 |
| Alicia Dearn, VP Candidate for Libertarian Party 2016 |
AD: Thank you for your time as well. I have been a Libertarian all my life, but I didn’t become active in the party until late 2011. Since that time, I have worked on things mostly as a volunteer lawyer for different Libertarians and on ballot access. I also share Libertarian ideas widely in my professional writing and marketing – in my day job, I represent small businesses who are being crushed under the boot of big government and so my clients would benefit greatly from a Libertarian society. A couple months ago, I was approached by some women in the party to run for VP and they convinced me that I could share the Libertarian message to a much wider audience in that role. How could I refuse that call of duty?
DM: You certainly have answered that call. I want to go into more detail with your current campaign, but let's side track for a second and talk about your work getting Libertarians on ballots. We are at the point now, where Libertarians are on the ballot in all 50 states in 2016 (by the time of election). How much of a challenge and what efforts were needed to get such a task complete
AD: Libertarians aren’t quite on the ballot in all 50 states yet. There are several states that have big, and expensive, signature drives going on at this very moment. For example, both Illinois and Pennsylvania have a lot of resources being poured into them right now for ballot access. We need more donations and more volunteers. And come summertime, we will start being sued, and we will need lawyers to defend us.
Our nominees will be on all 50 ballots. But unfortunately, we likely won’t have ballot access in Ohio thanks to the actions of Gov. Kasich. That state will have our candidates listed not as Libertarians, but rather as independents, because we weren’t able to meet their high signature requirements and the Ohio party’s lawsuit just failed. I am trying a last ditch effort to get the resources for that signature drive, but we only have until July 6 and it is looking grim. I hope to assist Ohio with recovering the Libertarian ballot access in 2017.
Ballot access is a major problem for so-called minor parties every year. It costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours each cycle. And like we’re Sisyphus, it’s a boulder we have to push up hill over and over again.
 |
| Alicia Dearn working from anywhere and everywhere |
overcome many obstacles along the way because of efforts like yourself. Is there any other information you can provide for readers that will allow them to help out with this cause?
AD: We need money and volunteers to finish up our ballot drives and to pursue lawsuits and defense. Readers who are interested in volunteering or donating to ballot access efforts can go to http://dearn2016.com to volunteer or http://donate.dearn2016.com to donate. I will be happy to make sure that resources and volunteers get to the right places. We will also be running various money bombs and petitioning events over the next several months, and signing up as a volunteer will ensure that I have your information for these events so I can keep you in the know.
DM: Switching back to your campaign, what will you do as the Libertarian VP candidate going into the election in November? How will you be able to further push ahead your Presidential candidate with your skills? The Presidential candidates should take your answer into high consideration.
AD: Like most good VP candidates, I can help in three main areas: 1. Stumping; 2. Fundraising; and 3. Coalitions and Outreach. More specifically:
- I plan to be on the trial and in media making speeches and answering questions on behalf of the campaign. I’m an able speaker and debater. My skills will compliment the speaking skills of our nominee. Also, as the VP candidate, I will be expected to attack the other candidates, which is frankly an easy job when those candidates are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I can attack Hillary Clinton without being labeled a woman-hater.
- The VP nominee attends fundraisers and works on obtaining grassroots and big funders when the Presidential nominee is otherwise occupied with campaigning. I will be able to easily and enthusiastically sell our nominee to potential donors, and I’m not afraid to fund-raise. When I was the Midwest Regional Director for GJ2012, my region had the most successful fundraisers for the campaign.
- Building a coalition of Libertarians within the party is important. We cannot win without all hands on deck. I’m mostly accepted by all factions within the Libertarian party because I am true gold Libertarian and an activist within the party. I also think it is important to coalition build outside the party to grow it. One of my greatest desires as a candidate is to work with local candidates to help with local outreach. I also want to work with activists within the party to empower them to bring underrepresented groups into the party. I will start with women business owners, as there are millions of them.
 |
| 2016 LP VP Candidate Alicia Dearn |
for taking the time on short notice to sit down with the Liberty Chronicle Independent. In closing, what final thoughts would you like to leave our readers? The floor is yours.
AD: Liberty is about more than me. Liberty means hope for people to be more than they are today. Liberty means trusting people to make their own decisions. Liberty means prosperity for the poorest and opportunity for the disenfranchised. If given the chance, I will be proud to represent this party. I can't wait to stand up in front of millions of Americans and say, "I am a Libertarian. And you should be too."
