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11/07/06 Final Campaign Note: The Clifton/Silberger 2006 campaign is profoundly
thankful for the support and assistance it received from Libertarians and
other parties during the Gubernatorial race. Election results are still coming
in as of this writing, and it appears the campaign is on track to obtain 20,000
or more votes. Clifton laments that logistically, there were not enough hours
in the day for the two candidates to get around to do all the things origianlly
planned to break through barriers blocking them from obtaining the visibility
needed to contest the race on a level playing field. Clifton appreciates being
granted the opportunity to represent the Libertarian Party of New York in
its main statewide campaign, for the second time in six years. Supporters
may order merchandise from Cafe Press through the end of the week, and post
to the yahoogroup through the end of the month. The home page will convert
to a general statement about 'Elect Clifton Inc.' within a few days,
but this Gubernatorial campaign site will remain archived as a subsection
on the webpage for future reference.
Peace & Freedom, and Grace be with you!
10/30/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006, http://www.electclifton.org. Contact: John
Clifton 877-769-4014
LIBERTARIAN SAYS DROP TAXES, FIGHT IRS & DEFEND THE
RIGHT TO PETITION
New Paltz, NY 10/30/06: Gubernatorial candidate John Clifton calls
the tax reform proposals of Spitzer and Faso woefully insufficient to revive
New York’s economy. He vows, if elected, to reverse the hostile tax and
fiscal climate that is driving the exodus of homeowners and businesses from
the state. “State income and property taxes should be eliminated,”
says Clifton, “beginning with an immediate cap on property taxes. State income
taxes should be ended starting with all those making under $75,000. Let’s
Bring Back Freedom and bring back New Yorkers, by putting people’s money
back in their hands.”
Clifton feels prosperity will in time follow, once that money is no longer
fleeced from the private economy. To pay for services in the meantime,
the candidate advocates the state sell off the hundreds of billions in
assets it currently owns or controls (real estate, minerals, investments,
etc.) as reported in the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).
“The comprehensive report is deeply, deeply underreported by the media, perhaps
because it clearly shows spending could be covered by asset sales instead
of through taxation, which is legalized theft.” Other cost-cutting measures
Clifton proposes are reducing the prison population in New York by releasing
non-violent offenders (e.g., in jail due to Rockefeller drug law excesses),
and encouraging more private sector approaches to education, so government
spending on schools can be dropped.
The candidate has also been active fighting tax and other policy abuses
of the federal government, by supporting the ‘tax honesty movement’ in opposing
the IRS’s misapplication of the tax laws. He would protect New Yorkers’
First Amendment Right of Petition to withhold taxes until the government
responds to its petitions for a redress of their grievances on those policies,
such as the unconstitutional war waged in Iraq, or IRS fraud. “That is,
after all, the legal basis for starting this country in the first place.
The Declaration is a petition against King George’s abuses.” Clifton is
one of the 2,000 plaintiffs in the Right to Petition lawsuit by the We the People Foundation, now under
appeal. Clifton encourages all Americans to see Aaron Russo’s scathing
documentary on the income tax, America: Freedom to Fascism for more
background.
Clifton would enforce the recent ‘IRS vs Schulz’ federal court decision
that prohibits the IRS from unlawful collection actions absent the actual
existence of a court order. He would end the practice of county recorders
routinely misfiling IRS mere Notices of Lien (which lack a judge’s signature)
as actual liens, and other administrative fraud. “Even the Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration concluded in a report released June 30 said
of the 500,000+ Notices of Levy that the IRS filed for the year 2005, 96%
of them were done unlawfully. Why would the IRS have to resort to illegal
activities if it was enforcing any law?” Clifton himself has been victimized
by such an unlawful levy notice. His response letter to the IRS is available
online at http://www.electclifton.org/IRSletter.html.
11/01/06 UPDATE: Upon receipt of Clifton's response and the
issues raised by it, the IRS immediately cancelled the levy.
10/23/06 NOTE: The Clifton/Silberger 2006 campaign announces it
will be accepting Liberty Dollars as a form of contribution (earmarked
for circulating campaign media such as yard signs). The LD logo and
link will be added to the site by midweek to facilitate processing. Clifton
had a long and postive conversation with Mike Johnson of LibertyDollar.org on 10/20 about
doing so, and is in agreement to help spread positive PR about the silver-backed
private currency, in counterpoint to the negative campaign the federal
government launched against it weeks ago. The candidate will be mentioned
in the organization's next newsletter as being among the new vendors of
courage willing to step forward to accept sound money in the current hostile
climate. Thanks go to Manhattan LP activist Nic Leobold for advocating
for using Liberty Dollars in the closing weeks of the campaign.
10/23/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006, http://www.electclifton.org. Contact:
John Clifton 877-769-4014
RETURNING IRAQ VETERANS HAVE BEEN DEFRAUDED BY WASHINGTON,
SAYS CANDIDATE
New Paltz, NY 10/23/06: Navy veteran and Libertarian Gubernatorial
candidate John Clifton says New York State should fill in where the federal
government is failing to support veterans returning from the Iraq War.
According to CNN, a report out this week says a full one-third of the 600,000
recent war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are looking for
healthcare from the government that sent them into combat. "The contract
is being massively broken by D.C.," says Clifton, "as 1 out of 3 troops
are coming back injured, filing claims with the V.A., and often finding
no support. The state should help our New York veterans if the feds can't."
According to Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America, "the Department
of Veterans' Affairs has no plan to beef up the number of doctors, no plan
to beef up the numbers of claims processors to make sure that those veterans
get the benefits they need and they earned from fighting on the front lines."
Clifton adds that the feds are likely fudging on recognizing many of the
service-related medical problems troops have developed, and cites uranium
poisoning as one such issue. He points to a more precise test The NY Daily
News sponsored for 9 veterans who had been cleared for depleted uranium
(DU, or uranium-238) by the federal testing process. "Half of the subjects
tested positive for DU using the precise test. Scientists including Leuren
Moret have named depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the ‘Gulf
War Syndrome.’ As Governor, I would direct the state's veterans system to
make the precise test available for all returning veterans," says Clifton.
Clifton suggests "the best course might be to stop sending New Yorkers
to fight in illegal wars based on lies in the first place." The candidate
favors taking a tougher stance to resist the federal government’s further
demands to use New York guard forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan theatre.
He concurs with a formal resolution by the Hawaii legislature calling
for the withdrawal of that state's troops from Iraq, and with the National
Association of Governors' unanimous statement in August objecting to Washington's
attempt to de-facto federalize the national guard. "This war is itself
a fraud. It's time for the states to say 'no more' to D.C.'s open ended
demands for blood and treasure in the Iraq quagmire, and to provide zero
cooperation with unconstitutional, economy-draining, unjust wars of aggression."
10/14/06 NOTE: The Clifton/Silberger campaign is in general
agreement with a recent statement by the Stonewall Libertarians regarding
same-sex unions and separating marriage from the state. Clifton opposed
the Defense of Marriage Act in his 2000 campaign for U.S. Senate. Marriage
is a religious rite that precedes the existence of
the state, not a secular right requiring government defense. The candidate
distinguishes between respecting the exercise of personal liberty and
the individual right of contract (in this case, for benefits purposes),
versus promoting specific activities or extending group privileges. "Equality
before the law" as misapplied to 'approved' groups, too easily shifts into
forced equality of outcome, with assorted 'victim classes' replacing the
'noble families' of the feudal past.
Clifton supports equality of the law in the protection of individual
rights, but then, as now, completely opposes the notion of group or
status-based rights, and so did not accept all the presumptive language
packed into the Stonewall statement. The emphasis should be on reducing
government involvement, not adding still more, disputed categories of 'victimized
classes' to the mix. He advocates for the full separation of marraige and
state, period, and calls for both the secular left and religious right to
refrain from using government to impose their presumptions on each other,
in this or other areas of the culture war. The revised statement the campaign
agrees to is as follows:
"I believe in full equality for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered individuals regardless of their perceived
sexual orientations, gender identity or presentation. I would call
for the immediate repeal of federal and state Defense of Marriage Acts.
I would do away with the military's"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, thus
allowing gay and lesbian service men and women to serve their country
openly and proudly. I oppose the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment
and all state constitutional amendments seeking to define marriage as
a bond between one man and one woman. I would do away with all special
benefits and privileges granted to individuals on the basis of their
marital status. I would like all state governments and localities to get
out of the business of granting marriage licenses and allow people to enter
into contractual relationships to order their lives as they see fit. I do
not believe the government should require religious institutions to perform
marriage ceremonies that go against their church doctrine."
10/12/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006, http://www.electclifton.org.
Contact: John Clifton 877-769-4014
THIRD PARTY DEBATES
SET TO BYPASS BIG MEDIA EXCLUSION
New Paltz, NY 10/12/06: Libertarian
Gubernatorial candidate John Clifton has helped make arrangements with
representatives of the Green Party and Socialist Workers Party to hold
two Third Party debates in October between the statewide candidates.
He has received commitments from his counterparts to appear at a Gubernatorial
"Candidates Forum" sponsored by the New York Public Interest Research
Group (NYPIRG) at the College of Staten Island on Monday, October 30
at 2:30 pm. Chris Garvey, the Libertarian candidate for Attorney General,
has been scheduled to debate the Green and SWP candidates for that
office on the BCAT public access program "Hardfire" to be taped on October
12, then circulated statewide.
The major party candidates are also invited to both forums,
but are not expected to appear. Clifton says this development
"helps perform an end-around of the big party/big media shut out of alternative
voices." The candidate thinks these debates will perform a public service
that is being neglected by the exclusivist structure of New York electoral
politics. "Republicans and Democrats get the equivalent of millions of
dollars in unpaid advertising when they, and only they, get included in
the "official" debates, polls, and daily press mentions. This marginalizes
excluded parties from the outset, even before the major parties start to
spend money on their own publicity. Our mounting of these inclusive, independent
debates (that the major news organs could have scheduled anytime they wanted
to) shows that Big Media is in on the rigged game, and are also actively
excluding us."
Clifton thinks any party that succeeded in getting
its candidates on the ballot has demonstrated enough seriousness to
be granted exposure in campaign news coverage. John Clifton is running
for Governor to "Bring Back Freedom to New York" and to help get enough
votes to gain permanent ballot status for the Libertarian Party. His
website is www.ElectClifton.org.
NRA's John Cushman and Clifton;
Garvey and Clifton greet Gun Rights Supporters;
Clifton Speaks!
10/02/06 NOTE: LP Gubernatorial Candidate John Clifton and
Chris Garvey, LP Candidate for Attorney General appeared at the annual
SAFE "Right to Carry" Conference October 1. Clifton was given podium
time before the roughly 1,000 present to advocate for a new state-level
law to protect home gun ownership, for which he received strong applause.
He went on to explain that "a vote for the LP was not a wasted vote"
in this or any year, in that "since Faso is most likely going to lose,
you might as well vote your principles" and help Libertarians obtain
permanent ballot status, "through which we could more easily run 100%
pro-gun candidates in all local races for the next four years." The candidate
and Garvey also explained the concept of the Governor authorizing the
'unorganized militia' to possess and carry arms.
On the previous week, Clifton and US Senate candidate Jeff Russell
spoke at the gates of NYC's City Hall at the"Rally for
Illegal Guns" organized by activist Nic Leobold. The emphasis was on opposing
Mayor Bloomberg's 'gun control freak' pursuit of new gun-grabbing laws,
which would doubtlessly would be structured to expand exponentially the
number of (or situations where) firearms would be deemed "illegal." Clifton
reminded attendees that the Redcoats tried to seize the "illegal guns" of
the colonists the night Paul Revere warned that the British were coming,
and that true lovers of liberty should never view their right to exercise
self-defense as being unlawful.
-Clifton, NY Libertarians
Back Eminent Domain Reform
9/25/06 NOTE: Clifton is scheduled to receive at least
four media interviews during his campaign swing through Western New
York. These include WHSU 870 am (9/26, 7:10 am Tuesday morning, Ithaca),
The Cornell Daily Sun, The Challenger (African-American newspaper, Buffalo),
and in Rochester (tentative). Additional interviews TBA.
9/21/06
Ithaca Libertarians
Libertarian Party of New York - Tompkins County
415 North Albany Street, Ithaca NY 14850
Christa Siering, Chair; Brian Sullivan, Vice Chair
Ithaca Libertarians website: ithacalibertarians.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Area Libertarians Protest: LP Gubernatorial Candidate
John Clifton
Excluded from Debate at Cornell
Ithaca, NY, September 21, 2006 - In a decision by the
New York State
League of Women Voters, the upcoming Gubernatorial debate
will be
between just two of the candidates, Elliot Spitzer (D)
and John Faso
(R). The League, a sponsor of the debate, has specifically
excluded
any and all other valid candidates from this public debate,
in spite
of Libertarian John Clifton's request to be included and
his
legitimate candidacy.
The Ithaca Libertarians, the Cornell Libertarians and
John Clifton,
Libertarian Party candidate for Governor of New York,
will stage a
protest outside Bailey Hall, the site of the Gubernatorial
debate,
scheduled for September 26, 2006 at Cornell University.
John Clifton's Libertarian Party campaign offers a 12
Point Agenda
for New York:
· Stop eminent domain abuse
· Eliminate New York state income taxes
· Cap property taxes
· Repeal Rockefeller drug sentencing laws and end
drug
prohibition
· Re-open the 9/11 investigation
· End the restaurant smoking ban
· Maximize school choice options
· No NY State Guard to Iraq
· Protect the rights of medial marijuana users
· Pass "Katrina law" to protect gun owners against
emergency
confiscation
· Support returning Veterans
· Defend the Constitutional Right to Petition
John Clifton is available for interviews both prior to
the day of the
debate by phone and here in Ithaca on September 26th.
His campaign
website is: www.electclifton.org
9/17/06 ---THIS JUST IN: LPNY Candidate for Governor
John Clifton, and Green Party Candidate Malachy McCourt met in person
at a campaign function and tentatively agreed to hold an inclusive
(all candidates invited) gubernatorial debate to be taped on 9/25 (courtesy
of Hardfire). An additional debate between Lt. Governor candidates
is planned for October 12; final details forthcoming. UPDATE: McCourt
had a schedule conflict for 9/25, the debate is being planned for 10/23
instead.
9/13/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006, http://www.electclifton.org.
Contact: John Clifton 877-769-4014
CLIFTON DECLARES FASO
AN EMPTY SUIT ON GUN ISSUES
New Paltz, NY 9/13/06: Gubernatorial
candidate John Clifton is warning defenders of gun rights in
New York to not be fooled again by the vague anti-gun control rhetoric
put forward by GOP candidates. Specifically, he is certain Republican
candidate John Faso will be a carbon copy of Pataki on gun issues
if elected. "While Faso has made sound statements in opposition to
new gun control bills being proposed," says Clifton, "there is no indication
he would lift a finger to actually attempt to repeal any existing state
laws, to bring gun freedom back to New York." Clifton says he would definitely
do so, and challenges Faso to specify the same.
Clifton supports aggressive Libertarian measures
to combat "gun-grabbing" such as proposing a "Katrina" law to
prevent state authorities from confiscating guns of homeowners during
an emergency, and a "reciprocity" law to respect visitors with licenses
to carry weapons acquired from other states. "We should respect other
states' gun licenses issued to law-abiding citizens, and certainly
no one in the state should be demanded to give up their main means of
self-defense in a crisis, when mass looting may be going on."
Clifton also recognizes (as does Chris Garvey, Libertarian
for Attorney General) that the Governor has the unilateral power
to authorize the arming of most New Yorkers. "The law already makes
all able-bodied males between 18-45 (who are not in the military nor
the organized militia) members of the unorganized militia," says Garvey.
"The Adjutant General, who serves at the pleasure of the Governor, can
authorize the militia to carry any weapons. A branch of the organized
militia could be created or expanded by the Governor for women, and
for men over 45." Clifton would so authorize arming adult New
Yorkers as members of this branch, in which case they would automatically
have the freedom to possess and carry arms that bypasses current gun
control restrictions.
"Would Faso even contemplate exercising unilateral
powers to bypass the legislature, to bring back freedom?" asks
Clifton. The candidate challenges supporters of the Second Amendment
to look past "empty suit promises" and demand real commitment to
reverse the disarming of the law-abiding public. "If we don't, the
politicians will again betray us with more GOP-styled gun-control freak
laws, as the Pataki record shows." He points to the poor example set by
Republican Mayor Bloomberg, whose anti-gun rights stance has become
more prominent since being safely re-elected. In response, Clifton
plans to join Manhattan Libertarians in attending a "Rally for Illegal
Guns" protest at City Hall in NYC in late September.
9/05/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006, http://www.electclifton.org.
Contact: John Clifton 877-769-4014
CLIFTON BLASTS SPITZER
AS A "TOTAL FAILURE" FOR 9/11 FAMILIES
New Paltz, NY 9/05/06: Libertarian
Gubernatorial candidate John Clifton has called for a new
independent investigation of the 9/11 disaster as it pertains
to New York, and says the current Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
has been completely asleep at the switch on this issue for five
years. A large number of 9/11 families and organizations are dissatisfied
with the 9/11 Commission Report (which focused mainly on the intelligence
agencies) and feel it effectively covered up many unresolved issues.
Bill Doyle, head of the Coalition of 9/11 Families,
has said flatly, "if you want to believe what they want to snow
you under on like the 9/11 Commission---that's a total fallacy.
The continuing cover-up is beyond belief." Families of rescue personnel
are similarly upset over the government's deceptions about undisclosed
toxic conditions the responders were exposed to in the weeks following
the buildings' collapse, and have been seeking compensation through
the courts. Clifton believes Spitzer has failed in responding to
the concerns of the families, and would likely continue to if elected
Governor.
"As a Libertarian, I oppose introducing force
and fraud as a basis for solving problems or governing," says
Clifton. "Cover-up certainly involves defrauding the public.
Mr. Spitzer has self-flatteringly campaigned as being 'willing
to go to bat against powerful interests.' But as New York State Attorney
General, he has had unilateral authority to open his own wide-ranging
investigation since 2001, as he has with nearly everything else.
Why has he ducked investigating the biggest fraud of them all? Why
do we have to go to internet gadflies like Alex Jones or WhatReallyHappened.com
to find people with courage to explore this area, instead of to
our well-paid officials?"
By contrast Clifton has announced he would,
as Governor, make challenging the federal government's official
story a top priority, by insuring that the panel comprising any
new inquiry would be selected by the 9/11 families and '9/11 Truth'
organizations themselves, such as Scholars for 9/11 Truth, and NY911Truth.org.
"Even the commission leaders, Thomas Kean
and Lee Hamilton, now openly admit they were misled by the
Pentagon," notes Clifton. He also cites polls indicating well
over a third of the public now believes the government was at least
complicit in the destruction of the World Trade Center complex. They
particularly wonder about strange elements such as the collapse of
WTC building 7 (which was not hit by a plane), the stand-down
of the air traffic control and air defense systems protecting the
New York skies, suspicious stock trading that shorted airline stocks
just prior to 9/11, and many other unanswered issues.
The slate of NY Libertarian statewide candidates
are unified in calling for re-opening the 9/11 investigation,
including Clifton, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Russell, candidate
for Lt. Governor Donald Silberger, and especially Chris Garvey,
who has made re-opening 9/11 a leading issue in his race for Attorney
General.
Clifton feels Garvey would be a vast improvement
over Spitzer, because he would show restraint and avoid misusing
the AG's office to do high-profile 'press release prosecutions,'
ambulance-chasing or other fishing expeditions. "Many have been
publicly tarred by Spitzer's recklessness, but very few found
guilty," says Clifton. "He will probably bring the same self-serving
style to Albany, whereas Libertarians would bring back freedom
once elected. So, would you rather vote for the Party of Principle---or,
for a man who has no convictions?"
-GOP Tries Blocking Libertarian
Candidates
8/31/06
CLIFTON'S OPEN LETTER TO THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN
VOTERS:
To LWV/Kristen Hansen:
Hello, I am John Clifton, candidate for
Governor on the Libertarian Line. I request inclusion in the
debates in September and October. I declare I meet the consititutional
requirements of eligibility (47 years old, born in Georgia, New York
State resident).
My party filed 21,000 signatures with Board
of Elections last week. The campaign committee (Clifton/Silberger
2006) is filed with Board of Elections and is current in filings.
You may find evidence of the formal campaign at the site www.electclifton.org,
or by contacting the campaign treasurer Ira Margolis at sabfinance@aol.com.
Below are urls reflecting recent press coverage of my campaign:
Times Union: Libertarians Pick Weld Replacement
http://www.ny.lp.org/media/Times_Union_062006.htm
Metroland: Fool Me Once
http://www.ny.lp.org/media/Metroland_070606.htm
-Clifton, LPNY Blast Spitzer's Stand on
Medical Marijuana
http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=1750
CLIFTON INTERVIEWED ON WAMC
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?actionfiltered=article&ARTICLE_ID=940373§ionID=654
Clifton on New York’s Child Protective Services:
http://manhattanlp.org/SerfCity/serfcity_vol2_iss2.pdf
The final guideline of finding that a candidate
receives 10% support in a poll is subjective and unreasonable,
in my view, and devised specifically to exclude anyone who
is not a Democrat or Republican. The main reason third party candidates
often fail to obtain that poll result is that the media excludes
them from inclusion in most polls, thereby denying them the visibility
to get chosen by respondents.
This gives the major parties a major unpaid
advertising advantage. Using unfair poll exclusion as a defacto
basis for debate exclusion therefore seems to be disingenuous.
Based on the objective factor of being on the ballot, and otherwise
meeting all your specifications, I should be included in the LWV
debates, or independent debates I can arrange. I await your response,
and appreciate your understanding.
-----Peace & Freedom, John Clifton-----
---2006 LPNY Candidate for Governor----
-LIBERTARIANS
FILE 21,000 SIGNATURES with BOE
8/15/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER 2006,
http://www.electclifton.org. Contact: John Clifton
877-769-4014
CLIFTON DEMANDS LEAGUE
OF WOMEN VOTERS INCLUDE ALL CANDIDATES IN THE DEBATES
New Paltz, NY 8/15/06: “Are minor party
candidates being quietly excluded from the fall debates,
by not being asked to participate?” asks Libertarian Candidate
for Governor John Clifton. In response to his (and other minor
parties) not being officially notified of the announced debate schedule,
Clifton is formally requesting inclusion in the fall candidate debates
sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New York (LWVNY), in
order to find out. Libertarian candidate for Attorney General Chris Garvey
has also formally requested inclusion.
The entire slate of Libertarian statewide
candidates are expected to be on the fall ballot following
the conclusion of the petition drive ending on August 22. “I smell
a two-party rat,” says Clifton. “The standard for the debates should
be, is the candidate on the ballot? I had to learn of the schedule
from third hand sources. The Libertarian Party has long-established
a strong “modicum of support” in this state through consistently
achieving ballot status over the past 30 years. There is no reason
why myself or the party should not have been at least informally contacted
by LWVNY.”
Should LWVNY not include all candidates,
Clifton and other Libertarians are encouraging the media
to hold independent debates, such as ones offered by Alan
Chartock (who interviewed Clifton in July on WAMC’s Capital Connections)
and other alternative media forums. Clifton says “effectively,
the LWVNY, Commission on Presidential Debates, et al, often simply
act as an pseudo-official front to exclude minor party candidates.
They exist to take the flack for excluding that properly should
be directed at the Democrats and Republicans.”
“Instead of launching fruitless attempts
to reverse any ‘official’ exclusion, we should challenge
the DemGOP masters (Spitzer, Faso) to debates outside of the
auspices of LWVNY. There is nothing stopping Chartock and other
media from promoting non-LWV debates with all candidates.” Clifton
is also interested in holding third party debates with the Green
Party candidate for Governor, similar to one held between Presidential
candidates Badnarik and Cobb in New York in 2004.
-Clifton, LPNY Chair Cooper
Blast Spitzer's Stand on Medical Marijuana
-Clifton Profiled
in Albany's Metroland
7/26/06
CLIFTON/SILBERGER
2006, http://www.electclifton.org. Contact: John
Clifton 877-769-4014
LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE
SAYS PULL THE PLUG ON THE POWERLINE LANDGRAB
New Paltz, NY 7/26/06: Libertarian
Party Candidate for Governor John Clifton has joined ranks
with farmers and homeowners upstate in opposing the application
of New York Regional Interconnection, Inc. (NYRI) to receive
federal designation as a "National Interest Electric Corridor."
Designation as such would trigger federal eminent domain powers
permitting NYRI to install its high voltage power transmission
line, by taking land and homes away from property owners all along
its proposed route through 70 communities from Marcy to New Windsor,
New York. Residents throughout the area have gone on the warpath
against this monstrous mix of arrogant land-grabbing and corporate
welfare.
"Here we go again," Clifton says,
"letting a private corporate entity use a governmental end-run
to rip off other private entities, aka ordinary people. The
localities in question will derive no benefit whatsoever from
the power line, and would have no sovereign control over it at
all once constructed. NYRI has produced no impact studies, no
financial reports, no full disclosure of its investment partners,
no demonstration of any critical need for the line, and has repeatedly
ducked questions about the true cost." Clifton calls it a recipe
for more central power-company unaccountability, as demonstrated
downstate by Con Edison's non-disclosure regarding recent week-long
power outages in parts of Queens county. He favors highly decentralized
generation and distribution of power, such as found in the cooperative
in which he lives (which has its own power plant).
Clifton intends as Governor to propose
strong property-rights protecting procedures to block
all such theft projects, including local-citizen-selected
panels in each affected community, whose endorsements would
be required for the projects to proceed. Clifton spurns the stop-gap,
face-saving legislation currently proposed in Albany to address
NYRI. Both Clifton and his party have officially endorsed the bills
by State Senator John DeFrancisco to completely end eminent domain
abuse for private development, as typified by the NYRI disaster.
State Libertarian Party Chair Richard Cooper of Westbury concurs,
feeling such situations again show how "the power of government must
be reduced in New York, and Washington."
Clifton is continuing to emphasize
similar "your home becomes their mall" abuses around the
state, as shown by his participation in the massive protest
against the proposed Nets Stadium held on July 16. Like NYRI, the
project will displace residents and destroy the homes of an entire
community, to line the pockets of a private developer.
Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn said to Mr. Clifton
in a direct communication afterwards, "the fight over Forest
City Ratner's 'Atlantic Yards' development proposal in Prospect
Heights, Brooklyn is a major battle ground over perverted NY
State 'blight' findings, and the process by which government colludes
with private interests to abuse eminent domain."
6/20/06
LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (LPNY)
www.ny.lp.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Richard Cooper
nylibertarian@hotmail.com 516-767-4688
LIBERTARIANS NOMINATE WELD REPLACEMENT
Westbury, NY 6/20/06: By nominating John Clifton for Governor
and Donald Silberger for Lt. Governor, the Libertarian
Party of New York (LPNY) will restart its campaign for statewide
ballot status which stalled when William Weld dropped out of
the race on June 6th, according to LPNY State Chair Richard Cooper.
John Clifton is a Navy submarine veteran, a social worker against
the welfare state, and a former drug counselor against the war
on drugs.
The Jamaica, Queens resident of NYC says he is for freedom
both personal and economic across the board. Clifton
is expected to emphasize privatized educational options,
property rights and marijuana legalization. Clifton, who
is African-American, terms big government, eminent domain abuse,
gun control and the welfare state forms of "neo-slavery."
Clifton endorses Weld's proposal to exempt from NY income tax those
who earn $75,000 a year or less. He plans to visit Albany on
Monday, June 26th to campaign.
Donald Silberger is a SUNY-New Paltz math professor, whose
primary focus is uniting the supporters of gun rights
and drug legalization. He is troubled by our rising prison
population of those who have done no harm to others. Both
Clifton and Silberger have run for US Senate previously.
Weld withdrew his candidacy in a fax to Chair Cooper. "...,
I am unable to pursue further the gubernatorial nomination
of the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY).... I am grateful
for LPNY's support and look forward to continuing to advance
our mutual message of lower taxes and smaller government in the
months and years to come." Cooper responded "I thank Mr. Weld for
his encouraging words and hope that we will be able to work together
again. Now, Libertarians will go forward with the message that
what America and New York needs is to remove the Empire State from
our lives."
Copyright
© 2006, Elect Clifton Inc. All
rights reserved.
Elect Clifton Inc., 165-90 Baisley Blvd., #415,
Jamaica, NY 11434 (877) 769-4014
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