The California Libertarian Party held its annual state convention in San Ramon, California, April 20-22. On Saturday evening, five candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination addressed the attendees. Each of the five was given 30 minutes. A random procedure dictated the order. The five candidates, in the order in which they spoke, were Steve Kubby, Dave Hollist, Mike Jingozian, Daniel Imperato, and Wayne Allyn Root. Candidate Christine Smith had been expected, but she did not appear. George Phillies did not appear, but campaign literature on his behalf was circulated. Also, campaign literature was circulated, urging that Karen Kwiatkowski (who says she only wants the vice-presidential nomination) be drafted for president.
Steve Kubby, speaking first, displayed skill as an orator. He also allowed time for questions. Kubby, of course, has been a member of the Libertarian Party for at least a decade, and was the California party’s gubernatorial candidate in 1998. He responded to a question about immigration policy by saying he favors open borders. He introduced his campaign treasurer, who was in the audience. He stressed that long-time Libertarian Party activist Tom Knapp is acting as his campaign manager, even though Knapp doesn’t use that title.
Dave Hollist, a California Libertarian who has sought the party’s presidential nomination twice before, started to use his 30 minutes by showing a video of himself making a speech. The sound quality was poor. After ten minutes, state party chair Aaron Starr interrupted the video presentation and persuaded Hollist that the video was a bad idea, so Hollist then spoke for himself for ten minutes more. He criticized the other presidential candidates for not proposing an immediate end to taxation, and suggested that his idea for contract insurance could replace the lost tax revenue.
Mike Jingozian spoke next. He is an Oregon businessman who is fairly new to the Libertarian Party. His presentation was devoted almost entirely to an attack on the failed policies of the Republican and Democratic Parties. He had circulated copies of his campaign literature which labels him an “independent candidate for president”. He took questions. Asked about the label, he said he is a Libertarian but that the “independent” label is designed to draw the attention of voters who might not be as interested if he didn’t use that label. His answers probably didn’t dispel a feeling among the audience that he may not be sufficiently in sync with party core beliefs.
Daniel Imperato spoke next. He is a Florida businessman who is very new to the Libertarian Party. He said that he will be elected president in 2008, or, if not then, in an election in the future. He stressed his familiarity with people all over the world and said his company has offices in 70 nations. He spoke a smattering of Arabic. He answered questions. As in the case of Jingozian, he probably didn’t dispel a feeling among the audience that he may not be a match for the party. He said that he would have U.S. military forces stop fighting in Iraq, but remain there, and that he would demand that Iraq repay the U.S. for the costs of U.S. military expenditures so far.
Wayne Allyn Root spoke last. He lives in Las Vegas, is CEO of a company that gives advice to people who bet on sports outcomes, and hosts the Fox TV network show The Winning Edge. Like Kubby, he displayed impressive oratorical skills. He gave more information about his past political life than the other candidates had done. He said his father had helped establish the New York Conservative Party. He said that his own personal heroes are Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. He is also new to the Libertarian Party. He emphasized his skills with television, and revealed that a cameraman who had been filming all day long is working for him, and that the filming is for a proposed Reality TV Show about his quest for the Libertarian nomination. He didn’t take questions, since his presentation consumed his full allotment of 30 minutes.
Thank you Richard for the summary of the candidate presentations. It was useful for us who could not be there in person.
Will C-SPAN show any part of the convention?
“He responded to a question about immigration policy by saying he favors open borders.”
What was Kubby’s reasoning behind this stance? No candidate with this position will be elected president in 2008.
“[Imperato] said that he would have U.S. military forces stop fighting in Iraq, but remain there…”
This is even more idiotic than the proposal that the troops be removed to a nearby nation.
What’s happened to Aaron Russo and Gary Nolan? (Have they started a Mutual Admiration Society?)
I hope some more candidates jump in this race.
I also attended the convention including the Presidential Candidate presentations. Richard Winger’s summary is right on. I agreed with a comment Kubby made right after the event that he was the only libertarian who spoke. I agree.
To me, Imperato impressed me as having motivations that were not in line with libertarian principles. I asked him about his take on the current interpretation of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution specifically because he had boasted about his knowledge of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and ? hmmm, don’t remember the third item. He didn’t have a clue but tried to BS the answer. This was not the only question for which he seemed to be in over his head but not willing to admit it.
After the event, I asked Root the same question and he admitted he didn’t have a clue either but would be interested in finding out about it.
Holist was a joke, sorry to say.
Al Segalla made an astute observation of Jingozian when he said he sounded more populist than libertarian.
I have seen Kubby speak before and I think he was much more polished this time than before. He had greater energy and spoke in an easy style.
Jingo read his presentation, but was energetic. Imperato seemed like an Amway hired gun motivational speaker, but his knowledge of foreign affairs was both impressive and scary. He boasted to having broken bread with the Bin Laden family and found a delegate that was of Syrian descent, speaking fluently to him in Arabic. He mentioned that he held several titles including one “Knight of Malta.” (search wikipedia for an article on this.) This in conjunction with a few other comments led me to the impression he is what I would call, “very Catholic.” This included his take on abortion. I forget the exact verbiage he used, but it sounded like couched pro-life to me. Maybe Mr. Winger can refresh my memory.
Wayne Root sounds like our man. He’ll actually get media coverage for us, and he knows how to speak to an audience.
The fact is that we have been losing the Presidential Election every year, and unless we do something different, that is never going to change. I thought that Imperato came off as somone who was a skilled foreign policy expert and a charismatic person that America could embrace. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad for the Libertarian party.
We aren’t going to win the Presidency until we win some Congressional seats and we aren’t going to win anything by abandoning our core principles — even if we did, it would be an empty victory and the opposition would quickly regain ground.
Keep in mind that Root wrote a book less than 2 years ago called “Millionaire Republican.” My gut reaction is that he is using us as a means to his reality show means and is just giving lip service to the platform.
Imperato said he was still learning the platform. WHAT? You’re running to be our Presidential candidate and you are a worldly man of learning and you want to our President without learning our platform first? Just think about that thought process. If it doesn’t make sense, then there is something else at work.
Kubby on the other hand risks his liberty whenever he campaigns in certain states assuming he is still using medicinal pot which it seemed from his comments is the case with little doubt. He’s been the California Gubernatorial candidate. He is well-spoken.
Kubby has my support for now.
Christine Smith did not attend because the rules were changed at the last minute and she would have had less than eight minutes to speak.
She was warmly received at the San Diego County Convention and plans to attend other county conventions in California.
Visit libertarianforpresident.com
Draft Mark Green (D) President 2008
Who are you voting for in 2008?
Draft Mark Green (D) President
An alternative to the usual suspects…
http://www.frstweb.org/draft_mark_green.htm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! upezdpyxpovf
http://aa69-ru.blogspot.com/ ïðîñòèòóòêè ãîðîäà