Published bimonthly by the Libertarian Party of Washington State

Contents copyright (c) 1999 by Washington Libertarian. Any material may be reproduced with credit to the author and to Washington Libertarian.

For the latest on events, speakers, etc., see the ''Updates'' Calendar on the main LPWS web site, http://LPWS.org/events.htm.

Congratulations are in order!

By Jocelyn Langlois, State Chair

Kelly Haughton and eleven regional affiliates have worked very hard this season and have fielded 27 candidates for office. This is a terrific leap from our recent running average of about four candidates/year. Including an additional 4 small-l libertarians, here is the breakout by region:

• 2 Benton-Franklin
• 1 Central WA
• 1 Clark County (affiliate pending)
• 10 East King
• 2 Grays Harbor
• 3 Pierce
• 1 Skagit/San Juan
• 1 South Sound
• 2 Spokane
• 2 Northeast WA
• 6 West King

This is amazing, especially for an off-year election. We are putting people in positions that will help make a difference in our day-to-day lives. People who have a better than average chance to make a difference in policy.

Special mention should go to the following regions; Northeast WA, they are not only the newest region but also the smallest, and East King, which has not only fielded the largest number of candidates but has in two years gone from no organization to one of the strongest in the state. Special mention also to Bruce Lytle, who recruited a candidate even before regional affiliation was complete!

Special thanks to Kelly for working so hard to keep us all on task. Without someone like him to keep us moving and to make all the reminder phone calls ( I wouldn't like to see his phone bill), I don't believe we could have been quite this successful without him.

Keep up the good work!

Ed. Note: candidate names and contact information will be listed in the next Director's Report, which goes just to members, rather than here. Otherwise, an "in-kind contribution" triggers an avalanche of PDC paperwork. O

How the LPWS exponentially increased number of candidates

By Kelly Haughton

This is the first time we have had one person (me) decide to dedicate himself to candidate recruitment. For quite some time, I had been thinking that there really should be someone to do just candidate recruiting, and this year, I got myself appointed the job.

For the last year, the only thing I talked about with LPWS members was the importance of running for office. By frequent repetition, I made running for office the thing to do. Candidate recruitment at a local level gave the new members something interesting to talk about and DO.

Part of our success was getting the message out to all the new members. Of course, an important aspect was recruiting local leaders to my point of view (some of them are running, themselves), and they in turn recruited additional candidates.

Evidently lots of our members actually read this newsletter - several people contacted me about my article about be a "Friday candidate" (running unopposed). I also did some last-minute email blitzes for some counties describing what positions were still available, and this gained us a few additional last-minute candidates.

I expect that a considerable percentage of our members will win their elections - not only are the people we are fielding excellent, but also 4 or 5 of them are running unopposed, including influential races such as City Council. Other races include City Council, Port Commission, Fire Commission, School Board, County Council, and Water Commissioner.

These nonpartisan races are great places to start. In Washington State, we have a very real chance at winning these elections. Elected officials do wonders for a political party. It gives us legitimacy. It gives us a pool of people who will endorse our partisan candidates. It gives us a pool of well-known people to run for partisan office.

Next year's partisan candidates can expect more support from the Party as we learn what works. The national LP will be running national TV ads, and this will increase name recognition for Libertarians, and spread our ideas. Please consider running for state legislature, Congress, or one of the other positions that will be available a year from now.

And we need more people to help recruit. Jesse Brocksmith, himself a candidate, and the Reece and Rufus Rose campaign team, are doing specific pieces of the puzzle, and there are more races yet to cover. Anyone is invited to contact me or State Chair Jocelyn Langlois, for more information:

• Kelly Haughton, Chair of Candidate Recruiting for '99 races, 253-858-7523 or haughtons@aol.com
• Jocelyn Langlois, State Chair, 509-946-8382 or chair@LPWS.org
• Reece and Rufus Rose, recruiting and helping candidates for statewide office and Congress, 360-341-1796 or L2000@LPWS.org
• Jesse Brocksmith, recruiting at least one candidate from each district for state legislature, 425-820-5133, op_coverage_wa@yahoo.com.

In closing, I would like to say that this position has been very rewarding for me. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of work, and worth it. O

LP at Fairs!!!

Grant County Fair, Aug. 17-20; Paloose Empire Fair (Colfax), Sept. 9-12; Puyallup Fair Sept. 10-26; Slice of Sumner Oct. 2-3. Contact Carol Miller to get in touch with fair organizer to volunteer. Possible presence (depending on volunteers) at WAC gun shows Sept. 18 & 19, Monroe; Oct. 23 & 24, Monroe.

Several regional events didn't get details to calendar@LPWS.org in time, so for more info in your region, check with your local chair. No need to RSVP unless noted.

State Executive Committee Sept 11, 1pm to 4:30pm. Odd-numbered months (possibly changing to every 3rd month) on 2nd Saturdays. Super 8 Motel, 1500 Canyon Rd, Ellensburg. Directions: From I-90, take Exit 109 = Ellensburg/Canyon Rd. Exit, turn right onto Canyon Rd, it will be on the right after 3 blocks. Lost ? 509-962-6888. Questions? Contact Carol Miller at 206-329-5669 or director@LPWS.org. Some people will likely have a casual dinner afterwards, location TBD.

Benton/Franklin Counties 4th Thursdays. Aug 26 theme: Organizing to support our two city council candidates. Dinner 6:30pm, meeting, 7pm. Godfather's Pizza, 1051 George Washington Way, Richland. Directions: From I-182, take Exit 5 = north on George Washington Way, it's 1/2 block past Swift Ave. on the left. From Hwy 14, take the George Washington Exit, head north, and it's 1/2 block past Swift Ave. on the left. Lost? 509-943-8488. Questions? Contact Dave Carson at 509-627-1303 or benton@LPWS.org.

Clark County 3rd Thursdays, Clark County PUD Operations Center Community room at 8600 NE 117th Ave, Vancouver from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Bruce Lytle organizing affiliate region: brucekey@ix.netcom.com.

Grays Harbor County 3rd Saturdays, 1pm. River Haven Restaurant, 120 Lincoln Ave, Hoquiam. Directions: It's on Hwy 101 just N of Hwy 109 turnoff. Lost? 360-532-0126. Questions? Art Rathjen, 360-289-4940, grays@LPWS.org.

King County

1. Liberty Forum (Bellevue) Aug 18th, Sept 15th, TBA. CHANGE OF LOCATION AND DATE: 3rd Wednesdays, dinner (optional) 6:30pm, announcements 7:15pm, speaker 7:45pm, $2 donation suggested. Las Margaritas, 437 108th Ave NE, Bellevue. Free parking. BRING A FRIEND! Meeting room is downstairs. Directions: From Hwy 405, Exit #13B=NE 8th St, west to 108th, turn left onto 108th, it will be one block down on the right. Lost? 425-453-0535. Questions? Doug Witt at (425) 888-2266 or humus@halcyon.com.
2. Liberty Supper Club (Seattle) POSSIBLE CHANGE OF LOCATION, CALL SCOTT FIRST! 4th Thursdays (except Nov. & Dec.). August 26 speaker: Richard Rahn, a libertarian economist who is a past Vice President and Chief Economist for the US Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Rahn will speak to the necessity and inevitability of changing our tax, trade and financial laws to deal with the reality of the digital world. He will also have copies of his new book for sale, the End of Money and the Struggle for Financial Privacy. Dinner (optional) 6:30pm, meeting 7:30pm, speaker 8pm. $2 cover charge. Bring friends, neighbors, and the politically curious to this monthly soirée. There's always plenty of time for questions and conversation. Oscar's II Restaurant, 2051 E. Madison, Seattle (east Capitol Hill). Directions: From I-5, Madison St. Exit; east on Madison; on the right near 22nd, parking in the back. Lost? 206-322-2029. Questions? Scott Semans, 206-322-4180 or ssemans@aol.com. (More opportunities to see Dr. Rahn: Wednesday, Aug. 25: Borders Books, Tacoma, 2508 S. 38th, 7:30pm. Thursday, Aug. 26: Luncheon at Washington Athletic Club, register at 206-292-0401x111; Friday, Aug. 27: Barnes and Noble, 626 106th NE, Bellevue, 12noon and Southcenter Barnes & Noble, 300 Andover Pk. W, 7pm.)
3. Business Meeting, East King County (organizers of Liberty Forum): Changing to 1st Mondays. Same place as Liberty Forum, above.
4. TV! Public Access Cable: Liberty Forum (W. King's event) broadcasts 1st Sundays at 4pm. Liberty Supper Club (E. King's event) broadcasts 3rd Sundays at 4pm, ch 29/King County.
5. Fun & Family picnic, August 20. East meets West -- on the softball diamond -- at the first annual King County Libertarians "Fun & Family" picnic. Other events and contests will include volleyball and various children's games. The location, Seattle's Woodland Park, also allows some families to enjoy a trip to the zoo. Sheltered tables reserved at Shelter #2, 2pm - 11pm. Softball game starts at 6:30. Children's events will begin at 5pm, if needed. Please RSVP to the appropriate co-chair, especially if bringing children. W. King co-chair: Mike Hihn, liberty@wolfenet.com, 206-241-6058. E. King co-chair: Sheryl Ross, srosspr@aol.com, 425-373-0668.

* Event of the Month: *

6. Liberty Walk August 28, 11am: a 10-mile walk through Seattle including Waterfront, Ballard Locks, Fremont, and Seattle Center. Walkers garner pledges, and net revenues go to Libertarian candidates. Starting point is McDonald's at Pier 52 at the Seattle Waterfront. Contact Lauren, Lbain@emeraldnet.net.

Kitsap County 2nd Tuesdays, 6:30pm Roundtable Pizza, 3276 NW Plaza Rd. (near Toys R Us) Directions: Hwy 16, then Hwy 3 North to Silverdale, take the Hwy 303 South = Kitsap Mall Exit; turn right off exit onto Kitsap Mall Bvd; turn right at 2nd stoplight at Plaza Road; the restaurant will be on right. Lost? 360-698-4040. Questions? Ron Ralstin, 360-479-2921 or kitsap@LPWS.org.

Pierce County 3rd Thursdays, 7pm. Roundtable Pizza, 7901 S. Hosmer, Tacoma. Contact Mark Hamilton 253-846-1928 or hamilton@frugal.com.

South Sound Aug 19, BBQ and beach party, 6pm, featured speaker Kris Sundberg, litigator for Liberty against taxpayer-funded stadiums. Bring friends! Home of Erne Lewis, 9702 Hunter Pt Rd NW, Olympia. Donation of $2 appreciated. Please RSVP to Erne at 360-866-7347 or ernelewis@home.com.

Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille Counties (NE WA)

1. Libertarian Coffee, 28 Aug, 25 Sept, 23 Oct at Eva Hart's residence in Colville. 1 PM to ???; Eva Hart's residence - 531 East Birch Avenue #3, Colville. This is an informal gathering where libertarians and guests can get together and discuss libertarian ideas and solutions. An excellent opportunity for those unfamiliar with Libertarianism to learn more. Cookies and coffee served. Every 4th Saturday unless otherwise noted on website. Questions/directions, contact Eva Hart, ehart@theofficenet.com or 509-684-3595 or visit www.LPWS.org/northeast.
2. Business Meeting, Every 3rd Saturday unless otherwise noted as above. 21 Aug, 18 Sep, 16 Oct at Cookie's Café in Colville. 1pm to 3pm; Cookie's Café, 198 East 2nd Ave, Colville. Guests welcome, however only party members vote. Party members, $2 donation suggested. Questions/ directions, contact Eva Hart at ehart@theofficenet.com or 509-684-3595. Questions? Mark Taff at 509-684-6240 or marktaff@theofficenet.com.

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST

* Event of the Month: *

Sept 17 - Sept 19 Liberty Magazine Conference Port Townsend, WA. Features Congressman Ron Paul, Economist David Friedman, Liberty Magazine's founder R. W. Bradford and 8 other luminaries for Liberty. This will be an informal setting with lots of social events. In Port Townsend, WA. More info: http://www.libertysoft.com/liberty/ or 800-854-6991.

Leadership Institute's Grassroots Activism School Sept 11-12. Comprehensive instruction on the real nature of politics, building a cohesive organization, developing winning campaign strategy and message, public relations and earned media, voter contact programs, fund-raising, direct mail, and more. Meals and 1300-pg resource binder incl. $99. Bellevue Comm. College. More info, Howey Moi Assoc., 877-479-0425 or www.howeymoi.com.

Resist the List meetings every Wednesday in Seattle 7:30pm, at community room, Cal Anderson House, 400 Broadway; working to prevent mandatory reporting of HIV+ people, info 206-517-2617 or jackman@drizzle.com.

September 14, 1999 Primary Election

November 2, 1999 General Election O

Email: cheap, fun, and informative.

by Carol Miller

In my opinion, there are two key structural elements to East King County's success at recruiting candidates in their region: terrific meetings, and email communication.

Here are email lists that you can participate in:

candidates@lists.LPWS.org: candidates for public office get information and support from each other on campaign issues

chat@lists.LPWS.org: discussions about any topic. This is the appropriate list for humor, forwards of e-newsletters, forwards of emails from national or other lists, etc. Discussions should get moved to this list (or to private email) when lengthy or involve few people.

leadership@LPWS.org: low volume, announcements and topics of interest to LP leaders statewide. This may become a moderated list in the near future to prevent key people from dropping out due to too much volume.

kclp@lists.LPWS.org: King County discussion. Anyone can participate!

sealp@lists.LPWS.org: Seattle discussion

speakers@lists.LPWS.org: announcements and discussion for Libertarians who do speeches at schools and civic groups

spokane@lists.LPWS.org: Spokane discussion.

ssound@lists.LPWS.org: Mason, Thurston and Lewis Counties discussion.

sec@LPWS.org: not available to subscribe to, but anyone can send an email to the State Central Committee members.

Additionally, I e-publish "What's Happening with the Libertarian Party in WA" and it reaches about 1200 Washingtonians directly (plus pass-alongs). If you think that a certain issue merits reaching this whole group of people (such as call our US Senator to support a bill), then email me. I publish this about twice a month, time permitting.

Other areas have email lists set up but are not yet active. To activate, get together a few pals and subscribe yourselves! They are: YoungLibs@lists.LPWS.org, parents@lists.LPWS.org, pride@lists.LPWS.org, debate@lists.LPWS.org

More lists can be created on demand. Any region, any city, special interest groups, etc.

A few notes about etiquette:

Post to only one list. If you feel that it's essential that everyone get your post, ask me to include it in the "What's Happening" announcements. Alternately, post it to the "chat" list and ask for feedback about whether it would be appropriate to post to which other list.

Post 90%+ of your "thank you for this" and "I agree" notes to the individual rather than the list.

Do not "cc" a list. Other respondents typically don't remove the cc and this adds unwanted volume. The exception is the chat list.

Consider that your email takes time from everyone on the list, suppose an average of 2 minutes/person, and that the lists have 20-60 people each. Aside from the "chat" list, do your part to keep a "high content to noise ratio." Inappropriate posts are spam! An enthusiastic dog owner posting to the leadership list a funny story about something their dog ate, is stealing over two hours of valuable activist time. Regional lists are flexible depending on the wishes of the participants, and a "regional chat" list can be created if there are some people who want to chat locally.

Transition to the chat list when a topic becomes chat (especially from the lists that are meant to be low volume) by bcc'ing the old list on the next message.

Keep the subject line current. Capture the essence in the first couple of words. When the subject has changed from filing week to PDC filings for City Council Races, the subject could be: PDC filings (was filing week).

Post information about the latest virus or scary story (such as LSD on payphones) only after verifying that it's true. 99% of these are bogus. Find sites that report what's real and what's phony by using an internet search engine on the words "hoax" and "internet," for example.

For more about email etiquette, do a search on the topic on the internet.

How to sign up for an LPWS e-list:

• To subscribe, send an empty message to ("chat" is the example): chat-subscribe@lists.LPWS.org.
• Or, to subscribe to a digest version (all the messages, bundled together once every day or two): chat-digest-subscribe@lists.LPWS.org.
• Help is available by sending an empty message to: chat-help@lists.LPWS.org.
• For the "What's Happening" newsletter, sign up by web at www.LPWS.org.
• If you want more help, email to help@LPWS.org, or call me at 425-277-8192 or 206-329-5669. O

"Our Founders were Libertarians"

Thank you for the excellent piece by James Kilpatrick in your issue of June 2. He correctly points out the willingness of our leaders to take away our privacy and he lists a number of laws and regulations that we have reason to worry about. Mr. Kilpatrick also indicated the safeguards written into our Constitution and he is hopeful that the Supreme Court will limit the damages which such laws and regulations may do.

Unfortunately, the knowledge that the Supreme Court will be reviewing these issues gives me little comfort.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have become something close to religious icons. Most of the American people and substantially all of their elected leaders, as well as the justices that those leaders appoint, find it convenient to treat those documents with lip trembling reverence, but almost never as the basis for our laws and regulations.

Our founders were libertarians. They did not believe that individuals should use force to gain values from others - not even in a democracy. The Declaration of Independence states that the purpose of governments is to protect freedoms. The Constitution was written to define the role of the federal government and to limit government in order that it could not infringe upon the rights of the people. It is not possible to read the history of that period and draw any other conclusion.

Our Founders recognized the danger in an unlimited democracy and they feared it. The Constitution was written to provide for a limited democracy while protecting the individual's rights and freedoms from that democracy, i.e. from the majority.

Our government today is Tom Jefferson and James Madison's worst nightmare.

Two hundred years of lawyers serving as politicians and lawyers serving as justices have discovered, or created, so many loopholes in the Constitution that most of our freedoms are gone or terribly eroded. "Rights" which once referred to a freedom of action that an individual could take for his own purposes, now is used by politicians and a frequently ignorant press to mean a government granted power and usually, the entitlement to wealth created by others. Our politicians, Democrats and Republicans, organize us into voting blocks designed to make the other guy pay for pork we take.

To change this sorry state of affairs a lot of people must begin to study their history. This nation was founded on a libertarian base. Government should be used to protect your life, your liberty, and your right to pursue your own happiness. To the extent it does more, government destroys those freedoms.

Thank you.

Erne Lewis
9702 Hunter Pt Rd NW
Olympia WA 98502
360 866 7347

Published in The Olympian 7/21/99; resulted in additional three participants at the next local LP meeting the following week.

Editor's note: The "best published letter to the editor" will be a regular column, and the writer of each selected letter will be awarded a fabulous prize: an LPWS t-shirt. The letter must have been published in a non-libertarian newspaper or other publication and mention the word "libertarian" or"Libertarian." Congratulations, Erne, and thanks for inspiring this prize! Instructions for submission on page 2. O

Constitution and Bylaws Committee seeks members.

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee is seeking interested Party members who would like to participate on this year's committee. Fortunately, most of the heavy lifting has been done in regards to the controlling documents, so the committee work this year will be mostly basic editing issues. I don't foresee any substantial changes being made unless something is brought to our attention that we overlooked, so we shouldn't need more than one or two meetings this year. This stuff isn't sexy, but it is important work. If anyone is interested in participating please let me know.

Ken Houghton
Chair, Constitution and Bylaws Committee
(206) 764-0778, khoughton@jps.net O

Other chairs of Convention Committees also seek members.

Convention Committee, chaired by Carol Miller, contact Carol at 425-277-8192, 206-329-5669, or director@LPWS.org. The convention committee organizes the speakers, hotel, budget (to be approved by state central committee), promotion and handles incoming payments/reservations.

Credentials Committee, chaired by Jayne Peralta, contact 206-470-2948 (pager) or jayne@covenantmortgage.com. The credentials committee verifies whether people are eligible to vote on party business at the convention's business session.

Platform Committee, Chaired by Tim Loughner, contact Tim at 253-863-0514 or webguru@LPWS.org. The platform committee suggests revisions to the LPWS platform, to be voted on by convention delegates.

Rules & Resolutions Committee, chaired by Brett Wilhelm, contact Brett at 360-221-9282 or brett_wilhelm@compuserve.com. This committee may propose resolutions and receives resolutions submitted by members.

The chair for the Nominating Committee will be appointed at the next State Central Committee meeting. Contact Jocelyn Langlois if you're interested. O

Around the State.

Irony in Bellevue
According to member John Evans, the IRS occupies two floors of the John Galt Building at 116th Avenue N. E. in Bellevue, WA. (John Galt is a hero in Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged.)

LPWSers on road trips around state
Reece and Rufus Rose and will be taking frequent, overnight road trips to develop campaigns and campaign teams for statewide and congressional races. Contact Reece and Rufus at 360-341-1796 or L2000@LPWS.org.

John Gearhart files as Democrat
Citing his failure to get petitions in by the deadline (he'd thought it was the same as the filing deadline, not earlier), John Gearhart was not able to file as a Libertarian. It was not, however, too late to file as a major party candidate, so he filed as a Democrat. Facing no Democratic challengers, John is guaranteed an opportunity to spread the Libertarian message through in the general election.

John feels that the snafu might end up being a net benefit to his campaign as he faces a Republican whom he characterizes as "talks like a Libertarian, but votes like a statist." He notes, "we will be focused on interests of interest to us Libertarians - we will not be carrying water for either of the major parties. We will get a lot of press."

Reece Rose, L2000 Co-Chair, commented "This is a tremendous loss for the Libertarian Party, and I expect that our efforts to achieve 'major party status' will be successful, so in the future our candidates will easily be able to file under the Libertarian Party banner."

Regions share in dues payments
In July, the LPWS State Central Committee voted to commence dues sharing with regional affiliates, who will in September will start receiving $.50 per member, monthly.

Treasurer Chris Caputo commented, "This gives the regions additional flexibility and support to do outreach. I think this is a big breakthrough for us - and it fits well with our philosophy of decentralized decision-making."

LP-endorsed initiatives: One flies, one fizzles
I-695, the $30 License Tab Initiative, turned in a whopping 500,000+ signatures by the deadline. The LPWS plans advertising and outreach associated with this popular campaign, which includes putting tax increases to a vote of the people.

On the other hand, Citizens for Free Market Liquor called it quits in June. Rachel Hawkridge, Chair, commented, "We had a very late start, and that was a huge factor against us. We were also surprised how the industry is afraid to upset the apple cart by publicly supporting privatizing liquor sales, even though they privately agree that it would be the best thing for Washingtonians."

Hawkridge also pledged to continue the fight, and plans to re-file the initiative in the future. O

Public Disclosure Commission Filing: Encouraging words.

By Jesse Brocksmith

The races for 2000 are coming. I, for one, welcome fellow Libertarians to run for office. While I'm not an expert or attorney, I would like to share what I've learned so far about PDC filing.

I encourage anyone even thinking of running for office to call the PDC tomorrow at (360) 753-1111. You can also check out their website at www.pdc.wa.gov. Before I made my decision, I called and asked, "I'm thinking about running for office, would you send me a rule book and the forms I would be filling out?"

Having the information early has been a great help. I called the PDC at least four times since the start of my campaign and have never had to wait for more than three minutes on hold. That's better time than my bank or phone company, most days.

For me, it's a priority to be familiar with all the rules. As a minor party, we will be held to the most stringent reviews. I don't want to give my competition any excuse to get me disqualified.

There are three reporting options for disclosing campaign finance information.

A few years ago, I used the mini-reporting option in my Independent race for State Legislature as an official write-in. I had a whopping $60 for my campaign (being a broke college student, I felt lucky to have that!). All I had to do was fill out a form saying I would spend less than $500, keep my campaign records for two years, and give any leftover funds to a worthy cause. That's it - it was that simple. People running for small city council races, or water or fire districts, might consider this option.

The second option, the abbreviated reporting option, includes spending under $2000 and not receiving more than $200 from any one source (except the candidate's own contributions). At the end of a campaign, the treasurer fills out one form to explain all expenses. Campaign records are kept for five years. This is also easy and tends to be used in medium-sized town council or low-effort state legislative races.

The third option, full reporting, is the most complicated with the exception of Federal filings. There is no limit on what you can spend, just on where the money comes from. The form that gets filled out every month is called a C-4. It has to be in the mail by the 10th of each month (check in for more details). This form explains any monies you have spent from the campaign in the previous month.

The next form, the C-3, is variable. The C-3 is how you report donations. At the beginning of a campaign, this form is filled out within five business days of making any deposits in the campaign account. Once July 1st of your campaign year starts, you have to file a C-3 report weekly if any contributions have been deposited that week

There is one more form, the F-1, which does discourage some people from running: it's the personal financial affairs statement. All candidates have to file this statement. It is used so that the public can find out about potential conflicts of interest. It's intrusive and I didn't like filling it out (even though it only asked for round numbers), but I wanted to have the opportunity to get as many contributions as possible for my campaign for Kirkland City Council.

This article doesn't cover everything, and the rules can change quickly. If you have concerns, call the PDC and ask: it's their job to help you.

There are also forms on reporting earnings from an auction or garage sale and for reporting a campaign loan.

Don't let disclosure issues scare you off from running a campaign.

When it comes down to it, the PDC forms for campaign reporting are no harder than balancing a checkbook, and with more people running and winning, we will make it even easier for the next generation of Libertarian candidates. O

Better Meetings,
Bigger Wins

by Brien Bartels

There's an activity that libertarians ceaselessly plan for, secretly dread, sometimes botch, and must master if they will achieve their objectives: The meeting.

In areas where libertarians aren't too thick on the ground (which seems like 98% of the earth's surface), why take the time on a Robert's Rules-governed, bylaws-driven meeting? That's Tom Stahl's philosophy. The Central Washington farmer surprised his fellow Kittitas County party members by renting a venue for an industrial hemp film festival, paying for advertising, and targeting non-libertarians.

"With the effort it takes to get a meeting place, send out notices, and actually attend a meeting, I think we should always aim to accomplish something more than just a meeting. We should either be doing public outreach on hot topics or planning a political campaign. Meetings just for meetings' sake don't accomplish much, and people quickly lose interest." If local activists have serious, quorum-requiring business to hash out, let them meet before, after or separately from the public's event, he advises.

The Double Hemp Video Night brought in several who had attended the Kittitas County Libertarians earlier showing of Waco: The Rules of Engagement, and a number of local college students, including two school paper reporters and a photographer. After the full page feature story those reporters created, that college might be ripe for a new chapter of Young Libertarians, or at least another screening of The Billion Dollar Crop. Stahl says a future event will feature speakers on HIV / AIDS and invasions of privacy planned by the government to stop the disease. Around tax time, there may be a seminar on wealth defense by financial advisors.

The people in your community may not want to learn about the bylaws of setting up a local political group. Tom Stahl saw that they would want to learn about the world's most valuable oppressed plant. Maybe they will want to learn about defending their wealth. Give them what they want and they will listen to what you have to say.

What about when you're ready to go public with an active local party? What type of meeting, and what activities do you want? According to Ken Bisson of Steuben County, Indiana, who shares his experience via an Internet list, use the meeting's precious time to get to know the people who have come out for you. He advises borrowing from the Advocates for Self-Government "Seminar 1" technique, getting each person present to answer some easy personal questions.

"By learning what type of group they would like to join, I could develop a type which new members would enjoy. Our purpose tonight would be to explore the opportunities. I then asked my wife Ellen to lead 20 minutes of "brainstorming" to collect ideas about successful local groups they had joined in the past and suggestions of what they would enjoy in a local libertarian group.

"We then selected five of their ideas for more discussion. They included concepts like the timing of meetings, subject matter, goals and locations. Everyone felt comfortable sharing their ideas and contributed. After a brief Q & A opportunity, I closed with a final 'roundtable' asking each attendee to share a 'highlight' of the evening. This is another valuable Advocates technique. It gives the meeting a clear ending and everyone leaves with a focus on something they enjoyed as a result of their attendance."

From this meeting come volunteers in the critical activities of recruiting, and, adds Bisson, "Most importantly, Ellen and I had FUN. We are eager to move on from here and build a libertarian group in our community!"

And once your new members hit the ground running? Focus on their chosen mission and pursue it doggedly. Reinforce your members preference with success in stirring things up, attracting attention and landing new Libertarians.

Let's take a messy example from life. Out on the damp and haunted peninsula of Port Townsend, WA, there once was a political group called MOCCAA: Make Our City and County Accountable and Affordable.

Rather than the demand contained in their name, their top activity was to complain about how dumb, rude and conniving most of the members of the city council were. Their second favorite activity was to complain about how dumb, rude and conniving most of the members of MOCCAA were. As might be expected, MOCCAA was driven by faction and its meetings disrupted by occasional walk-outs.

But they worked to achieve their objective, despite the tension between many of them. They went to every city council meeting. They spoke their minds forcefully, supported each other, put up with the condescension they got from the council and the city staff. They collected petition signatures for a referendum to reorganize city government, and, as a bonus, put up all the council seats to early election. And they won. They took a bloc of seats and now rule with the help of friendly councilmen whom they did not oppose in the balloting.

A very smart person wrote to the Letters column of the local paper. It was easy to see how smart he was because he said he was a retired college professor. He gave the wise opinion that it would take more than a few grasshoppers (MOCCAA) to stampede the cattle (the voters and city government of Port Townsend). Like so many smart college professors, he turned out to be dead wrong.

Even a bunch of squabbling Port Townsendites can change the course of municipal history if they simply concentrate on their main objective: making trouble for city government.

There you have it. Tom Stahl gets results from giving people what they want. Ken Bisson succeeds because he has fun and includes everyone in the discussion. And MOCCAA succeeded because they did not relent from getting what they wanted. Keep this in mind the next time you gather your freedom-fighters.

Speaker list now available.

Contact Carol Miller (contact info on back page) for their contact information and claim to fame. A good speaker increases event attendance, provides important information, and makes the event more entertaining. O

NEW CONTEST

The Libertarian Party of Washington State is enhancing the bounty for the Advocates for Self Government's Lights of Liberty Awards. Achieve any one of the following by Dec. 31st for special awards and gifts:

• 3 letters using the word "libertarian" published in non-Libertarian magazines or newspapers. Letters to the editor are a GREAT way to greatly increase the public's positive encounters with us and our ideas. Each such letter published is like a free ad for our ideas in the most popular part of a newspaper. Equivalent ad space would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
• Staff 3 Operation Politically Homeless booths. OPH is a fantastic way to discover dozens or even hundreds of libertarian-leaning folks in your community. (The state party has a budget for entrance fees; call Carol Miller to find out what's scheduled.)
• Deliver 3 speeches to non-libertarian groups such as service clubs, high schools, colleges, political rallies, Toastmasters, and so on. Your speech, to qualify, should be on a libertarian-related topic and must use the words "libertarian" or "libertarianism" in a positive way. (You don't even have to write a speech, incidentally. If you prefer, you can use one of the Advocates' audience-tested speech kits. See their online catalog -- http://www.reliablehost.com/self-gov/tapesets.html -- for more info on these.)

In addition to the 6 benefits and gifts from the Advocates, the LPWS will also give $300 to the regional affiliate with the most people who qualify (% of population), and an LPWS t-shirt to every person who qualifies.

Monies were pledged for this specific purpose; the winning region will be judged as a percentage of population as listed in the '99 WA State Yearbook. For details, check out http://www.self-gov.org/lights/. More info available from Sharon Harris at the Advocates for Self-Government, 800-932-1776. (See Upcoming Events for upcoming fairs info.)

Activism away from the keyboard.

By Chris Caputo

This summer, I finally spent time at my first Operation Politically Homeless booth. It was the Freedom Day Celebration associated with Seattle's Pride Parade.

I arrived just as the marchers were also arriving, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't necessary to harangue passers-by - people were already interested in checking out our booth. Although it was fun to call out, "hello!" and people sometimes did need a little encouragement to take the quiz.

Almost half of the people who did take the quiz, tested Libertarian. Unsurprisingly, most of the rest at this particular event were liberal, though I was surprised to find a couple of authoritarians, too.

I was so glad that the Libertarian Party had a presence at this event when one man came up to the booth and asked if we were anti-gay. Evidently, he was asking for a group of friends who had that mistaken impression. Like doorbelling, actually meeting people face-to-face helps remove scary thoughts that people sometimes face about change.

The most surprising thing was, how much fun we had. Both myself and fellow booth staffer, Carol Miller, laughed with people the whole time. They were kind to us - one woman from a bank's outreach booth tested Libertarian and dropped off huge handfuls of candy for our table. There was one woman who laughed hysterically at the LPWS t-shirt, Please don't feed the feds! And lots of people took home extra business-card sized World's Smallest Political Quizzes to share with their friends.

All in all, it was a rewarding and worthwhile way to spend half a day. I'm looking forward to a few shifts at the Puyallup Fair.

Ed note: Chris Caputo is running for King County Council, and is the LPWS treasurer. O

Libertarians in office in Washington State John Bennett, State Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery Rob Chase, Chase Youth Commission Bruce Coe, Kittitas County Planning Commission John Gearhart, City Council, Palouse Mark Hamilton, Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Bonney Lake Gene Hawkridge, Totem Lake Neighborhood Planning Task Force Ken Houghton, King County Boating Advisory Commission Frank Jenkins, Pierce County Aging and Long Term Care Advisory Board Ron Lahr, City of Spokane Community Development Board Larey McLaren, Commissioner, Alderwood Water District Lori Loranger, Skamania County Freeholder Jack Loranger, Skamania County Freeholder Margaret Wiggins, Commissioner, Northshore Utility District = appointed = elected (Excludes LP members elected to partisan office from another party.)

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