the
Libertarian Party is now required to get 1500 signatures to run a
candidate for State Assembly. The Working Families Party, which has
ballot status, can run a candidate for State Assembly with only five
signatures. So, we all need to forget our principles and get behind
Weld for Governor.
Sam Sloan
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=177458
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--governorsrace-we0429apr29,0,730354.story
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