North Dakota Libertarians held a statewide meeting in Bismarck Ramada Inn on Sept. 20 to kick off the final month of the general election campaign. The members listened to speeches from Libertarian candidates Jack Seaman for Congress, Anthony Mangnail for Tax Commissioner and Roland Riemers for Secretary of State. The Libertarians then reviewed and voted on supporting or opposing the ballot measures on the Nov. 4 general election ballot, with the result that they oppose Measures 1, 4 and 5; and supported measures 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8.

Measure 1 is the anti-abortion measure that gives human rights to fertilized eggs and is mostly supported by conservative Republicans, the North Dakota Catholic Conference and Congressman Kevin Cramer. Supporters claim the measure reflects N.D. values, but similar measures have consistently failed in other states and there is no proof it will do even better in North Dakota. Democratic leaders have been mum on the Measure 1 issue, so the Libertarians are the only North Dakota political party to come out firmly against this radical change in the North Dakota Constitution.

Measure 3, which deals with the Higher Board of Education, was supported – but with reservations. It was felt that the current system is broken and change was needed, but the change proposed by Measure 3 was only slightly better than the current system.

Measure 6 gives a legal presumption for equal parenting rights following a divorce and was also strongly supported by the Libertarians, and neither the Democrat or Republican Party have taken any position at all on this Measure.

For the following 40 days of the general election campaign the Libertarian candidates will be attending candidate forums and debates and traveling about the entire state of North Dakota spreading the Libertarian message promoting Smaller Government and More Freedom. This is also the first time in North Dakota history that the Libertarians will be doing radio and TV ads for a campaign, and the expectations are that Libertarians will continue to receive a growing percentage of the vote and expect to become North Dakota’s third recognized political party after the general election.

More information on the Libertarian Party can be obtained by calling 202-333-0008, visiting LP.org or contacting Roland Riemers, chairman N.D. Libertarian Party at 317-1803 or riemers@juno.com.

– Roland Riemers, N.D. Libertarian Party chairman