The Gary Johnson campaign has promised to address this issue and requested that I take down the blog article. I have consented but if this issue comes up at CPAC, you will know who broke the news first.

http://drtomstevens.blogspot.com/2010/12/gary-johnson-campaign-appoints-charles.html

Age of Consent to be an issue at CPAC!

Don’t you mean “prospective candidates”?

Unfortunately they are now both dead, but I have no reason to doubt their word.”

I’m not dead, so I’m more qualified than anyone to address this topic. So here’s the story:

While I was the campaign manager of the Libertarian Maurice McDonald for Commissioner of Public Lands campaign based in Santa Fe, NM, back in 1998, my wife Karen Fincher was chief fundraiser…albeit, I was intimately involved in parts of the fundraising. That is, I saw all of the membership lists, and at one or two points in the whole process, keyed in their names into either databases or address fields. While there was some overlap with state party members and national party members, some people were members of national only, and not with the state party. Later in the campaign, we received from LPHQ Operations Director Nick Dunbar the list of LPers on the national database.

I believe I – and not Karen – was the one to spot Gary Johnson’s name on that list. I’m not 100% sure of this, but fairly nearly sure that it wasn’t her who noticed it, but me, and I called her attention to it. The name was Gary Johnson, Big J Enterprises, and it showed his membership for exactly one year, from 1993 to 1994. We in turn showed it to the candidate, Maurice McDonald, who confirmed that it had to be the correct Gary Johnson, due to the designation of his company on the records, Big J Enterprises.

For about a day, my wife and I were the only ones besides Johnson himself who knew the governor of NM had once been a member of the Libertarian Party. For a few days, only the three of us knew that bit of trivia.

However, Karen and I met up with Johnson about 3 and a half years later, in Woburn, Massachusetts, at the LPMA state convention, where Johnson was attending his very first overtly Libertarian Party event, as a speaker.

I decided to use the opportunity to blow his cover wide-open (not knowing whether or not he wished it to be a secret). But first, I divulged my plan to Michael Cloud, who dismissed Johnson’s ever having been an LP member by saying “you’re thinking of another Gary Johnson”. Of course, I knew better, so I corrected him. Cloud then told me, in what seemed like a patronizing way, “Ok, then, we’ll just let it be his little secret.”

When it came time for questions, I stood up and said, “Mr. Johnson, according to national Libertarian Party records, you were a member starting in 1993 but your membership lapsed in 1994. So my question to you is, ‘Will you renew your Libertarian Party membership today?’”

In his answer, he acknowledged being an LP member (but declined to renew).

Not a libertarian leaning one, either.

I guess that depends on what you mean by “off the ground.”

I joined the Constitution Party founded by Aaron Russo in December of 1994 or January 1995 — I don’t remember the exact date, but I do remember that there was a two-page ad including the CP’s platform in the front of the January, 1995 issue of Liberty magazine. I was considering the LP at the time, but still lukewarm on it (the LP info pack I had requested and received in 1992 hadn’t impressed me). I may still have my membership card around somewhere. I think I was member # 300-something.

Some time in early 1995, I was contacted by the Constitution Party’s national director, Karen Scarborough, and asked to serve as the party’s Missouri coordinator. I agreed and started publishing and mailing a monthly print newsletter for the 40-odd members in Missouri by that time, and setting up a local group in Springfield, Missouri.

Russo was incredibly helpful in helping get my local effort going , and I assume I’m not the only person he assisted in his way. He appeared on a local talk radio show two days before our organizational meeting to promote us. He and Karen were always available to offer advice and to help plan the next step of organization.

Later in 1995, Russo decided to hand the reins of the party over to an executive committee and get to work making “Mad As Hell.” It took about 60 days for the new chair the executive committee selected — a nutbar shortwave radio host and UFO conspiracy theorist by the name of Bill Cooper — to drive the organization into the ground.

At some point in late 1995, Aaron washed his hands of the organization. That happened around the same time that Karen, I and a bunch of other members did the same.

As it happened, L. Neil Smith had answered my request to reprint one of his essays in my Constitution Party newsletter with a suggestion that I switch parties to the LP, and the Missouri LP’s executive director (Bill Johnson — he’s a Republican candidate for governor of Alabama now) spent considerable time and effort trying to recruit me. I joined the LP in 1996. If you want to blame anyone for that, I guess the order of culpability would be Russo, Smith, Johnson.

Yep, that’s what I said.

Well it was cruel and unusual punishment from a member of the Duopoly Establishment. Maybe it was ‘wishful thinking’ ………..

http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/aaron-russo.html

” 1994, the political side of Russo came to the forefront. Inspired by the success of independent presidential candidate Ross Perot, he announced the formation of the Constitution Party, with a limited-government platform similar to that of the Libertarian Party. The party never ran any candidates, and Russo shut it down after 18 months. (In 1999, the U.S. Taxpayers Party renamed itself the Constitution Party, but that organization was unrelated to Russo’s effort.)

“In 1994, Russo created a one-hour, politically themed TV show entitled Aaron Russo’s Mad as Hell. The program, part stand-up comedy monologue and part slash-and-burn political rant, offered Russo’s libertarian views on the IRS, Social Security, NAFTA, and the federal budget. When he was unable to find a syndicator for the show, Russo sold it as a video.

Russo made his first run for political office in 1998, seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Nevada. He came in second in the primary, winning 25.9% of the vote in a four-way race.

Russo joined the Libertarian Party in 1999, saying it was his ‘true political home.’ In 2000, he delivered a fiery speech at the Libertarian National Convention, calling Libertarians the ‘last, best hope for freedom in America.’”

I’m pretty sure that the fiery speech that is referred to above actually occurred at the 2002 Libertarian Party National Convention, not the 2000 Convention.

“………. US Taxpayer’s Party was started by Howard Phillips in 1992 basically as a vehicle for Pat Buchanan to run [in a] third party.”

I listed that one.

But you’re quite right about California–I somehow managed to forget about the Alan Keyes episode.

I’m pretty sure that Chuck Baldwin failed to get enough signatures to make it on the ballot in Connecticut.

USTP didn’t become CP til ‘99. I think Russo’s CP was long gone before that.”

Russo was gone before then but I heard that he let Howard Philips have the name Constitution Party.

Nope, I knew that. Pat Buchanan ended up deciding not to run 3rd party so Howard Philips ran instead.

I actually remember seeing something on TV about Howard Philips and the US Tax Payers Party back” in 1992, but it was a short segement and I only saw part of it so I didn’t know anything about the party other than their name.

“This was the beginning of a new far-right political party, formed by a number of smaller parties–including the Constitutional Party of Pennsylvania (which had been around since the 50s), the American Independent Party of California (which has been around since George Wallace’s 1968 Presidential run), etc.”

I already know that the American Independent Party in California had been around since the days of George Wallace and became affiliated with the US Tax Payers Party/Constitution Party.

I didn’t know that there had been a Constitutional Party of Pennsylvania that became affiliated with the US Tax Payers/Constitution Party.

Aaron Russo had nothing to do with the effort. Although he wanted to start a Constitution Party–it never got off the ground.

The states in which the CP goes by different names is:

California: The American Independent Party

Nevada: The Independent American Party
Nebraska: The Nebraska Party
Connecticut: The Concerned Citizens Party
Michigan: The US Taxpayer’s Party
Colorado: American Constitution Party

In the last Presidential election, Chuck Baldwin was [Lake: NOT] on all of those ballots.

Prior to the P2008 ballot the Democratic Party Secretary of State Debra Bowen [the current occupant of that particular revolving door] was ‘kind’ enuf to take dysfunctional and disgraced FORMER California Reform Party Chair [Israel First Jewish Lobbyist] John Blare and a similar situation, (but not exact replica) in the Constitution Party/ California American Independent Party! FORMER AIP type Ed Noonan and crew were declared the certified party leader.

As I predicted, not gaining many friends and amassing a lot of enemies [Special Agent Cody Quirk and anti science Doctor Donald Grundmann], Baldwin was bounced off [as Grundmann and his favorite gubernatorial candidate from 'Save Our State' will be in 2010] of the official California ballot.

Under Blare, the west coast reform movement has spiraled down to a bunch of political hoboes near the train yard ——- with out even a prayer of ballot access. Even after the very recent New York State court order, re-enforcing an earlier Texas decree, Rodney Martin is still not on the Secretary of State site.

Minister Baldwin on ten state ballots ????? Count again, and do not include California P2008! [Sorry to say ..........]

Chuck Baldwin was not on the ballot in California. As you will probably recall, the Alan Keyes faction of the American Independent Party hijacked his ballot access.

Chuck Baldwin was on the ballot in Virginia as the Independent Green Party’s candidate (not to be confused with the Green Party whose candidate was Cynthia McKinney). The Independent Green Party gathered signatures on a petition with I believe the strange combination of Michael Bloomberg for President and Ron Paul for Vice President as stand in candidates and then they sold their ballot access to the Constitution Party.

Chuck Baldwin was on the ballot in Alaska as the nominee of the Alaskan Independence Party.

The Constitution Party as envisioned by Aaron Russo was to have been more libertarian. I recall him saying something like that in an interview.

Russo abandoned the effort and let Howard Philips have the name Constitution Party.

Wow. You are VERY confused. The US Taxpayer’s Party was started by Howard Phillips in 1992 basically as a vehicle for Pat Buchanan to run third party. This was the beginning of a new far-right political party, formed by a number of smaller parties–including the Constitutional Party of Pennsylvania (which had been around since the 50s), the American Independent Party of California (which has been around since George Wallace’s 1968 Presidential run), etc.

Aaron Russo had nothing to do with the effort. Although he wanted to start a Constitution Party–it never got off the ground.

The states in which the CP goes by different names is:
California: The American Independent Party
Nevada: The Independent American Party
Nebraska: The Nebraska Party
Connecticut: The Concerned Citizens Party
Michigan: The US Taxpayer’s Party
Colorado: American Constitution Party

In the last Presidential election, Chuck Baldwin was on all of those ballots. He was also on in other states by different names.
In:
Alaska: Alaskan Independence Party
Kansas: The Reform Party
And in many states as an Independent.

All told, Chuck Baldwin appeared on the ballot under 10 separate labels.