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Articles by George Phillies
LNC Member Condemns Malagon
Independent Political Report has received a signed statement from a member of the LNC, opposing the appointment of Adrian Malagon as an LNC Officer. Anonymous publication was requested and granted. The statement is printed as received, with one sentence not central to the statement and tending to reveal the author’s identity, deleted.
Polite Note
Archives Select Week June 2, 2025–June 8, 2025 May 26, 2025–June 1, 2025 May 19, 2025–May 25, 2025 May 12, 2025–May 18, 2025 May 5, 2025–May 11, 2025 April 28, 2025–May 4, 2025 April 21, 2025–April 27, 2025 April 14, 2025–April 20, 2025 April 7, 2025–April 13, 2025 March 31, 2025–April 6, 2025 March 24, 2025–March 30, 2025 March 17, 2025–March 23, 2025 March 10, 2025–March 16, 2025 March 3, 2025–March 9, 2025 February 24, 2025–March 2, 2025 February 17, 2025–February 23, 2025 February 10,...
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Jill Stein Arrested
Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein has been arrested. She was participating at a demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The demonstrators were calling for the University to sell its investments in the Boeing company, which among other things is claimed to manufacture ammunition at a plant in nearby St. Charles. According to Stein, her Campaign Manager Jason Call and Stein Deputy Campaign Manager Kelly Merrill-Cayer were also arrested.
No Labels Will Run No Candidate?
We are seeing reports that No Labels has decided that it did not have an adequate candidate, and therefore will not be running anyone for President this year. More when matters are clarified.
New “Liberal Party” Forming
We see from their web pages that the Association of Liberty State Parties is reorganizing as the Liberal Party of the United States. The party’s official website is available here. Their current state affiliates are: The Libertarian Party of New Mexico is the Liberal Party USA (né ALSP) state affiliate in the State of New Mexico. Their website is available here. The Classical Liberal Party of Virginia is the Liberal Party USA (né ALSP) state affiliate in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Fascist Terrorists Attack IPR
Once upon a time, attacks on the press were physical. The printer’s type cases were tossed on the floor. The printing press was thrown in the river. The preacher’s church, mimeo machine and all, was burned by the KKK. Books were seized and burned. These attackers had something in common. They were fascist terrorists out to block the distribution of contrary opinions. Now the attacks are electronic.
Minor Technical Note
For some days we have had an anomalous issue that kept our site from loading properly. Apologies while the matter is being worked on. We are aware of the issue, and our technical support has a long list of issues that are not causing the problem. We hope that the final repair will soon be effected, if it ahs not been already.
LNC 12/2 Meeting
IPR Plans to liveblog the meeting, if it is available on-line. That is always the LNC’s wise intent, but, as readers will note, there are computers involved. On other news, I am in receipt of a post card apparently from LNCExposed.com. It was not entirely favorably inclined toward the Libertarian National Committee. To save people the trouble of asking, I actually do not know who sent the card, other than ‘not me’.
Book Review: Where Have All the Democrats Gone? by John B. Judis and Roy Teixeira - Independent Political Report
Two decades ago John B. Judis and Roy Teixeira gave us the volume The Emerging Democratic Majority, which predicted the demographic changes in the American population would lead to a prolonged period in which the Democratic party would have substantial majority control of all branches of the Federal government. That’s not quite what happened. The authors therefore asked where their predictions have gone astray and what was actually happening. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
Lawsuit Effort Launched to Obtain Control of the Libertarian Party
Kevin Gaughen, former Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, has launched a campaign to file a derivative lawsuit to take control of the Libertarian Party. His current drive is to raise $10,000 for costs and obtain the legally-mandated fifty national party member as co-litigants. A bill of particulars against the current LNC may be seen at the following website: https://lncexposed.com.
Manchin Will Not Run for Re-Election
Senator Manchin of West Virginia, who has repeatedly been mentioned as a possible third-party Presidential candidate for No Labels, has announced that he will not be running for re-election to the US Senate. He condemned the refusal of Democrats and Republicans to refuse to accept near-total victories on their own key issues. Manchin says that he will instead be touring the country gauging support for a third party.
Free&Equal Elections Hosts Presidential Debate
Free & Equal Elections Foundation will host its first U.S. presidential debate for the 2024 election season in LA this December! Jimmy Dore and Patrick Bet-David will serve as co-moderators for this one-of-a-kind event. The debate will be live-streamed on Rumble. Six U.S. Presidential candidates from various parties will participate in the debate.
LNC Posts Antisemitic Tweet
On X, formerly Twitter, the national Libertarian Party has its official social media feed, complete with 340,000 followers (not all of whom, of course, are supporters). It makes regular posts advocating its positions. It forwards posts from others, and comments on them. On October 19, the Governor of California announced travel plans, posting on X: “I’m on my way to Israel.
LNC Michigan Litigation Reaches Mediation
Re: Libertarian Natl Comm, Inc. v.
Constitution Party Seeks Provisional Candidates
A Letter from Mark Greenstein Hello — Several of you saw that the Constitution Party is soliciting “Provisional Nominees” to be in a mild “spotlight” for the next six month. I’m facilitating. I remain a fervent “small l” libertarian and a convinceable Libertarian. I think ALL parties who are on the “outs” should coalesce at the Presidential and Gubernatorial levels in 2024.
Andrew Yang Discusses No Labels Presidential Nomination
Politico.com reports Andrew Yang’s claim that he has had talks with the No Labels movement about becoming their Presidential candidate. However, his candidacy would be somewhat tentative, in that Yang says that he would not run if he thought it would increase the likelihood that Trump would win the election. He termed ‘a mistake’ the idea that the goal of a third party Presidential candidate is to win. Hat Tip to Christopher Cole for this story.
A Derivative Lawsuit?
Kevin Gaughen has posted on Twitter ‘I am gauging interest’ and poses a question: “Should Libertarian Party members file a derivative lawsuit against the Libertarian National Committee for the purpose of removing malfeasant, Mises-installed board members and regaining control of the party?“ For the curious, a derivative lawsuit exists so that the members (broadly interpreted) of an organization can save the organization from a rogue board of directors.
LNC Debates Broad Policy Outcomes
LNC Debates Basic Policy Recently, the LNC has debated recent outcomes of the new board’s policies. The starting point was one of LNC Regional Representive Mark Tuniewicz’s uncommon posts on Facebook, which follows. [GP: Paragraphing inserted for clarity.] Marcos Tuniewicz September 30, 2023 https://www.facebook.com/groups/254985825071721/posts/1447478145822477/ To provide some clarity….most on the LNC in the mid 90’s to 2000 were not “woke,” as it’s currently interpreted.
Foundational Debate
At different times, political parties have been locked in debate as to the correct strategy to use. After 2000, the Green Party debated whether or not it should campaign vigorously in all fifty states, or whether it should abstain from campaigning in states where it might cause the Democratic Presidential candidate to lose again. Now the Libertarian Political Movement is at the same juncture.
LNC Meeting 10/1/2023
We are running late because I had computer issues. Meeting came to order. Commemorative statements on LNC member Donovan Pantke, who passed away unexpectedly, leaving a wife and three children behind. Policy Manual changes were approved. These are moving things between the policy manual and the standing rules, if I followed correctly.
Book Note: Rufo’s America’s Cultural Revolution
Ayn Rand Vindicated! Christopher Rufo’s book is a formidable piece of scholarly writing, its 282 pages of text being followed by 48 pages of densely packed, small-type footnotes. Most of the text is a description of the forward march of the radical left, from Marxism through antiracism to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The description is highly compressed. For example, the left capture of the New York Times and other pieces of the classical main-stream media is covered in two pages.
New Iowa Poll Shows 3rd Party Effect
Emerson College has made a survey of registered voters in Iowa. They looked at the forthcoming Presidential election. First they asked about a two-candidate race between Biden and Trump. Then they asked about a third-party race between Biden, Trump, and Cornel West. In 2020 the actual voting results were Trump 53%, Biden 45%, Jorgensen 1%, and Others 1%. In 2023, the poll on a two-way Trump-Biden race was Trump 50%, Biden 39%, meaning 11% did not choose to support either of these two men.
Bowen Resigns from LNC
LNC At-Large Member Rich Bowen has resigned from the LNC. Rich Bowen Sep 1, 2023 to lnc-business This email is to formally notify the LNC board that I’m resigning my position as an At Large Representative and all subcommittees effective immediately. I want to thank the delegates of the Libertarian Party Convention in Reno NV for electing me back in May 2022. Just under 70% of you voted for me and for that I am eternally grateful.
LNC Meeting 8/30/2023 Liveblog
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LP Candidate Switches to Unity Party
Dan Ward, who previously ran for Congress in Colorado District 8 and got 3.9% of the vote, has announced that he is leaving the Libertarian Party for the Unity Party. He plans to run for Congress again as a Unity Party candidate. According to Colorado Channel 9, as reasons for leaving, Ward indicated: He disagrees with their messaging. He rejects the welcoming nature of the LP towards white supremacy. He noted the hateful nature towards the LGBTQ+ community.
Keystone Party of Pennsylvania Advances
Keystone Party of Pennsylvania State Chair Steve Scheetz has issued a report on his Party’s progress. Last year, when we started developing The Keystone Party of Pennsylvania, in many respects we were all overwhelmed with the volume of necessities involved with beginning a political party.
Libertarian National Lawsuit in Michigan
We anticipate that this post will be updated on occasion. However, the Libertarian National Committee did sue a group of people who were one of the two sides in the Michigan Libertarian Party dispute, asking on the basis of trademark law that the people be enjoined from using the LNC Trademark “Libertarian Party”. A preliminary injunction granting this request was issued in late August.
Libertarian National Committee August 20, 2023 Meeting
Meeting came to order. Public comment…what we are doing in West Virginia.
Live Blog of 8/19/23 LNC Meeting
We will commence when it is available. They will by and by come to order. We are live. I am about 3 minutes behind. Duque is speaking as a non-member. He resigned after the vote of non-confidence by his region. He travelled to DC, and then resigned.
SCOOPED! The Duque Files Leaked
Readers will be shocked, truly shocked, to learn that the file (17 Mb, zipped) that Miquel Duque sent to the entire LNC did not stay within that body. We tip our hat to the Fakertarians group on Facebook, which has obtained the documents described by the LNC as a breach of confidentiality by Miguel Duque. As the documents weresent by him (in the form of a 17Mb zip file) only to the LNC, we decline to explain how confidentiality could have been violated.
LNC ExComm Meets, Excludes Duque from Meeting
The LNC ExComm met this Meeting. Everyone other than Mr. Heyman was present. There were an extremely large number of other attendees, close to two dozen. Mr. Nekhaila moved to take the Executive Committee into executive session, with the LNC’s attorney invited to attend as a participant. Furthermore, all LNC members were invited to attend, except Regional Representative Miguel Duque was to be excluded.
Change of Ownership
Independent Political Report will remain exactly as it is here, under the wing of the Outsider Media Foundation. Your donations through https://www.outsidermedia.org/ support their cause, objective coverage of third party activities.* Third Party Watch is being transferred to the Libertarian Policy Institute. TPW will continue to use to same servers, but it will have a new owner.
Becky Jones Resigns from LNC
Region 1 Alternate Becky Jones has resigned from the LNC. I am resigning from my role as region 1 alt. I’m in a situation with my family that will require most of my time, energy and focus for the foreseeable future. I also do not believe my efforts will end up contributing much to right this ship. I’m my brief time with the LNC- I have been frustrated with the lack of progress and constant bickering back and forth.
State Chair Blasts LNC Chair
Independent Political Report is in receipt of a missive sent by a prominent state chair to the LNC Chair and the LNC. The missive was forwarded to us by a highly reliable source. We have been asked to protect our sources, and have done so. Our source writes: Sent to all LNC Officers and Regional Representatives: Madam Chair, you are the ultimate responsibility on this board.
Fake News on the March
We recently had an anomalous issue with a comment. Fortunately, all comments on Independent Political Report are moderated, so the comment was intercepted. None of you saw it. Someone who has never commented before, using the email address of a very senior person at the No Labels group, surfaced and said that whenever we discussed the No Labels group we had to mention a series of items.
Where Your Money Went -- National LP
We launch an occasional column reporting on income and expenditures by third parties. If you were a donor this is Where Your Money Went. For June, the Libertarian National Committee had $95,743 in contributions and spent $91,370. There are $10,958 in unpaid credit card charges. Of 341 itemized donors, 55 report that they are retired or words to that effect.
No Labels Attracts National Attention
The No Labels political movement is attracting significant national attention, at this point considerably more than other third parties. Other Parties? Green Party Presidential candidate Cornel West, historically a national prominent figure, has drawn some notice for his stands on the Russo-Ukrainian War. One state’s Libertarian Party has been widely criticized for its strange posts on Twitter.
Echelon Insights 2023 Political Inclination Poll
Once again, Echelon Insights (http://echeloninsights.com) has released a two-axis poll of economic and cultural inclinations among registered voters. It’s part of a very large piece of data analysis, seen at Conservative scores are at the top and right. Liberal scores are at the bottom and left. Once again, voters fill three of the four quadrants, but only 5% of them are in the libertarian quadrant, and almost all of them are not very far into the libertarian quadrant.
July 2023 Third Party News
We understand that Senator Manchin, oft mentioned as a No Labels Presidential candidate, is going to New Hampshire. He speaks at St. Anselm’s College on Monday July 17th. John Huntsman, former U.S. Ambassador to China and former Governor of Utah, will join him. Manchin is co-Chair of No Labels. Democratic Party officials are reportedly alarmed that the No Labels Party will selectively draw votes from the Democratic Party, making it more likely that Republican Donald Trump will win the next election.
A Rumor Devoid of Merit
Recently, it was called to my attention that I am working with Stewart Flood in forming a new political party. I would like to thank the LNC officer who revealed this, because her announcement was the first I had heard about it. The announcement is completely and totally devoid of merit. The claim is, to use the language of a past political cycle, lacking in truthyness. I have no idea where the claim came from. In America, at any time, new political parties are forming.
Robert Kraus on LNC Activities
There is a great deal here on different topics. No mail dropped since August 22, including renewal notices. Bills were not been supplied to the Operations Manager, the person who pays them, and may well not have been paid. Some members were, to his knowledge, not given access to the LNC private email list. Inside LP Baseball #3: Here’s some charts that tell a story. I guess you can spin it & say gee, things aren’t so bad – look back at 2009 not too mention 2005-6.
Op Ed: Joe Buchman
Independent Political Report is open to op-ed columns on third-parties and their candidates. The purpose of our op-ed feature is to provide a supply of third-party viewpoints, especially points of view not generally available, for the use of the gen
Court Rejects LNC Preliminary Injunction Request in Michigan
United States District Court Judge Judith Levy has struck the LNC’s filing for a preliminary injunction against the Michigan Libertarian Party (Michael Saliba, Chair). The LNC has until Friday the 16th to fix their filing and refile.
The Party Party of Rhode Island
“The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.” - Ross Perot The Party Party of Rhode Island is a grass roots movement focused on state and local government reform. They emphasize ranked choice voting. They are organized enough to have a mailchimp newsletter, two facebook pages, a twitter account, and an effort to collect the names of volunteers.
IPR interviews Mark Tuniewicz
Tuniewicz styles himself “The Reluctant Representative”. He reminds us that all opinions herein are his, not the opinions of the National Committee. IPR owner George Phillies caught up with LNC member Mark Tuniewicz in New Hampshire recently, where Tuniewicz had previously served as state chair and was in the area celebrating his mother’s 85th birthday.
LNC Asks Injunction Against Michigan Libertarians
The Libertarian National Committee has made a 200-page filing asking for a preliminary injunction against Michigan Libertarians Mike Saliba, Rafael Wolf, Greg Stempfle, Angela Thornton-Canny, Jami Van Alstine, Mary Buzuma, Dave Canny and Joseph Brungardt, asking that they be enjoined from using the LNC’s trademarks “Libertarian Party” and “Libertarian Logo”.
Classical Libertarian Caucus Report: State of the National LP
The Classical Libertarian Caucus of the Libertarian Party has issued a report on the state of the Libertarian Party in 2023. The report, released on May 26, considers income, membership, and Presidential candidate ballot access by comparison with previous periods. The report is quite dismal in its observations. Income is down very considerably. Looking at May-to-April fundraising years, 2022-2023 was the second-worst fundraising total in 30 years, second only to 2006.
New Classical Liberal Party Forming
Independent Political Report has learned that a new classical liberal party is in the process of formation. The exact party name has not been chosen. Organizers include at least some former Libertarian Party activists, such as Stewart Flood of South Carolina, whose article appears on our sister publication Third Party Watch.
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