March 7, 2010 09:10 PM
Walsh: State Libertarian Convention Marked by Heated Campaign for Leadership
The main event of Saturday’s Missouri Libertarian Party Convention in Jefferson City really was a main event - without the physical sparring but with plenty of verbal blows delivered among three of the candidates vying for chairmanship of the national Libertarian Party. Wayne Allen Root of Nevada, Ernest Hancock of Arizona, and John Jay Myers of Texas - a former Missourian - took part in what was billed as a candidates’ forum.
Root, the Libertarian Party’s 2008 vice presidential candidate and a fixture on political radio and television shows, promoted the idea of media exposure as the key to winning more attention and votes for the party.
“If everyone in America that believed in Libertarian principles was on Fox News every week and giving 2,000 interviews around the country, my gosh, we’d be the greatest political party in America,” said Root. “I promise you I’m going to work day and night to train every one of you how to get in the media just like I do.”
Myers sees a greater Web presence as the key to getting the Libertarian Party greater exposure.
“The philosophy of the Web site that I want to bring to the party … would allow press releases to go up from either county, state, or national,” said Myers.
Hancock wants more help from the national level to assist the party at the state and local levels.
“If you’re going to go to national to get anything it’s because you’re inexperienced, you don’t know better than to not go there,” said Hancock. “It could be an enormous resource and it should be a Liberty Nexus - access to information - they always keep it to themselves.”
The forum gave a clear view of infighting within the party, with both Hancock and Myers criticizing Root as being either too far to the right or too interested in spreading his own popularity without doing much to win votes for the party. That prompted a question from an audience member wanting to hear proposals for ending the conflict and forming a united front.
“We all need to understand we are a party, it is our job to get people elected,” said Myers. “We stand on principles. We shouldn’t be selling some gimmick or selling some trick. We’re selling principles.”
Root says the best way to put forward a united front is to stop sniping at one another.
“I think that Libertarians have got to stop attacking each other,” said Root. “If you want to win the presidential nomination, if you want to win the U.S. Senate nomination, if you want win for chair, then put up or shut up - stand up here or sit down there - and tell us why you deserve the nomination.”
Hancock wants the Libertarian Party to define itself as one that is different from the other political parties, embracing more of the ideas that attract those on the left of the political spectrum.
“If we’re not out there adamantly saying, ‘No more war, no more empire, no more bases overseas … If we don’t do that we’re not going to have anything else to talk about anyway,” said Hancock.
The heated discussion led to rather lengthy responses to questions that sometimes strayed from the point. This prompted Missouri Libertarian Party Chairman Glenn Nielsen to call on the participants to keep their answers short and to stick to the point when making their remarks. Sticking to the point or not, audience members seemed to enjoy the candidate give and take.
In all, five candidates are in the running for the Libertarian Party chairmanship. The new chair will be chosen at the national party’s convention which is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis.
