Responding To Newsday's "Dark Horses Keep Challenging Suffolk Executive"

As usual, Newsday runs its condescending article covering minor party challengers to the old party establishment candidates "Dark Horses Keep Challenging Suffolk Executive." (Newsday, Oct 31, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/ ) Highlighted are Estelle Edwards from the Libertarian Party and Peter Busacca from the Integrity Party. This year, there is even less pretense of choice than usual. Suffolk voters will have a choice between: Steve Levy, Democrat; Steve Levy, Republican; Steve Levy, Independence; Steve Levy, Conservative; Steve Levy, Working Families. Some choice.

Did any readers notice how much space supposedly devoted to Busacca and Edwards was given over to Levy to respond? Maybe when there is an article quoting Levy, their quotes can be run as well. Naturally, as the incumbent Steve Levy is accorded pages of coverage by Newsday. Perhaps in between its coverage of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, Estelle Edwards as an exemplary hardworking woman could be given some space to present her views at length or a full fledged interview, if not both.

The slogan "A choice, not an echo" inspired many to engage in politics. A choice, not an echo can encourage participation in the elections.

Richard Cooper, former State Chair, Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ 2000-02, 2006-07
former Chair, Libertarian Party of Nassau County

Libertarian School Board Candidates In Partisan Race

The City of Rochester is probably unique in New York State in having partisan elections for school board. They will be voting for four positions. The Libertarian Party is running two candidates, Christopher Edes and Max Kessler. The Republicans are running candidates but have not won a citywide election in Rochester in about 30 years. Two of their candidates didn't bother sending in the surveys to the Democrat and Chronicle daily newspaper.

Edes and Kessler plan to run spots on the main black-oriented radio station in Rochester. The "anytime" spots which run whenever the station decides are $45 each, while the most expensive advertiser-selected spots are about $90. At my suggestion, the State Committee voted to grant $100 each to Edes and Kessler. But they need more money NOW! If you can afford a contribution, please send one now to Edes and Kessler's separate campaign committees. Visit http://www.vote-for-chris.net/ and http://www.maxkessler.org/.

Please help Edes and Kessler now while there is still time. School choice is a message that needs to be heard in New York State.

Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org

Eminent Domain Activist & Suffolk County Executive Candidate Estelle Edwards

If you live in Suffolk County, New York on beautiful suburban and rural Long Island, you will have the option this November to vote in the County Executive's race for Steve Levy-Democrat, Steve Levy-Republican, Steve Levy-Conservative, Steve Levy-Working Families. Did you want a real choice?

Estelle Edwards, shown in the middle of the three people in the photo above, is the candidate of the Suffolk Libertarian Party, which is the local affiliate of the Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ (call 516-767-4688).

She has been very active on eminent domain, travelling to New London in Connecticut and New Cassel in Nassau County for rallies against eminent domain abuse. On a bitter cold day, she came more than 50 miles from Riverhead to New Cassel when Senator Clinton and her fellow Democratic gang members such as North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy gathered to celebrate the successful robbery of the American taxpayers and property-owners such as St. Luke's Pentecostal Church.

She rejects eminent domain abuse and champions property rights, which is why she also opposes the elitist "open space" scheme and real estate transfer taxes, advocated by Levy and the repellent ideologue Richard Amper of the Pine Barrens Society. This scheme, coupled with the already burdensome zoning, rent control and permitting laws, will spell the death-knell for affordable housing in Suffolk County. Estelle Edwards is a low-income Suffolk resident, working as a house monitor in a shelter. Her days on Long Island may well be numbered if Levy and Amper have their way. Perhaps that is what they intended all along.

She says she hopes her campaign will attract people to support both Ron Paul (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/) and the Libertarian Party (http://www.ny.lp.org/ and http://www.lp.org/).

As a Nassau County resident and former Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York, I can only wish her well. If you live in Suffolk, please vote Estelle Edwards for Suffolk County Executive.

Pass The Bricker Amendment To The US Constitution

Senate Joint Resolution 130, the "Bricker Amendment" to the Constitution was introduced in Febuary 1952 by the late US Senator John W. Bricker (Republican-Ohio)

Section 1. A provision of a treaty which conflicts with this Constitution shall not be of any force or effect.
Section 2. A treaty shall become effective as internal law in the United States only through legislation which would be valid in the absence of treaty.
Section 3. Congress shall have power to regulate all executive and other agreements with any foreign power or international organization. All such agreements shall be subject to the limitations imposed on treaties by this article.
Section 4. The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation


Unfortunately, this legislation failed to be enacted due largely to the opposition of President Eisenhower, his Vice-President Nixon and the liberal establishment.

This legislation is still needed as the United Nations continues to endanger not just the liberties of Americans but all individuals in the world. We must defend individual liberty and American independence enshrined in the US Constitution from the parasites on the Potomac and the Hudson Rivers in Washington and New York City.

Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primaries and join the Libertarian Party thereafter. Better late than never for the Bricker Amendment, but enact it before it is too late.

Ron Paul on Property Rights & Eminent Domain

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/property-rights-and-eminent-domain/

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says "We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.

Today, we face a new threat of widespread eminent domain actions as a result of powerful interests who want to build a NAFTA superhighway through the United States from Mexico to Canada.
We also face another danger in regulatory takings: Through excess regulation, governments deprive property owners of significant value and use of their properties — all without paying “just compensation.”
Property rights are the foundation of all rights in a free society. Without the right to own a printing press, for example, freedom of the press becomes meaningless. The next president must get federal agencies out of these schemes to deny property owners their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.
Today, we face a new threat of widespread eminent domain actions as a result of powerful interests who want to build a NAFTA superhighway through the United States from Mexico to Canada.
We also face another danger in regulatory takings: Through excess regulation, governments deprive property owners of significant value and use of their properties — all without paying “just compensation.”
Property rights are the foundation of all rights in a free society. Without the right to own a printing press, for example, freedom of the press becomes meaningless. The next president must get federal agencies out of these schemes to deny property owners their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property."

I hope Ron Paul gets the GOP nomination. If not, I hope he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination.

When the Town of North Hempstead was using eminent domain to stomp on Rev. Fred Jenkins and St. Luke's Pentecostal Church in the hamlet of New Cassel next to Westbury, New York, the Nassau and New York Libertarians spoke out in their defense under my leadership. Ron Paul heard our voice and acted. He introduced legislation to bar the use of federal funds to seize houses of worship. His legislation was reintroduced as an amendment which passed the US House of Representatives on a voice vote. However, the housing bill it was attached to failed in the Senate.

A few years later, the groundbreaking was begun for the urban renewal scheme which took the church's land and demolished its building and that of other victims. There to take credit were US Senator and now presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, and Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, together with other Democrat cronies.

The New Cassel urban renewal scheme handed over the property of the church and others to developers who have seen fit to give Kaiman and the North Hempstead Democrats substantial contributions as reported by Newsday. Of course, there is no connection. The land will supposedly become a bank and a chain drugstore.

One of the properties was built in such a substandard way that the still uncompleted building is already sinking.

When it comes to eminent domain, we know where Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton stand. What about the others?


Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of New York

Senator Schumer's New York Disconnect

Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn http://www.dddb.net/php/latestnews_Linked.php?id=854 reports that Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) takes an inconsistent position on eminent domain. He supports the Atlantic Yards Nets Arena scheme in Brooklyn, while opposing the New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) upstate. The New York Regional Interconnect would impose power lines on property-owners across a swath of central and western New York to provide a power link from upstate to downstate New York. The Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ opposes both schemes.

As a Libertarian and property rights activist, I certainly do not support the NYRI eminent domain, but it would be easier to justify as being for the public good than the corporate sports welfare and office/apartment real estate development involved in the Atlantic Yards Nets Arena.

Why would Schumer oppose NYRI and support Atlantic Yards? It should be obvious that private property rights, the market economy and individual liberty are not supported by Schumer and his odious philosophy. Let us summarize Schumerism. "Government will support voting blocs essential to electing Schumer and his allies."

Who opposes Atlantic Yards? Libertarians, Greens and a few thousand Brooklynites. Other than Libertarians and Greens no one outside Brooklyn even realizes that they get to pay for developer Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Ratner Firm. Who supports Atlantic Yards? Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Marty Markowitz, the labor unions, the city's major dailies, various elected officials and the poverty racketeers of ACORN.

Who opposes New York Regional Interconnect? Property-owners, elected officials, environmentalists, Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Independents, Libertarians, Greens etc.

By supporting Atlantic Yards, Schumer antagonizes a few thousand Democrats and independents who are unlikely to go Republican. Not that there was a choice. GOP candidates for governor John Faso and William Weld curried favor with Bloomberg by endorsing Atlantic Yards. By opposing NYRI, Schumer deprives the Republicans of an issue to galvanize upstaters.
This is a simple matter of arithmetic. Brooklynites are taken for granted because important Schumer Democrat coalition members are on board with Atlantic Yards and a few defections are insignificant.

Voters need to send a message and vote Libertarian.

Richard Cooper

July 4th 2007 Celebration

Declare your independence. Vote Libertarian. Join the Libertarian Party. Contribute to Libertarian parties and candidates. Sign Libertarian candidate petitions.

http://www.lp.org/ and http://www.ny.lp.org/

Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of NY

Columbia University Eminent Domain In Harlem Condemned By Alumni

http://www.ny.lp.org/news/2007manhattanville.htm

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/ 516-767-4688 Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com
COLUMBIA EMINENT DOMAIN IN HARLEM CONDEMNED BY ALUMNI
New York City 3/28/07 Columbia University president Lee Bollinger’s plan to use eminent domain to obtain land for a new campus in the Manhattanville section of West Harlem faces new opposition from the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) led by Columbia College alumni. State Chair Richard Cooper, Christopher Garvey and Mark Axinn condemn the University’s resort to the Empire State Development Corporation to condemn property-owners who will not sell voluntarily from West 125th to 133rd Streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue. The ESDC designated the area as “blighted.” Cooper responds, “Hands off Harlem!”
Cooper notes that he previously fought SUNY-Stony Brook’s eminent domain grab of Flowerfields in St. James. “Eminent domain is a legalized assault on tenants, taxpayers and property-owners. Moses said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” The Libertarian Party says to our modern pharaohs, the politicians and bureaucrats, “Let the people stay.” Bollinger cites our beloved Columbia’s educational mission and the infamous Kelo decision. Is it Columbia’s mission to teach that legalized theft is just and constitutional? Is it to teach that the end justifies the means?”
Mark Axinn, a Manhattan real estate attorney and Manhattan LP treasurer, laments “I am particularly appalled that Columbia University, which already has significant real estate and financial resources far in excess of others is desirous of relying on the thuggery of government to force other real estate owners to relinquish their property rather than simply purchasing any land it desires on the open market. Surely an institution with the power and wealth of Columbia could simply buy property. By seeking to usurp others' legitimate property rights by eminent domain, a university of which I should be proud lowers itself to the level of the street bully simply taking what it wants from those weaker individuals who might also be on the schoolyard.”
Christopher Garvey, a Long Island patent attorney and former LPNY candidate for Governor,is outraged. “On The Brian Lehrer Show (3/8/07), President Bollinger stated his case for expansion into the Manhattanville section of West Harlem. He described the activities of his private university as "public purposes", which justified having the government invoke its powers of eminent domain to steal property from existing owners to give to the University. How arrogant! Declaring one's "purposes" to be "public" is so much easier and cheaper than buying property fairly, from willing sellers on the free market.”
Besides the Columbia University Manhattanville eminent domain, the Libertarians oppose the Brooklyn Nets Arena/Atlantic Yards project. They will hold their State Convention on Saturday, April 28th at the Radisson MacArthur Hotel in Holtsville, New York. –30-
For more information about eminent domain (listing does not imply endorsement of the Libertarian Party):
Castle Coalition www.castlecoalition.org
Institute for Justice www.ij.org
Manhattan Libertarian Party www.manhattanlp.org
No Land Grab www.nolandgrab.org
Property Rights Foundation of America www.prfamerica.org

Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain Abuse

http://www.ny.lp.org/news/2007barclays.htm
Libertarian Party of NY -- Press Release -- Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain Abuse

Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain AbuseLIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/ 516-767-4688 Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com Gary Popkin, Brooklyn-Queens Chair www.Hardfire.net


BARCLAYS BANK BOYCOTT TO PROTEST EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE

Brooklyn, NY 3/19/07 New York Libertarian Party leaders Richard Cooper and Gary Popkin call for a nationwide boycott of Barclays Bank due to its participation in the eminent domain abuse scheme of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards. Barclays, a British bank with branches in America, agreed to pay the developer Forest City Ratner over $305 million for naming rights to the Nets basketball team’s arena over a thirty-year period. Libertarian State Chair Cooper notes that millions of Americans were outraged by 2005's Kelo decision of the Supreme Court upholding eminent domain transfers to private developers. The Libertarians offer an opportunity to demonstrate opposition in a material way.

Brooklyn-Queens Libertarian Party Chair Popkin dubs “…the Barclays participation in eminent domain is an outrage as a private enterprise disrespecting property rights.” Popkin notes that controversy was stirred in Brooklyn because of the sordid past of the British bank in the slave trade. He declares that “The actions of the bankers of centuries past do not taint the arena. It is participation in the eminent domain scheme that taints whoever participates in it.”

Cooper continues, “To Libertarians, corporate sports welfare and eminent domain abuse are legalized theft, stealing from taxpayers and landowners. Barclays chose to become an accomplice of Bruce Ratner. They should both bear the outrage of indignant Americans who favor freedom and justice.”

The Libertarian Party of New York has fought eminent domain that would have dispossessed St. Luke’s Pentecostal Church on Long Island and a neighborhood in New Rochelle to make way for an Ikea Swedish furniture store, besides the NY Times headquarters scheme that Cooper dubbed “Time$cam.” Cooper and Rev. Fred Jenkins of St. Luke’s will speak on the church’s victimization and how the Libertarian Party helped them at the state convention to be held Saturday, April 28th at the Radisson MacArthur in Holtsville, Long Island. –30-