LP Illinois News - April 2009 #1
Libertarian Election Action
Illinois Libertarians in the communities of Cary, Sycamore, and Urbana as well as in Dundee and St. Charles Township will find liberty-minded candidates on their ballots this April 7th.
- Michael Fogelsanger is running for the Sycamore City Council. Visit his website at MikeForSycamore.com for more information.
- Chuck Ingersoll is a candidate for Township Assessor of St. Charles. Please call Chuck at 847-742-9079 if you can help distribute literature for his campaign this weekend.
- Chris Jenner is seeking re-election to the Cary D-26 School Board. If you can help distribute literature on Saturday, contact Chris at CJenner01@yahoo.com or 847-421-7655. Learn more about the campaign at www.ChrisJenner.org.
- E. Wayne Johnson is running for the Urbana City Council. You can find additional information at his website, Liberty4Urbana.com.
- Bill Stephens is a candidate for the Dundee Township Library District Board. You can contact him at WStephen60@aol.com.
Please help out these campaigns if you can—donations and volunteers are very welcome. If you are in any of these districts, please vote for these Libertarians on Tuesday and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. Every vote counts—and every vote encourages more Libertarians to run for office. Our country has never needed Libertarian leadership like it does today.
If you are interested in working on a future Libertarian campaign, you can gain invaluable information on success strategies at a Candidate Workshop. In March, the Bond-Fayette County Libertarians, the South Central Illinois Mothers for Liberty, and The Mothers Institute hosted a Candidate Workshop in Greenville. Ten people from three counties attended the event and three attendees are seriously contemplating a run for local office in 2010.
Future Candidate Workshops are being planned, with Springfield a probable location for this summer and another in Collinsville this fall in conjunction with the 2009 LP Illinois Convention (see below).
It's not too early to begin planning for the next election. Contact Jan Stover, Campaigns Chair, at Campaigns@LPIllinois.org for more information about how you can get started.
Libertarian Party of Illinois Convention
Plan to meet your fellow Libertarians from across the state at the annual LP Illinois Convention. This year the Convention will be October 23–25 at the Collinsville Hotel near St. Louis. Mark your calendar now for what promises to be a great weekend for liberty.
The Convention Committee is currently seeking suggestions for speakers. Extra appreciated are suggestions for speakers that you are willing to help sponsor, but all convention suggestions can be sent to the Convention Chair, Francine Brady, at Convention@LPIllinois.org.
Legislation Alert
Please contact your congressional representatives in Springfield and ask them to support the following bills:
- House Bill 2620 – Equal Ballot Access. This bill levels the playing field for Libertarians and other "new" parties, making the number of petition signatures required to get on the ballot the same as for "established" parties. Right now, Libertarians must typically gather 5-10 times the number of signatures as Republicans and Democrats to get on ballots in Illinois. For more information about ballot access reform, visit Free and Equal at FreeAndEqual.org.
- House Bill 2514 and Senate Bill 1381 – Medical Cannabis. This bill would allow patients to use marijuana to alleviate chronic pain and nausea when other treatments have failed. The list of conditions includes cancer, glaucoma, HIV-AIDS, hepatitis C, Crohn's disease and Alzheimer's. For more information, visit the Marijuana Policy Project at MPP.org.
You can find the contact information for your legislators on the Illinois General Assembly website, ILGA.gov by using the Legislator Lookup tool. If you have any questions about contacting your legislators or news about Libertarian legislation to share, contact the LP Illinois Legislative Chair, Lupe Diaz, at Legislation@LPIllinois.org.
Taking It to the Streets (and the Halls of Congress)
Illinois Libertarians participated along with over 5000 other gun rights activists at the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day (IGOLD) on March 11 in Springfield. The Illinois State Rifle Association sponsors this event each year to provide an opportunity to speak to legislators and tell them that they should support the individual right of self-defense. You can check out what the press had to say along with photos and videos of the event on the IGOLD website, IGOLD.ISRA.org.
If you would like to join a good, old-fashioned American tax protest on April 15, join or start a Tax Day Tea Party near you. Right now, there are Tea Party Protests scheduled for Champaign/Urbana, Chicago, Dixon, Lisle, Peoria, and Springfield. See the TaxDayTeaParty.com website for location and time details.
Help Wanted
The LP Illinois is actively seeking a contractor to write our newsletters and maintain the website for the LP Illinois. Interested Libertarians should contact State Chair Dave Brady at 800-735-1776.
Video Response to Government Blundering
Our friends at the Center for Freedom and Prosperity have produced a short video on the economic crisis. If you would like a description of the causes of the economic meltdown that anyone can understand, you can find it on their website or on YouTube by searching on the title, "Government Intervention, Regulatory Policy, and the Financial Crisis."
Letters to the Editor
We appreciate feedback from our readers, commentary on current issues, and suggestions for future articles. Brief articles describing libertarian activities are also welcome—particularly with a photo or two that can be published by the LP Illinois. Send them to News@LPIllinois.org.