Congratulations to members of the Republican Liberty Caucus in Delaware and Massachusetts. Members in both states have come together over the last several months to meet, organize, approve Bylaws, elect officers, and formalize their state affiliates.

Delaware RLC members have elected Diane Hernandez of New Castle as Chair with Jason O’Neill and Joseph O’Leary serving in other officer positions. The Delaware RLC officers attended the RLC National Convention in Arlington, Virginia last February.

Massachusetts RLC members, who have their own website up at http://www.massrlc.com/index.php, have elected Kevin Martin Chairman and Kamal Jain as Treasurer. Shelly Ortelt and Keith Messina will serve as Vice-Chair and Secretary.

Massachusetts RLC members gathered in February for their first meeting.

Congratulations to the officers and members of these two new state affiliates. Members of the RLC in Colorado and South Carolina should get in touch with their state contacts soon because both states have members working to charter their affiliates.

There are a host of upcoming Republican Liberty Caucus events that we want you to be a part of!

………………APRIL
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• Gary Johnson at South Michigan Area Republican Club
April 2, Berkley
RSVP/learn more.

• Central East Florida RLC Meeting
April 4, Indian Harbour Beach
RSVP/learn more.

• Orlando Area RLC Meeting
April 7, Winter Park
RSVP/learn more.

• Northeast Florida RLC Meeting
April 5, Jacksonville
RSVP/learn more.

• Los Angeles Area RLC Meetup with Governor Gary Johnson
April 7, Los Angeles
RSVP/learn more.

• Central Texas RLC Meetup
April 8, Austin
RSVP/learn more.

• Colorado RLC Organizing Meeting
April 9, Boulder
RSVP/learn more.

• Gary Johnson in Orlando, Palm Beach, Boca Raton
April 13-16
RSVP/learn more here, here, and here.

• Silicon Valley RLC Meetup
April 18, San Jose
RSVP/learn more.

………………MAY
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• Central East Florida RLC Meeting
May 2, Indian Harbour Beach
RSVP/learn more.

• Colorado RLC Organizing Meeting
May 7, Denver
RSVP/learn more.

• Michigan RLC Convention with U.S. Rep. Justin Amash
May 14, Wyoming (Grand Rapids area)
RSVP/learn more.

• Wisconsin RLC Outreach at State GOP Convention
May 21, Wisconsin Dells
Contact Michael to volunteer.

………………JUNE
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• Maine RLC Leadership Conference
June 4, Augusta
RSVP/learn more.

• Virginia RLC Convention
June 4, Arlington
RSVP/learn more.

• North Carolina RLC Outreach at GOP Convention
June 3-5, Wilmington
Contact David to volunteer.

• North Carolina RLC Convention
June 4, Wilmington
RSVP/learn more.

• Utah RLC Convention
June 16, Draper
RSVP/learn more.

Colorado is a state that is ripe for a Republican Liberty Caucus chapter. Earl Bandy, an activist and RLC member in the Denver area, has set a meeting for members of the Colorado RLC on Saturday, March 12 at 10:00am. Members and interested parties will meet in the Lone Tree room of the Lone Tree Library at 8827 Lone Tree Parkway, Lone Tree, CO 80124. We will review a proposed set of bylaws, share our vision for RLC Colorado and lay the ground work for a successful convention in early April.

If you would like to renew your dues or join the Republican Liberty Caucus, you can do so at www.rlc.org/join-the-rlc/.

We will need to have ten dues paying members to sign our chartering application. At RLC.org you will also find the national bylaws and the RLC statement of principles among other worthwhile material.

Amidst the biggest mid-term shift in party political power since 1938, voters in several states approved propositions related to the Obamacare health law passed earlier this year.

Arizona and Oklahoma voters voted 55 percent and 65 percent, respectively, not to enact the individual mandate contained in the health care law. Seventy-one percent of Missouri voters endorsed an anti-mandate statewide constitutional amendment in August.

State legislatures in Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana and Virginia have all passed laws that would similarly stifle Obamacare by granting citizens freedom of choice in health care.

According to columnist Deroy Murdock, the Republican Party’s conquest of 19 previously Democrat state-representative chambers, 10 full legislatures, and 11 governorships gives state-level Republicans brand-new opportunities to hammer ObamaCare.

Additionally, Republican control of the most state-legislative seats since 1928 could spawn fresh anti-ObamaCare lawsuits beyond the 21 that states have filed. According to national exit polls, 48 percent of voters surveyed want Congress to repeal ObamaCare.

The Republican Liberty Caucus, the libertarian/constitutionalist wing of the Republican Party, has selected to endorse the following candidates for office in 2010. These endorsements are in addition to our over 200 other endorsed candidates for state and federal office.

Congratulations to the below candidates, each of whom is committed to limited government and protecting individual liberty.

U.S. Senate
Ken Buck, Colorado
Joe Miller, Alaska
Christine O’Donnell, Delaware
Dr. Eric Wargotz, Maryland

U.S. House
Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent), District 6, Maryland
Steve Chabot, District 1, Ohio
Scott Garrett (Incumbent), District 5, New Jersey
Jim Jordan, District 4, Ohio
Charles Lollar, District 5, Maryland
Joel Pollak, District 9, Illinois
Adrian Smith (Incumbent), District 3, Nebraska

Statewide
Martha Dean, Attorney General, Connecticut
Mark Martin, Secretary of State, Arkansas

Local & State
Tracie Nakano Bean, State Senate – District 24, Hawaii
Thomas Massie, Lewis County Judge Executive, Kentucky

The Republican Liberty Caucus, a grassroots network of concerned citizens dedicated to upholding individual liberty, limited government, and free enterprise within the Republican Party, is pleased to announce its support of the following Colorado candidates:

* Mike Fallon, U.S. Congress in District 1
* Stephen Bailey, U.S. Congress in District 2;
* Tim Leonard, State Senate in District 16
* Ted Harvey, State Senate in District 30 (Incumbent);
* Robert Houdeshell, State House in District 13
* Donald Beezley, State House in District 33
* Luke Korkowski, State House in District 61
* Carl Bruning, Larimer County Sheriff

Each of our endorsed candidates share common goals of dramatically reducing spending, cutting taxes, and an overall sense that government needs to return to its proper role and and exercise only those powers enumerated in the Constitution.

In addition to these endorsements, the Republican Liberty Caucus is pleased to endorse the following Colorado ballot initiatives in 2010:

* Yes on Amendment 60, to limit property taxes;
* Yes on Amendment 61, to limit Colorado debt; and
* Yes on Proposition 101, to limit vehicle registration fees.

The Republican Liberty Caucus mission is to recruit and endorse candidates who support its agenda, elect limited-government Republicans to political office, and change the direction of the Republican Party to reflect members’ vision of peace and prosperity.

If we are able to elect these liberty-minded candidates while passing these ballot initiatives, Colorado will be many steps ahead of where it is now. There’s lots of work to do still, so please get involved today!

Learn more about the Caucus at http://www.RLC.org.

The Mercatus Center recently released a study (pdf) by William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens on “Freedom in the 50 States,” which measures economic and social liberty in all fifty states.

According to the authors, the “study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: (1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; and (3) it uses new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.”

The results:

“We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland.”

On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, followed by Maine, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Texas. Maryland, Illinois, and New York are at the rear. On economic freedom alone, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Colorado are the freest, while New York, Maine, and California are the least free.

“As for freedom in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom. Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration.”

This is one of the best studies I’ve encountered. I encourage you to review your own states’ profile in the study.

Of course, the Republican Liberty Caucus ranks legislators on its Liberty Index, but this comprehensive study by Profs. Ruger and Sorens will be most useful to grassroots activists interested in continuing to work toward our libertarian ideal.

Two members of Congress have proposed sound bailout alternatives.

First, regarding the Wall Street bailout already approved by Congress: Representative Louis Gohmert of Texas has proposed returning all 2008 income taxes to American taxpayers as a solution to boost the ailing economy, as he believes taxpayers, rather than the government, should be using their hard-earned money to choose the economy’s winners and losers. Gohmert is preparing a bill to declare the tax holiday for January and February of 2009. According to Gohmert, “We can save more home mortgages, increase employment, and boost economic growth for a lower price tag with this plan than with any centralized bureaucratic program, all by giving the power back to the taxpayers. I am demanding that not another penny goes to executive bailouts, but these billions of taxpayer dollars should go to the taxpayers who earned them.”

According to American Solutions, citizens pay $101.6 billion per month in personal income tax and $65.6 billion per month in FICA tax. Under Gohmert’s proposed plan, all of these taxes would not be paid during January and February of 2009, and the money would stay in the hands of American taxpayers. There is a petition you can sign in support of the Gohmert plan at https://redstate.kimbia.com/taxholiday.

Additionally, Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn has proposed an alternative to the soon to be approved Big Three automakers bailout. The bill, HR 7928, would provide incentives for people to buy cars and reduce the inventory. Lamborn’s plan would give up to a $10,000 tax deduction to each American who buys a new automobile manufactured in the United States — including Ford, Chrysler, GM and foreign auto companies that build cars in this country. The plan would also help small businesses by increasing expense limits from $250,000 to $500,000 with a phase-out cap of $1 million.

In short, there are sound alternatives to Bailout politics, but few Congressional members are willing to look toward alternatives that provide long-term solutions rather than short-term quick fixes.

A good number of RLC-endorsed candidates advanced through their primaries and on to the general elections in 2008, in what could be considered a breakout year for libertarian Republicans.  A listing of all of the RLC’s candidates is available here.

Each of the below candidates endorsed by the RLC ended up advancing in their respective primary race.  Congratulations!

• Alaska: Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, who was endorsed by the RLC, looks likely to lose in his race against Don Young. Both men are vying to represent Alaskans in Congress. Even if Parnell does lose, he will remain Lt. Governor. If McCain-Palin are successful in November, he will become Governor.

• Arizona: Sydney Hay, who is currently the underdog to replace Rick Renzi in Arizona’s First Congressional District. Hay received a donation from the Republican Liberty Caucus PAC.

• Colorado: George Lilly, who was inspired to run for Congress by Ron Paul.  Lilly is running in District 1 and is not favored to win the race due to district demographics.

• Florida: Ritch Workman, who is running for State Representative in District 30.

• Georgia: Dr. Paul Broun, who won his first campaign for Congress in 2007 and then faced a challenge from the establishment GOP in 2008.  Additionally, incumbent State Senator Jeff Chapman and State Representative Steve Davis, both RLC-endorsed, fended off challengers.

• Idaho: Elizabeth Allan Hodge, a former State Representative, won the GOP primary for State Representative in district 16B.

• Indiana: GOP challenger Bill Johnson narrowly lost his primary for State Representative in District 19.  However, in a victory for the RLC, the GOP challenger dropped out of the race for personal reasons and the county GOP decided that Johnson would be the ideal replacement.

• Maryland: The RLC has endorsed several victorious primary challengers in Maryland, including Richard Matthews (CD 02), Peter James (CD 04), Collins Bailey (CD 05), Roscoe Bartlett (CD 06), and Dr. Michael Hargadon (CD 07).  Unfortunately, all of the challengers are likely to lose due to district demographics.  Rep. Roscoe Bartlett is likely to retain his seat.

• Michigan: Three RLC candidates were victorious in their primaries in Michigan, including Justin Amash for State Representative (District 72), Bob Genetski for State Representative (District 88), and Tyler Whitney for Bash Township Trustee.

• Montana: RLC-endorsed candidates Greg Hinkle and Mike Miller won their races for State Senate and State Representative, respectively.

• Nevada: Kris Pickering won her primary for State Supreme Court and up-and-coming GOP rock star Lindsay Nicole Madsen won a tough primary for State Senate in District 7.

• North Carolina: Dr. B.J. Lawson won his primary and will face incumbent David Price for U.S. Congress, District 4.

• Oregon: Delia Lopez won her primary in Oregon, District 3 and will face veteran Earl Blumenauer in November.

• Texas: Dr. Ron Paul won his primary in Congressional District 14 and will return to Congress come January.

• Washington: Michael Delavar won his primary against an establishment GOP candidate in Congressional District 3. He will face incumbent Democrat Brian Baird in November.

• West Virginia: Edward R. Burgress, the RLC contact for West Virginia, won his primary in District 30 (St. Albans) for the House of Delegates. Seven individuals, all of them currently Democrats, represent this large district.

Denver’s ProComp program, short for the Professional Compensation System for Teachers, was implemented in 2006 in a joint effort by the school district and the local teachers’ union to recruit and retain good teachers.

The teachers’ union and the district have reached a tentative agreement that preserves the innovative pay plan while loading more of the earnings towards the front-end of teachers’ careers. If teachers approve the deal by Sept. 9, it would be the first three-year contract stuck in Denver in two decades.

A description of ProComp can be found here. Merit pay is an innovative change that will reward the best teachers. Let’s hope a similar system is implemented in other states.