Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld today announced that he is dropping out of the New York Republican primary race for Governor, “in the name of party unity.”
A Weld media staff member told Ballot Access News (on condition of anonymity) that Weld would also be dropping out as the Libertarian Party nominee.
Weld had been nominated by the New York State Libertarian Party as its candidate for Governor. At their state convention, Weld had promised LP members that he would continue to run as their party’s nominee regardless of his status on the Republican ticket.
this is BS.
another liar took the LP for a ride.
The LP just can’t seem to get a break. Nominate a “no name” get ignored… nominate a mainstream politician and get shafted. Geez, what’s left?
Rolf is right. This is a real travesty, but hopefully the New York LP will continue to view the fusion strategy as a viable option in the future. There’s a terrific article on this subject by Jesse Walker in today’s Reason On-line: http://www.reason.com/links/links060606.shtml
Perhaps this was Weld’s purpose all along. Oh, no! I forgot. Nothing happens on purpose, or so our enemies, especially the establishment media, would have us believe.
For life and liberty,
David Macko
The bigger question is: Why would you want him? Bill Weld is Big Government. He proved that when he was governor of Massachusetts.
You might want to start scrutinizing RECORDS IN OFFICE the next time you nominate someone.
If that’s too much trouble (it can be hard to find a person’s record, I know), just pick up the phone and call a few libertarians in Massachusetts. They’d have given you enough to know he’s solidly BIG GOVERNMENT.
Is he slightly less Big Government than some others? Yes. Every Big Government politician is less Big Government than some other Big Government politician. Every drug addict does fewer drugs than some other drug addict. Every tyrant is less tyrannical than some other tyrant. So what?
If we don’t start voting ONLY for small government candidates, we can never make headway. We’re playing their game, and they’ve got us just where they want us: confined to a Big Government box.
We need to get outside the box and vote, propose, and run candidates on small government.
Whether they propose big, bold steps toward small government a la Harry Browne (preferred) or small, gradual steps toward small government (acceptable) – at least make sure they’ve boarded the train in the right direction, not the wrong direction. Make sure they will move us in the direction of small government, not take us backwards.
If you agree, I invite you to look at our Small Government Pledge. If it’s what you want, please join us and sign it: http://www.centerforsmallgovernment.com/
small government is beautiful,
Carla Howell
President, Center For Small Government
Sponsor, 2002 Massachusetts Ballot Initiative to End the State Income Tax (almost won – 45.3% of the vote)
2000 candidate for U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy (won 12% of vote in 3-way)
This is what happens when you nominate a celebrity. Other outcomes, notably that the celebrity returns out to have many antilibertarian stands, are even worse.
Look, this guy quit as governor half way through a term. What was expected?
On this point, I agree with Carla Howell. The gentleman did have a record as Governor of Massachusetts, and we did have a good Libertarian run against him, because Weld is no libertarian.
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Hello
I suspect, (I am not a LIB) that the NY LP chose Weld because he was “socially liberal and fiscally conservative” and many people kinda thing that is what a Libertarian and if he had won through the help of the LP fusion ticket, he might doing something for them.
Jesse Ventura (MN) was a similar type of Governor and often spoke of himself as a libertarian. The current LP MN Gov. candidate is running in the GOP primary.
I remember a few years ago that a bunch of Cal. LP Congressional candidates supported the state ban on same-sex marriage, so “purity” concerns can be interesting to watch unfold.
I am a Democrat, but I have to wonder. If in Canada a political party can get registered and nomiante candidates by getting someting like 250 sig. or Iraq I think it was something like 500. Then it just seems silly, stupid and unfair that we have independent and third party candidates running around getting as many sig. as they have to do.
If spoilers are a problem, then use Instant Runoff Voting.
Is it too late for the LP to nominate a “replacement” candidate?
Hmmm…a Republican failing to delivery on a promise…where have I seen that before?
I’ll say it again… the LP did the right thing nominating him and Weld did the right thing dropping out.
The LP had no candidate that was going to get the votes needed to get ballot access. What was traded was the chance to nominate a nobody that would do nothing for the party for the chance to cross-endorse a libertarian-leaning Republican and win ballot access.
Nothing has been lost here, and at least some media coverage was gained.
Weld’s decision to drop out made complete sense as well. You can call him a liar or whatever, but in the world of reality his campaign had run out of gas. He did win the LP line, but he lost the Conservative nomination. Then he lost the GOP endorsement by an embarrassingly wide-margin. Then the Independence Party nomination by an embarrasingly wide margin. Then the people that encouraged him to run jumped ship and asked him to drop out. He would have to have been a fool to continue… after this many defeats were dealt to him in quick succession.
If he’s not libertarian enough to be a Libertarian candidate, then there’s not much point in having a Libertarian Party at all! Using this standard excludes at least 90% of voters, as well. So either the LP is a waste of time or this is just an unfortunate political loss.
BTW, who’s working for who here? I didn’t see the NYLP bringing much to the table to save Weld’s campaign as it received pie after pie in the face over the last three weeks. Now everyone in the party is complaining that he’s abandoning them… well, what the hell were you doing to help him?
I have watched Bill Weld’s career for some time, and sure he is not a libertarian. But he did push through cuts in tax rates in Massachusetts, and early on, cuts in spending.
I watched both his campaigns in the national press, and I don’t remember ever hearing about a Libertarian running against him for Governor of Massachusetts.
That said, I agree with Austin Cassidy – the LP was right to back him, since they could not compete with him for the small limited government vote in New York. And given the loss of at the Republican convention, Weld had no choice but to drop out.
If the LP had provided a second line for Tom Golisano in 2002 – the Independence Party candidate who spent $66 million – they could have gotten 50,000 votes then and ongoing ballot status.
Austin, the Libertarian Party is not a waste of time. I am disappointed in William Weld as I was hoping that he would stick with the LP and campaign no matter what, but I suppose his seeking the LP’s endorsement was just a temporary alliance for him. I am glad I didn’t contribute to Weld’s campaign, that would have been a waste of my money.
Reply to Gene Berkman:
The first time Weld ran for governor in Massachusetts, the LP did not put up a candidate. This was not a deliberate choice, but there simply was no one willing to run. The second time Weld ran, the LP in Massachusetts ran Dean Cook for governor.
Many LP members in Massachusetts distrusted Weld because he was the federal prosecutor in a case against a local tax resister named Dick Aiken.
I personally voted for him the first time because he promised to resist the tax on services that Billy Bulger, then President of the state Senate, was pushing, and on which Silber, Weld’s Democratic opponent, took an ambiguous position. Fortunately, that was one promise that Weld kept, for which I thank him.
-Walter Ziobro
So, what’s the process to replace him? How’s that going? Who decides, what are the deadlines?
I am the representative of the Manhattan chapter to the LPNY and gave the nominating speech for Prof. Donald Silberger, the guy who ran against Weld for the LPNY nomination. That said, my candidate lost and Gov. Weld was our nominee. Of course it was an audacious attempt to get the 50,000 votes necessary for ballot access (this is a ballot access website, right?) We tried something different from the past failures and now we will move on. The State Committee is meeting Sunday evening to select new candidates for Governor and Lt. Gov. As we have not yet begun petitioning (it starts in early July in New York), this will not be a problem.