Three Westchester Republicans to Run as Libertarians

Westchester County Republicans Howard Arden, Matthew Rice and Kerry Lutz filed sufficient petition signatures with the Board of Elections to appear on the November ballot as Libertarian candidates in the Town of North Castle. Arden, a long-time Armonk resident, community volunteer and county businessman, is running for Town Supervisor. Rice and Lutz, both practicing attorneys, are seeking membership on the Town Council.
 
Critical of the many benefits local councilmembers receive, they each have vowed not to accept taxpayer-supported healthcare and retirement benefits for the part-time jobs.

New York Libertarian Party Chairman Mark Axinn stated, “The Libertarian Party is delighted to welcome both Republicans and Democrats who recognize that the two major parties stand for big government benefits at taxpayer expense. Only the Libertarian Party seeks smaller government and more freedom for all citizens.”

Additionally, Rochester Libertarians Drew Beeman, Max Kessler and Chris Edes are running for seats on the Monroe County Legislature.
 
“Now the people of Monroe County have the choice to get the government out of their wallets and out of their lives,” said Beeman.
 
The Libertarian Party is the nation’s third largest political party, standing for minimum government and maximum freedom.
 

The BOE Botches My Write-In Votes Again

Once again, the NYC Board of Elections has mixed up my write-in votes in ways that make me question whether any of the votes get counted correctly. Immediately after submitting my ballot last election day, I reported the following write-in votes on my Facebook page: “Also wrote in all 3 of my kids for supreme court judges, my wife, Mark Axinn and Ron Moore for civil court judges, John Tringle  for state senate, and myself for assembly.”

The final official votes are now tallied and reported on the NYC BOE’s website, and this is what they show:

For supreme court judge, my son Benjamin Lesczynski and daughter Sara Lesczynski each got one vote (their names got badly misspelled in the transcription, but otherwise okay), but my daughter Alana Lesczynski somehow got 4 write-in votes! In order to believe that is reported accurately, we would have to believe that three other voters in New York County, unknown to me, also thought it would be a good or at least funny idea to vote for my 8-year-old daughter for supreme court justice.

For civil court judge, they report my 1 vote for my wife Dawn Fox, but also 2 votes for Mark Axinn (I only voted for him once), 2 votes for Ron Moore (ditto), and also a vote for me (I voted for myself assembly not judge) and for John Triangle [sic] (I voted for John Tringle for state senate, not judge). The extra votes for Mark, Ron and me are possibly legit, because I think Mark and Ron may have cast joke votes for each other and me in various races, but I don’t know anyone else who would have voted for my friend John Tringle.

For assembly district 64, they report 1 vote for me that I did cast, but also one vote for John Tringle that I did not cast.

Likewise, for state senate district 25, they report the one for John Tringle that I did cast, but also one vote for me that I did not cast. Ron and Mark do not live in my assembly district, so they could not have voted for me in this race.

Election day is tomorrow

Election day is tomorrow and we have more and more evidence that our message of  “stop wasting money “ is resonating with the voters.  Warren Redlich  polled 7% in a recent Rochester Business Journal poll.  Though you can never count on polls it is reason for optimism. Our opponents have noticed and they are running scared.  So much so that they have gone negative with a number of incredible lies and misrepresentations.  This is exactly why we need new faces, new ideas  and an end to the dirty-business as usual in Albany. Despite the desperate actions of our opponents our campaign is staying focused on a positive message of fiscal responsibility, honesty and plain old common sense.

We have every reason to be optimistic that we will achieve our short-run goal of 50,000 votes and automatic ballot status. However, WE MUST NOT BE COMPLACENT.   We have been surprised and disappointed so many times in the past.  Every one of us needs to double down and do everything we can to seize this opportunity.  We will have no one else to blame if we let this historic opportunity slip away. Every one of us can help make history in the next 36 hours.

Here are some things you can do right now:

• Email your friends and explain why it’s critical to their future that Warren Redlich gets at least 50,000 votes and automatic ballot status for the Libertarian Party.
• Send your friends Warren’s campaign videos. There are links below.
• Sign up for Warren’s Facebook group
• Call talk shows and tell them you support Warren Redlich’s campaign because we need new choices and an end to business as usual in Albany.

Here is what you can do tomorrow:

• Vote for Warren Redlich and all the Libertarians on Row H
• Print out some of  Warren’s flyers  and hand them out at the polls. Be sure to cooperate with the polling place officials and stay the legal distance (100 feet) from the poll entrance.

50,000 people will make history tomorrow. Will you be one of them?

Panzella Stands Up for New Yorkers and States Rights

STATEN ISLAND, NY, October 25, 2010  Danny Panzella, independent Libertarian candidate for the 63rd Assembly District, issued a formal challenge to his opponent, Democrat Michael Cusick, to join him in supporting a state sovereignty measure.

Speaking to groups of Staten Island residents this week, Mr. Panzella has been discussing the need for New York State to invoke its Tenth Amendment rights through a binding measure approved by both houses. The State Senate earlier this year introduced a similar resolution, which has been sent to the finance committee.

State sovereignty is arguably the single most important tenet of American government, yet hardly anyone ever talks about it. The Tenth Amendment is key to our Bill of Rights, and the liberty of the people. Unfortunately it has also been the most ignored part of our constitution for well over a century.”

 said Mr.Panzella, 33, of Manor Heights.

The Tenth Amendment instructs that  the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.  This means simply that the federal government is limited to only the powers granted under the United States Constitution. And in reality, there aren’t many. The state constitution echoes this sovereign sentiment in its civil rights law.

“New Yorkers are absolutely besieged by a two-front war in defense of liberty, and it’s right here at home. We find ourselves under the crushing weight of the Albany establishment’s mounting debt and insane borrow and spend schemes. The additional burden of a fiscally irresponsible federal government makes it doubly dangerous as we hurtle toward insolvency on both fronts.”

 Mr. Panzella said.
While our U.S Senators and Congresspersons fail to represent the constitutional interests of the people of New York, it is the sacred and urgent responsibility of every state legislator to speak out. In fact, all members of our state legislature have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as well as the Constitution of New York State. I will uphold that oath to both the letter and spirit when I am elected, and will push for my assembly colleagues to follow suit.
Asked about the current sovereignty measure in the state senate, Mr. Panzella explained that the resolution does not go far enough in his opinion.

” It’s a great start, no question. I salute Senator Nozzolio and our own Senator Lanza. But we must do more than simply resolve to defend the Constitution, we need to craft legislation with real teeth. “

The candidate also reminded his audience not to interpret his stance as a partisan position, saying that this is not about left versus right, but right versus wrong.
We have seen federal administrations and congressional majorities from both major parties routinely circumvent the Constitution. This is done through parliamentary maneuvers, presidential directives, executive orders, and federal mandates. Can’t get it through congress? Simply issue an edict to some federal agency. And that’s the real danger here. Unelected bureaucrats and czars making major policy decisions without the checks and balances afforded by Congress.

Now it must fall to the state legislature to provide that oversight and approval. We are the last line of defense against what has become an oppressive, overreaching federal government. We need to have the ability, by law, to nullify or repeal those unfunded programs, unfair restrictions, and job-killing regulations, ones that the people of New York clearly do not want, and for which we cannot pay or we will all pay dearly with catastrophic consequences for our families’ futures.

Redlich and the Rest in Saturday WSJ: Where’s the Beef?

Of course, it is great news that the Wall Street Journal covered the alternative candidates on the eve of the NY State Governor’s Race debate.  I applaud the Journal and Erica Orden  for recognizing that New Yorkers are capable of processing information beyond the dumbed-down  drivel  that comes from most of the political class mainstream media.   Apparently Orden and WSJ understand why the voters are running screaming from the incumbent parties that got us into this mess.  That’s a big step toward a real dialog on the issues.  I only wish there was enough space to address some of the actual issues that separate the alternative candidates from the incumbent parties and from each other.

So let’s  do that here.

The dumbed down version of the political spectrum would have us divide the candidates along a left-right, liberal-conservative line.  The left side of that line includes Green, Working Families, Democrat and  Freedom Party Candidates.  The right side includes Conservative, Taxpayer and Republican Parties.   The left is usually associated with more social freedom but less economic freedom.  The right is usually associated with more economic freedom and less personal freedom.  The problem is that today’s incumbent Republicans and Democrats both support more war, more welfare ( corporate and personal) and more limits on personal freedom via laws like REAL ID, the PATRIOT ACT.  In short the incumbent parties are both for more big government when that big government works for them and against those other people.

I left out the Independence, Libertarian and Anti-prohibition parties.

 I have to put the Anti-prohibition Party on the left because they support legalizing marijuana, prostitution and gambling – great ideas in support of more social freedom,  but  they support extraordinary taxes on those activities – a bad idea that reduces economic freedom and funds more and more bigger government.   Much as I applaud the APP’s refreshing positions on victimless crimes , unfortunately, the APP is for the most part, a single issue party without any history or much to say about dozens of other important issues.  It’s also interesting that Kristin Davis the APP’s candidate for Governor also opposes the Ground Zero Mosque.  It’s hard to understand how Davis can see the issue of victimless crimes so clearly and completely miss the point on issues of economic and religious freedom.

The Independence Party sits squarely in the middle exhibiting no actual discernable principles of any kind.

But what about the Libertarians?   Libertarians are a diverse crowd but for the most part they are fiscal conservatives who support lower taxes, lower government spending, less regulation and generally more economic freedom.  But the Libertarians don’t really fit in on the right because we also support more personal freedom and typically left positions.  We support Civil Rights and we oppose  war , corporate welfare, the PATRIOT Act and REAL ID Act, and laws against victimless crimes such as the Drug War.

So how do we vote for a future for New York with religious and social freedom, a sane policy for victimless crimes and an economic climate conducive to job and income growth?

 You reject the Democrats and Republicans immediately because they are the ones who got us into this mess. Hoping it will be different this time is really deluded.  

Thinking people will reject the Left if they ever hope to retire or if they have children or even a basic sense of fairness.  The Left has nice dreams but no way to pay for them.  Putting your economic future in the hands of corrupt politicians is truly irrational. We should have learned that lesson in the last 100 years or so.

So what remains is the obvious choice.  You can choose to vote for personal freedom and economic freedom.  You can choose to vote against war, against the drug-war, against corporate welfare and against intolerance based on religion, race and gender-identify.  At the same time you can vote for a healthy economy where free people benefit from their own hard work and where there are jobs for those willing to work and honest business is something we admire again.  You could vote Libertarian.