Court to hear FEC Debates challenge - in 2017

Libertarian Debate News: L.P. To Get a Day in Court Against Debate Access Restrictions, But Too Late for 2016; Florida Senate Candidate Paul Stanton Excluded from Debate - Hit & Run -  Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

October 6, 2016 - "The Libertarian Party, as I detailed back in May, was involved in two distinct lawsuits that could have resulted in presidential candidate Gary Johnson getting into the presidential debates.

"One of them, Johnson v. Commission on Presidential Debates, .... is now, according to lawyer Bruce Fein in an email today, 'on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. No briefing schedule has yet been issued and thus no oral argument date.'

"A second lawsuit, targeted specifically at the Federal Elections Commission for its alleged failures to properly curb the Commission on Presidential Debates, had been awaiting a decision on motions for summary judgment from both parties for months. Its official name is Level the Playing Field v. FEC.

"Level the Playing Field is a 'nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation not affiliated with any candidate or candidate committee…[whose] purpose is to promote reforms that allow for greater competition and choice in elections for federal office, particularly for the Presidency and Vice Presidency.' The Libertarian Party and Green Party are also plaintiffs in that suit.

"This week, a date was announced for oral arguments on the motions for summary judgment. The catch: they are set for January 7, 2017, too late to affect the debates before the 2016 election....

"The latest motion for summary judgment argues that the CPD has always been a deliberated duopoly for the two major parties and has 'been violating FECA and FEC regulations limiting debate-sponsoring organizations' ability to use corporate funds to finance their activities' since its efforts are not truly 'nonpartisan.' The suit accuses the FEC [of] 'refus[ing] to enforce the law and ignored virtually all of this evidence in conclusorily dismissing the complaints even though there is plainly reason to believe that the CPD is violating FECA'....

"The suit accuses the CPD's 15 percent polling requirement to be admitted to the debate as being effectively 'impossible for an independent candidate who is not a self-funded billionaire to achieve'....

"The motion for summary judgment finally requests that:

The Court should grant summary judgment for Plaintiffs, and direct the FEC to do its job, which is to enforce the law and put an end to the CPD's biased, anti-democratic, and fundamentally corrupt and exclusionary polling rule.

Those arguments will now be made in court in front of Judge Tanya Chutkan, alas too late to matter for 2016 no matter the outcome.

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/06/libertarian-debate-news-lp-to-get-a-day
'via Blog this'

Boston Globe story on Bill Weld "made up"

Bill Weld: Media Is Publishing “Made-up” Stories About Me (UPDATED) - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Matt Welch:

October 5, 2016 - "'Libertarian VP Candidate Bill Weld Gives Up, Will Focus on Preventing Trump Presidency,' is an interpretative summation of a Boston Globe article from yesterday that begins like this: 'The Libertarian vice presidential candidate, William F. Weld, said Tuesday that he plans to focus exclusively on blasting Donald Trump over the next five weeks, a strategic pivot aimed at denying Trump the White House and giving himself a key role in helping to rebuild the GOP.'

"But in a follow-up interview with Reason this afternoon, Weld denied that he was pivoting, denied that he would be focusing 'exclusively' on Trump, and denied that he was working on any political future outside the Libertarian Party.

"'I said to the reporter that I plan to focus on Donald Trump, because I think his international proposals represent a grave threat,' Weld told me, 'but in the same breath I said that I'm not going to omit to make the points that Mrs. Clinton, if she were elected, runs the risk of spending and borrowing us into the poorhouse, and that I think her fiscal policies and her military policies are not at all in line with the approach that Gary Johnson and I will take if elected. So nothing is to the exclusion of anything else. I did convey to the Globe the idea that I would be emphasizing the respects in which I think Mr. Trump's international proposals are wrong-headed, but that's nothing new — I've been saying that since Day One'....

"The Globe piece contains several paraphrased sentiments from unnamed Weld "aides" about things like 'Johnson's flubs on national television,' and then drops this scooplet: 'At one point, Weld strategists researched Libertarian Party rules to see if it were possible for him to take over the top of the ticket'....

"'No, you can't do that — all 50 states have printed their ballots, so it's completely out of the question, even if it was a good idea, which it's not,' Weld told me. But were his 'strategists' looking into the possibility? 'It didn't come to me,' he said.

"The former Massachusetts governor also rejected the Globe's assertion that 'Weld's new plan calls for him to focus his fire on Trump in a handful of red states,' saying 'No, somebody's making that up. I mean, I'm going be tomorrow in Massachusetts, the next two days in New Hampshire, and then in Maine,' he continued. 'Those are not red states the last time I looked' Certainly, Weld's itinerary does not look like the schedule of a candidate who has given up.

"Of particular sensitivity to Libertarians ... was this sentence in the Globe article: 'He insisted he was not abandoning Johnson, although he signaled that bolting from the Libertarian Party might be a possibility in the future." Weld's response? 'No, that's the most made-up of any of these phrases.'"

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/05/bill-weld-media-is-publishing-made-up-st
'via Blog this'

Medicine Hat police stop Libertarian leafletting

Libertarian candidate files official complaint after incident with police › Medicine Hat News - Gillian Slade:

October 4, 2016 - "A byelection candidate has filed an official complaint after police told him to leave the Stampede grounds parking lot where he was handing out campaign literature on Saturday and Sunday.

"'I was first approached by Stampede staff on Saturday. I gave them my Elections Canada documentation … I remained completely outside. I did not go inside the facility,' said Sheldon Johnston, Libertarian candidate.

"Johnston returned on Sunday and was told police were being called. 'I knew I was lawfully there so I continued,' said Johnston. After looking at Johnston’s documentation police asked him to leave.

"Elections Canada returning officer Mary Ulbricht says Johnston had a right to be campaigning there. Police called her at some stage over the weekend to clarify. 'I got the act and read it to the police and sent him a copy of it,' said Ulbricht. 'He was very unfamiliar with the Canada Election Act … It was a difference between public property and private.'

"The Elections Canada Act reads as follows:

81.1 (1) No person who is in control of a building, land, street or any other place, any part of which is open without charge to members of the public, whether on a continuous, periodic or occasional basis — including any commercial, business, cultural, historical, education, religious, governmental, entertainment or recreational place — may prevent a candidate or his or her representative from campaigning in or on that part when it is open without charge to members of the public.

"'I think that now the police know this is acceptable,' said Ulbricht.

"Medicine Hat Police Service say paragraph 81.1 (1) of the Elections Act does not apply in Johnston’s case because he was not an official candidate yet. ''Our officer phoned the returning officer and he’d (Sheldon Johnston) not yet registered as a candidate,' said Chief Andy McGrogan. ...

 "On Monday, Ulbricht confirmed Johnston has filed an application with Elections Canada but it has not been fully processed. Applications had to be submitted by Monday but Elections Canada’s website states it may be Wednesday before the website is updated with all official candidates.

"Ulbricht says a candidate can campaign before a byelection is even called. But section 81.1 of the Canada Elections Act only applies to candidates who have been confirmed by Elections Canada."

Read more: http://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2016/10/04/libertarian-candidate-files-official-complaint-after-incident-with-police/
'via Blog this'

Gary Johnson polling at 24% in New Mexico

Clinton, Trump in tight race in New Mexico | Albuquerque Journal - Michael Coleman:

October 2, 2014 - "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a slight lead over Republican Donald Trump among likely New Mexico voters in a four-way race, while Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is pulling nearly a quarter of voter support in the state, according to a Journal poll.

"Clinton received 35 percent support and Trump 31 percent support. Twenty-four percent of New Mexicans favored Johnson, a former governor of the state, while 2 percent favored Green Party candidate Jill Stein....

"Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc. ... said Johnson’s presence in the race is hurting Clinton more than Trump in New Mexico. He said the former two-term New Mexico governor garnered the support of 31 percent of New Mexico Hispanics, who traditionally tend to vote heavily Democratic in the state.

"Still, Clinton holds a solid lead over Trump among Hispanics in New Mexico, according to the poll. Forty percent of Hispanics said they would vote for Clinton while 18 percent said they would vote for Trump. Stein polled at zero percent support among Hispanics in New Mexico....

"Among female voters polled, 38 percent said they would vote for Clinton while 27 percent voiced their support for Trump. Johnson had the support of 24 percent of females polled. Three percent of New Mexico females said they preferred Stein.... Thirty-five percent of New Mexico males said they’d vote for Trump while 31 percent said they favored Clinton. Johnson had the support of 25 percent of male voters in New Mexico, while Stein registered 2 percent support.

"Clinton garnered the support of just 3 percent of Republicans polled while 9 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Trump. Twenty percent of Democrats said they would vote for Johnson while 23 percent of Republicans said they would support the former New Mexico governor.

"Among independent voters – or those who declined to state a party affiliation – Gary Johnson led all candidates in the four-way field. Among these voters, Johnson had 42 percent support, while Clinton polled at 26 percent, Trump at 14 percent and Stein at 6 percent...."

"The poll surveyed 501 likely New Mexico voters and contained a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. All of the poll respondents were questioned by live interviewers, with 52 percent of respondents reached by cellphone and 48 percent on land lines."

Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/857961/clinton-trump-in-tight-race-in-new-mexico.html

'via Blog this'

Chicago Tribune endorses Gary Johnson

A principled option for U.S. president: Endorsing Gary Johnson, Libertarian - Chicago Tribune:

September 30, 2016 - "The Republicans have nominated Donald Trump, a man not fit to be president of the United States. We first wrote on March 10 that we would not, could not, endorse him. And in the intervening six-plus months he has splendidly reinforced our verdict: Trump has gone out of his way to anger world leaders, giant swaths of the American public, and people of other lands who aspire to immigrate here legally. He has neither the character nor the prudent disposition for the job....

"The Democrats have nominated Hillary Clinton, who, by contrast, is undeniably capable of leading the United States. Electing her the first woman president would break a barrier that has no reason to be.... But ... Clinton's vision of ever-expanding government is in such denial of our national debt crisis as to be fanciful.... Clinton calls for a vast expansion of federal spending, supported by the kinds of tax hikes that were comically impossible even in the years when President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats dominated both houses of Congress.... Sort through all the details and her plan would raise the national debt by $200 billion....

"Clinton knows she is ... promising Americans all manner of things she cannot deliver. That is but one of the reasons why so many Americans reject Clinton: They don't trust what she says, how she makes decisions, and her up-to-the-present history of egregiously erasing the truth.... Clinton's behavior affirms the perception that she's a corner-cutter whose ambitions drive her decisions.....

"We would rather recommend a principled candidate for president — regardless of his or her prospects for victory — than suggest that voters cast ballots for such disappointing major-party candidates....

"Libertarians Gary Johnson of New Mexico and running mate William Weld of Massachusetts are agile, practical and, unlike the major-party candidates, experienced at managing governments. They offer an agenda that appeals not only to the Tribune's principles but to those of the many Americans who say they are socially tolerant but fiscally responsible.... Theirs is small-L libertarianism, built on individual freedom and convinced that, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, official Washington is clumsy, expensive and demonstrably unable to solve this nation's problems....

"Johnson, who built a construction business before entering politics, speaks in terms that appeal to many among us: Expanded global trade and resulting job expansion. Robust economic growth, rather than ever-higher taxation, to raise government revenue. A smaller, and less costly, federal government. Faith in Americans' ability to parlay economic opportunity into success. While many Democrats and Republicans outdo one another in opposing the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, we're amused by this oddity: Today the nation's two most ardent free-traders arguably are Barack Obama and Gary Johnson.

"That said, Obama and Johnson are but two of the many candidates we've endorsed yet with whom we also can disagree. Johnson's foreign policy stance approaches isolationism. He is too reluctant to support what we view as necessary interventions overseas.... But unless the United States tames a national debt that's rapidly approaching $20 trillion-with-a-T, Americans face ever tighter constrictions on what this country can afford, at home or overseas. Clinton and Trump are too cowardly even to whisper about entitlement reforms that each of them knows are imperative. Johnson? He wants to raise the retirement age and apply a means test on benefits to the wealthiest....

"We wish the two major parties had not run away from today's centrist Americans. Just as we wish either of their candidates evoked the principles that a Chicago Tribune now in its 170th year espouses, among them high integrity, free markets, personal responsibility and a limited role for government in the lives of the governed. We hope Johnson does well enough that Republicans and Democrats get the message — and that his ideas make progress over time.

"This year neither major party presents a good option. So the Chicago Tribune today endorses Libertarian Gary Johnson for president of the United States. Every American who casts a vote for him is standing for principles — and can be proud of that vote. Yes, proud of a candidate in 2016."

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-gary-johnson-president-endorsement-edit-1002-20160930-story.html
'via Blog this'

Melissa Joan Hart is Connecticut campaign chair for Gary Johnson

Melissa Joan Hart Joins Gary Johnson's Campaign as Connecticut Chairperson : People.com - Lindsay Kimble:

September 27, 2016 - "Melissa Joan Hart ... tells PEOPLE Now that she's joined Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's presidential campaign as the Connecticut Chairperson.

"'I want to break away from this two-party system and I think it's important for people to know that there's another candidate out there who really toes the line between Democrat and Republican,' says Hart, who has a home in Connecticut. 'I mean he's Libertarian. But socially he's liberal, but fiscally conservative.'

"Johnson, 63, is the former governor of New Mexico – a position he held from 1995 to 2003. He previously ran for president in 2012.

"'Governors, I love, because they already ran their state as like a little president,' Hart, 40, says. 'So he gets the way, you know, things run. The politics of it all.'

"She adds, 'He was on a border state, so if you want to talk about immigration, he's the guy."

"Hart says she disagrees with the notion that a third-party candidate can't win the election, dispelling arguments that a vote for Johnson is a wasted vote.

"'I think that everyone that I keep hearing say that, if they all voted for him we could have a third party win,' she says. 'Even if he doesn't get that far, I just hope that they let him debate.'"

Read more: http://www.people.com/article/melissa-joan-hart-gary-johnson-campaign-connecticut-chairperson
'via Blog this'

Clinton, Johnson, and media hypocrisy

The media's hypocrisy on Gary Johnson - CNN.com - Matt Welch:

September 30, 2016 - "Two weeks ago, the foreign affairs select committee of the British House of Commons released a detailed, damning report about one of Hillary Clinton's signature achievements as secretary of state: The 2011 US/UK/French-led military intervention into Moammar Gadhafi's Libya....

"'This policy,' the conservative-led committee concluded, 'was not informed by accurate intelligence. In particular, the [British] Government failed to identify that the threat to civilians was overstated and that the rebels included a significant Islamist element.... The result was political and economic collapse, inter-militia and inter-tribal warfare, humanitarian and migrant crises, widespread human rights violations, the spread of (Gadhafi) regime weapons across the region and the growth of ISIL in North Africa'....

"Aside from a handful of mostly ideological outlets, the US news media declined to even note that the Democratic presidential nominee suffered a comprehensive rebuke to her oft-repeated assertion that Libya represented American 'smart power at its best'....

"Ah, yes, but did you hear the one about Gary Johnson not being able to come up on the spot with the name of his favorite foreign leader? Disqualifying! And also, oddly, nearly ubiquitous in the same media that couldn't be bothered to reexamine a Hillary Clinton policy that has adversely affected countless human lives.

"We have come to expect a certain unseriousness from a press corps that spent several weeks in 2012 snickering over Mitt Romney's 'binders full of women.'

"What's new this time around is the add-on concern-trolling aimed at those of us who have no intention of voting for either of the most hated of modern major-party presidential nominees. It must be so hard for you, our well-meaning friends say, that your candidate turned out to be such a flake.

"I have no problem saying the Libertarian Party nominee screwed up in this or any other interview. But if there's anything more obnoxious than cheerleaders for Donald 'bomb-the-sh—out-of-ISIS' Trump mocking Johnson for foreign-policy ignorance, it's supporters and enablers of Hillary Clinton rolling their eyes theatrically at a presidential candidate who was against the Iraq and Libyan wars in real time, who wants to pardon rather than imprison Edward Snowden, and who comports himself with occasionally awkward humility rather than with the polished and delusional omniscience that we've unfortunately come to demand in our presidential candidates."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/opinions/hypocrisy-about-gary-johnson-welch/
'via Blog this'