The Libertarian Party of California met for our annual convention at the end of last month.  The two-day convention was held in Long Beach over the weekend and hosted a list of high profile names and a series of liberty-minded events.  As noted before, this included the endorsement of candidates, election of officers, and the adjustment of bylaws; all decisions that will chart the LPCs future course.

[June 2018]

Local focus on city issues that fortify or threaten your liberties

The position of Santa Clara County Sheriff is one of the more critical for the Libertarian Party to focus on. The sheriff sets our law-enforcement priorities and the culture of our peace officers with regards to such things as our 2nd rights and chooses how and whether to implement surveillance. While it’s unlikely we will see a Libertarian Sheriff candidate soon, weighing in with our opinions and casting our votes will help set a climate within our county that is more liberty embracing.  There are five candidates running for Sheriff: five-term incumbent Sheriff Laurie Smith, John Hirokawa, Joe La Jeunesse, Martin Monica, and Jose Salcido.  All five attended a recent forum hosted by the Berryessa Citizens Advisory Council on Monday, May 14th, 2018. The Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County cannot endorse any of the candidates running for Sheriff this year, but as Chair, I can offer my own observations from the recent forum.

In a modest corner of Sunnyvale Bob Goodwyn has quietly supported the Libertarian Party for many years.  Recently retired from years as a dedicated pilot, Bob flew for one of the smaller community focused commercial airlines and taught flying lessons for many years out of both Reed-Hillview and Palo Alto municipal airports.  Bob represents all the qualities you want in a pilot, he’s dedicated, calm, calculated with his moves but quick with his mind, and has the kind of voice that can say “turbulence” without making you feel nervous.

The Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County has submitted ballot arguments and signed onto existing arguments prepared by the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association to help educate voters on the issues behind each measure. Unfortunately, due to the lack of transparency from San Jose and other parties involved, the party currently has no stance on Measures B and C. On our website you can now find Santa Clara County ballot measures, with our endorsement lists, and 2018 propositions that the Libertarian Party of California has made notice of.  Keep up to date on the latest election news at scclp.org/election_2018.

Local focus on city issues that fortify or threaten your liberties

The City of Santa Clara will be voting on a ballot measure to divide the city into districts and institute ranked-choice voting. The measure, based on recommendations made by FairVote, is in response to a lawsuit brought against the the city of Santa Clara in November of 2016 by the Asian Law Alliance, which claims that the city of Santa Clara’s winner-takes-all, single-district elections violate state law by discriminating against Asian-Americans. According to San Jose Insider’s Jennifer Wadsworth, “The California Voting Rights Act prohibits at-large elections in jurisdictions with racially polarized voting patterns, which, according to the lawsuit, persist in Santa Clara. Not a single Asian-American has won a seat on the council since at least 1951, when Santa Clara adopted its city charter.” Asian-Americans, the fastest growing demographic in the city, make up about 37.7% of the population based on the 2010 census, yet they struggle to obtain representation under the current election system.

Local focus on city issues that fortify or threaten your liberties (March 2018)

The Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County is excited to be assisting six candidates for office within our county who are running with the intent of supporting and defending our liberties.  We are excited to see this level of engagement and commitment as we assist campaigns for everything from local City Council, State Assembly and Senate, and Federal Congressional seat. The party is working hard to find these candidates the volunteers, support, and donations needed to see their campaigns succeed.