A Message from the LPAR Chair

Dear Friends of Liberty,

Time flies when you’re having fun!  It’s been only three weeks since I was elected the new Chair of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas, and it’s been interesting already.

Writing to you today, I have good news, bad news, and some proposed plans.

The good news is this:  We have completed our petition campaign for ballot access in 2016 and turned our signatures in to the Secretary of State’s Office on June 2.  We will receive notification of our “new” political party status soon.

But here’s the bad news: The Arkansas General Assembly passed legislation during the recent special session that moves the primary election date forward from May to March.  Because the filing dates for Libertarian candidates have been tied to party filing dates (Act 1356, 2013), and the filing dates have been moved back to the first week in November, we must choose our candidates for 2016 by Halloween of this year.  Trick or treat!

We’re looking at all possibilities at this point, but we must plan on the calendar before us – we have only four months to recruit our candidates!

• I am appointing an Elections Committee that will coordinate this effort. I am asking each and every one of you to consider joining the committee, volunteering to run for office yourself, and recruiting your friends to do so as well.  The Elections Committee will be organized by LPAR Vice-Chair Chris Olson: vicechair@lpar.org.
• We must also begin preparing immediately for a nominating convention in late October. Do you like to throw parties?  Are you good at planning events?  Help out by joining our Events Committee.  Contact me at chair@lpar.org.

Other ongoing activities are communications and grass-roots organizing:

• The office of LPAR Secretary is responsible for official party communications, so I have asked William Brackeen to serve as chair of the Communications Committee and as Communications Director. If you would like to help out here, contact secretary@lpar.org.
• When it comes to building a political party, grassroots organizing is crucial. A major initiative I propose is a new Membership, Affiliates, and Activism Committee.  This committee will work to build our network of county affiliates around the state and encourage local political activism.  As the At-Large representative to the LPAR Executive Committee, a natural organizer for this activity is Debbie Standiford.  You can contact her at atlarge@lpar.org.  I have also asked the four district representatives to the Executive Committee to participate, and encourage all county chairs to do so as well.

The LPAR needs your support as volunteers, members and as supporters. If you are not already a member or if your membership has lapsed, please join at
http://lporg.s1005.sureserver.com/get-involved/join-the-party/
And whether or not you are a member, please support us with your donations at
http://lporg.s1005.sureserver.com/get-involved/donate/

Live Free!

Michael Pakko
Chair, Libertarian Party of Arkansas
chair@lpar.org