It does seem like there is going to be a local DC media blackout of the Libertarians, by
WMAL — where most of the on air talent claim to be libertarian-leaning, but never mention any DC or Virginia Libertarian candidates, except to attack them the day after the election, as they did Robert Sarvis when he ran for Governor in 2013. WMAL seems to have orders from its corporate owners to push Cuccinelli, Gillespie and Catania and never mention or interview Libertarians. Is it a Republican thing or do they just like Italians?
Washington City Paper – ran a long article when we only had three candidates recruited, perhaps mainly so they could say Libertarians are all nerdy white guys. Now that we have 9 candidates, including black and brown and gay and female candidates, they don’t cover them much, especially any Libertarian candidate of color;
The Washington Post – where pretty much every reporter except Michael DeBonis reports that there are are only 3 candidates (including my friend Carol Schwartz who has little chance of being elected), and occasionally even mentions the Green Party candidate, but have stopped mentioning Libertarians especially me.
(The gay press, MetroWeekly and the Washington Blade, are covering us. I believe the Washingtonian is going to as well.)
Of course, most local coverage is essentially sports coverage — who is up, who is down. Or it’s just about who is white or black or gay or unmarried. Nothing about ideas or policies. These are the same people who never exposed any corruption in DC until Tim Day and other private citizens brought it to light. Who have never looked at who donates hundreds of thousands to all our incumbents from Eleanor Holmes Norton down, and whether it correlates with committees they sit on and votes they take.
So, we have to raise money and bypass them. We’ve distributed around 6,000 brochures and I just got another 4,000 door knockers on school choice that we will be going door to door with. Our MajorsforMayor.com website goes live this week (if you don’t get a snail mail fundraising letter you can give there when it is up).
We will be campaigning mainly on 5 issue areas (vaguely in order of emphasis) :
1) radically expanded school choice to address DC’s failed schools. DC currently budgets $29,000 per pupil for public school students, but only $17,000 for charter schools and even less for students who use an opportunity voucher to attend an independent school. This is the subject of the door knocker we are distributing now. We want voters to vote Libertarian to signal to the DC political class that they want unequal and discriminatory funding against charter schools to end.
2) refocusing criminal justice on real crime – people are being assaulted for appearing to be gay, for having an Iphone, etc. all over town – a libertarian just last week in NoMa – while DC prosecutes alleged prostitutes and other victimless crimes and sets up ticket trap surveillance cameras. In addition DC residents who go to federal prison are shipped around the country where their relatives cannot find them (we have no local prison), and we have DC residents who cannot get jobs because of their criminal record for involvement in victimless crimes.
3) pointing out all the ways DC keeps people without law degrees from getting a job, starting a business, or becoming wealthy, by making it illegal for them to start a school, cook and sell food, braid hair, provide day care, etc. etc.
4) encouraging voters to vote for the marijuana legalization initiative, including people who are usually non-voters, and while they are at it voting Libertarian for candidates who would push that issue.
5) calling for an end to DC policies that restrict the supply of housing, driving up rents and causing homelessness, including limiting the height of buildings (so the city is filled up with 10 story buildings to meet our growing housing demand, since no once can build a 40 or 50 story one) and regulating owners of smaller multi-unit buildings with moderately priced apartments so that they sell out to condo and apartment developers and leave the DC market to invest in Virginia.
If we end up getting more donations this month we may do internet and radio ads, as well as more door knockers. We will also be doing more substantial responses to and alternatives to the welcome platforms some of the other candidates have finally put out.
As always, the dollars per vote spent by Libertarians will be far less and far more efficient than the incumbent candidates. They’ve already spent $4 million, which means they’ve already spent way over $10 per vote, which is even more than Democrats and Republicans usually spend (often around $3 per vote). Libertarians typically spend less than $1 per vote, since we don’t receive corporate, union, or PAC donations.
DC Libertarians 