This year, we have a very good candidate running for US Congress in Louisville. Ed Martin is a well-spoken, charismatic, successful small businessman, former independent political radio talk-show host, and Libertarian candidate for Congress.
But, because the Republican candidate in Louisville is losing by 20 points, the Jefferson County GOP is attempting to sue our candidate off the ballot, apparently in an effort to not be completely embarrassed.
While FEC regulations keep me from being directly involved, I do know a bit about the campaign:
* He has built a great campaign team consisting of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Partiers, and of course Libertarians.
* He has a campaign strategy, and a modest sum to self-fund the basics of his campaign.
* He was nominated and approved to run for this office by the Libertarian Party of Kentucky.
If we can raise the funds to do so, the LPKY will be seeking to enter the case, at least as a minor player. It was we, the LPKY, who nominated Ed Martin as our candidate for office.
Additionally, we need to put some pressure on the GOP to not do this sort of thing anymore. They need to learn that dirty politics is unacceptable, and abusing our status as a political group (requiring us to collect a lot more signatures than the R's and D's) in the state of Kentucky will not be tolerated.
We need one or more of the following things from our supporters:
1. We could use some quick funds. Please consider donating on top of anything else you've given, at http://www.lpky.org/state_donate under "One Time Donation". Any one-time donations that come through to the party over the next 5 days will be considered a donation toward the "Legal Fund", and any funds not used this time will be put toward any future legal actions. Alternately, you can send a check to: The Libertarian Party of Kentucky, PO Box 432, Independence, KY 41051 and put "Legal Fund" in the memo line.
2. We can use some good, angry backlash. Are you currently registered to vote as a Republican? One supporter who had remained Republican to date tonight committed on Facebook to switch his registration to Libertarian to show his disgust. He'll be following this action by sending a photocopied version of his voter card (with SSN redacted) to his local GOP chair, the Jefferson County (Louisville) GOP chair, and the GOP state chairman, along with a letter explaining his disgust with these dirty political antics as the reason for his switch. It doesn't matter what county you're in; send it to all three. It will send a loud message.
Jefferson County GOP office address:
Republican Party of Jefferson County
Attn: Shellie May
4710 Champions Trace
Suite 104
Louisville, KY 40218
State GOP office address:
Republican Party of Kentucky
Attn: Steve Robertson
The Mitch McConnell Building
105 West Third Street
P.O. Box 1068
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602
3. Letters to the editor. If you live in Louisville, please consider sending a letter to the editor at the Courier-Journal expressing your disgust over the dirty political antics of the Republican Party. You can do this online here: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=999980212021
4. Contact your local Tea Party and ask them to pass a resolution condemning these dirty tactics, and ask them to make that resolution public in a press release. The GOP is afraid of the Tea Party movement. Angry mobs with pitchforks and torches are an effective way to send a message, too.
Won't you help us out? Pick at least one of the 4 actions above, and run with it. Your help is greatly appreciated.
This is not an isolated incident. I have reports from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York of the same tactics being used by the GOP. Apparently they're tactic this year is to run a completely substance-less anti-Obama campaign, with no solutions, and so they feel the need to kick everyone else off the ballot. Only when politicians get punished, will they stop acting badly.
This has lit a small fire in Louisville and it will continue to get publicity. The more we can do to fight it, the more publicity the LPKY will get, raising our local profile, and the more the Republicans will be spanked for trying to kick us around.
You can read more about what's happened so-far in the following links:
http://kyfreedomdigest.com/2010/08/24/flash-dirty-tricks-in-lville/
http://kyfreedomdigest.com/2010/08/25/late-update-ed-martin-responds-to-...
http://kyfreedomdigest.com/2010/08/25/update-lpky-statement-on-the-lally...
http://kyfreedomdigest.com/2010/08/25/update-the-lallycaldwell-complaint...
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/08/25/two-kentucky-republicans-sue-to-...
http://kyfreedomdigest.com/2010/08/25/flash-courage-the-cowardly-caldwell/
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100825/NEWS01/308250120/Republi...
http://www.whas11.com/community/blogs/political-blog/GOP-leader-challeng...