Dan Halloran, RLC National Committeeman and New York RLC Chair, is running for City Council in New York City.
Below is his Tea Party speech from July 4, 2009:
“I believe that the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. The basis of conservatism is a demand for less government interference and more individual freedom.”
– Ronald Reagan, Reason Magazine, 1975
Obama has been meeting with top officials to map out a strategy for a new health regime for the Nation, much of it mandatory.
According to CBSNews.com, any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.”
“The president is filling top posts at Health and Human Services with officials who, in their previous jobs, outlawed trans fats, banned public smoking or required restaurants to provide a calorie count with that slice of banana cream pie.”
The whole situation has libertarians craving a basket of onion rings and a beer.
“If you care about the sorts of things I do, then you are going to be losing big-time for the next four to eight years,” said David Harsanyi, a Denver Post columnist and author of the book “Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning America Into a Nation of Children.”
Don’t get them wrong, critics such as Harsanyi say — they like broccoli and they lift barbells and they have no particular beef with a healthy president who was once described by his physician as having “no excess body fat.”
Says the paper, “They just don’t like it when government becomes the messenger and the enforcer.”
You can say that again.
According to a press release from last month, the Queens County Libertarian Party has cross-endorsed Auburndale attorney Dan Halloran for City Council in the 19th Council District. Incumbent Councilmember Tony Avella has pledged to honor the two-term limit as passed by the voters and is currently running for Mayor.
At the The Libertarian Party’s NYC Nominating Convention on May 11, the convention committee met with a number of prospective candidates seeking the party’s endorsement and had several well qualified candidates. After the City-wide nominations the County committees caucused and Queens County unanimously endorsed Dan Halloran for the City Council.
In accepting the endorsement, Halloran said, “I am honored by Dr. Tom Stevens and Chairman John Procida’s support and the confidence they and their party have in my campaign and our message of restoring fiscal responsibility and accountability to our government.”
Chairman Procida’s commented, “Dan is an outstanding candidate and will be a great City Councilman, we look forward to seeing him run for Mayor one day!”
Dr. Tom Stevens, remarked, “Dan has the interests of Liberty in his mind and as a part of his platform, his energy and ideas are exactly what we need in City Hall.”
Halloran has already been endorsed by the Queens GOP, the National Republican Party’s Liberty Caucus, Senator Frank Padavan, Councilman Eric Ulrich, and is being considered by the Conservative and Independence Parties for cross-endorsement.
Mr. Halloran also serves on the Republican Liberty Caucus National Committee as the representative for the Northeast region. His website is http://www.danhalloran.org/.
The New York affiliate of the Republican Liberty Caucus is on a roll! In addition to two candidates running for office in New York City, the RLC’s endorsed candidate for Westchester County District Attorney won a unanimous endorsement to run against the incumbent Democrat and a Democrat challenger for the position of County DA on Monday.
Dan Schorr is running against incumbent Janet DiFiore, who campaigned as a Republican — and who he helped elect several years ago to her current post. DiFiore switched to the Democrat Party in 2007 when it became politically expedient for her to do so. So Westchester County has elected two Republicans to the post in the immediate past — DiFiore and former U.S. Senate candidate (and TV court judge) Jeanine Pirro.
Dan Schorr spent two years on the White Plans Planning Board as well as six years as a youth basketball coach with the White Plains Department of Parks and Recreation. Mr. Schorr is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Law and Legal Writing at Pace University Law School. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Schorr is the former Deputy D.A. under Jeanine Pirro, so he has a lot of experience and has the credentials to be successful. In addition to having the credentials and experience, Dan Schorr is a true advocate of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government.
Two Republicans who are allied with the RLC are running for City Council and Borough President, respectively, in Queens (New York City) due to the lack of Republicans in city government. The Republican Liberty Caucus of New York, just this week, endorsed Dan Halloran for City Council and Robert Hornak for Queens Borough President.
“[My district] is a long-time Republican territory … the same area represented by state Sen. Frank Padavan,” according to RLC member Dan Halloran. Halloran hosted a fundraising event featuring Senator Padavan and other prominent Republicans on Saturday, April 5.
Mr. Halloran (photo at left), an Air Force veteran and former member of the New York City Police Department, is running to be the next City Councilman representing Queens, district 19. Halloran, who attended the RLC National Convention in Jacksonville, also has received the endorsement of the local GOP.
With a field of five Democrats fighting to replace Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), Halloran is the sole Republican in the race. Another candidate, Joseph Gravagna, recently bowed out of the Republican competition during a meeting of the Northeast Queens Republican Club, saying Halloran was “the ideal candidate who represents the very best in our party.”
The Halloran name is well-known in Flushing, part of the area the candidate wants to represent. His family ran a real estate business there for over 80 years. Halloran grew up in Flushing, 15 blocks away from his current Whitestone home. Halloran is a graduate of Fordham University and received his law degree from St. John’s University and advanced L.L.M. from SUNY Buffalo.
“We are in a fiscal crisis. Many city agencies could be merged, saving $6.9 billion,” Halloran said. “There are 116 agencies now and many are redundant. It contributes to a bloated bureaucracy.”
Robert Hornak, Chair of the Urban Republicans and the former NYYRC chairman and club president, is running for Queens Borough President. At his kickoff fundraiser in February, former New York RLC Board member Dr. Herb London and longtime pro-liberty activist Niger Innis were present to support Hornak’s bid. His Host Committee included RLC member Luke Vander Linden and former RLC-endorsed candidate for Senate, Michael Benjamin. RLC member Ron Lewenberg is also on his campaign team.
RLC members from across New York state will be watching these races closely, as well as the race of Westchester County District Attorney candidate and RLC member Dan Schorr.
According to Stop the Fairness Dcotrine:
“Hinchey has been the champion of legislation known as “MORA” — the Media Ownership and Reform Act. The first provision of this bill would reinstate the “Fairness Doctrine.” MORA would also put a cap on how many radio stations a company can own, place a similar cap on television ownership and require more ‘independent’ programming. Hinchey has gone on national TV to defend his leadership of and support for the “Fairness Doctrine” — even going toe to toe with Sean Hannity.”
Hinchey calls anyone who disagrees with his pathetic, ignorant views “a Nazi.” Yet it is Hinchey who aims to use the violence of government to suppress the speech of those with whom he disagrees.
Congressman Maurice Hinchey is a thug who aims to suppress speech in the interest of political opportunism. The hard left which Hinchey represents and the ACLU claim to favor free speech when the speech furthers hard left goals–destruction of economic freedom, impoverishment of ordinary Americans, and egregious taxes. But when speech opposes such goals, Hinchey aims to suppress dissident speech.
Bill Hammond of The New York Daily News reports on how State Chair Joe Mondello has run the New York Republican Party into the ditch.
Mondello’s team forfeited majority control of the state Senate for the first time in 43 years. It also gave up another three of New York’s congressional seats, leaving them with just three of 29 in the House delegation. According to Hammond, Mondello has brought the same Midas touch to his 25 years as Nassau County GOP chairman. He says the once-dominant Nassau machine self-destructed on his watch, losing both the county executive’s office and the Legislature after generations of nce. For the first time in modern history, Democrats outnumber Republicans in Mondello’s home county.
Mondello blames the results on Obamamania and refuses to acknowledge any ideological drift in GOP candidates.
Some Republicans – like Suffolk Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick, former New York City Councilman Andrew Eristoff, and former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso – are forthrightly calling for a return to core principles of lean, efficient, honest government and lower taxes.
According to Hammond, “… that’s a platform guaranteed to appeal to New Yorkers of all parties, who are tired of laboring under bloat and corruption.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Although it looks like it will be a bad year for Republicans as a whole, GOP candidates advocating for limited government (and meaning it!) are going to do well in 2008, just as they did in 2006. (The only RLC-friendly member of Congress who lost in 2006 was Arizona’s J.D. Hayworth.)
In Virginia, the state RLC’s favorite legislator, Ken Cuccinelli, is running for Attorney General in 2009. He will face another Republican in the state primary, but he is the favorite to win both the primary and general election. Senator Cuccinelli addressed the newly chartered Virginia RLC earlier this year:
In Georgia, things are looking good for 2010. If Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, who the RLC has supported for years, jumps into the race for Governor, then the RLC’s leader in the State Senate, David Shafer, has a real opportunity to become Lt. Governor.
Georgia Senator David Shafer.
In Missouri, State Treasurer Sarah Steelman is facing an uphill fight against establishment Congressman Kenny Hulshof in the open gubernatorial race. Steelman is favored by RLC members for her no-nonsense, common sense approach to the issues. Ron Paul supporters are even planning a Money Bomb for Steelman. Treasurer Steelman also attended the Ron Paul Freedom Rally in Branson earlier this year. Roy Blunt, predictably, has endorsed her opponent, Kenny Hulshof.
Sarah Steelman
Finally, the RLC is thankful for its current incumbent Governors, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Sarah Palin of Alaska. Although not perfect, these state leaders have shown independence from the GOP establishment and have the chutzpah to make real inroads toward returning the GOP to its small government heritage.
Sarah Palin
Of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention our heroes of past, namely former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld.
While Governor of Massachusetts, Bill Weld ended the state’s borrowing, controlled Medicaid spending, reduced property taxes and balanced seven budgets in a row while passing 19 tax cuts and never raising taxes. He was elected during a tumultuous time when the state’s bond rating was near junk status, unemployment was nearly 10%, and the state had continuously borrowed money to close large operating deficits.
