Posts Tagged ‘Hardy Machia’

Voter Anger Simmers With Ramifications For `08

Apr. 12 – Robert Hirsch wonders where all the statesmen have gone. Ed Laliberte wishes politicians would stop bickering and start fixing the nation’s ills. Diane Heller says everybody in Washington is corrupt or out of touch.

“I don’t see any great leaders on the horizon,” says Heller, a Pleasant Valley, N.Y., real estate broker.
These voters are not alone. More and more, Americans are frustrated with politics as usual in Washington, where incompetence, arrogance, corruption and mindless partisanship seem the norm rather than the exception — a pox on both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Analysts say the public may be getting angry enough to give the U.S. political system a jolt, one way or another.

Voters could toss Republicans from power in Congress this fall, or turn the White House over to Democrats in 2008.

Maverick reform-minded Democrats and Republicans might shake up their parties.

Or perhaps voter unrest will fuel a credible third-party presidential campaign.

“There is certainly a lot of anti-incumbency out there and neither of these parties is doing swimmingly well,” said independent pollster Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center.

His surveys suggest a throw-the-bums-out mentality is on the upswing, especially among independent voters.

“If they stop fighting and bickering and put the American people’s interests in front of where they should be, they could cure a whole lot of problems,” said retiree Laliberte, an independent voter in Bangor, Maine.

Nearly half of independents say the Democratic and Republican parties are equally corrupt. An AP-Ipsos poll in December found nearly 90 percent of all voters believes political corruption is a serious problem.

“I don’t see either party doing anything advantageous for the population,” said real estate broker Heller, a conservative Democrat. “I think the country is getting fed up. Big business is controlling everything.”

President Bush’s approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency, and the public gives even lower marks to Congress. Republican and Democratic congressional leaders are held in equally low esteem.

“I’m not happy with either party on national security,” said Hirsch, a Republican-leaning businessman from Chicago. “We have a lot of politicians but not a lot of statesmen.”

While polls suggest more voters want Democrats to control Congress than Republicans, the Democratic Party’s approval rating is no better than Bush’s. A George Washington University Battleground 2006 survey in February found that 84 percent of likely voters believe lawmakers in Washington put partisan politics above all else.

Nearly 70 percent of the public believes the country is on the wrong track, a level of pessimism that rivals the nation’s sentiment in 1992, when Ross Perot’s third-party candidacy helped derail the re-election of Bush’s father, and 1994, when Democrats lost control of Congress.

“The mood is sour,” said Republican strategist Rich Bond.

“If some larger-than-life personality — let’s say Colin Powell — decided he wanted to launch a third-party candidacy for some office, I think he’d be an impact player,” Bond said. “But he’s not running.”

Bond said the recent third-party candidacies of Perot and Ralph Nader made it easier for future mavericks to gain ballot access. The organizing and fundraising power of the Internet also lowers barriers to third-party bids.

Still, it would take a special candidate. “You really have to have the proper mix of gravitas and quirkiness,” Bond said.

Who might that be?

–Sen. John McCain has the “credibility and stature” to make a third-party run, Kohut said. But the Arizona lawmaker insists he would run as a Republican, a self-styled reformer promising to change politics as usual. Some wonder whether McCain would bolt the GOP if denied the nomination. Not Bond. “He’s not the take-my-ball-and-go-home type,” Bond said.

–Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also could cast himself as a straight-talking, battle-tested leader, the type of politician who will be in vogue in 2008, analysts said. Whether that would help him win the GOP nomination as a moderate is open to question, as is his potential as a third-party candidate.

–New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could launch an independent presidential bid. The ambitious billionaire is raising his national profile as friends and associates privately muse about his potential as an outside-the-mainstream candidate.

Asked recently whether he wanted to be president, Bloomberg replied, “Which letter of the word `No’ do you not understand?”

These and other politicians don’t necessarily need to leave their party to take advantage of the public’s sulky mood.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is exploiting voter unrest inside the Democratic Party. His call to censure Bush has won favor with frustrated anti-war liberals who believe party leaders kowtowed to the White House on Iraq.

Still, Republican consultant Ken Duberstein said voters may be angry enough to support a third-party bid. GOP pollster Bill McInturff said a third-party candidacy depends on who Republicans and Democrats nominate in 2008.

If the prizes go to polarizing figures such as Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Newt Gingrich, the pollster said, “the gap in the middle would be pretty profound.”

VERMONT LIBERTARIAN PARTY TO HOLD CONVENTION

The Vermont Libertarian Party will hold its Convention on Saturday, April 29, from 9:30 AM to 4 PM at the Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Montpelier.

During the morning business meeting, Vermont Libertarians will reaffirm and amend the state Party platform, and elect delegates to represent Vermont at the National Libertarian Party Convention.

An onsite luncheon will follow the business meeting and in the afternoon, convention attendees listen to a variety of guest speakers, followed by a social hour.

“Libertarians from across the state will converge on Montpelier to attend to Party business and engage in lively discussion of the issues facing Vermonters today,” said Hardy Machia, chair of the Vermont Libertarian Party.

Attendance at the 2006 Vermont Libertarian Party Convention business meeting is free and open to the public, though only registered party members may vote on the convention floor.

A small fee is required to attend the afternoon luncheon and activities.

To schedule media interviews for the day of the Convention, please call Hardy Machia at 802-372-9512 or e-mail chair@vtlp.org.

The Vermont Libertarian Party has been active in Vermont politics for over 30 years. Vermont Libertarians have served in local office throughout the state. The National Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 and is the third largest political party in the United States. Millions of Americans have voted for Libertarian Party candidates in past elections throughout the country. Libertarians believe the answer to America’s political problems is the same commitment to freedom that earned America its greatness: a free-market economy and the abundance and prosperity it brings, a dedication to individual liberties and personal freedom, and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

LIBERTARIAN CHAIR PREDICTS CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW WILL NOT STAND
— VTLP Representatives Attend Historic Supreme Court Hearing –

March 2, 2006

On Tuesday, the Chair and Treasurer of the Vermont Libertarian Party
(VTLP) sat in the gallery of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. to hear the challenge to Vermont’s controversial campaign finance law. The VTLP is one of several participants in the suit challenging the law. At the end of the proceedings, Chair Hardy Machia predicted that the law will not survive the scrutiny of the justices.

“All the Justices seemed opposed to spending caps, and most of them seemed opposed to the extremely small limits on contributions. It was clear that many of the justices have serious reservations about the law,” said Machia after attending the hearing in Washington. “The law is not going to survive their scrutiny and parts, if not all, of the law will certainly be struck down.”

During the proceedings, contribution limits were scrutinized by Justices Scalia and Alito who questioned as to whether limitations on contributions in turn limited a candidate’s expenditures. In addition, all of the justices voiced concerns that the limits were so low that “a box of doughnuts and some coffee” for campaign workers could violate the law. Finally, Machia noted that each justice alluded to the issue as one of speech protected by the first amendment.

While some states limit the amount that individuals can donate to a political campaign, the Vermont law placed low and strict restrictions on individual donations. No individual can donate more than $400 to any statewide candidate and no more than $2,000 to any political party. Vermont became the first state in the country to limit the amount a candidate can spend on a race, ranging from $300,000 for governor to a low of $2,000 for state representative.

Machia listened closely to the defense of the law by Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell. “I was surprised when Sorrell inferred that Vermont needs such harsh campaign restrictions because our elections are somehow corrupt.” Yet when pressed by the justices on this point, Sorrell said that to date, there have not been any prosecuted cases of corruption.

Since the law passed in 1997, the Vermont Libertarian Party has maintained that the state should not prevent any Vermonter, individually or collectively, from supporting the parties and candidates of their choice to the extent that they wish. The law requires that political parties and political candidates collect their revenues only in the form of small, limited donations from individual sources.

“Such a requirement gives an unfair advantage to the major, established, parties who already have a broad base of existing donors, and discriminates against minor party challengers,” said Machia. “It effectively stifles the efforts of the underdog to get their message out to the people. I’m optimistic the court will side with libertarians and uphold our right to freedom of political speech.”