From:
"Wes Benedict"

WARNING. This is a strongly-worded email--the kind that raises tempers and can get people like me in trouble, if not fired.

Oh well.

Time is short and I'm almost completely exhausted. If I offend too many people and my bosses on the state committee decide I've crossed the line and deserved to be put out of my misery, I know my mother would be happy. I turned 40 on August 30th and my mother keeps asking me "When are you going to get a real job!" (She's not a Libertarian and therefore doesn't quite understand what the hell I've been doing for the past five years.) On Saturday, August 30th, my 40th birthday, I spent the day making fundraising phone calls for the Libertarian Party of Texas, though partly that was because my friends' annual dove-hunting trip was canceled and therefore I decided to shoot for donations instead.

Texas Libertarians have been racing full speed ahead since the year 2004 when we almost expired without ballot access, but instead succeeded and bounced back and have been setting records year after year since then.

The problem is, we are almost completely out of yard signs and door
hangers now and do not have enough money to order more.

Words can't describe how depressing it was for me to tell two people
today who called for yard signs that I just couldn't fulfill their
requests. I was able to send them a few of our final approximately 30
remaining signs, but not as many as they were willing to put up. I hate
not being able to provide materials to willing volunteers because
willing volunteers are usually so hard to find.

We're not broke. We have over $7,000 in the bank and a steady stream of funds from our monthly pledgers to keep basic operations going, but we wisely have a rule that requires maintaining a $7,000 reserve in the bank for emergencies.

Our Assistant Director, Art DiBianca, has been making fundraising phone calls daily for a couple of weeks with some success (plus asking people to put up door hangers) and I expect he'll continue to make calls until November. But mostly, that has brought in $25, $50, or $100 donations. What we need to keep racing full speed ahead is a few thousand dollar donations plus a few $500 donations.

While the Libertarian Party nation-wide has had quite disappointing
results for the past several years, the Libertarian Party of Texas has
been setting the standard for excellence! We broke so many records in 2006 in candidates run, funds raised, campaign materials distributed, and votes received, that I'm not going to take the space to list all of the details here, but hopefully you've seen them presented before.

Once again, in 2008, we have a record number of candidates: 173 in Texas compared to 549 total in the nation. While Texas is about 8% of the total population, Libertarian Party activism in Texas comes closer to 30% of activity nationwide by some measures.

2008 has been a very interesting year. Former Libertarian Party
presidential candidate, Ron Paul, who is now a Republican, shocked the nation by raising over $30 million for his 2008 presidential campaign. Although he ran as a Republican this year, his campaign gave lots of exposure to the Libertarian Party and libertarian ideas. Unfortunately, in my opinion, our Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr and the National Libertarian Party have shot themselves in the foot repeatedly and alienated many potential converts from Ron Paul's campaign to the Libertarian Party. I've donated $2,800 to Bob Barr for President and I'll be voting for him in November and will continue to promote his campaign, but I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I've been disappointed by some of their campaign decisions.

The Bob Barr campaign boasted about hoping to raise $50 million at the Denver convention but is looking likely to raise less than $2 million, or 4% of their goal. That shortfall is having negative affects on
morale nation-wide. But, I have to give the man credit for stepping up to the plate and giving it a shot.

I served on the National Libertarian Party committee from 2006 to 2008 alongside Bob Barr, and while we sometimes disagreed (actually rarely), I can say that I found him to be especially rational and ethical and helpful to the LP, so even though I'm not particularly satisfied with his presidential campaign, I am grateful for his service to the
Libertarian Party and I don't want to come down too hard on a candidate that fails to meet expectations because I don't want to discourage future candidates from daring to win or to set new standards of performance.

The Libertarian Party of Texas has a realistic goal of raising $150,000
for 2008, and even if this email backfires, we're at about $110,000
already (matching our 2006 full-year record) and will almost certainly
reach $125,000 for 2008. The only question is, will we have that little
extra that allows us to fund all of our willing volunteers with a supply
of yard signs and door hangers so they can help publicize the party and build it for the future.

Additionally, I'm especially encouraged that some of our county chairs
are organizing a lot more events than in 2006.

Having re-read this email, it's quite a bit tamer than what I was
expecting it to look like so I'm not too worried about getting fired
before election day and I'm sure as hell not going to quit on my own.

I'm just begging a few of you to please step up to the plate again, as I
know you have before, and make a $500 or $1,000 contribution to help fuel us full speed ahead through election day.

Things are very busy right now. I'm being bombarded by new volunteers, organizations requesting information on our candidates, and even the mainstream press for comments about the Libertarian Party or information on our candidates.

I expect to help Art make more fundraising phone calls. But, my time is limited and I'm already working seven days a week most weeks. Plus, the kicks in the gut via email and by strangers on the phone unhappy with this or that about the Libertarian Party or even me in particular take a larger toll on me when I'm not able to direct those people towards productive activities, like putting up yard signs or door hangers.

Please help us raise $5,000 shortly. If we surpass $5,000 and raise
$7,500 by this Friday, September 26, I'll gladly kick in an additional
$2,500 myself which will put us in a super-strong position to break new records for 2008 and keep all of our willing volunteers supplied with campaign materials. I'll keep results of the progress on this September 26 $5,000 goal posted on our home page near the graphs that are posted there.

In the event funds don't come in, all is not lost. We've got plenty of
momentum to coast into a strong finish on election day. I just hate to
coast the rest of the way when we have the potential with just a little
more help to race full speed ahead and show off to the nation once again how strong the Libertarian Party of Texas is--and maybe even scare the Texas legislature into respecting taxpayers!!!

Please donate: http://lptexas. org/membership.shtml

Call me to donate over the phone any time seven days a week between 8 AM and 10 PM. If I miss your call, I'll return it shortly.

--Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian Party of Texas
512-442-4910