Liberty For All

by Sean Haugh

The mission of the Libertarian Party is to move public policy in a libertarian direction by electing candidates of the Libertarian Party to public office.

To fulfill our Mission Statement, Libertarians have long debated whether it is better to run as many candidates as possible, or take care to only run good candidates. I have always asserted the obvious answer is “both!” This has been a false dichotomy from the beginning.

Well, now I have rock solid proof that I was right all along. Specifically, the truth is that running as many candidates as possible naturally leads to running candidates of high quality. But that’s only the beginning of the benefits you’ll receive by pursuing a full slate strategy.

Here in North Carolina in May, we had a lobbying day for our Electoral Fairness Act (EFA). The EFA would lower our ballot access signature and retention requirements to a quarter of what they are now, moving NC from one of the three hardest states for ballot access (according to Ballot Access News) to the national median.

Little did I know that I would receive a powerful revelation on this particular trip to Raleigh.

I knew it was a big deal when we ran 145 candidates last year, including 13 of 14 Congressional seats and a majority of seats in both houses of our state legislature. And I knew it was an even bigger deal when we won six races in 2002. But until that Tuesday, I still had no idea just how big all that was.

Our performance last year completely revised how we are perceived by the powers that be. They all know now that we can no longer be dismissed out of hand. They have got it through their heads that we are going to stay on the ballot no matter what, and there’s nothing they can do to stop us. They have grudgingly accepted that we are a permanent player at the table. They hate it, but they can no longer deny it.

One thing that struck me is that damn near everybody in that General Assembly building knows who I am. Not just legislators, but staffers, media, and lobbyists too. People I had never laid eyes on looked at me and greeted me by name - and they even knew how to pronounce it properly.

They all also know our Chair, Barbara Howe, and I think by now most all of them know our Ballot Access Director and chief EFA lobbyist Dave Goree. Our county parties have made themselves well known to their local legislators. Remember, the majority of these people also had to deal with a Libertarian opponent last election. And of course, our Press Secretary Rachel Mills (Ladies of Liberty) is an international superstar. We are now members of the club.

Actually, not all of them hate it. In fact, lots of the legislators and bureaucrats rather like us. We are actively pursuing a number of ways to get EFA in through the back door. The front door was slammed in our faces by the House co-speakers, but that story can be found in Ballot Access News.

Frankly, we are now in the interesting position to negotiate with three or four different factions within state government and make it clear that whomever makes the first deal wins. Part of it is because we have always played nice. Our years of practicing courtesy and respectful is paying dividends.

But another part of it is, they know that can’t beat us, so now they’d rather join us. Both wings of the Demopublican party, and the subfactions within them, are waking up to the fact that working with us helps them beat the other side. And hey, if Demopublican fratricide is the goal, we’re all too happy to help!

No matter how hard it may be, we know that ballot access is the necessary first step to accomplish anything as a political party here in NC. We would not be anywhere near this stage in our development if we hadn’t had ballot access and worked it as hard as we possibly could continuously since 1996. This can never be taken for granted.

Filling the ballot with every willing name you can scare up produces dramatic results. If you don’t believe me, look at other rapidly growing state parties like Florida or Indiana where this is also the practice. Or even an example like Alabama, where the reaction from the legislature has been much more negative, but where this tactic definitely snapped the powers that be to attention.

In NC, we have reached the next decision point, of having to make sure that the people we field in winnable races met a higher standard than simple willingness to run - because there are now winnable races in NC.

Yet the problem neatly provides its own solution. By running so many candidates in years past, we have already put most everyone who is at all interested through a naturally rigorous screening process, and have identified dozens of very well qualified future elected Libertarians.

Despite our newfound fame and respect, the prospects for the EFA still appear dim. We’re looking at the real possibility that we’ll have to start the cycle of collecting 95,000 or so signatures once again in 2004-05. The neat thing is that we know we can do it, and furthermore now everybody else knows it too.

And now so do you. If we can consistently beat one of the top three ballot access obstacles in the country, well, what’s stopping your state party? Look at Georgia, they have some really screwy ballot access obstacles, but they are figuring out how to beat them with equally novel solutions. And wouldn’t you know it, Atlanta is beginning to pay attention too.

The LPNC has developed a great wealth of ballot access know how, which we would be very happy to share with any of our fellow state parties who yearn to have their chance to fulfill the Mission Statement.

Changing public policy by electing Libertarians is what we’re all about. Personally, I’m looking forward to finding out just how much more profound our influence becomes when we start winning State House races.

Originally published in Liberty For All June 02, 2003.

Sean Haugh is assistant editor for Liberty For All. Sean is married to longtime Libertarian Pam Adams, and they have a family of three dogs and five cats.  Besides them, Sean loves God, Liberty, and Oklahoma Sooners football.  Write to Sean at seanhaugh@mindspring.com.