Manhattan Libertarian Convention – SUCCESS!

The Manhattan Libertarian Party was a great success yesterday on the 21st!

Not only did we have over 60 attendees and over a dozen new members, but the featured speakers were amazing.  Jim Babb of We Won’t Fly kicked off the meeting with a speech about how the TSA is a great example of state force followed by Carl Oberg of FEE who spoke of the living a principled life for liberty.

Candidates running to be the Presidential Candidate on the Libertarian ticket, were (as appear in the photo from left to right) Gary Johnson, Carl Person, RJ Harris, and Bill Still.  They each gave brief statements of why they’d be the best candidate for liberty in 2012 and then fielded an array of questions ranging from their thoughts on Ron Paul to their management style, plans for drumming up extra media attention, immigration and beyond!

At the end of the event, Gary Johnson won the Manhattan LP Straw Poll with over 50% of those present polling in his favor.  Points that curried favor with the crowd were the fact that Gary Johnson vetoed over 700 pieces of legislation while Governor of New Mexic0 (more than all other governor’s combined) and is a self made entrepreneur who started his career as a self-employed handyman but grew his business into a company that employed over 1000 people.  RJ Harris was the runner up whose background in the Army National Guard provided unique insight into American Foreign Policy.

The meeting began at 11AM where, Ron Moore, Former Chair of the Manhattan LP conducted the election of new officers.  The new officers of the Manhattan Libertarian Party are: Janet Hopf, Chair; Mark Axinn, Treasurer; Adam Weissman, Media Director; Alton Yee, Fundraising Director; and Ron Moore, Membership Director.

Applause for the speaker!
Manhattan Libertarian Party