Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

In the first primary race of 2010, David Ratowitz carried the cause of liberty to victory in the GOP primary for the 5th Congressional District of Illinois. Ratowitz was the only candidate for federal office officially endorsed by the RLC in Illinois and won his race by a solid margin over two opponents.

In November Ratowitz stands a good chance of beating big government Democrat incumbent Mike Quigley in a district which is mostly middle class Chicago suburbs and leans Democrat, but was held by a Republican during the mid 1990s.

Ratowitz commented after the final results were announced, as he and supporters celebrated at Wise Fools Pub in Chicago:

“My campaign was consistent, informed and relentless in its delivery of a limited government and free market message to the people of Congressional District 5. Ultimately, the voters – both in the city and the suburbs – roundly accepted that message as their own.

“I stand with the independent businesses and working families of the 5th Congressional District who are insisting, in no uncertain terms, on a far less intrusive federal government and increased fiscal responsibility at all levels. This victory is a decisive win for liberty, the first of many that will propel our campaign to success in November.

“I thank my family, supporters, staff and, most assuredly, my fellow citizens of Illinois District 5.”

The RLC looks forward to supporting Ratowitz through the general election and in bringing the liberty message to Washington DC after he wins in November.

Adam Andrzejewski is one of six Republicans running to become the standard bearer for the party’s upcoming statewide gubernatorial race.

Unlike each of his opponents, Andrzejewski is a common citizen — a father and businessman rather than a career politician.

The Illinois primary is today, ridiculously early, and catches us all off guard.

Illinois politics is unique, to be sure. It’s filled with a corrupt cesspool of self-aggrandizing politicians — in the Rod Blagojevich mold — each hoping to out-power one another to become king of the citizenry. It’s power politics, to be sure, and is filled with name-calling, manipulation, and maneuvering.

Adam Andrzejewski is a rare political outsider with common sense and commitment to limited and transparent government.  All of this is rare in Illinois politics, which is usually filled with special interest candidates or those with a solid family tree of political history.

Whatsmore, Adam is gaining traction and could be the GOP nominee for Governor.

As the Republican Liberty Caucus choice for Governor, we hope Illinois voters see in Adam what Rush Limbaugh and former president of Poland Lech Walesa see; both endorsed his candidacy in the last week.

In addition to being profiled at the popular conservative blog RedState, Adam was recently featured in Politico article and at National Review online.

Depending on what poll you believe, Adam is either in first or second place in the tough primary field.

Will the Tea Party impact today’s Illinois GOP gubernatorial race? If so, Adam will be the Republican nominee.  Illinois will be a better place if that happens.

If you missed the RLC teleconference with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, here’s a full 90 minute recording of his opening remarks and all the questions from the great crowd who called in.

Tim Condon of the New Hampshire RLC has written an article entitled “Former New Mexico Governor a Hit in New Hampshire.” According to Condon,

During the question and answer session, one member of the audience noted that Johnson seemed to be responding to the questions clearly and directly “without trying to avoid giving an answer. Do you think you could give lessons to other politicians?” The crowd roared with laughter.

The general impression of Gov. Johnson seemed to be positive. At one point a questioner, clearly pleased with Gov. Johnson’s political positions and recommendations, asked “What would it take for you to consider moving to New Hampshire?” Johnson grinned back, saying: “How could you not consider moving to New Hampshire when the license plate says ‘Live Free or Die’?”

Read more at the RLCNH website.

Jim Forsythe, New Hampshire RLC Chair, introduced Gary Johnson.

January 25, 2010
St. Augustine Historic City News, St. Augustine, FL
Source URL

The leadership of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee (SJCREC) dealt a blow to the grassroots and derailed recent attempts to reconcile long standing differences with the Republican Liberty Caucus of Northeast Florida (RLCNEF).

Thursday night it refused to allow RLCNEF members access to a meeting where State Committeeman Jon Woodard stepped down and State Senator John Thrasher was elected to Woodard’s position.

The election of Thrasher to Woodard’s State Committeeman post clears the way for Thrasher to run for the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chair position to be vacated on February 20th by Jim Greer.

There is a level of excitement within the party that has not been seen in a long time surrounding the race to succeed Jim Greer. Greer’s re-election a year ago has resulted in a leadership implosion within the RPOF. Thrasher, a sitting Republican State Senator, is seeking to lead the Republican Party out of its doldrums. Unfortunately for Thrasher, the SJCREC appears to have added fuel to an internal firestorm.

The latest in an unfortunate series of events occurred when the majority of the SJCREC members were not given notice the meeting would be closed in Executive Session, and only received the news upon their arrival at the meeting that night.

To further exacerbate matters, SJCREC officials – allegedly in preparation for the vote on Senator Thrasher – performed a “purge” of the membership list for the stated purpose of removing members who had missed three consecutive meetings pursuant to state bylaws.

The purpose and accuracy of the list purge is in question, however, as RLCNEF member Cliff Johnson who is also a sworn member of the SJCREC and who had not missed three consecutive meetings, was told that he was not eligible to attend the Executive Session or vote in the Special Election.

While SJCREC leadership claimed that access to the Executive Session was limited only to SJCREC members, at least four members of the Duval County Republican Executive Committee who support Thrasher were allowed inside while known opponents of Thrasher and supporters of Sharon Day – also a candidate for State Chair – were told they must stay outside.

In a protest against the double standard and blatant cronyism on display, RLCNEF Chair John Stevens entered the meeting despite being told not to do so. Stevens was then asked to leave and refused. SJCREC officials called police and Stevens was escorted from the meeting. No charges were filed.

Chairman Stevens desired to attend the meeting to ask Thrasher what position he would be taking on Orange and St. Johns County REC members removed by Greer through the never-before-used grievance process last year. Stevens commented regarding the incident, “It was unfortunate that it had to come that. The RLC is working for accountability within the Party and we would prefer to do so quietly from within; but if members are being locked out and denied an opportunity to be heard then we are left with no option but to make our voices heard publicly.”

This incident in St. Johns is eerily similar to a situation that occurred last year in Orange County where Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC) Chair Lew Oliver prevented members of the OCREC from voting in the election for Oliver’s seat; the people barred from voting were supporters of his opponent, Deon Long, who is now running for the 24th District of the U.S. Congress.

Many of the registered voters of Florida agree with the message of the Republican Liberty Caucus. The RLC’s message has begun attracting large numbers of people statewide. Support has poured out from around the state as this struggle with the corruption within the party has continued. Many of the recent changes in the RPOF leadership started at the grassroots level with large groups of dissenters, such as the RLC, calling for honesty and transparency in our elected leaders.

Frank Zilaitis
Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida

About The Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida:

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida is a coalition of traditional conservatives and liberty minded Republicans working within the Republican Party to promote individual liberty, smaller government, state and national sovereignty and the Constitution. The caucus advocates the return of our nation to the values and intentions of the Constitution and our founders.

President Obama is giving his first State of the Union address on Wednesday at 9pm EST. We’re going to be covering it live with special guest bloggers and commenters as well as open participation for our readers. Watch this space for the live chat starting when the president takes the podium.

This will be a live event sponsored by Blogcritics Magazine, The Republican Liberty Caucus and National Broadside. You can access the chat utility on any of those sites.

John Tate of the Campaign for Liberty just sent out a press release concerning his group’s opposition to the reappointment of Ben Bernanke.  I agree with him in spirit.

What concerns me, though, is that the left also opposes Bernanke’s reappointment. Given the nature of this term’s Democratic Party-dominated Senate, any alternative to Bernanke could be worse.  I would like to see some specific recommendations for alternatives.

Writing in a Democratic Party outlet, the New York Times, leftist Paul Krugman expresses a similar concern, that it is not clear that Bernanke the devil is worse than some crustacean that Harry Reid might pull from the deep blue sea.

Indeed, Krugman’s deliberations concerning Bernanke emphasize that Bernanke has not inflated enough or “done all he can”.  Unless the Democrats can come up with an alternative (e.g., a 21st century Paul Volcker), I’d prefer to stand pat despite what Krugman calls Bernanke’s “complacency”.

RLC Outreach Director Aaron Biterman appeared on FreedomWatch with Judge Napolitano this week. He called in rather than appearing in person on the show, but the discussion was interesting with good points made about the libertarian middle and the Tea Party movement. You can stream the video here.