This is an historic week for the LPAR.
When I became Chairman in June of 2010, I made ballot access my #1 issue. Without it, in my opinion and in the opinion of the State of Arkansas, the LPAR is not a political party. I didn’t take this position to be the Chairman of a supper club or a debate team. I became the Chairman of a political party, the only political party that is consistent in it’s message. And very soon, we will officially be that political party in Arkansas.
As of last night, we have received pledges for $32,967 out of the $33,000 we need to achieve ballot access and become a political party in the eyes of the state of Arkansas.
Also, this week, we will have four petitioners on the ground in Arkansas gathering signatures. Two of them have already started and the other two should be in the state today. We have collected 314 of the estimated 15,000 signatures we will need for this process. There is a status bar on the LPAR homepage (on the left side) that will be updated daily with our totals. Once we have reached 15,000, we will take those signatures to the Secretary of State office in Little Rock, where they will have 30 days to certify them. You can see our press release from yesterday here.
There are many people to thank for this and I will try to not forget anyone here: Scott Kohlhaas, Chairman of the LPAK, for raising the vast majority of our money; the 70o+ people who have contributed money from all 50 states; the LPAR members and Executive Committee; the petitioners who have agreed to come to Arkansas to help us gather signatures (Darryl Bonner, Paul Frankel, Andy Jacobs, Bob Lynch, and soon, Eric Dondero); Bill Redpath for his help and advice through this process; the Arkansas Secretary of State Office (especially Martha Adcock, who has been very patient and helpful with my many questions, even calling me back at 7:00pm last night for some last minute questions); and especially my wife and my boys, who have put up with the many many hours I have spent away from them as I try to coordinate the finance and petition operations of this process. Thank you all.
Rodger Paxton
Chairman, LPAR
