The 2019 Annual Convention of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019, at Bushkill Inn and Conference Center in Bushkill, PA. The business meeting is open and free to all members of the LPPA. Delegate status and voting privileges will be in accordance with the Bylaws. Registration for the annual convention is available at the Evenbrite State Convention Link.
Additional activities, including meals and speakers, have been arranged at the same facility on a paid, ticketed basis. Registration and ticket purchase is available at the Evenbrite Food and Speakers Link.
Although there are no national or statewide legislative or executive elections in 2019, elections for many county and local offices will be held across the state. Historically, this has been the best opportunity for the LPPA to win elections, and currently, Pennsylvania has more elected libertarians than any other state! 2019 will also be important for laying the foundations and strategy for the upcoming 2020 presidential election. It an important time for the state party, with election of officers and consideration of proposed changes to the Bylaws, among other business. Chairman Drew Bingaman urges all members to attend and participate in the Annual Convention.
The current schedule is:
Breakfast 9:00am Speaker Bob Johnston
9:30-10:30 for check in and credentialing
Convention starts time is 10:30am
Convention Lunch Break 12:45pm
Lunch 1:00pm Speaker Alex Merced
Convention 2:15pm
Convention Dinner break 6:15pm
Dinner 6:30pm Speaker Larry Sharpe
Convention 8:00pm if needed
Stay tuned for additional information on schedule changes, hotel accommodations and agenda information.
Libertarian Senate Candidate Doubles Total Funds Reported
On Thursday, U.S. Senate candidate Dale Kerns (L-PA) announced that his campaign is reporting over $35,000 in funds to the Federal Election Commission since the beginning of July, setting a new record for a single quarter by a third-party U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania.
Said Kerns, “We don’t have the luxury that our two opponents have to just be able to turn to lobbyists, special interests, and Super PACs. Our campaign relies purely on everyday Pennsylvanians who have given their time and money to support our message.”
With this strong fundraising quarter, the Libertarian candidate is easily on pace to be the most successful third-party candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in nearly a century. Kerns and his team look to make a splash in debates hosted by KDKA (Pittsburgh) and WPVI (Philadelphia) in October. “When I get to face Senator Casey and Representative Barletta face-to-face next month on those debate stages, they will no longer be able to hide behind their talking points. They will have to answer to the constituents whom they have failed for decades.”
Kerns has largely spread his name around the Commonwealth through his “Addiction is Not a Crime” town hall meetings, wherein he has spoken to Pennsylvanians about the dangers of the War on Drugs, including how it has negatively impacted his own family. Of the three candidates in November’s race, Kerns is the only one who has proposed overhauling the American drug system to mirror the rehabilitative models in Portugal and Switzerland.
The good fundraising news for the Kerns campaign comes on the heels of the announcement by Muhlenberg College that he is gaining in the polls. In the survey conducted September 13–19, Kerns is the option of 5% of yet-to-decide likely voters when they were asked which candidate they are leaning toward supporting. Casey earns only 22% of those voters, while Barletta receives the support of 14%. A whopping 54% remain unsure of even which way they lean, showing likely upside for Kerns, as he has not received even a fraction of the coverage of the other two candidates.
Kerns is indeed in the final stretch of his already-historic campaign and catching the attention of voters across Pennsylvania. In these last few weeks, he urges Pennsylvanians to register to vote and view his website, DaleKerns.com, for more information on his campaign.
The goal in this is to tell the story without the feelings this story created. (Anger, frustration, sadness, etc)
This past weekend, 3 lawyers told me that it was better to concede the ballot than to go to court, be tossed from the ballot and be forced to pay fees along with opposing counsel’s court costs (which were pretty substantial.)
First let me talk about the Libertarian Party in Bucks County. It is not a large group, and there are few resources. Montgomery County is in a much better position, but there were candidates running there as well, and as for the state organization, again, it is small with few resources, but those resources it DID use to help as much as it was able.
It has been 14 years since a Libertarian candidate for Congress has achieved the ballot at all, here in Bucks. When petitioning, I did not think I was going to make it, but the week before, the entirety of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania petition drive was all over my house in stacks. We sorted, we counted, we scanned. There were several nights where there were 5 counties represented in my living room, and most of us were all up till 2 AM. It was during this time that I discovered that my signature count was 1100, and I had one more weekend along with a couple days to gather the rest needed. On the 31st of July, it was a Tuesday, at 5 PM, I got the signature that put me at the bare minimum, and, somehow, that next day, a volunteer turned in 1547 for me. Upon his arrival, he noticed a group of people standing there at the Department of State, in Harrisburg, and they were waiting to examine and challenge my signatures. We knew they were there for mine, because I was the last person to turn in signatures. (final deadline being 5PM that day)
I had not heard anything from anyone, so I thought maybe Brian was true to his word when he said he would help me get on the ballot last year, but all of that changed when I received the challenge being pushed forward by Michael Fitzpatrick’s law firm, Obermeyer, Rebmann, Maxwell, and Hipple.
They were challenging 429 of my signatures, and asked me if I was going to be represented by counsel. I responded that absolutely I would, but my counsel was unable to appear at activities like visiting the department of elections for the day in Montgomery County and again in Bucks County. (would have been something like a $5000 day to go and be represented.. Again, party with few resources) I then discussed a thought I had to challenge the 1440 requirement as an arbitrary number since there is a district in Philadelphia that has more voters but has a requirement of 1000. I found out later that the PA Supreme Court set the number in the first place, so if I lost and appealed to the PA Supreme Court, most likely I would lose that as they would never vote to overturn their own ruling. (non-starter.) So when the Judge in the case, Ellen Ceisler, granted a motion to compel me to participate in all of it, regardless of my job (not a career politician) and cost to me personally, or be hit with fees, the 3 attorneys I was speaking with told me it was better to cede the ballot....
Instead, I decided that I would make due with what I have and work on a write in campaign, and use any money raised to go toward literature and pens with my name spelled correctly! Even though it is done with a sort of keyboard, a pen with my name on and the “Your Life Your Way” slogan on it seems appropriate.
So there it is. I will continue to campaign, and I will be looking for places to meet as many of you as I can! Three gentlemen and a woman have been helping me on my campaign so far, and I wanted to thank them for everything they have done and continue to do! This does not happen in a vacuum, and at the end of everything, I want people to vote for me because they believe that my ideas are actually OUR ideas. I love going to work each day doing what I do, I want to go to DC and work to get the state out of MY life along with everyone else in our home district. I love living here in Langhorne, by the Neshaminy Creek, and one thing that everyone can count on is knowing where I live, and having a way to communicate with me. I have had the same cell number since…. OK, for 20 years! It is not changing, and while I may not answer, text me, I will make myself available. Being elected means that I will be representing the people of the first above all else, and my goal will always remain to make things better for my having worked on them.
To those of you supporting me, PLEASE continue! It will be more difficult now, but we need to be represented in DC, and the establishment is working hard to protect the interests of the establishment. They will use whatever method that makes it easier for them to ignore different ideas, and competition entering into the political market place. Regardless, and I cannot stress this enough, if we do not work to change the way things are done, we will continue to see that $21 Trillion in Debt and $120 Trillion in unfunded liabilities will continue to grow!
Again, thank you all for your continued support. This is not about me, this is about us. If you want to meet up, or you have an event in your area, 610-636-8039
Sincerely,
Steve Scheetz