RLC Election Results – November 2009
By Aaron - November 5, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Filed under Alabama , Elections , Maine , Minnesota , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , RLC Chapter News , RLC News , State races , States , Texas , Virginia , Washington
Filed under Alabama , Elections , Maine , Minnesota , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , RLC Chapter News , RLC News , State races , States , Texas , Virginia , Washington
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.
On November 5th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Don’t forget Ebert Beeman, who won his county council race in Erie, PA. He was the duly nominated Republican candidate. But the party was so disgusted with his small government philosophy that they begged people not to vote for him and waged a write-in campaign against him.
http://www.wicu12.com/news/index.vnss?newsid=8505&type=News
I don’t know if he is in the RLC, but he should be. Here are some of the positions he held that the party leaders considered beyond the pale:
- The Erie County Public Library: Sell it. (“You have more information in a computer at home than you do in that entire library.”)
- Tullio Arena: Sell it. (“Get it on the tax rolls.”)
- The Erie County Prison: Empty it of nonviolent offenders like deadbeat parents and pot smokers. (“All the employees running the facility do nothing productive.”)
- Airport runway extension: Ditch it. (“No planes land there anyway.”)
- Beeman also advocates a 10 percent pay cut for all nonbargaining county employees, because, he said, they produce nothing.
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091024/NEWS02/310249966/-1/ETN
On November 5th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
“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.”
Aaron, I have to respectfully disagree with that statement. Mr. Cuccinelli is a LINO–libertarian in name only. He is a dogmatic religious extremist who believes it’s ok for him to base his decisions as attorney general on his personal prejudices and religious beliefs. He opposes any relationship recognition for gay couples, opposes repeal of the state sodomy law, opposes allowing PRIVATE companies to offer domestic partner benefits, opposes allowing local governments to offer domestic partner benefits to their employees, opposes gay-straight clubs in public high schools, supports government assistance for abstinence promotion, and so on. He may be a fiscal conservative, but that is a long way from being a libertarian Republican. And for thousands of Virginians, hs name will become synonomous with libertarian ideas and principles. He will ultimately give libertarianism a bad name.
On November 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I think RLC should promote getting the government out of marriage altogether, this is the only libertarian position and can be argued with success to people on either side of the issue. So, I don’t see what Maine did as good or bad, for libertarianism. It’s just one side of the statist coin (although I personally don’t believe gay marriage should be allowed in my church).
In this regard, Cuccinelli is not libertarian, but I have yet to find what I consider a perfect candidate outside of Ron Paul. But, he’s definately better than an even more statist liberal who would use statism to impose his or her social engineering agenda regarding gay marriage on the people while promoting socialist programs and growing government.
On November 7th, 2009 at 9:45 am
These are some great victories! I agree with Um that we should focus on getting government out of marriage altogether. That is the position Ron Paul holds, and I have met many Libertarains/Paulites who are opposed to gay marriage just as much as the more vocal ones support it. Government interference in religious issues is an infringement of the 1st Amendment. While we would all like to see our personal views win the day, I think that because we can respect the fact that some of us have differing religious values while others may not even be religious at all, the best position to take is keeping government separate from this issue, along with ending faith-based initiatives and other situations where government has worked its way into the pulpit and infringes on the rights of preachers and religious communities to say and do what they believe.
I know there are gays who support this position. I believe that if we push this message to those in the Republican Party, they may see this as a worthwhile compromise. This is a position I’ve taken on my campaign: http://www.justiceandliberty.us/ontheissues.html