Another election gone by, and it turned out quite well for the Republican Party overall and the Republican Liberty Caucus in specific.

Republicans elected new Governors in New Jersey and Virginia. Neither of the candidates, Chris Christie or Bob McDonnell, was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, but we believe they will provide a better vision for their states than their respective opponents.

In Virginia, voters elected State Senator Ken Cuccinelli to the post of Attorney General. Cuccinelli is a social and fiscal conservative, and some RLC members have been offended by his social conservatism. Still, he seems to be one of the few politicians in the state that understands the concept of limited government, and has a voting record consistent with the RLC’s goals. His new position elevates Cuccinelli to one of the most high-level advocates of limited government in the country.

RLC members in Virginia worked hard to help Cuccinelli win the nomination for Attorney General, and many contributed to his campaign directly. Cuccinelli has said that he will not enforce laws he deems unconstitutional. In 2007, Cuccinelli took the time to drive several hours to address a small group of RLC members. View his speech to RLC members at YouTube.

In the RLC’s biggest victory of the night, RLC National Committeeman Dan Halloran was elected to the New York City Council in a Queens district that leans heavily Democrat. Halloran is also the state Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus in New York. He worked tirelessly to become elected and will join just four other Republicans on the 51-member City Council.

The RLC also had some other significant victories in New Jersey and New Hampshire. Incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll, who the RLC discovered earlier in the year, was re-elected to his New Jersey House seat. Perhaps the most successful liberty-oriented politician in the state, Michael Doherty, was elected to an open seat in the New Jersey State Senate. The RLC profiled Doherty in an earlier edition of our newsletter.

In the Granite State, Jim Forsythe led a team of liberty-loving Republicans that successfully helped three candidates obtain victory. Political newcomer Lynne Blankenbeker was elected in a special election to the New Hampshire House, and RLC members Phil Greazzo and Cameron DeJong were elected to Alderman and Selectman positions in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Several non-endorsed candidates with strong libertarian leanings were also successful on Election night, including Kim Rafferty, who was elected to the Birmingham City Council in Alabama, and Shaun Kenney, who was elected to a County Supervisor in Fluvanna County, Virginia. In Minnesota, RLC member Luther Stueland won a position on the Moorhead City Council and Patricia Barnum was elected to the West St. Paul ISD 127 School Board.  Additionally, Lisa Marie Coppoletta has advanced to a run-off in a race for San Marcos City Council in Texas.

Unfortunately, TABOR ballot initiatives — which would tie revenue increases to population and inflation growth to keep spending in check — were defeated by voters in Washington state and Maine. The gay marriage ballot initiative in Maine passed, overturning gay marriage in the state, while voters in Washington state chose to extend rights for gays and lesbians.

The nine victories for RLC-endorsed candidates this fall combined with the five spring victories (in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas) have resulted in a very successful off-year election for liberty-focused Republicans.

Congratulations are extended to all of the above candidates, our other endorsed candidates, our supporters, and the folks that helped our endorsed candidates succeed.

Complete RLC election results are available here.

A Republican Liberty Caucus member from Maine has written several columns on a regular basis that appear at the RLC website.

The columns offer practical advice for current or prospective candidates.

View the columns here.

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.

The Maine RLC Leadership Conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Augusta on Saturday, April 25 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

This conference will be most beneficial for future candidates and campaign managers who share a commitment in returning the GOP to its roots of protecting individual liberty and limited government.

Past and present elected officials and campaign consultants have been asked to participate. The featured speakers are Dean Scontras of the Maine Republican Project and State Rep. Richard Cebra. RLC member Vic Berardelli will discuss Effective Campaign Communication. Of course, RLC leader and former State Rep. Ken Lindell will be attending, too.

Dean Scontras recently ran for Congress in Maine’s First Congressional District. Rep. Rich Cebra is currently serving as the Cumberland County Republican Committee Chairman.  RThrough effective organizing and a grassroots turnout, he upset the establishment to elect his slate of change oriented Republicans.

The Maine RLC Leadership Conference will cover a variety of topics including grassroots organizing, campaigning, communications, and get-out-the-vote strategies.

RLC membership is not required to attend the RLC Leadership Conference. The fee is only $25. However, if registration is received with payment by March 27, you can attend at a 20% early registration discount of just $20.

Register today!

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Draft Agenda:

7:30-8:30 A.M. REGISTRATION

8:30 a.m. WELCOME – Ken Lindell
Introduction to the Republican Liberty Caucus, Maine Chapter

9 a.m. WHAT’S AT STAKE? – Vic Berardelli
Overview of Maine-specific issues, laws and regulations which impact liberty and taxes.

9:30 a.m. COMMUNICATIONS – Vic Berardelli
It’s not what you say, but the way that you say it! Communicating in a non-threatening manner

10:15 a.m.-10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. MINI CAMPAIGN SCHOOL – Adam Mack
Learn the difference between an effective campaign and one that is sure to lose.  It is not just about your message. Adam Mack will teach a mini version of his superb campaign strategy and tactics course.  This is a must for anyone considering running for office.

12:30 p.m. LUNCH BREAK – Dean Scontras

2 p.m.  GRASSROOTS – Rich Cebra
Gaining trust: Community involvement in non-political organizations where one gets known as a contributor, a leader and future candidate.

3 p.m. REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS, MAINE CHAPTER
Business session

4 p.m. ADJOURNMENT
Registration table will be open for 30 minutes following adjournment for dues payments or to join RLCME if you attended as a non-member guest.

In the past I’ve been a supporter of the moderate element in the Republican Party. I even blog occasionally for the Republican Leadership Council. They’re the heirs of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and their socially liberal and fiscally conservative positions are at the heart of Republican tradition. I lean more libertarian, but I’ve always seen Republican moderates as natural allies with a lot in common with the libertarian wing of the party.

When there has been disagreement between moderate Republicans and the more ideologically extreme wings of the party, the main thing which has redeemed the moderates in the eyes of doubters and justified party unity is that they have remembered the importance of fiscal responsibility, an essential Republican value which some other factions within the party seem to have lost track of in recent years.

But now, faced with an unprecedented economic crisis and a Democrat-dominated Congress running out of control, it looks like some of the moderates in the GOP are going to fail the party and fail the country by supporting the ill-conceived “stimulus” bill in some sort of misguided fit of irrational bipartisanship.

The latest news reports suggest that Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Susan Collins (R-ME) may vote with the Democrats to give them the 60 votes they need in the Senate to pass this massive spending package. Collins argues that their cooperation is justified because of $110 billion in cuts which have brought the cost of the Senate version of the bill back down to about the $800 billion total of the House version.

The problem is that, despite the name which has been attached to it in an effort to provide positive spin, this is anything but a “stimulus” bill. The bill creates far fewer jobs than has been claimed, at a ridiculous cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per possible job, and most of those jobs are short-term with no lasting positive impact. The tax cuts it contains are misdirected and will have very limited stimulus value. There’s still a great deal of pork and earmarked spending on pet projects. But that’s really all beside the point.

The country is in the middle of a fiscal crisis which was to a large extent precipitated by overspending and over extension of credit, not just by the big banks but by the federal government. To spend almost a trillion dollars which the government does not have does nothing but compound the fiscal irresponsibility which created the crisis in the first place. It will further devalue the dollar, increase inflation and likely create more business failures and greater unemployment.

Last week Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, made observations on the likely effects of the bill. He suggests that the beneficial effects of the bill will wear off quickly after about two years, and that the long term effect will be a reduction in available capital and ultimately a long-term reduction in GDP of between .1 and .3 percent. Elmendorf’s concerns are mild compared to those of prominent economists on both the political left and right who are increasingly unified in opposition to the bill. Over 200 of them took out an ad opposing it in the New York Times, saying that:

“It is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.”

Relatively moderate Harvard economist Martin Feldstein who had initially supported the bill came out unequivocally against it in an editorial where he calls it “An $800 Billion Mistake” and specifically faults it for gross deficit spending with too little stimulus. In an article in the Wall Street Journal economists Alberto Alesina and Luigi Zingales sum up the problem with the bill succinctly: “Tax cuts have a much better effect on job creation than highway rehabilitation.”

Given all of this, it would be a terrible mistake for Republican moderates to adopt a misguided “go along to get along” attitude and vote with the Democrats when standing firm on their belief in fiscal responsibility might be just what’s needed to find a better solution. It’s quite likely that doing nothing at all would be better than this bill. But at the very least, Republicans in the Senate ought to hold out for a bill which has less unnecessary spending and more genuine stimulus in the form of tax cuts for individuals and businesses.

I’ve always believed that moderate Republicans had remarkably good sense and the best interests of the people at heart. Like many others in the party, I’ve put my trust in them over the years to balance out the voices of extremism because they could be counted on when it really mattered.

But if these three are going to betray the fiscally responsible traditions of the GOP and vote to support this disastrous bill, then they have clearly lost their way and will have failed as Republicans and as stewards of the best interests of their constituents and the nation.

You may want to contact these Senators and encourage them to develop some spine and remember their values. You can e-mail them with these links: Specter, Snowe, Collins. These are alternate links because their Senate contact pages are being crashed by the volume of emails.

I track political races all across the country — with an emphasis on the races that libertarian Republicans can win or have a significant impact on. The following is a list of races that you should pay attention to.

ARIZONA: Sydney Hay is a traditional limited government conservative with a long track record of leadership in Arizona. Now, Sydney wants to replace Republican Rick Renzi in Congress. Sydney has an uphill battle because of Renzi’s corruption charges and because the DNCC is targetting this seat for her opponent, State Representative Ann Kirkpatrick. The race will be a nail-biter come Nov. 4.

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The RLC-USA PAC has donated $1,000 to Sydney Hay’s campaign.
Above, Sydney poses with RLC Adviser Barry Goldwater, Jr.

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CALIFORNIA: Tom McClintock has, for over 20 years, been the conscience of the ultra moderate Republican Party of California. Tom is running for Congress in Placer and Modoc Counties, which traditionally trend conservative, but is having trouble because of George W. Bush and other neo-conservatives who have literally ruined the Republican brand. The race is rated “toss-up,” but libertarian Republicans across the country should be rooting for Tom McClintock.

INDIANA: Ron Paul campaign activist, businessman, and RLC member Bill Johnson is the Republican candidate for State Represenative in District 19, running against a one-term Democrat incumbent in a swing district. This is a race to watch!

MAINE: Former State Representative and RLC State Chair Ken Lindell is running for State Representative in the district he formerly represented.

MICHIGAN: Justin Amash is running for State Representative in a conservative district in suburban Grand Rapids. Justin is a longtime RLC member and supporter, and is considered a “rising star” in Michigan GOP politics. Look for Justin to win in November.

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RLC endorsed Nevada State Senate candidate Lindsay Madsen.

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NEVADA: Lindsay Nicole Madsen, a young rising star in the state GOP, is running for State Senate in Clark County (Las Vegas). How much damage can an outspoken, attractive and principled limited government candidate have in a traditionally Democrat district?

NORTH CAROLINA: There are three races to watch for libertarian Republicans interested in the Tar Heel State. B.J. Lawson, a favorite of libertarian Republicans, has waged an amazing uphill battle for Congress against David Price in District 4. Similarly, Asheville City Council member Carl Mumpower is targetting Heath Shuler in District 11; Shuler was elected by a small margin in 2006 in this swing district. Finally, State Auditor Les Merritt (Incumbent), who the state RLC has been in close contact with, is fighting off a challenge from accountant Beth Wood.

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RLC endorsed incumbent, North Carolina State Auditor Les Merritt.

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PENNSYLVANIA: Long-time State Representative Sam Rohrer (Incumbent) is in a tough re-election battle, and needs your support. Rohrer has been firm about preserving individual rights, and fought hard against the federal government on REAL ID.

TEXAS: State RLC Executive Director and all-around great guy Don Zimmerman is running for Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector.

WASHINGTON: Former State Representative and RLC State Contact Toby Nixon is running for State Representative in the district he formerly represented.

These are the races to watch as the election nears. Please help the above candidates succeed!

DC: The state RLC is attempting to charter and will hold its first meeting on July 15 at Brickskeller north of Dupont circle at 6:30pm.

Florida: The state RLC is working on a new web site that will debut shortly. Stay tuned.

Idaho: As detailed earlier in the blog, the state GOP Convention saw two rivals fight out debate on the platform and future direction of the party, with our pro-liberty faction coming out ahead. The new state chair is Norm Semanko.

Illinois: The state RLC met at the GOP Convention in Decatur on June 6 and 7. Unfortunately, the libertarian-leaning Steve Rauschenberger was defeated for the state committeeman seat by Pat Brady.

Maine: The state RLC is working on candidate endorsements.

Nebraska: The Nebraska RLC charter has been approved. In celebration of the new charter, the Nebraska RLC will hold its first event on July 11 at 5:30pm at the Double D Ranch (567 County Rd. C) in Ashland, Nebraska. Click here to view a PDF of the event invitation.

Nevada: An alternative GOP Convention was held recently, in protest of the previous Convention. See below post for additional information. The state party-sponsored Republican Convention will reconvene on July 26.

New Hampshire: The state RLC is working on candidate endorsements.

New York: The state RLC is working on candidate endorsements.

Ohio: The RLC has a new state contact in Ohio, retired Colonel John Mitchel. Mr. Mitchel is very involved with his community, is a member of his local GOP Committee, and has nearly 30 years of military experience. He is also an adjunct college professor. We look forward to his active involvement in chartering the Ohio chapter of the RLC.

Utah: The newly chartered state affiliate is working on candidate endorsements.

Former elected RLC members R. Kenneth Lindell and Toby Nixon are running to be elected to their former State Representative posts in Maine and Washington state.

Ken Lindell is the RLC State Chair in Maine and was the State Coordinator of the Ron Paul for President campaign. He served in the Maine legislature from January, 2005 to January, 2007. He also attended the 2006 RLC National Convention in Orlando, Florida. Ken recently won his primary against two opponents. He received 229 votes; his opponents received 182 and 143 votes, respectively. If elected, he will represent Orland, Frankfort, Prospect, Stockton Springs, Verona Island, and Searsport in Maine. He will face Democrat Lance Weddell in the general election.

Toby Nixon is the former RLC state contact in Washington state. Toby served as State Representative for the 45th District from January, 2002, through January, 2007. Toby has been active in the community for many years. He serves as president and a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington state chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection, a member of the Board of Directors of Heart of America Northwest (one of the leading organizations advocating for cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site), and on the Advisery Council of Youth Eastside Services (YES). He will face Democrat Roger Goodman in the general election.