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LPAB

Libertarian Party of Alabama

 

Chairperson Mark Bodenhausen
Vice-Chair Leigh Lachine
Treasurer Gordon Maddox
Secretary Aaron Watkins

LNC Region 4

Founded  
Address 2330 Highland Avenue
Birmingham, AL 35205

Website http://www.lpalabama.org

The Libertarian Party of Alabama is the Alabama affiliate of the Libertarian Party (United States).

Former chairs include Stephen Gordon, Mark Bodenhausen, Mark Thornton, and former Birmingham City Councilman Dr. Jimmy Blake.

The unofficial motto of the Libertarian Party of Alabama comes from the Constitution of Alabama, and it reads: "The sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions, it is usurpation and oppression."

History[]

The Libertarian Party of Alabama lost its major party status and associated ballot access after 2002. In order to retain ballot access, a state-wide candidate of the Libertarian Party of Alabama needed to get 20% of the vote.

Since 2002, the Libertarian Party of Alabama has not been able to collect the nearly 60,000 raw signatures that would be required to regain state wide ballot access. In 2004 they succeeded in putting Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik on the ballot as an Independent and in 2008 Presidential Candidate Bob Barr was also successfully put on the Alabama ballot as an Independent. The Party made headlines in 2006 when Loretta Nall, their write-in-candidate for governor of Alabama, campaigned on a small government and greater personal freedoms platform.[1][2][3][4]

Due to Alabama State ballot access restrictions and the costs involved in overcoming these barriers, the LPA had no candidates running in any of the 2010 election races.[5][6][7]

The Libertarian Party of Alabama (LPA) led efforts to defeat Amendment One, the tax increase plan proposed by Republican Governor Bob Riley. Alabama Libertarians were credited by talk radio host Russ Fine as a "the leader in Internet activism" for their efforts in directing an online campaign against the tax plan. The Libertarian Party of Alabama hosted a meeting in Birmingham, Alabama between many of the key people and organizations opposing the ballot measure. Key personalities from the Tennessee Tax Revolt, Inc. shared their experiences from recent tax battles in the neighboring state. In attendance were representatives from the Eagle Forum, talk radio programs, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Libertarian Party and local businessman Stan Pate. The primary result of this meeting was a coordinated coalition activity geared toward defeating the ballot measure. While the Alabama Republican Party eventually offered a weak disapproval of Riley’s tax plan, the Libertarian Party of Alabama was the only political party to offer active resistance to the proposed tax hike. The measure was rejected by voters on September 9, 2003, with 68 percent opposed to it.

Past Officers[]

Stephen Dow, chair
Mark Bodenhausen, chair
Dick Clark, chair
Stephen Gordon, vice chair
Scott Placek, vice chair
Mark Thornton, vice chair
Deborah Gordon, Huntsville area district chair
Barbara Gordon, at-large representative
Carol Hagan, Anniston area district chair

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from LPedia. The original article is at Libertarian_Party_of_Alabama.
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