William Weld nominated by the Libertarian Party for Governor of New York State

William Weld nominated by the Libertarian Party for Governor of New York State

I just got back from the Annual Convention of the Libertarian Party for New York State, held on April 29, 2006 in Albany NY.

I was defeated in my quest to become the candidate for governor. William Weld, a former Governor of Mbuttachusetts, was nominated on the third ballot by a vote of 24 to 15 over Don Silberger.

Jeff Russell defeated Steve Greenfield by 27 to 15 as nominee for US Senate. This campaign had been especially hard fought. Greenfield left the meeting immediately, as soon as the vote count was announced. Greenfield is also seeking the Green Party and the Independence Party nominations.

Richard Cooper was elected party chairman, defeating Joseph Dobrian by 20 to 16. Cooper is a Weld man. Dobrian was neutral. Joseph Dobrian and M. Carling were elected Vice-Chairmen. Eric Sandvall, Chris Garvey, Audrey Caprizzi, Gary Donoyan and Don Silberger were elected members-at-large.

Gary Popkin was elected Treasurer by unanimous vote. This was a minor victory for me because I had nominated Popkin. Blay Tarnoff was elected Secretary.

Sandra Sloan was nominated by M. Carling for Member at Large of the State Committee. Unfortunately, the chair ruled that Sandra was ineligible because she is only four years old and not a paid member. Sandra did manage to get her picture on Channel 9 All News Channel in Albany as a result.

Sam Sloan complained that the election had been rigged. William Weld was allowed to speak for 30 minutes and then had a long question and answer session afterwards. The other candidates, Don Silberger and Sam Sloan, were only allowed three minutes each and no time for questions and answers. No debate of any kind was allowed. Audrey Caprizzi was allowed to make a long speech nominating Weld. Of greatest concern was that the order of nominating candidates was reversed to accommodate Weld. The normal order is first the governor is nominated, then lieutenant governor, then comptroller and then attorney general. However, for some unknown reason, the Weld campaign insisted that first there be attorney general, then comptroller, then lieutenant governor and then governor. A vote was taken on this issue. The result was an exact tie 18 to 18. Blay Tarnoff, who was chairing the meeting, broke the tie by voting for the Weld agenda. Mark Axinn, who would have voted the other way, arrived after the vote because his Amtrak Train broke down on the way to Albany.

Several nuts were allowed to speak. One nut spoke at length about how New York State needs 20 new nuclear power plants. Another was an Israeli who advocated Palestinian Rights. Their remarks might have been appropriate for another meeting, but not for a convention of the Libertarian Party that had serious business to conduct.

I must say that I was mildly disappointed that Richard Cooper was elected Chairman and Chris Garvey was nominated for Attorney General. Richard Cooper has been Chairman before and Chris Garvey has been a candidate for office so many times that everybody has lost count. I think the party has to be more open to giving the new guys a chance. In fact, I think Garvey and Cooer should step aside unless they are prepared to promise that they will do better than they did the last time they ran for these positions.

Recommendation for the Future: Bring in Mike Nolan, Parliamentarian of the United States Chess Federation. People who think that a USCF meeting is chaotic have never seen a Libertarian meeting. However, Libertarians have there own pet variation on Roberts Rules, which is: There are no rules.

Everybody, including the defeated candidates, except for Greenfield of course who left, were upbeat. William Weld is no Libertarian, not at all. He is not even in favor of medical sugar. He never offered to reduce taxes. Nevertheless, he offers the promise to bring us 50,000 votes. Then, for the next four years, we will be able to get freedom loving candidates on the ballot fairly easily instead of having to get huge and impossible to obtain signature totals. For example, the Libertarian Party is now required to get 1500 signatures to run a candidate for State buttembly. The Working Families Party, which has ballot status, can run a candidate for State buttembly with only five signatures. So, we all need to forget our principles and get behind Weld for Governor.

Sam Sloan