Be a Libertarian in Government Office 

-Becoming a Candidate... What's Involved? 

-Candidate Training

-Our LPPC Candidate Pledge to the Public... YOU!

-FAQ's about Libertarian Party... 

-Libertarian Party Issues...

-Do Libertarians Make a Difference in Government?

-Current Libertarians in Office... [ Pinellas Co. - FL ]

-Meet Florida's highest ranking Lib in Government

Libertarians stand for individual rights, and protecting them through replacing government programs with voluntary choices. Pinellas Libertarians in public office, in conjunction with Libertarian education and activism, are making a difference. Pinellas has set a goal of 30 Libertarians in local elective and appointive office.

It's happening! Libertarians are well received by colleagues and the public... Here's how to find more and join in...

• How high have Libertarians gone in Florida?
• Who are some of my local Libertarians in government?
• What do Libertarians in Pinellas propose? OUR COMMITTMENT
• How does the candidate process go?
• Is training or mentoring available?
• How do I take the first step, and find advisory boards available?
• What do Libertarians do once in office?
• I've heard about what you started doing in 2002-is there more info?

Becoming a Libertarian Candidate

Would you like to be a candidate? Do you think you can better our community through public office? The LPPC will guide you through!

True, becoming a Libertarian candidate, much less actually getting appointed or elected to something, sounds daunting. Visions of endless paperwork and cash-draining campaigns  come to mind. Libertarians however approach candidacy from a strict, citizen candidate point of view. Some key points:

• Get familiar with what has been done via the Libertarian Program Tools and  Libertarian International Organization
• Get involved in local volunteer projects such as Adopt-A-road, petitioning and others via the Libertarian Club. 
• Attend board meetings and get involved in local groups and coalitions. One should in general start seeking local appointive office to the many Boards and Commissions actively seeking people from all points of view. In addition, an elective campaign should focus on developing ongoing local bonds, which is more honest, stable, lasting and inexpensive--not just the one-time event of the election itself.
• Competence. Take action to , prepare the ground for the future: the focus should always be on service once in office, in presenting Libertarian solutions and advancing those with public support. Good places to begin are the LP Manuals and training, Governing Magazine and studies of the Heartland Institute, many of which have the specific issues facing Libertarians in office in mind, and the Summery LP Platform. Also, Local Problems, Libertarian Solutions is seminal and downloadable for free. Finally, Reason Institute  and the Cato Institute are resources for privatization success stories and ideas.

Candidate & Campaign Training

Their is an old Spanish saying that no one is as professional as the concerned amateur.  LP offers the public quality control. Unlike other parties, it says its candidates will actually carry out what is promised in the Statement of Principles. The LPPC, following the guidelines of the LPF convention, requires persons be of honest, extremely courteous and of sincere attitude; and that all candidates in Pinellas undergo a course of development in Libertarian philosophy, tools, presentation, consensus building, helping citizens measure actual results, and continuing community activism. Each candidate will have a mentor and interact considerably with peers and as resource people for their districts. A good book to read is Libertarian Robert Heinlein's neglected classic Take Back Your Government. As they advance they must be conversant with not only Libertarian but  policy proposals of other parties. LPPC and LPF also recommend continuing education on Libertarian practices to better serve the public. A member group in LPF has arranged monthly seminars and workshops presently in Orlando or Sanford, Florida. Please call 1-800-478-0555 to register and (727)-344-1038 to advise us of your intent..

Libertarians in Pinellas Government Office and Advisory Boards

• Julie Chorgo-Gilson, Pinellas Homeschool Board (Homeschool Portfolio Review Board)
• Gary Iavecchia, Postal Citizen Board
• Michael Gilson-De Lemos, Pinellas Homeschool Board (Homeschool Portfolio Review Board)
• Bill Sachs, Postal Citizen Board
• Dan Skinner, Postal Citizen board

PAST:

The LPPC Pledges...

Its Candidates and Libertarians in Government will stand for your rights. They will:

• Listen to and care about your concerns, run positive low-budget campaigns, not accept any government campaign financing,  and work co-operatively with all parties
• Work for you to be your principled voice of reason and determination to protect your rights, end systemic abuses, get services that work, ask needed questions, and help you be informed.
• Advance voluntary and non-governmental alternatives  in which constituents show interest  or support through public hearings, pilot projects, and developing cross-partisansupport. 
• Examine all budgets and proposals line by line for hidden abuses to your rights and opportunties for voluntary alternatives that increase your choces, better quality, and slash taxation: starting with making accesible tools for you to use.
• Read what they vote on instead of accepting the word of lobbyists,  and chalenge all other officials to do the same.
• Get  key persons  aware of Libertarian alternatives as evidenced in the LP Statement of Principles and the Summary Platform and expressed by issues raised by their constituents.

 Economist, FL Governor's Council of Economic Advisors 

What Libertarians do

What are things that Libertarians do on local Boards and in Government? What is the impact--and what can one do? Quite a lot.

• Libertarians typically end up in a leadership position with their consensus skills and command of policy issues and simple economics.Libertarians, as neutral parties who do not believe in coercive government regulation and therefore immune to inducements for one regulation versus another, they have been praised by  Democratic and Republican colleagues for breaking up sweetheart deals where others felt intellectually or morally powerless to act.
• Libertarians often lead ameliorative changes in applying modern but sometimes very simple management methods, government 're-invention' and 're-engineering' priorities, brainstorming with citizens to determine true needs
• Libertarians change the paradigm for the better by asking a different sort of question, checking assumed facts, and looking at voluntary alteernatyives of which their colleagues are imperfectly aware. .
• Libertarians develop momentum on difficult social issues by proposing hearings, analyses of regulatory costs and benefits, and open forums that reduce tensions. They propose reviewing how the regulations actually came about (for example, drug laws were originally all justified on either medical use or frankly racist grounds ) and if the regulation is now the problem. They facilitate discussion on innovative solutions based on more voluntary and less coercive approaches such as cultural zones, lifestyle areas, and development neighborhoods.
• In services they explore putting actual service users in control, creating community trusts so services are self funding, finding private and volunteer options, and simply abolishing the coercive and thus unneeded.
• In Florida, Libertarians keep things on mission: They have had an enormous impact by simply looking at--not even the Constitution--but  the original board and other charters and getting second opinions on what the law is. Boards can fall into shoddy practices or follow incompetent advice from assigned staff with great harm to people's rights, with serious and persistent errors in tax assessments, zoning regulations, gross abuses such as accepting testimony from masked witnesses leading to seizure of people's property by officials, unauthorized or unquestioned salaries, and officers not following their own procedures.

Florida's Operation "Full Slate" Operation Full Slate is an initiative where Libertarians seek to train and develop citizen candidates and Libertarian resource persons in every State House district. Candidates are encouraged to focus on outreach and run low-budget campaigns. With an appropriate local network of citizens committed to using Libertarian tools to solve community issues, and raised media and educator awareness,  voters will be guaranteed their right to a Libertarian choice. STATE CANDIDATES: The following information is from the Operation Full Slate site created by Libertarian Ron Cadby.
1	State House	District 071:	Augustinowicz, Walter P				FL # 37834
2	State House	District 028:	Cadby, Ronald B.				FL # 38127
3	State House	District 020:	Cameron, Jerry				FL # 38099
4	State House	District 062:	Clifford, James C.				FL # 38120
5	County Council	District 003:	Concannon, Sean D.
6	State House	District 009:	Covington, Mitch				FL # 38181
7	US Congress	District 021:	Gonzalez-S, Frank J				FL # 37998
8	US Congress	District 011:	Johnson, Robert Edward				FL # 38293
9	State Senate	District 023:	Manhart, Charles T				FL # 38078
10	State House	District 018:	Price, Ty				FL # 38167
11	State House	District 023:	Roberts, Ray Francis				FL # 38574
12	State House	District 042:	Smith, John Wayne				FL # 38160
13	State House	District 047:	Snow, Kimberly Allison				FL # 38261
14	State House	District 069:	Van Allen Jr, William D				FL # 37913
15	State House	District 070:	Wallace, Don				FL # 37893