| Since 1991, we have been the only organization promoting a pro-liberty agenda within the Republican Party. We work hard to help elect principled Republican candidates, from libertarians to constitutional conservatives.
Take a deep breath, Election 2016 is over; now it's time to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. We at the RLC wish you and yours the very best this holiday season.
It won't be long until its time to prepare for the next cycle, and when it is you can count on us to let you know which candidates we support, inform you on where your representatives stand on the issues, advocate for limiting government, and keep you updated on local happenings around the country. | | NATIONAL CONVENTION 2017: ORLANDO FLORIDA  Rand Paul speaks to RLC members in Nashua at the 2015 Convention | | Every two years, we meet together as a national organization to strategize and network with like minded individuals, conduct our presidential straw poll, listen to the brightest minds in the liberty movement and most importantly host our convention to elect new leaders to run the RLC. If you're a member of the RLC, you are automatically given the opportunity to be a delegate for your state at the national convention.
Last convention in Nashua, we heard from Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Grover Norquist, Mark Skousen, Thomas Walls, Emily Ekins, Corie Whalen Stephens, Steve Lonegan, Wayne Allen Root, Michele Fiore and dozens more.
Like last time, there will be many workshops laser focused on specific issues such as secession, the direction of the liberty movement, and how to grow your local chapter amongst a few.
This year, the convention will be hosted at the Rosen Centre in Orlando Florida from May 26th to the 27th. The registration system will be online soon, so please look out for email and social media updates about the convention from us. We can't wait to bring together the liberty movement again!
| |  | | State Chapter News | | Florida: The majority of our endorsed candidates were victors in their primaries and in the general election. Quite a few of our members have run for party offices: State Board member, Nicolas Tomboulides, recently ran for Vice Chair of the Brevard County GOP but lost narrowly to Republican insider Susan Hammerling. Keep pressing on Nic, that was only round one! Longtime RLC member Karyn Morton has been elected as Chairwoman of the Duval County GOP, home to Americas largest city, Jacksonville. RLC of Northeast FL Chair and RLCFL Secretary Travis Christensen has been elected as State Committeeman for Clay County! You are the heart and soul of the liberty movement, thank you for your sacrifice fighting for liberty folks!
In September, the RLC of Central East Florida hosted its annual Constitution Day Dinner in Melbourne with keynote speakers Dan Bongino and Loren Spivack and successfully raised over $11,000. The Jefferson Cup Award was given to Phil Blumel, the President of U.S. Term Limits, current member of the RLC of Palm Beach County and one of the original founders of the RLC in '91. In February we will be hosting our annual pilgrimage to Tallahassee to lobby the legislature for liberty and present legislators with our agenda for the upcoming session. Please send us an email here to register or inquire about the trip
Ohio: Liberty-minded Ohio Republicans met for the Republican Liberty Caucus of Ohio 2016 Convention on Saturday, September 24th at King Avenue Five in Columbus. Top leaders from all over Ohio were in attendance – Republicans who believe that Ohio should be a state that stands on Constitutional and free market principles. The keynote address was given by the newest member of the United States House of Representatives, Warren Davidson. Congressman Davidson replaced Speaker John Boehner in Ohio's 8th Congressional District. Rep. Davidson spoke about his commitment to the oath that he has taken, "to serve, protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic".
The first panel, "What can citizens do in the fight for a better Ohio?" looked at activism and what works to make a change at a local and state level. Panelists included: Garrett Kehr, Ohio President, Young Americans for Liberty, Greg Lawson, Senior Policy Analyst, Buckeye Institute. Maurice Thompson, Executive Director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and Tom Zawistowski, President of the We the People Convention, President of the Portage County TEA Party and former Chair of the Ohio Liberty Coalition. The second panel, "Liberty in the Legislature" focused on Ohio's General Assembly and politics in the State of Ohio that have moved us closer or farther away from Liberty. Panelists included: Former State Rep John Adams, State Rep John Becker, State Rep Tom Brinkman, State Rep Ron Hood and State Senator Kris Jordan We presented the "Champions of Liberty" award to State Senator Kris Jordan, and State Representative Tom Brinkman as the legislator with the most consistent, liberty minded voting record. The Chairman's Choice Award for Inspirational Volunteer was also presented to Public Relations Chairman Mathew Erickson. RLCOH members elected a new governing board: Chairman – Bill Yarbrough of Columbus, Vice-Chairman – Chris Sawicki of Medina, Secretary – Kelly Sanders of Pickerington and Treasurer – Jim Rovenski of Columbus. At Large Board Members: Ann Becker of West Chester – Chairwoman of the Field Development Committee, Mathew Erickson of North Canton – Chairman of the Public Relations Committee, Scott Jeryzk of Columbus – Chairman of the Candidates Committee and Michael Newbern of Delaware – Chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee. Videos of the event can be found on the RLCOH YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK4xpE-iynG2EEnC4lrfUnw
Oklahoma: We have endorsed Jason Murphey for State Representative. Jason Murphey is a third generation life-time resident of Logan County. He has been married to wife Raleah for 20 years and they have two sons. He graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree from Charter Oak State College in May of 2006 with National Honors, attends church at Church of God Outreach in rural Logan County and has achieved Toastmasters International's highest award for communication and leadership (DTM). In 2001, Murphey was elected to the Guthrie City Council where he worked to place government proceedings on television and the Internet, defeated property and sales tax increases and called for spending reductions. In 2006, Murphey campaigned for State Representative on a platform of never accepting contributions or gifts from lobbyists or groups that employ lobbyists. Since 2006, as a state legislator, he has sponsored successful legislation to open up access to government spending and performance data, created the data.ok.gov and documents.ok.gov web portals and imposed term limits on statewide officers in 2010. He was overwhelmingly reelected with nearly 75% of the vote!
On September 17th we hosted a meeting at Gage's Steakhouse in Guthrie with Marc Hyden of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. If you're interested in Marc coming to speak to you and your group about the dangers of the death penalty, please send us an email.
South Carolina: The RLC of South Carolina hosted its biennial convention on Saturday, September 24th at the Capstone Center in Columbia. Video addresses were received from Representative Mark Sanford, Representative Mick Mulvaney, Senator Lee Bright and newly elected SC representative Steven W Long. We also heard from Jeff Davis from Palmetto kids first Scholarship program discussing School Choice, R Josiah Magnuson newly elected Representative spoke eloquently about State Sovereignty. and Stewart Jones, who is a County Councilman from Laurens County and SC RLC Board member spoke to us about the importance of making a difference in local Government. National Board member and former SC Regional Director Steve Hoffman spoke about the direction of the RLC, and it's progress in fundraising, chapter formation and electing Liberty minded individuals to office.
The Board presented three awards: Statesman of the Year Award to Senator Tom Davis, Freshman of the Session to Representative Jonathon Hill and Lifetime Liberty Award to Senator Lee Bright. Elections were held for the new Board: Chairman - Mike Wallace, Vice Chairman John Katsanos, Treasurer - Nick Katsanos, Secretary - Kathryn Chasity Jones Douglass. New Board of Directors was also elected: Jordan Pace, Will Eddis Freeman, Stewart Jones, Dan Douglass and Jason Clouse
Texas: We are gearing up for the 2017 Texas Legislative Session. This session's focus will be on at least two issues of major importance to liberty advocates everywhere: property tax reform and civil asset forfeiture reform. Property Tax Reform: Liberty advocates worked diligently during the Texas convention season to push for the addition of a section of legislative priorities to the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas. The list of priorities would signal to the legislators what Republicans wanted them to focus on while they were in session. The property tax reform priority item reads: "To replace the property tax system with an alternative other than the income tax and require voter approval to increase the overall tax burden." On Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform: One of the most overlooked issues of civil liberties in our time is the deplorable practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture. RLC of Texas is also designating the reform of the CAF system in Texas a major legislative priority for the 2017 session. Several legislators are already working on crafting bills to rein in or otherwise curtail these practices, and the RLC of Texas will be working to increase the number of legislators backing reform. We hope to see such reforms in upcoming bills as: - provisions to require exact accounting for funds and assets seized by municipalities and LEOs
- provisions for raising the burden of proof required to permanently seize assets
- provisions for property owners to contest the seizure of their assets
- protections for innocent owners
What You Can Do: - Follow RLC TX on Twitter and Facebook
- Learn about the issues
- Bookmark this website to stay on top of the legislative session as it happens
- Find your legislators HERE
- Contact your legislators to let them know you support property tax and civil asset forfeiture reform
- Join us when we travel to Austin during the session to speak with legislators face-to-face
| | | JOIN the RLC and DOWNLOAD our App | | Since 1991, we've remained an all volunteer organization relying solely on membership dues and donations from angels and activists.
We are the lifeblood of the liberty movement in the United States, we've help elect libertarian stalwarts like Thomas Massie and Justin Amash and helped promote liberty at the national level by supporting Ron and Rand Paul for President.
Our primary goal: help elect libertarian and constitutional conservative Republicans at the local, state and national level. For $45 per year you can join the largest network of liberty Republicans or start a local chapter in your community. You'll have access to experienced and dedicated activists, grassroots campaigns across the country and an army of liberty of lovers standing next to you.
Download our app for FREE to connect with other members and learn about current issues we tackle as an organization.
| | | In short, our goal is to "work within the Republican Party to move it in the direction of limited government, respect for individual rights, and a commitment to free market economics". To achieve that objective, our state charters, local chapters and national organization aggressively seeks to find, support, and elect candidates to public office who share our values. Thus, one way to achieve this objective is to elect liberty movement mayors, city/county councilmen, Governors, State House members, U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, etc., and finally to put a libertarian Republican in the White House. The support of liberty movement candidates cannot be overstressed and is extremely important if we are to meet our objectives. But, there is a second and equally important activity that has not been given the attention it deserves - that is the Precinct Project.
Let's look at the hierarchy of the Republican Party. In most states the lowest level of the Republican Party is the local precinct. For example, RLC member Steve Hoffman lives in Horry County, South Carolina and Horry County is divided into 124 precincts. His precinct is Burgess 1 and consists of over 1000 registered Republicans. The next level of the party is the County Executive Committee. The next level is the State Executive Committee. And the final level is the Republican National Committee.
State RLC Charter organizations and local RLC chapters can have significant influence in determining the makeup of local precincts and the county level executive committees. Keep in mind the objective is to fill these entities with proponents of limited government, individual rights and free market economics.
How to begin the process? Let's use Steve as an example again.
- Within South Carolina, the Republican Party goes through a reorganization once every 2 years. Local precinct officers are elected first as well as county delegates to a county Republican Party Convention (this is where you as an RLCer want to get involved). Prepare to get yourself elected as either a precinct committeeperson or executive committee member (preferred) at the designated "re-org" meeting. Also, when you attend the re-org meeting, put your name down as a volunteer to be a delegate to your county convention and your state Republican convention. Every precinct is authorized X many delegates to the Republican County Convention. If you volunteer there is a 90% chance you will be selected, since there are often more precinct positions than there are volunteers.
- At this point, you are now the Committeeperson for your precinct and you will also be attending the County Republican Party Convention (usually held 30 days after the first re-org meeting). As a delegate to the convention you can now vote on the future officers of the County Republican Party. Don't like the current crop of establishment, crony-capitalist, special interest favoring Republicans that currently run your local party? This is now your chance to "drain the local swamp" and elect officers who will support what? Yes, you are right - limited government, individual rights and free market economics. By the way, if you are so inclined and have experience within your county GOP, go ahead and have your name placed on the ballot as one of the county GOP officers.
- Next item of agenda at the County convention will be to elect the elect the delegates who will attend the State convention. Make sure you campaign (press a lot of palms at the convention) to get yourself elected as a State convention delegate. If you can't be a delegate due to work/financial obligations – help one of your allies win because each of us need as much help we can get from one another.
- Now you're a county executive committee member, have attended the County Convention, got elected as a state convention delegate and are now attending your state Republican Party Convention. This will be your chance to vote for the State GOP Chairman, and various levels of Vice Chairman, and other state GOP officers. You will also vote on any changes to by-laws or resolutions that are brought up at the State convention. Of course, the objective is to vote for officers who support (by now we hope you have guessed before we print it) - limited government, individual rights and free market economics. By the way, if you are so inclined and have experience within your state GOP, go ahead and have your name placed on the state ballot as one of the state officers.
- After the conventions you start attending your first county GOP committee meetings. These meetings normally occur on a monthly basis but will vary from county to county. During the first meeting you will be electing your county representative on the State GOP Executive Committee. And of course the objective is to elect a person who shares our values of limited government, individual rights and free market economics.
- The kicker: If you and your fellow RLC members have successfully grasped the concepts of the Precinct Project, your state GOP executive committee will then appoint or elect one or two members to the Republican National Committee. Outside of electing liberty movement candidates to public office, there is nothing more important than to have members on the Republican National Committee support the concepts of limited government, individual rights and free market economics.
Voila! – And that is Precinct Project in a nut shell!
Together by finding, supporting and electing political candidates who support our objectives and by participating in Precinct Project, we will succeed in moving our country in the direction of limited government, individual rights and free market economics.
POP QUIZ - What is the objective of the RLC?
- What are two ways that RLC members can move the Republican Party and hopefully our country in the direction that is the objective of the RLC?
- Are you committed to helping the RLC meet its objective?
| | | Federal Candidates: Endorsements,
Recommendations and Past Endorsees | | |
This year we officially endorsed 14 candidate for both chambers of Congress:
Dr. Rand Paul (KY) and Colonel Rob Maness (LA) in the Senate
Justin Amash (MI), Thomas Massie (KY), Ted Yoho (FL), Walter Jones (NC), and Sue Googe (NC) in the House
Endorsees who lost in their primaries were fighters Dr. Rex Rammell (WY), Dr. Greg Brannon (NC), Tim Donnelly (CA), Dan Bongino, Rebekah Johansen Bydlak, Pat Mooney and Mark Bircher all of Florida.
BIG congratulations to victors Rand Paul, Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, Ted Yoho and Walter Jones on winning reelection!!
Since 1989 longtime RLC legend Clifford Theis has compiled the "Liberty Index," an in depth scorecard for all members of Congress. Theis is a Professor of Finance and Economics at Shendendoah University, an author at the Independent Institute and the Chairman of the RLC of Virginia.
This year Rand Paul (KY) and Justin Amash (MI) scored the highest. Rand topped the Senate with a 93 and Justin Amash scored a perfect 100%
Senators who scored a 90 or above:
Rand Paul (KY), 93
Mike Enzi (WY), 92
Ted Cruz (TX), 92
Mike Lee (UT), 91
Steve Daines (MT), 90
James Lankford (OK), 90
Representatives who scored a 90 or above
Justin Amash (MI), 100
Jeff Duncan (SC), 98
Raul Labrador (ID), 98
Thomas Massie (KY), 98
Scott Perry (PA), 97
Rod Blum (IA), 95
Mo Brooks (AL), 95
Tom McClintock (CA), 95
Mick Mulvaney (SC), 95
Dana Rohrabacher (CA), 95
Mark Sanford (SC), 95
Dave Brat (VA), 93
Jody Hice (GA), 93
Louie Gohmert (TX), 93
Jim Jordan (OH), 93
*Cynthia Lummis (WY), 93
Barry Loudermilk (GA), 93
*Reid Ribble (WI), 93
*Curt Clawson (FL), 92
Scott DesJarlais (TN), 90
John Duncan (TN), 90
Scott Garrett (NJ), 90
*Tim Huelskamp (KS), 90
David Schweikert (AZ), 90
*Matt Salmon (AZ), 90
Least principled members of Congress
*Senator Harry Reid (NV), 12
Senator Angus King (ME), 8
Representative Emmanuel Cleaver (MO), 11
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), 8
Past Endorsees from 2014
Tim Scott (SC) - Senate
Mike Lee (UT) - Senate
Ted Cruz (TX) -Senate
Pat Toomey (PA) - Senate
Dana Rohrabacher (CA)
Tom McClintock (CA)
Mark Sanford (SC)
Bill Posey (FL)
Raul Labrador (ID)
Jeff Duncan (SC)
*Tim Huelskamp (KS)
Mick Mulvaney (SC)
John Duncan Jr (TN)
Louie Gohmert (TX)
Alex Mooney (WV)
Jim Jordan (OH)
*lost primary or retiring
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Since 1991, we've stood as the lone libertarian Republican non-profit and all volunteer organization. This holiday season, please consider donating $25 to celebrate 25 years of railing against the Republican establishment. Thank you and Happy Holidays! | | | |
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