Ron Paul Is Terminating His Campaign

Congressman Ron Paul has announced that he is putting an end to his campaign for the presidential nomination as John McCain has become the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. He has made it clear that he is not going to be endorsing John McCain and that he will be running for reelection in his district. He is planning to continue to help libertarian leaning Republicans such as Murray Sabrin in getting elected.

I personally would like to see Ron Paul join the Libertarian Party. I love an idealist but it is a real stretch to think that you can reform such a bloated and corrupt party such as either the Republican or Democratic Party.

Sabrin Bergen Line Revoked

Republicans who were running on the Sabrin line in Bergen county for freeholder were all rejected due to a challenge to their petition that ended in the revoking of enough signatures to get them off the ballot. Murray Sabrin has been urging Republicans that are for reform to run on his ticket and the Republican leadership has been attacking this move. It is no surprise that an organized effort by libertarian leaning Republicans would cause such a reaction from the state party leadership.

Click here for the story.

Ron Paul Hosting Fundraiser For Sabrin

Ron Paul will be hosting a Murray Sabrin for Senate fundraiser at the Newark Penn Station Hilton, with tickets ranging from $100 to $4,600. So far Sabrin has raised $357,185.78 for his campaign according to his website. This should act like a shot of adrenaline to Sabrin's campaign.

This should be an exciting event and I would encourage anyone who is interested to attend. Not many opportunities to meet people like Ron Paul come around too often.

Murray Sabrin Files For Senate Race

Here is an interview of Dr. Murray Sabrin done by PolitickerNJ. He goes over the issues that are important for him as well as his opinion on the race and hi competitors.

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.

Somerset County Tells Sabrin That He's Not Welcome

The Somerset County Republican Organization has informed Murray Sabrin that if he cannot promise them that he is not running an alternate slate of freeholder candidates he cannot participate in their screening process. In other words if he doesn't play ball with the Republican county establishment then his not welcome. This brings up a question that many independently thinking people ponder: Is it better to follow one's own political beliefs if it leads them to a third party or to try to reform one of the two major political parties from the inside?

This is an example of the difficulties of trying to reform a major party from the inside. If you try to run for office with a slate of candidates with similar ideals and principles the party establishment will shut you out. This is one of many reasons for having more options available to voters than the Republicans and Democrats, because both parties weed out candidates with independent opinions... unless you are really wealthy and can buy the election.

I hope that Sabrin can prove that reform of the NJ Republican party is possible, I really do.

Here it the Politickernj article referenced above.

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.

The LPPA and NJLP Convention

I attended the joint convention and it was a great experience. I met an array of VIP Libertarians, watched the presidential debate, and got elected to the position of Vice Chairman of the NJ Libertarian Party. I have to thank Lou Jasikoff for all the work he has done last year as Chairman and also for the opportunity that he and the rest of the party are giving me this year to further the cause of liberty in the state of NJ. I was also elected Chairman of the joint Somerset, Middlesex, and Union Libertarian County Committee. I have always believed that the key to success in our state is to establish strong local grassroots organizations and I am glad that I am now in a position to head up that effort. The slate of elected officials of the NJLP for this year is as follows:

Chairman: Lou Jasikoff

Vice Chairman: Sean Colon

Secretary: Paul Tahan

Treasurer: Kevin Ferrizzi

Member At Large: Ken Kaplan

Member At Large: Derek Demarco

Member At Large: Jason Scheurer

Having worked alongside all of these fine Libertarians in the past I have great hopes for what we will be able to accomplish this upcoming year.

I was able to have a great series of conversations with Christine Smith, a Libertarian presidential candidate, and I would encourage all Libertarians to go check out her website at http://www.libertarianforpresident.com/. I was also impressed by Wayne Allyn Root who I unfortunately did not get an opportunity to meet personally. He is also a presidential candidate and you can find him on the web at http://www.root4america.com. Despite missing Root I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Badnarik, Bill Redpath, George Phillies, Bob Jackson, Murray Sabrin, George Ajjan, Ken Krawchuk, James Babb and many others. Needless to say it was quite a convention.

I have photos and video and will post those soon after I am able to compile them onto my computer.

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.