INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- "It was singularly the best conference I have attended to prepare for campaigning and growing our political effort locally," remarked LaPorte County Libertarian Party Chairman Andy Wolf.
Wolf joined several Indiana libertarian activists at the 2007 Campaigns & Elections conference on campaign management and politics held in Washington, D.C. Each attended on scholarships offered through a fairly new libertarian political action committee, Atlas!Liberty PAC.
"You are exposed to concepts and practices that seem obvious once you hear them presented, but escape you when you try to go it alone," continued Wolf. "I was able to parlay that experience into some excellent party outreach and campaign management on a local level"
For Wolf's efforts, two of his local candidates surpassed 30% in municipal elections utilizing tools learned at the conference. Just four years earlier, a couple candidates for local office barely broke through double digits.
In Indianapolis, the experience for Tim and Allison Maguire mirrored the results for Wolf in LaPorte County. Tim Maguire received accolades from local media for his campaign efforts, while Allison set a record for at-large vote totals for a municipal candidate in the state's largest city. As a result of Tim's strong showing in the race, he was appointed by the new Republican-led City-County Council to serve on the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, a powerful position in Indianapolis directly tied to property rights.
For its effort, the Atlas!Liberty PAC continues to grow the libertarian movement nationwide. The 2007 scholarship recipients have sparked interest in a new round of 2008 winners. The Atlas!Liberty PAC is currently in their fund raising phase to continue their support for these libertarian foot soldiers.
The Atlas!Liberty was founded to provide Libertarian affiliates at all levels the practical, nuts-and-bolts support necessary to become an effective force in local politics. Because Atlas!Liberty is not a think tank, their focus transcends ideology, positions, and principles to focus on the mechanics and hard work of real politics and the knowledge and resources our affiliates need to win elections.
Atlas!Liberty provides training on fund raising, a complete walk-through of how to become an FEC filer (which everyone must to do when they are effective fund raisers), voter registration, lobbying, and much more of the heavy lifting of successful retail politics. The mission of Atlas!Liberty is simple: provide Libertarians with a desire to win elections the resources, money, and training to do so.
Former LPIN State Chairman Mark Rutherford is a founding member of the group and current point man on their fund raising efforts. For more information and to make a contribution, visit their website at atlasliberty.com. To read a message from Rutherford, visit his blog at http://lpinscr.blogspot.com.
