The Party elects new officers, nominates candidates for office, plots forward path, and listens to interesting speakers

Tennent, NJ, March 15, 2011: Last weekend the NJ Libertarian Party held their 40th annual State Convention at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ. The convention consisted of a morning business meeting, a noon luncheon, and an afternoon filled with speakers on a variety of topics.

Election of new Officers

An early order of business was to elect new officers.

• Jay Edgar of Cream Ridge, NJ was reelected Chair.

• Kenneth Kaplan of Parsippany was elected Vice-Chair. In 2009, Kenneth was the party's nominee for Governor.

• Joseph Siano was elected Treasurer. Joseph formerly was an At-Large State Board member and the party's nominee for Congress in NJ's fourth district last year.

• Emerson Ellett of Ocean Township, NJ was reelected Secretary.

• Kevin Ferrizzi of Barrington, WIlliam Howcott of Freehold, and William Sihr of Williamstown were elected to At-Large positions on the State Board.

Nominations of Candidates for Office

During our business meeting we reviewed a listing of potential candidates for office. We approved the following candidates during the meeting. Additional candidates will be approved at a later date.

• David Schneck of Belmar, 11^th Assembly District

• Darren Young of Summit, 21^st Assembly District

• Julian Heicklen of Teaneck, 37^th Assembly District

• Vinko Grskovic of Lodi, 38^th Assembly District

• Allison Edgar of Wall, Monmouth County sheriff

Speakers

After lunch, attendees gathered to listen to speakers on a variety of topics. Among the topics was activism, medical marijuana, the state of NJ's gun laws, and economic theory.

Neil Schloss kicked things off by talking to us about the efforts and growth of the Campaign For Liberty organization. He presented his vision of the freedom movement and discussed various ways that activists could grow the movement in NJ.

Chris Goldstein of the NJ Coalition for Medical Marijuana presented the sorry state of NJ's enactment of medical marijuana laws. He pointed out that the intent of the law has been thwarted since the failure to adopt regulations in a timely fashion has continued to deny patients access to legal marijuana. He pointed out the onerous requirements that have been proposed for care givers to purchase medical marijuana on behalf of patients. He also took issue with the arbitrary limits on potency that have been proposed, without scientific research to back up such limits. The failure of the law to provide for patient-grown marijuana is another drawback, which will unnecessarily drive up costs for patients.

John Papola of EconStories.org and producer of the internet viral video "Fear the Boom and Bust: A Hayek vs Keynes Rap" presented his video and discussed the making of the video. He then presented a very interesting comparison of the pro-freedom Austrian economic theory and the anti-freedom Keynesian economic theory.

Frank Fiamingo told us about the reasons he founded the New Jersey Second Amendment Society. He never owned a gun until recently when he started shooting at a range with his wife. He found the patchwork of gun laws in New Jersey to be overly restrictive and counter to our rights as defined in the second amendment. Gun owners are being sentenced to long mandatory minimum sentences simply for being unaware of the many restrictions that New Jersey has on the ownership and transportation of firearms. He formed the NJ Second Amendment Society to stand up for the innocent gun owners and to lobby for less restrictive gun laws in NJ.

Author F. Paul Wilson has written over forty books and many short stories. Two of his books have won the Prometheus Award of the Libertarian Futurist Society. He talked to us about his writing, his outlook on the future of libertarianism, and how he presents a libertarian philosophy in some of his work.

Brian Aitken told the story of his prosecution for illegal possession of firearms, even though the police and prosecution knew that he was in the process of moving from one residence to another, one of the exceptions to the prohibitions in the law. Though convicted, he has since had his sentence commuted by Governor Christie, and is appealing the conviction as well as contemplating a civil suit against the police and prosecutors who wrongly charged him.

Summary

The NJ Libertarian Party's annual convention is the most important event of the year for our party. During the convention, the agenda for the year is determined, our leadership is selected, and candidates are approved. With our successful convention, our activists are energized and ready to tackle the 2011 campaign season.

If you would like more information about this release or would like an interview contact NJLP Chair Jay Edgar at 848-525-0578 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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