Small Government Blog

Yes, it’s that time of year again. It is LibertyMix Day. This is the day we commemorate all the shysters in the Libertarian Party that have taken money, made promises, and in some cases, never even made an attempt to deliver. I’d like to say that Stephen Gordon and Stephen Van Dyke are at the top of the list, but they aren’t. To raise a ghost from the past, Joe Seehusen (former Libertarian Party Executive Director) is working hard to edge them out, but more about Joe later.

For those Libertarians who are not familiar with LibertyMix, here’s a brief recap. In early 2006 (or maybe late 2005) Stephen Gordon and Stephen Van Dyke (who at the time ran a successful blog called HammerOfTruth.com) embarked on a fundraising exercise seeking $10,000 in donations and/or pre-subscriptions to a new web site/Internet community that would revolutionize Libertarian movement (or so they claimed). They raised $12,000+, more than they asked for. They announced that they would release the new site, LibertyMix.com, on 6-6-6 (June 6, 2006). They said they would release the beast – aligning themselves with something traditionally recognized as evil. On the morning of June 6, 2006, Van Dyke announced that he accidentally deleted a file and the release would be delayed. As the November election neared, Van Dyke announced that the site was done but he was not ready to “pull back the curtain just yet.” A few days later he announced that his blog, HammerOfTruth.com would be taken down for conversion to the new site. It was taken down and never came back. LibertyMix.com never appeared and Van Dyke wasn’t really heard from again. Occasionally he pops up to defend himself but there really is no defense. Stephen Gordon subsequently took a position in the national Libertarian Party and continues to deny any responsibility. For more information on this, visit http://libertymix.nfshost.com/ (a mock site created by an unknown author).

I don’t know what intention these two folks had with their actions, and I don’t know what happened to the money that they raised. However, statements about accidentally deleted files, project done but not ready to pull back the curtain, and sites taken down for conversion, seem to be outright lies.

If Stephen Gordon and Stephen Van Dyke were sincere, they wouldn’t have made up so many lies along they way. It’s time for these two to come clean. Take down the LibertyMix.com web site (it currently says “COMING SOON, FOR REALS.” And then either refund the money to the donors or donate the $12,000+ to the national Libertarian Party – but in any case guys, prove your sincerity by not profiting from this fiasco. It’s four years later and time for you to man up.

Now let’s get back to the other Libertarian of questionable integrity. You will find lots of information about Joe Seehusen at this site (SmallGov.org). Joe Seehusen is currently running for Maryland State Senate as a Republican (see http://www.joeseehusen.com/). While Joe was Executive Director of the national Libertarian Party, part of his pay/bonus was based on membership growth. And while the vast majority of Libertarian Party state affiliates were reporting falling membership, Joe was going to national committee meetings and reporting rising membership and collecting bonus.

While I was handling Libertarian Party of Michigan membership and saw the numbers declining (based on the database tables sent to me by the national party), Joe was claiming those numbers were increasing. Joe and his crooked sidekick, Robert Kraus (who still works for the national party) claimed that the numbers were generated on different days and that was the reason for the discrepancy. I asked which day they generated their numbers on and I would include all lapsed members as of that date so I could reconcile the numbers, but Joe and Robert refused to discuss the matter any further.

Here’s my question for the voter of Maryland: Do you want to elect somebody who has already proven he will twist the facts to line his pocket?