Special Interest Endorsements

When I ran for office one of the things I did to plan out my campaign was to make a list of all the special interest groups that I might have been able to get an endorsement from. One of the was Garden State Equality, a NJ gay rights group. A Republican could never get their endorsement, especially with candidates like Joe Pennacchio who maintains the stance that a state that would legalize marriage can't be trusted. Just a couple of days ago Garden State Equality gave their endorsement to Frank Lautenberg. Surprise, Surprise. The organization knows that Lautenberg is not going to fight for gay marriage or anything else that might jeopardize his campaign, the only reason they are endorsing him is because they know he has the best chance of winning and by endorsing him they will have special privileges come election day.

This to me seems counter to the whole idea behind endorsements. I always thought that the purpose was to support the candidate you believe would best represent the interests of your organization rather than bet on the winning horse and hope that you get a favor in return. Garden State Equality should know by now that the Libertarian Party believes that the government should not have the power to decide who can marry who when it comes to consenting adults. Libertarians such as myself believe that they have the right to get married and obtain the same benefits that every other married couple retains.

But will this ever get me an endorsement, probably not. Maybe a pat on the back behind closed doors but that will probably be it. I wish these organizations had more faith in themselves and less faith in the system and would support the underdogs who really wish to change the government. Boy am I a hopeless romantic.

John Crowley Says No To Senate Run

John Crowley has made his final decision on whether or not to run for Senate and that answer is no. Where does this leave the rest of the candidates at? It leaves Andy Unanue in a weaker position he was at to begin with. His support was ready to abandon him for Crowley and he himself was preparing to drop out of the race to make way for Crowley. Now that Crowley has decided to not enter the race Unanue has exposed himself as being purely a stand-in with pockets filled with money.

I am sure Joe Pennacchio and Murray Sabrin have breathed a sigh of relief while the NJ Republican Leadership is scrambling around confused and troubled by the current state of affairs.

Let me know what you all think.

Current State Of The Republican Race For Senate

Here is how the race stands as far as county endorsements:

John Crowley
Mercer
Burlington (expected)

Andy Unanue (John Crowley's if he decides to join the race)
Atlantic
Camden
Cape May
Cumberland
Hudson
Monmouth
Ocean

Joe Pennacchio
Bergen
Hunterdon
Middlesex
Passaic
Salem
Somerset
Union

Murray Sabrin
Gloucester

John Crowley has not decided to run yet though he needs to decide on way or the other in the next couple of days (filing date is April 7th, Monday). If he decides to run he will make the race very competitive as Unanue has made it clear he will resign from the race if Crowley does join.

GOP Candidates Uknown And Dems Split On Lautenberg, What Does This All Mean For Us?

Fairleigh Dickinson University posted the results of a recent poll yesterday that shows how many people don't know who the GOP candidates are. When all voters were polled the numbers stood at Joe Pennacchio being unrecognized by 77%, Murray Sabrin by 84% and Andy Unanue by 90%. When narrowed down to just Republican voters the numbers come out to 29% saying they’ve heard of Pennacchio, 18% saying they’ve heard of Sabrin, and 12% saying they’ve heard of Unanue. (These polls were tricky to get because the Star Ledger article was linked to the wrong poll, what else can we expect from them?) Joe Pennacchio has been the front runner in gaining the endorsement of county organizations but this poll shows that the race is still wide open.

On the other side of the aisle we have Rep. Rob Andrews who is still deciding whether he wants to run against Sen. Frank Lautenberg while Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello is convinced he can beat Lautenberg in the upcoming primary. Andrews has been getting support from the southern Jersey Dems of the George Norcross variety and Lautenberg has gotten support from the northern Jersey Dems of the Steve Adubato variety.

The big question is what does this all mean for the NJ Libertarian Party? Good news! Jesse Ventura got elected as a third party candidate to the position of Governor of Minnesota by allowing the Dems and GOP to fight among themselves while he led a clean and successful campaign. I also believe that the result of the Democratic primary will show how NJ voters how the establishment candidate is always the winner. The only reason why the GOP race is still open is because there is no real establishment candidate. "Joe Penn" and Unanue both have had their credibility riddle with holes with Unanue leaning on his money and "Joe Penn" leaning on his early momentum. Murray Sabrin wants to reform the current NJ Republican Party so that automatically scratches him off as a non establishment candidate.

The next big question is what do we do to take advantage of this opportunity?

1. Help Murray Sabrin's campaign. Go to his website at http://www.murraysabrin.com/. He is a libertarian in mind and heart and deserves our support.
2. Expand the party base. Hit the streets while voters are still confused and dismayed over the current state of NJ politics.
3. Contact elected officials who have drifted away from their party establishment such as Steve Lonegan and Cresitello and see if they wish to run on the Libertarian ticket. I know that Lonegan follows many of the libertarian principles and that Cresitello is one the most libertarian of the state Democrats.
4. Do something! We need to take advantage of this opportunity in every way we can so if you have ideas please email them to me and to any of our other party officers.

I have been closely following the progression of these campaigns and will continue to do so.

Money And Politics

The GOP in NJ, unhappy with either Sabrin or Pennacchio, went searching and found Andy Unanue to be their candidate for Senate. The GOP leadership didn't like Sabrin because he really is a Libertarian and supports positions that are aligned with libertarian ideals. They didn't like Pennacchio because of a manifesto he wrote back in 1991 outlining his plan for America which had some pretty crazy and scary ideas in it. So they turned to Unanue, a man with no political experience beyond voting and donating lots of money. They chose Unanue, a man who was ousted from Goya and whose work ethic is questionable, because he has a lot of money and is Hispanic. That's it, that's the reason. There can be no other reason. He has been winning the support of the county leaderships throughout the state ever since he announced that he is going to run despite the fact that he has not outlined any of his positions on any issues and has been out of state the whole entire time. It has been questioned by the Star Ledger if he even really lives in NJ and also if he accepted illegal campaign contributions through his company. So many holes have been shot through his resume that I am shocked he hasn't put up any defense whatsoever.

Money. That is the reason the NJ GOP leadership chose him over the other two. And his race, another advantageous trait, serves as a secondary reason because he can grab a lot of votes from the Hispanics. I have looked around for any other reason and cannot find one. Beyond his race and money there have been no positives about the man that hasn't been knocked down by the media. I would love to hear from him on the issues and on what his plans are if he is elected but I haven't heard anything from anyone about it. This is one of the reasons why I would not be able to be a Republican or Democrat. Their leadership lacks passion, inspiration, and ideals. All the leadership really cares about is dollar signs and voting numbers. If Adolf Hitler somehow showed that he was polling above all the other candidates for Senate the Republican party would be knocking his door down to give him the nomination.

Please, please vote with your conscience and not how your party tells you to.

The Argument For Dr. Murray Sabrin

Dr. Murray Sabrin, a professor at Ramapo College and the Libertarian candidate for governor in 1997, is running as a Republican for the nomination for Senator. He is up against Dr. Joseph Pennacchio, a dentist and current state senator from the 26th legislative district. What separates these two in what they could bring to office? A lot!

Dr. Murray Sabrin through his articles, books, policy advocacy, and speeches has shown himself to be a man of liberty. He believes that the problem with health care is the government, the problem with taxes is the government, and the problem with education is the government. He is for limited government, lower taxes, and constitutional laws. I read a New York Times editorial piece that describes Dr. Sabrin as radically conservative both socially and fiscally.

That is a crock!

Dr. Pennacchio is the one who is for the Marriage Amendment, internment of the homeless, mandatory military service for non-violent criminals, and more radically conservative social stances. Dr. Pennacchio wrote a paper called "The Nationalist Agenda" which can be found here. Read it when you have the time and see what he really is about. He says that he founded an organization called "The Nationalist Party" and when I look for it on the web all I get is this link http://www.nationalistpartyusa.com/ which looks like its more of a Pro-White America party rather than a Pro-Freedom party. This man scares me and I think he should scare you too.

Dr. Sabrin has been endorsed by Ron Paul and is receiving a lot of support from Ron Paul supporters in and out of state. He also spoke at our convention this last weekend and I had the pleasure of meeting him in person. He is a man of the constitution who has strayed from our party, but liberty knows no colors and I know that he will stand on Capitol Hill as a true libertarian.

I call on everyone who believes in liberty to support Dr. Sabrin in his fight so that we may have at least one true libertarian in the Senate.

You may find his website at www.SabrinForSenate.com.

Murray Sabrin To Run For Senator As A Republican

Murray Sabrin, a professor at Ramapo College and a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in 1997 is going for the Republican nomination for US Senate for a second time. He tried in 2000 but lost to Bob Franks. And what makes this very interesting is that he is being endorsed by Ron Paul, a very good friend of his for obvious reasons.

He will be facing businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook and possibly state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) for the nomination.

I have never been sure how to feel about Libertarians who leave our ranks and head for the Republican party. Their reasoning usually consists of the probability of winning as a third party candidate. Have I had this same temptation... perhaps. Then the question is why am I a Libertarian and not a Republican. Here are the reasons:

• I believe that a two party system is inherently corrupt because of the "good ole boys" environment that it encourages as well as either party's ability to retain close to a majority of power at any one time. Since there is no third choice the country has to usually choose between the lesser of two evils versus voting for a candidate they actually believe in.
• Both party's are steeped in a history of indebtedness to special interests of all kinds.
• Both party's have been in power so long that they have become too comfortable for my own comfort.
• My actual personal beliefs are more closely aligned with the Libertarian Party than with the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
• I believe that the best thing that could happen to this country is the breaching of this two party system which will force the Republicans and Democrats to have to have to compromise with newly elected officeholders who will not have ties to special interests and who will not have their own pocket and party as a first priority but the rights and welfare of their constituents and country.

I would like to hear from other people what they think about running as a third party candidate versus picking one of the two main parties that is more closely but far from aligned with your own beliefs.