Republican Liberty Caucus

Dick Heller of Heller v. DC to speak at first RLC Meeting in District of Columbia

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller. The High Court ruled that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for private use. It was the second Supreme Court case in United States history to address definitively the question of whether the right to keep and bear arms is a right of individuals or a collective right that applies only to state-regulated militias.

Richard Heller, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Heller v. District of Columbia, will be the featured speaker at the first meeting of the Republican Liberty Caucus of the District of Columbia. Dick is a longtime libertarian activist. Heller had applied for a handgun permit previously but was denied. Thus, of the six original plaintiffs in the case, a lower court ruled that only he had standing.

The meeting takes place on Tuesday, July 15 at 6:30pm at Brickskeller, north of Dupont Circle at 1523 22nd St, NW, Washington, DC. Once established, the RLC can serve as a vehicle for libertarians in DC to influence the Republican Party in DC and nationally. The RLC exists to endorse and recruit pro-liberty candidates, influence policy, and influence the leadership of the GOP. You can RSVP at our Facebook events page.

June RLC State Update

DC: On July 12, a “Ron Paul March” will take place in Washington, DC. Click here to learn more.

Florida: On June 4, 2008, RLCer Dr. Robert Sussman presented a digest version of a talk that he usually gives to medical students to teach them about free market versus government healthcare, an important lesson for Republican activists as well, to the Palm Beach affiliate of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida. Consistent with RLC political strategy, the Palm Beach County Meetup of the Republican Liberty Caucus is not a stand-alone meeting. Instead, RLCers meet in conjunction with the Republican Club of Central Palm Beach County. According to RLCFL Vice-Chairman Philip Blumel, “We had good turnout — including our county Republican Executive Committee Chair Sid Dinerstein — at what turned out to be a FEE-style back-to-basics lecture about applying market principles to health care.” Blumel reported that Dr. Sussman is available for talks at Republican clubs and other civic groups in South Florida and suggested that other RLC groups can book him with confidence that the program will reflect positively on the RLC.

Minnesota: The Minnesota chapter of the RLC held its annual convention on May 17, 2008 at the French Regional Park in Plymouth. A new slate of officers was elected, including: Dave Fitzsimmons, Chair; Andy Lindberg, Vice-Chair; Norann Dillon, Secretary; Tom Willenbring, Treasurer. Five At-Large members were elected: Marianne Stebbins, Joe Dillon, Ebenezer Howe, Wendy Alfveby, and Dan McGrath. Two alternates were elected: Doug Harrison and Terry McCall. Additionally, Bill Jungauer was endorsed for House District 39A. Additional endorsements will occur at the member outreach meeting on July 12.

North Carolina: The RLC National Board approved the charter of the North Carolina affiliate at the National Board meeting on Monday, June 9, 2008. Additionally, there will be an RLC Business Meeting on Saturday, June 7 at 6:00pm at the “vendor area” of the Koury Convention Center to elect the new officers for the state. This is immediately following the NC GOP busisness meeting at the State Convention.

Utah: The RLC National Board approved the charter of the Utah affiliate at the National Board meeting on Monday, June 9, 2008. On Saturday, June 14, 2008, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Utah will be meeting to discuss its charter application and organization, the mission and objectives of the organization, the calendar and assignments of the organization, and endorsements for the June 24 primary. The meeting will be held at the Larry H. Miller Campus in Sandy, Utah.

On Saturday, April 12, the Republican Liberty Caucus of North Carolina conducted outreach at the North Carolina Young Republican Convention in Greensboro. “The table went over very well, with several new paid memberships, promising progress in seeding new local RLC chapters around the State, and a remarkable percentage of libertarian scorers on the World’s Smallest Political Quiz,” said RLC member Jeff Palmer. The quiz scores:

Libertarian…………… 77.3%
Centrist………………. 13.3%
Right Conservative…. 5.3%
Authoritarian ……….. 4.0%

Kudos to RLC National Treasurer Jeff Palmer and North Carolina RLC Vice Chair David Williams for helping out and for getting RLC literature into the hands of every YR attendee.

There’s a lot going on in RLC-land. Some updates from the states:

Arizona: Roy Miller of Phoenix has replaced Bennett Kopp as the new Arizona RLC State Chair. Roy can be reached at rmiller451@aol.com.

Arkansas: Jim Martin of Eureka Springs is the new RLC State Contact. Jim can be reached at jim@iordering.com.

Colorado: Michelle Northrup is our new State Coordinator in Colorado. Michelle is a columnist and reporter for her local newspaper. Michelle is originally from Maine. She and her husband live on a Mountainside in Black Hawk. She can be reached at michelle@poulin.com. The RLC is pleased to have Michelle’s enthusiasm on board in Colorado.

Illinois: The state RLC has established a new website at http://www.rlcil.org. The new state Co-Contacts are W. Guy Finley in Round Lake and Robert M.W. Stanford in Normal. Guy can be reached at wgfinley@dynascope.com and Robert can be reached at rm-ws@usa.net.

Iowa: Roger Barr of Boone has been appointed the new RLC State Contact. Roger can be reached at rbarr3766@yahoo.com.

Kansas: Steve Shute has been appointed the new RLC State Contact. Steve is a resident of Wichita and comes to us from the Ron Paul for President campaign. He can be reached at scshute@embarqmail.com.

Louisiana: Aaron Andrus was appointed the RLC state contact in March. Aaron and his wife Jill have four children, ages 8 years to 4 months old, and reside in Lake Charles. Aaron graduated with a BS in Finance from McNeese State University and a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University New Orleans (2006). He is the Assistant Operations Manager for Seabulk Towing Services, Inc and has been a registered Republican since 1996. We are excited to have Aaron on board. He can be reached at Aymn27@aol.com.

Nevada: RLC National Board member Daniel Rego has moved to Las Vegas and is the new RLC State Contact in the state. Dan can be reached at DanielRego@mad.scientist.com.

North Carolina: RLC National Treasurer Jeff Palmer reports: Spearheaded by the Triangle-Area (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) RLC Meetup group, which held its largest organizational meeting to date on March 20, the North Carolina RLC approved bylaws, elected an interim Board, heard from our local congressional candidate (who’s now a Board member), and increased its paid membership by more than 50%. A RLCNC rechartering application will be submitted to national shortly. New members came all the way from Wilmington where the Cape Fear Republican Liberty Caucus was founded and promises to absorb the 150+ member Wilmington-Area Ron Paul Meetup group. Seeds have also been planted for local RLC groups in Charlotte, Asheville, and the Triad (Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point). Interestingly, three of our new members — including one of our most promising — were libertarian Republicans who just happened to being playing pool in the room where we were about to have our meeting. When it rains, it pours! North Carolina has a delegate selection process separate from and parallel to our upcoming presidential primary and, as the state’s Ron Paul movement has switched gears to the GOP “inside-baseball” that the delegate selection process entails, the RLC here has enhanced its reputation as the putative expert on the process and on working within the GOP.

Oklahoma: Nathan Davis, an Oklahoma GOP Precinct Chair in Wagoner County, is the new RLC State Contact. Nate can be reached at n8davis02@yahoo.com.

Pennsylvania: Shawn McArdle of Erie has been appointed the new RLC State Contact. Shawn can be reached at
franklintwprepublican@verizon.net.

Tennessee: The state RLC has a new contact, Dr. Joe Dumas of Signal Mountain in Hamilton County. Dr. Dumas is a Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a volunteer for Bachman Community Center and Mountain Arts Community Center. He is a rated chess player and is the Senior Tournament Director of the U.S. Chess Federation. The RLC is thankful to have Joe as our state contact. He can be reached at joe@joedumas.com.

Dr. Joe Dumas

Virginia: A statewide Republican Liberty Caucus chapter meeting is taking place at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 22 at the Snow Memorial Library in Spotsylvania (north of Richmond and south of Fredericksburg). The featured speaker with be State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, one of the few libertarian-leaning Republicans in the state legislature.

Senator Ken Cucinelli

Utah: A statewide Republican Liberty Caucus chapter meeting is taking place at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 22 at the Sandy Library in Sandy. This is the first official organizing meeting for the RLC in Utah. The state RLC contact is Lowell Nelson, who can be reached at lowell@netdocuments.com.

Washington: On March 3, several interested parties came together for a conference call regarding the formation of an RLC chapter. There will be an RLC charter meeting on April 19 at 1:00pm in Wenatchee in Chelan County. The state RLC contact is Michelle Murphy, who can be reached at mnmurphy@usit.net.

Wisconsin: The state RLC has a new contact, David Baumgardner of La Farge in Vernon County. David is an Eagle Scout who is currently completing his goal of obtaining a Law Degree. He is involved with Boy Scouts of America, the Vernon County Republican Party, GOPAC, the NRA, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, and the Federalist Society. We welcome David’s enthusiasm to the RLC and look forward to a Wisconsin chapter. David can be reached at dpbaumgardner@hotmail.com.

David P. Baumgardner

Wyoming: The state RLC has established a new website at http://www.wyrlc.org.

The Michigan chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus will host the RLC National Convention on September 12 to 14, 2008. This is the first ever RLC Convention in the Midwest, so please save the date and plan to attend. The speaker lineup and agenda will be released shortly. For program details and registration information, click here.

The hotel details:

Crowne Plaza
Detroit Metro Airport
8000 Merriman Road
Romulus, Michigan 48174
Ph: 734-729-2600
Fax: 734-729-9414
E-mail: detroitcrowne@columbiasussex.com

For Convention questions, please contact Dan Sheill.