Small Government Blog

Introduction

Running a political party is a major undertaking. It cannot be done with all volunteer help. Our volunteers contribute large amounts of time and money, but they still have jobs, family, and a need for relaxation time. The dedication of our volunteers is without a doubt one of the most remarkable things in politics. Our grassroots organization is a major advantage that enables this small, dedicated group to achieve success in the face of better organized and better funded opponents.

The LPM, an organization that is based on rational self-interest, cannot expect to realize its full potential as long as it depends on altruism. To grow, we must expect that at some point we will need to retain professional, full-time help. That point is now!

Our Goal

Background

For 30 years, the LPM has been jumping up trying to reach the moon. You cannot get to the moon by jumping, you need to build a rocket ship. Our “Farm Team” will be our rocket ship.

• In 1994, with a membership of about 300, Jon Coon raised over $250,000 in his U.S. Senate race.
• In October 2001, we had 2 Libertarian city councilmen statewide. In April 2002, 6 months later, we had 6 Libertarian city councilmen. It took us 30 years to get the first two Libertarian city councilmen, 6 months to get the next 4.
• Only 1 incumbent has been re-elected in Troy since Libertarians got involved in Troy politics. 5 incumbents have been ousted!
• Libertarian city councilmen have cut taxes and regulations.
• In 2000, we raised $55,000 in support of our presidential candidate and spent $60,000 on radio ads (Browne, Full Slate, Corliss).
• In November 2001, 60% of Libertarian candidates won their elections. At the local level, our political expertise and grassroots organization is far superior to many local candidates.
• Brett Cashman has been elected as a Libertarian TWICE to the Parks Commission in Superior Township! He is referred to as the “voice of reason.”

Implementation

The LPM currently has 19 affiliates across the state. Last year, we started a program called “Just One.” Urging each affiliate to identify just one candidate and throw all their resources behind it. Some tried. Others did not because the LPM failed to stress the importance of this program. Until we have affiliates regularly electing candidates and running credible campaigns, we will not succeed.

“Just One” will be the basis for achieving our goal. We will use this to build our “farm team.”

—2003

We will begin by hiring a Field Director. This person will be responsible for working with each of the 19 affiliates and identifying the appropriate candidate and opportunity. This means that in 2003 we will run 19 candidates in non-partisan or low-level races. If our previous performance holds true (60% success rate), we will elect 10 people in 2003. Added to our other office holders, we will have 33 office holders - both elected and appointed.

The Field Director will then work with the affiliates to help identify people that can be appointed to public office (Zoning Board of Appeals, Library Board, etc.). Most communities beg for volunteers to fill these positions. The goal will be to have each affiliate get two Libertarians appointed. The “farm team” will then total around 71 people.

—2004

2004 will be our opportunity to strengthen our name recognition. The LP of Indiana regularly runs 20% of their members for office. Our Field Director will recruit 20% of our membership to run for office, giving us 250 candidates-NONE of which will be from our pool of electeds on the “farm team.” At this point, a well-known phenomenon will occur. Many of the 250 candidates will get the urge to run serious campaigns. Erin Stahl, one of our LEC members is an example of this.

—2005

2005 will be the year that these people will have their opportunity to run serious campaigns. The “Just One” program will become the “Just Two” program. Each affiliate will run 2 serious candidates-38 total. Some of these will most likely be people who are already appointed to office. We will expect 22 of these people to win. The Field Director will once again be responsible for recruiting and identifying winnable races. He will also help identify campaign resources for the candidates. The Field Director will help each affiliate identify and get appointed 2 more Libertarians. At this point, the “farm team” will be approximately 118 people.

—2006

In 2006, we will run all of our elected and appointed office holders for state representative or county commissioner-occasionally running one for state senate where we have multiple people in a district. The Field Director will identify the opportunities and match candidates to opportunities. He will also recruit several additional people so that once again, 20% of our membership is running for office. We can expect one-third of the 118 person “farm team” to win. We can expect one-third of the winners to be state representatives. We should also consider at this point a common platform of abolishing the state income tax, and possibly holding a ballot initiative to eliminate it.

Job Description

We must have a detailed job description so that nobody has misunderstandings about what the Field Director is to be doing. The Field Director will not only work in the field, but help run our office.

It has long been argued that the LPM needs to build up and strengthen its affiliates. That is a logical progression for the growth of the organization. Certainly the LPM will grow better if their are 19 (and hopefully, someday more) groups around the state working for the same goal. The primary focus of the Field Director will be to support these groups and provide them with training and expertise. But, at the same time, the LPM itself cannot be diminished to the point of irrelevance. Thus, the Field Director will also be providing support to the LPM — in the form of running the office. With this in mind, here are the proposed duties for the Field Director. The Field Director’s job will be about
50% in the field, 50% in HQ (but he may be doing affiliate/field work while in HQ).

—Affiliate Support

1. Make certain that all affiliates getting their meeting information posted on the web. It is the most visible part of our organization, reaching 150 to 200 individuals per day.
2. Encourage affiliates to lay out a plan for the coming year and then work the plan. If necessary, help the affiliate define a plan.
3. Learn who the members are and begin identifying possible candidates.
4. Help get good representatives of the LPM appointed to local boards and commissions.
5. Learn about the communities in each affiliate and begin to identify opportunities
6. By May 1st, make certain each affiliate has identified their “Just One” target.
7. Provide general support to the chair
8. Coordinate campaigns with appropriate resources

—Office Support

1. After a fundraising letter goes out, the Field Director should call every member of the LPM and urge them to contribute. Volunteers should also help with this.
2. Make certain the media database is updated (possibly organize volunteers)
3. Process mail and phone calls - direct to officers as appropriate
4. Minor bookkeeping
5. Call new members and welcome them
6. Call inquiries and encourage them to join
7. Call lapsed members and encourage them to renew
8. Start a database of organizations that would be interested in speakers
9. Mail to organizations to see if they need speakers
10. When the chair (or his designate) has written a press release, make certain it goes out, either by faxing from the office, or using a service to distribute it
11. Handle getting the mail out. This means that when the chair writes a fundraising letter, it is the responsibility of the Field Director to work with printers, mailing houses, and/or volunteers to make certain that the letter goes out. The choice of mailing house or volunteers will be determined in each case.
12. Identify major donors and develop a major donor program
13. Weekly Reports - emailed to the LEC

—Important Functions (not part of the Field Director’s job)

It makes no sense to have a Field Director if there is no activity from the state party. The following functions are not being performed and must be:

1. Issuing Press Releases
2. Writing Fundraising letters

—Service

The Field Director serves at the pleasure of the chair. The only instructions he receives shall come from the chair. The LEC is to function in an advisory capacity. Any comments or issues regarding the Field Director shall be sent to the chair, not the Field Director.

It is reasonable to expect this job description to change, evolve, and be refined as our experience with the position identifies strengths and needs.

—Hiring Process

Running Candidates

There are four reasons that we run candidates:

1. High-profile.
   We run high profile candidates like governor and president because they can get into debates, get us free publicity, cheap advertising rates, and build up our name. Often times, these candidates are responsible for building up our membership.
2. Ballot Status.
   We run some candidates so that we can maintain our ballot status. This is no longer a significant issue for the LPM.
3. Mid-Level candidates.
   Mid-level candidates accomplish many tasks. In some cases they are the only challenger. They also run to help educate the public by getting into debates and getting media. A large number of mid-level candidates helps build up our name and establish us as viable. In some cases, a mid-level candidate garners enough votes to make up the difference between the major party candidates — this adds to our credibility and drives the debate in a libertarian direction.
4. Low-level and non-partisan.
   We run candidates for low-level offices and in non-partisan races to further increase our credibility and build a farm team of electeds who will some day be elected to higher office. At this time, this is the only place we should expect to win. Until we are successful at this level, we should not expect to be successful at higher levels.

People who want to become politicians do not join the Libertarian Party. People who want to become politicians join one of the older major parties. People who want to work for freedom join the Libertarian Party. Most of our people do not have any political experience, which is why we must build a farm team.

People who join the major parties to get elected think that they will get elected and implement their own “libertarian” agenda. That assumption is generally naive. The major parties run a tight ship and don’t generally allow much deviation from the routine.

Risks

There are several risks involved. Each event is based on past performance, but that is no indication that future performance will meet past performance. Indeed, this plan is based on our best performances throughout our 30 year history.

However, there is no reason to believe that as we become more experienced, our performance will degrade. It should improve. If the numbers do not meet our expectations, we can continue the plan with a cycle of electing non-partisans in odd numbered years and building our brand name in even numbered years until our farm team is large enough to make the leap to state house.

This is an ambitious plan, but even if we do not meet all of our goals, we will be greatly advanced if we follow it.

—Phase I

• Raise $2,500 at LibertyFest 2002
• Immediately mail a letter to the entire membership and raise an additional $7,500.
• Follow-up the fundraising letter with phone calls to raise any shortfall.
• When we have $10,000 in the bank, we can then hire a person (we have already identified one possible person-a Libertarian from outside of Michigan).
• Part of the Field Director’s job will be to raise money

Glossary

1. Identifying a candidate - a person with exposure in his community. Brad Benzing, in Hillsdale county, is an example of an ideal candidate with a long history of community involvement, but probably none of us know about Brad. Part of the Field Director’s job will be to find these people and connect them to the resources they need to mount an effective campaign.
2. Opportunity - an office where the incumbent has a terrible voting record and there is little opposition. Many year incumbents who have become arrogant are easy targets.
3. Farm Team - Libertarians with political experience

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why don’t we just run as Republicans or Democrats?

   If we run as major party candidates, once elected, our people will be subject to their dictates or they will soon find themselves out of office. We will not accomplish our goals with one term in Lansing. We must assert our difference.

2. Why can’t we do this with volunteers?

   Don’t ask that question unless you are willing to recruit 250 candidates to run in 2004. If you are unwilling to do it, why do you think anybody else would? We have tried doing this with volunteers too many times, and too many times we have gotten nowhere because volunteers must take care of their families first.

3. Can we afford this?

   Yes. But, a better question is: Can we afford not to do this? Are you satisfied with our current rate of progress or would you like to see it accelerated?

   This plan will only go forward if our membership shows their support of it with the donations necessary to get started. Many other LP state organizations have paid staff, including Illinois (which is about 75% our size) and Indiana (which is about 50% our size). They have all followed this same method of funding, i.e. raise a small amount to start, pay the employee a small salary, and then give the employee a commission on funds raised. Most of these other states were massively unorganized before hiring an employee — now they are as organized as the LPM. The LPM has a head start on those other states. An employee to help us grow will move us ahead much more quickly.

4. What happens if in 6 months we can’t afford to do this anymore?

   The people who accept these types of jobs are Libertarians. They don’t take these jobs to get rich, they take these kinds of jobs because they are committed to freedom. If we need to terminate the relationship in 6 months or a year or at any time, these people understand. However, we are not aware of any LP organization that has been forced to take such actions.