Comments on: New Hampshire Libertarian Petition for Two Statewide Offices is Valid

By: Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:42:14 +0000

It would be exciting to see Phillies campaign in NH and out-perform Barr. Delightful that there is a libertarian LP candidate on the ballot.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:55:59 +0000

I am a die hard New Hampshire libertarian, but am outraged that the LPNH would put George Phillies on the ballot instead of Barr. If Nov 2nd comes with only Phillies on the ballot I may never vote LP again. What a joke this “Party” is. The LP finally nominates a candidate who stands a chance and is already polling in the double digits, and then some of its members try and sabbatoge him because he wasn’t always libertarian. How does the LP expect to attract people to the libertarian cause when all they do is allienate those who are on their way over?

By: Steve Smith

Steve Smith — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:47:52 +0000

This is why the Libertarian party will never succeed. As a Libertarian leaning Republican who wished he could find a new party to join, this is very depressing. If you can’t even select one Presidential candidate, how can we take the party seriously? Where’s the party unity? The comments on this page should have been an internal matter. Showing it to the public further damages the Libertarian party, and any credibility that they had left.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:56:59 +0000

I keep repeating that no lawsuit over presidential or vice-presidential substitution has ever lost in court. We are free to sue New Hampshire over substitution, so even if the New Hampshire Barr petition fails, we still have a good chance to have Barr on in New Hampshire. We have a very experienced ballot access attorney who is willing to do the case, if the ACLU won’t do it. We are waiting for the Massachusetts ACLU to file the Massachusetts substitution lawsuit first.

By: Seth

Seth — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:23:55 +0000

Sean says:
“I expect petitioning will start next week and the LNC will be sending in professional petitioners to work the local dumps, DMVs, utility payment centers and other places in NH where the cars in the parking lots actually have a majority of NH license plates on them.”

I wish them much luck… if only it was that easy. Speaking as someone who lives in NH, and actually collected petitions, and realizes just how hard this goal is, which is why we started _last_ year, and only finished it recently:

1) Dumps are a good place… on Saturdays.

However: http://www.sos.nh.gov/spfile.htm
makes clear the deadline time is Aug6th to submit the petitions… meaning that between now and Aug6th, there are what – 6-8 weekends?

2) While we have DMVs, most of the bulk of this is handled locally at town halls. Unlike many states, our DMVs aren’t very high traffic.

3) It’s not just 3000, but 1500 from each of 2 districts, and voters must know not just their town in many cases, but their ward/polling place, since the process is NOT centralized, but sent to each town clerk, who will not ‘find’ the person if it’s wrong, and reject it as valid.

Those who think this is an easy task to collect a mere 3000 sigs don’t understand that the biggest city in NH, Manchester is still only 100,000 people.

We collected during all of the “high traffic” days like Primaries and Election days… because we know how hard this task is, and hat’s why we started a year early.

By: Susna Hogarth

Susna Hogarth — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:31:18 +0000

Sean Haugh’s commenting here is inappropriate and against the LP’s policy.

Quote from the LP’s acting executive director Robert Kraus On June 10: “We have a policy of not posting to
outside blogs”.

A better way to have addressed these concerns would have been to write to Richard Winger and let him convey the information.

By: Sean Haugh

Sean Haugh — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:50:36 +0000

As the LP Political Director, we were aware this would happen and it doesn’t keep us from placing Barr/Root on the NH ballot.

In NH, the statewide petition carries the names of all their candidates for state and federal office. The LPNH wisely started petitioning last year to get all these candidates on the ballot, as well as Dr. Phillies as our stand-in for President. We supported this petition for the sake of these other candidates. The LPNH has done a great job in completing this petition on their own and has been a pleasure to work with in this and all related matters. The LPNH has acted in good faith all along and did what they needed to do to protect and advance the interests of both the state and national party.

Now we will have to conduct a second petition for Barr/Root, which I fully expect to be successful. The silver lining to having to do this is the LPNH has the ability to name even more candidates and get them on the ballot as well. I expect petitioning will start next week and the LNC will be sending in professional petitioners to work the local dumps, DMVs, utility payment centers and other places in NH where the cars in the parking lots actually have a majority of NH license plates on them.

We are still considering the legal options over substitution. As to what form any lawsuit might take, I can’t say for now. But I can say this – the legal issue is over the substitution process itself in NH. The personalities involved are irrelevant in this analysis.

By: Eric Dondero

Eric Dondero — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:27:32 +0000

George, you are doing great damage to the Libertarian Party, and even more so to your reputation. I’ve respected you in the past. You’ve been quixotic and have had an independent streak. That was to be admired. Now, with this move, you’ve destroyed any previous credibility you’ve had. I’m am deeply sorry to hear that you have made this move. Very bad. Very bad indeed.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:36:37 +0000

In 1996, when Florida was denying substitution, that hurt both the Reform Party and the Libertarian Party. The federal complaint (filed by both parties, together) listed the Ross Perot Reform Committee as the lead plaintiff. By that analogy, it would make sense that the first-named plaintiff in any New Hampshire substitution lawsuit this year would be Bob Barr, or Barr’s campaign committee.

By: George Phillies

George Phillies — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:29:00 +0000

People,

I have very certainly not made any statement to anyone about contingencies involving New Hampshire, other than my clear and unambiguous statement that I have accepted the LPNH nomination, I have filed the Declaration of Intent, the needed signatures were filed, and as a New Hampshire candidate I plan to campaign vigorously in New Hampshire, as I have already been doing for some time. I have personally spoken with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, and the representation I have is that if other Libertarian Presidential candidates have filed their declaration of intent and collect the needed signatures they will also be listed on the Libertarian line.

Rumors of a lawsuit in New Hampshire seem confused. The only people with obvious standing to sue would be me or the LPNH, because I by vote of their convention am their candidate. Rumors of “the party” suing without specifying which party is suing, state or national, are not obviously easy to understand.