Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa) candidates forced from ballot
 
Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org
 
For Immediate Release: August 23, 2010
 
Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Harrisburg, PA –  Marakay Rogers, Kat Valleley and Doug Jamison wanted to run for state-wide office on the Libertarian Party ticket. 

They wanted to give Pennsylvania voters more choices in the election.

They collected 25,033 signatures to comply with Pennsylvania’s immense ballot access requirements so their names could appear on the ballot.  That’s 23,033 more than are required for Republican and Democratic state candidates.

Republican and Democratic power brokers do not want ballot choice for Pennsylvania voters and challenged the signatures of all third-party and independent state-wide candidates.

Marakay, Kat and Doug wanted to fight the challenge. They traveled to Harrisburg to fight the challenge.  In 2004 and 2006, the courts assessed over $80,000 in fees to a candidate who lost a ballot access challenge.   This year, our lawyer estimated these fees would run between $92,000 and $106,000. Using this leverage, the power brokers offered a deal – drop your efforts to be on the ballot and avoid exorbitant challenge fees or continue to fight and face the risk of fees that could easily lead to personal bankruptcy.  The potential cost of a loss was too great.  After deliberation, our candidates withdrew.
 
The Libertarian Party candidates are not alone. The old-party power brokers have used the signature-challenge process to remove all of the alternative statewide candidates who successfully filed to appear on the November 2010 ballot. 

Though the challenge provision of the election code has been in place since 1937, it was not used to remove a statewide candidate from the November ballot until 2004. Since then, the challenge has become standard operating procedure for the old parties.

Marakay Rogers, candidate for Governor, said "This type of dealing may signal the end of third-party campaigning in Pennsylvania, except for the rich or the brave.  Anyone can file a challenge and then threaten to clobber their opponent with outrageous and unaffordable legal fees that started accumulating long before any actual hearing.  Even for someone who does believe they have enough valid signatures after a challenge, the threat of the fees assessed is enough to force you to back out just in case you might not win."

Added U.S. Senate candidate, Doug Jamison, “I, and my fellow state-wide candidates, will continue our efforts as write-in candidates. At the same time, this challenge has effectively disenfranchised the great citizens of this commonwealth from their fundamental right of the democratic process of selecting the best candidate.”

LPPa Chair Michael Robertson concluded “"The unlevel playing field that alternative party and independent candidates face to be included on the Pennsylvania ballot has turned into a wall. We are calling on the General Assembly to tear down that wall, and allow the voters of the commonwealth the choices they deserve."

The LPPa has strongly endorsed the Voters’ Choice Act, or SB 252, which was introduced by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon).  The bill would equalize ballot access across all parties, not just the Democrats and Republicans.  Unfortunately, the bill has been sitting in committee for over a year, with little indication that it will be passed before the end of the year.

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. Please visit www.LP.org or www.LPPA.org for more information.

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Pennsylvania state budget disappoints again
 
Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania calls budget "failure" and "fantasy"
 
Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org
 
For Immediate Release: July 9, 2010
 
Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Harrisburg, PA - The state legislature keeps finding new ways to disappoint Pennsylvanians at budget time.  While our last budget was unconscionably late, this one

is a mix of failure and fantasy.
 
This budget fails to cut spending at a time when our fiscal position is precarious.  General fund spending increased from $27.8 to over $28 billion while the state’s total operating budget jumps from $65.9 to $66.4 billion.  The budget ignores the past two years of revenue collection decreases that led to a general fund $1.2 billion gap last year and a $3 billion gap the year before.
 
The budget fails to cut pork and reintroduces "Walking Around Money" (WAM) reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to be between $65 and $100 million.  In addition, it provides millions for the construction of the John P. Murtha Center for Public Policy and the Arlen Specter Library Project Center. It irresponsibly ignores both the coming public pension crisis that will require a $5 billion increase in annual payments in 2010 and the coming loss of federal stimulus funds in 2011-2012 fiscal year.
 
In June, The Commonwealth Foundation released “A Taxpayer's Budget 2010: Responsible Spending for Pennsylvania” which identified opportunities to cut over $4 billion in wasteful state spending in Gov. Rendell's proposed FY 2010-2011 budget.  Their report also offered a series of recommendations for resolving the current revenue shortfall and reducing the size and burden of government on Pennsylvanians.  The budget failed to take advantage of these opportunities.
 
Instead, our state legislature fantasizes in their budget calculations that Pennsylvania will see a 3.2 percent increase in revenue collections at a time when unemployment is growing and business is receeding.  An even greater fantasy is that the budget calculation assumes $850 million in Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funds that have yet to pass Congress. According to Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, "No one, including the governor, thinks we'll receive $850 million."
 
Commented Brian Bergman, State House Candidate in the 119th district, “Yet again, Pennsylvania's government has failed to pass either a balanced budget or an on-time budget.  Where are the incentives to do either?  There is nothing currently in the PA Constitution or statutes that puts any penalty on the representatives in Harrisburg if they fail in their duties.  It's time to hold them accountable - vote them all out and elect new people that will truly work FOR the citizens of Pennsylvania and will enact consequences when the Legislature fails so completely in their duties.”

Mark Crowley, LPPa Media Relations, summarized “It's no surprise that this budget was created behind closed doors.  They suspended the rule requiring a public comment period.  The disappointing result certainly shows this lack of transparency.”
 
The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. Please visit www.LP.org or www.LPPA.org for more information.

LPPa candidates respond

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release: May 17, 2010

Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Harrisburg, PA - Tomorrow, Pennsylvania taxpayers will fund the primary elections for two old and entrenched political parties, the Republican and Democratic Parties.  The two incumbent parties, both in our commonwealth and nationally, have brought us intrusive bureaucracies, staggering mismanagement, suffocating deficits and crushing debts, putting us all in jeopardy.

Is it time to reward them or to call for a real change in November?

 
LPPa Media Relations Chair, S. Douglas Leard, took time last week to ask Pennsylvania's Libertarian Party candidates why voters should support a LP candidate instead of an old party candidate.   Here are a few of the responses:
 
Libertarian Party 12th Congressional District Candidate in the May 18th Special Election, Demo Agoris (www.a7s.us) responded "Vote For and Support Your LP candidates to protect and defend Your Liberties, 'The Bill Of Rights', Less Government, Lower Taxes, and More Freedom.  Your LP Candidates Equal 'We, The People, Power'."

U.S. House District 5 candidate, Vernon Etzel said "You can make your voice heard this November.  What do you want Washington to hear?  The problems facing our future are bigger than any one of us.  The Libertarian Party stands for your rights and your future.  We stand for representation based on Principle, not Politics.  Help us continue to grow by voting Libertarian this year."
 
U.S. Senate candidate, Doug Jamison, indicated "I have been a Republican for almost 40 years.  After observing the two party system, I have come to the conclusion that neither party has the interests of the people's freedoms and liberties but only their own party's passions and agendas.  The Libertarian Party is fundamentally rooted in not only the constituents' liberties and freedoms, but also in following our constitution as interpreted by our Founding Fathers."
 
While going to vote on Tuesday, if you see someone asking for ballot access signatures to get a Libertarian Party candidate on the ballot, please consider offering your signature.  By doing so you will be doing more than just helping someone get on the November ballot.  More importantly, you will be putting the incumbent parties on notice that you want more options in November.  Libertarians will be collecting ballot access signatures from now until late July to get more choices on the November ballot.  Your signature can only make incumbents more accountable by letting them know that you know how to replace them.

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. Please visit www.LP.org or www.LPPA.org for more information.

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Legislation would increase patient choice and improve health care options.

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org
 
For Immediate Release: May 14, 2010
 
Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Harrisburg, PA -  The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa) today announced their support for legislation that permits