Mediation & Facilitaiton Center
11 King Street, Augusta ME

Pot Luck Dinner, please bring food (optional)

From LPME Treasurer, Jorge Maderal:

LPME EXCOM, and all Libertarians,

The second meeting of a series between the Greens of Maine and the Maine Libertarians will be held at the Mediation Center at 11 King Street, in Augusta – just down the road from the State House on Sunday, August 15th at 5 pm.

So far we have a tentative agreement on a series of debates emphasizing common political goals and political discourse containing no ad hominem attacks. The next goal is to come up with a format and discussion topics.

This meeting will be open to all libertarians who wish to participate. I also highly encourage you to bring a friend. I fully expect everyone to strongly disagree with something that will be said. This debate will not be easy and will be very frustrating to most participants! However the benefits of an enlighten political discourse will more than make up for the initial pain of planning and coordinating.

Please email me with number of attendees ( There is no charge for attendance )

jmaderal@hotmail.com

Cheers,

Jorge Maderal

Libertarian

P.S.:

I forgot to add that this is also a pot luck event, so bring food and beverages if you want.

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at home of Jim & Sue Poulin on beautiful Sebago Lake

210 Lakewood Rd., Casco, ME 04015

RSVP Requested

207-655-5416, Sue_P@LPME.org

Swimming, boat rides, charcoal grill w. meats, soft drinks provided. BYOB, food donations such as salad or dessert appreciated. If coming, please try & let us know so we’ll have enough food! Bring a lawn chair if you have one.

(For Directions, click more…)

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Directions:

From the south: Maine Turnpike north to exit 48 Portland, Westbrook. Turn right onto Riverside St., at 3rd light turn left onto Route 302 West. Proceed thru Westbrook, Windham, and Raymond, approx. 18 miles. Look for the Cry of the Loon gift shop & double crossroads sign. At the next crossroad sign turn left onto Lakewood Rd. opposite the “Casco Wellness Center.” Go to end of paved road 0.6 miles, turn right onto dirt, go 0.4 miles to #210 on left.

From the north: Maine Turnpike south to exit 63 Gray, New Gloucester. Turn left onto Route 202, about 4 miles turn right onto Rt. 115, then 3 miles turn right onto Rt. 302 West. Approx. 8 miles to Cry of the Loon, proceed as above.

In the meantime, if you are looking to help in any of these ways call 207-370-LPME, or write to Chair@lpme.org.

Thanks.

All three television news stations in Maine ran stories today on our vote to pursue “official party” status.  See them here: WCSH, WGME, WMTW.

We’ve just finished our First Executive Committee meeting, and we got a lot accomplished.

We’ve got our policy manual put together to provide structure to party operations, and started getting together some committees to work on outreach, building membership and other activities.

Also we have voted to endorse the People’s Veto of the new service taxes.

Last but hardly least is that we approved the plan to pursue official recognized party status in the State of Maine via the petition method. (The hows, and whys of this are detailed in earlier posts on this website.)

This direction is already beginning to pay dividends. Before the meeting, WCSH 6, WMTW 8, and WGME 13, all had cameras at the Portland Library, and I fielded questions from all three stations , most of which were about the ballot access plan. I was also asked to update them on how the meeting went afterwards.

For all I know, as I type this the LPME is getting publicity on the six o’clock news!

More later!
—
Shawn L.

The seven-member executive committee of the newly reconstituted Libertarian Party of Maine (LPME) will hold its first meeting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, at the Portland Public Library. A key agenda item will be a vote on whether or not to launch a petition drive to secure ballot access for the 2012 election cycle.

“I’m always asked by new members why they don’t see ‘Libertarian’ as an option when registering to vote,” says LPME Chairman Shawn Levasseur. “I’m sure that in addition to our active members, there are many others who, while they wouldn’t attend a meeting or regularly participate in Party activities, would register as Libertarian to show their preference for smaller government.”

The focus on limited, fiscally-responsible government, along with a respect for the individual in an era of interest-group activism, has long been a hallmark of the Libertarian Party, the oldest and largest of America’s so-called “third parties.”

The LPME once was a recognized political party in Maine, but lost ballot status in 1992 when its presidential candidate, Andre Marrou, failed to capture 5 percent of the vote.

“Since we could get candidates on the ballot via petitioning anyway, we never tried to regain ballot status,” explains Levasseur. “But today, rules have changed that make holding on to ballot access much easier. It’s just the initial hurdle that’s the challenging part.”

To gain recognition by the state as an official political party, Libertarians will have to collect petition signatures equal to at least 5 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the most recent gubernatorial election. That number currently stands at 27,543 and will likely increase after November. However, a recent change in Maine election law means political parties no longer need to meet the 5 percent threshold in presidential or gubernatorial elections to retain ballot status. Instead, an official party now only needs to show that at least 10,000 of its members participated in a statewide election.

“The biggest benefit of state recognition, in my opinion,” says Levasseur, “is that it would give Mainers the ability to exercise their right of choice, and to express their support for the libertarian philosophy. Because established political interests only seem to understand strength of numbers, we can leverage official Party status to help influence legislation in favor of personal freedom, and personal responsibility, even if we never elect a single candidate.”

As difficult as it may be to collect the necessary names, LPME secretary Duke points to another reason why it may be useful to make the attempt.

“The Republican Party was born, in part, from a fracturing of interest within the old Whig Party,” he says. “Last week’s platform fight at the Maine State Republican Convention makes it clear that the GOP is in danger of suffering the same fate.

“The question,” asks Harrington, “is what will become of the Tea Party activists? Will they succeed in gaining control of the Republican Party, will they whither away, like the Reform Party, or will they coalesce to create a formal, political party of their own?

“I suspect we won’t know how things may shake out until after the November election,” says Harrington. “At that time, it’s possible some folks may find themselves to be ‘politically homeless.’ Because Libertarians share many of the same sensibilities and goals of the Tea Party movement, along with a national organization that can advance those interests, it’s become more important than ever that the LPME do everything it can to regain official Party status.”

Among other votes scheduled for Saturday’s LPME executive committee meeting are a number of political considerations, including a vote on where the Party will fall on June referenda issues, and whether Libertarians will endorse any of the major-Party gubernatorial candidates.

The LPME executive committee, elected at the Party’s biannual convention, this past April, includes:
Chairman: Shawn Levasseur, of Rockland,
Vice Chairman: James Oaksun, of South Portland,
Treasurer: Jorge Maderal, of Brunswick,
Secretary: Wm. Duke Harrington, of Sumner,
1st District Representative: Sue Poulin, of Casco,
At-Large Representative: Brent Tweed, of North Berwick.

A 2nd District Representative seat is currently open, and may be filled at Saturday’s meeting.

May 15 also will feature pre- and post-meeting gatherings of Libertarians in Portland. Levasseur will be available for questions prior to the executive committee meeting, from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. at Shay’s Grill Pub, at 18 Monument Square. Afterward, Libertarians will gather for a “meetup” with activists from the Campaign for Liberty, starting at 5 p.m., at Margaritas Mexican Restaurant, 11 Brown Street.

# # #

The proposed agenda, which will be available in documents linked to below, is a busy one on matters of committees organization, regional affiliation, and much, much more.

We will likely be creating a variety of committees, and volunteers for being on theses committees will be greatly appreciated.

Committees that we will need volunteers for will be:

• A bylaws committee, for reviewing our bylaws, and making recommendations for changes, if any are necessary.
• A membership committee for working on membership issues, including recruiting new members, volunteers, and donors.
• An events committee for working on outreach efforts, and developing county committees.

Anyone interested in being on these committees please attend the meeting, or send an e-mail to Chair@lpme.org

Whereas the meeting itself will likely be packed with business, there are events for discussion, and socializing before and after the meeting, both listed in the Upcoming Events sidebar to the right.

At Governor’s restaurants across the state of Maine there are burger platters bearing the names of Maine governors, past and present, Democrat, Republican, and independent. The burgers are all big, juicy, and tasty. However the names of those big government proponents does tend to leave a bad taste behind.

No longer is that necessary. As also on the burger menu is the Libertarian Combo! The burger is downsized and broken up (just like we’d like to see done to big government) into a pair of mini-burgers, and is accompanied by some chicken strips and onion rings.

Though there is no such thing as a free lunch, the Libertarian Combo is regularly available at a reduced price on Thursdays.

Those of us in the LPME would like to thank Governor’s for remembering us self-governors.

If you want to try out the Libertarian Combo at Governor’s, what better time than at our convention this April 17th!

Any member of the Libertarian Party of Maine is eligible to attend and be a delegate. All that is needed is to be a paid member of the national party, and have your name submitted for approval at the LPME convention on April 17th.

We have five delegate seats available, and can also send alternates. If you cannot attend the Maine convention, but still wish to be a delegate send an e-mail to ShawnL@Comicspundit.com, requesting that your name be submitted for the convention’s approval. Contact information, including e-mail and postal addresses, and the optional phone number would be helpful if you request to be a delegate in this manner.

The national convention is where we will elect members and officers of the Libertarian National Committee, debate and vote on our party platform, as well as proposed changes to the bylaws of the Libertarian Party.

In addition to these business functions of the convention, there will be breakout sessions on issues, activism, campaigning, and running local party chapters. There will be numerous speakers in the main convention hall as well as at special luncheons, breakfasts and dinners. There will also be plenty of opportunities for playing tourist around St. Louis.

More information about convention packages is available at the national convention website.

“It’s about Action” is the theme I chose for our convention. This is because we need to get back into the habit of action. Hopefully, I can convince some of you to run for office this year, to take the form of some of that action. But I also have something that can be a statewide effort, even beyond this fall’s election.

So here’s what I’m proposing what we can do for a statewide project that will increase the visibility and boost membership in the LPME: Get the Libertarian Party official ballot status here in Maine.

Many times, new LP members have asked why they can’t register as a Libertarian when they register to vote. For the longest time the benefits of ballot status come with costs that make petitioning candidates individually to get on the November ballot a better path to follow rather than go through the primary process. So we haven’t sought out official recognition at all since the mid 90′s.

Especially discouraging was the fact that even if we achieved ballot status we would have to get 5% of the vote in either the presidential or governor’s races to maintain ballot status.

Changes in the law this past year, where the 5% requirement has been dropped, and merely requiring 10,000 registered members of a party vote in a general election to maintain ballot status has made getting ballot status a more attractive proposition.

Getting ballot status will help matters as petitions for candidates are being picked over more strictly than before. Just this past presidential election, our nominee Bob Barr was kept off the ballot in spite of getting enough signatures, due to a stricter interpretation of petitioning rules. Having status would have meant that all we’d have to do to get our presidential candidate on the ballot is to submit forms as to who our national convention nominated and provide a slate of electors. This will have a tangible savings to our presidential candidates in years to come.

The real hurdle is getting ballot status to begin with. And that’s where we spring into action.

At our convention we can get members to fill out a declaration of intent to form a party, which will be filed with the secretary of state. Then for a period of time people can change their voter registration to Libertarian. To secure ballot status, we would have to get people to sign petitions to put us on the ballot (any registered voter can sign, regardless of party affiliation). To qualify we would need at number of valid signatures greater than 5% of total votes cast for the last governor’s election. Currently this is around 28,000, it could become more after this upcoming election.

However with the new rule about getting 10,000 registered voters to vote in a general election, we may have a further route to getting ballot status. If we can get that many registered Libertarians to vote in a general election, we could convince the legislature to change the law further to allow us ballot status, or potentially we could challenge the disparity of the admission and maintenance requirements as a form of discrimination against newer parties as opposed to established parties, as suggested in this article in Richard Winger’s Ballot Access News, which also details the changes made last year to Maine election law.

It’s a huge goal, but not an impossible one. It’s one that will also provide us with a new way of discovering and recruiting new members, as people put themselves on the public voter rolls as Libertarians. We can operate Operation Politically Homeless outreach booths at fairs, tea party protests and other events to draw attention to our efforts, register new Libertarians, and get people to sign our petition.

As I see it this is a good project that has nothing but upside. Even if we don’t meet the main goal, it will help get us moving, and visible in our communities.

I encourage you to think about this, comment here and come to the convention on April 17th, to discuss it. Thanks.