Tom, 1. I have no personal experience with Mr. Olivier that would allow me to share your high opinion of him. I do have an awareness, and have commented negatively upon, his sleazy use of an anti-illegal immigrant theme on the top page of his 2006 website.
2. Assuming for the moment that he really has leadership status in the Party, he deserves to lose it for failing to point out the 3 caveats that I provided in my response (there are risks and issues raised if one changes registration); his advice was irresponsibly given. Regards, Allen Rice --- In [email protected], "Thomas L. Knapp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Quoth Allen Rice: > > > Yes, mentioning Olivier's feeble election returns was a cheap shot. > > Intentionally, and, in my opinion deservedly, so. > > > > If an action is being suggested, in this case temporarily switching > > registration to vote for the most effective libertarian candidate in > > the Presidential race, it should be sold on its merits, and not > > because some supposed "leader" tells us we should do it. > > I think you're misinterpreting the purpose and value of such endorsements. > > Yes, the case for re-registering Republican to vote for Ron Paul has > to be sold on its merits ... and Art Olivier is the kind of guy whose > endorsement of that case is likely to cause those who hear of it to > look into the case and its merits. > > Yes, Olivier turned in an underwhelming performance as the LP's 2006 > candidate for governor of California (although, as I point out, that > performance is an improvement on recent performances as a percentage > of the overall third party vote, and possibly even the marker for a > reversal of a 20-year downward trend for the LP in that respect). > > But: > > Olivier has served as an elected Libertarian on the city council of, > and as mayor of, a reasonably large polity. He has served as the LP's > vice-presidential candidate, and turned in a very credible performance > in that role (I was impressed with his speech when he visited St. > Louis as the VP candidate). > > I don't agree with him on everything by any means (and I supported > Kubby rather than him for VP in 2000), but he's the kind of guy I'm > inclined to lend an ear to when he wants to bend that ear. He's been > more successful as an LP candidate than most LP candidates, which just > might mean that he has useful knowledge to impart or that he has a > perspective worth HEARING before accepting or rejecting. > > Regards, > Tom Knapp >
