End of Year Report
2006 is almost over. Frankly I can't wait for it to be over, since we
have a lot of big things going on in 2007. However before we take a
look at what is to come, lets take a look at 2006.
We came into 2006 with a full head of steam. The egregious Henrico
Meals tax had been defeated, the PHSC had an amazing celebration for
its 12th anniversary, the LPHC had its largest Convention ever, the
City of Richmond saw the formation of its first official LP affiliate,
and Matt Martin had an amazing vote total for a Libertarian in a 2-way
House of Delegates race.
However after such amazing success we were bound to have a few set
backs. The LPHC had an embarrassing string of meetings that were
canceled or rescheduled at the last minute, PSHC attendance remained
mediocre the entire year, and there were no Libertarians running in
the area for Congress.
In spite of these little set backs, 2006 saw some significant
developments in the freedom movement in the Richmond Area. The PHSC
turned 14 and celebrated by having Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF
(ret.) speak. The Henrico Board of Supervisors again lowered the
property tax rate (clearly our success the previous year had some
effect).
RichmondLiberty.org got a face-lift and a new content management
system. This has made it much more easy to post content and generate
the weekly emails.
We also added two new posters to the site. Robert Russo is writing a
weekly column. If you aren't reading it, I encourage you to do
so. Robert is quite articulate and discusses some very interesting
subjects. A big thanks to Robert. I know how much time and effort
goes into writting a weekly column and he's doing a great job.
The other poster we added to the site is Max Maizels. Max finds some
of the more interestingly outrageous uses of taxpayer money. He'll be
highlighting even more in the future.
The LPHC saw a major turnover on its Board at the Convention this year.
The new members seem to be working well together. The last several
months have seen regularly scheduled meeting. It looks like the LPHC
is back on track. The LPHC also recently added the ability to take
donations online. Visit
http://henricolp.org/donations.php to make a
contribution today!
Finally, while it wasn't a Libertarian victory, this past election was
significant for the freedom movement as a whole. Voters rejected the
War machine while at the same time sending Democrats to Congress who
at least claimed to be fiscally responsible and pro-gun. If the new
members of Congress keep their promises we might start seeing the
nation finally start moving in the right direction (In all honesty I
don't expect the Dems to keep their promises any more than the Reps
did, but we can hope and certainly try to make them stay on track).
So that about wraps up 2006. What's ahead for 2007? Elections,
Elections, and more Elections!
The entire General Assembly is up for election. Also the entire
Henrico Board of Supervisors, School Board, as well as the Henrico
Clerk of Court are up for election. We already have two great people
in the area running for Henrico Board of Supervisors.
George Marchenko, former LPHC Chairman, is running in the Tuckahoe
District for Board of Supervisors. The District is basically the far
Southwest part of Henrico (almost anything West of the City and South
of I-64). George is well known in the district and the President of
his neighborhood association. There is no question that George will
be a strong voice for liberty and represent the people of Tuckahoe
well.
Matt Martin is running in the Brookland District for Board of
Supervisors. The District is basically between everything East of
Woodman Rd. and everything West of Broad St. and Springfield Rd. Matt
is the President of the Henrico Taxpayers Union. Matt is well known
for his fight against the County Meals tax in 2005 as well as his
activism in VCDL (http://www.vcdl.org). Matt ran in 2005 for House of
Delegates in the 73rd and the areas that overlap are where the vote
total exceeded 40%! We certainly expect him to improve his vote
totals this year.
It is not too late to run for office. As stated above the entire
General Assembly is up for election. There are also three other Board
of Supervisor seats up for election. If you are ever thinking of
running for public office, now is the year to do it. We've got two
really good candidates and our best chance at winning since I've been
involved with the LP. Adding more candidates will only help to get
more people involved, expose more people to the libertarian
philosophy, and bring more creditably to the ticket. Now is the time
to do it. If you think you might want to run or know someone who
might, please contact me at liberty@leonard-harris.com.
Finally, the 2007 elections will decide the future of Virginia for the
next 4 years. It is imperative that everyone do something to make
sure that Virginia will see more individual liberty and less
government oppression. If you don't run for office, please volunteer
to help out one of the candidates or the LP. If you don't volunteer
please donate money (http://www.henricolp.org/donations.php).
I am really looking forward to 2007 and believe it could be our best
year yet. Happy New Year!
--------------------------------------
-Leonard T. Harris
-Chair
-Libertarian Party of Henrico County
-http://www.henricolp.org/
-
-President
-RichmondLiberty.org
-http://www.richmondliberty.org/
-info@richmondlibert