2012 DFW and surrounding areas Libertarian Party district conventions

Earlier this afternoon the Libertarian Party of Texas held it’s DFW area district conventions at the Love and War in Texas restaurant in Grapevine. A number of counties were represented by their district delegates, including Collin,DallasTarrantDenton, and Parker, to nominate candidates for the November 6th, 2012 general elections on the Libertarian Party ticket.
Those elected were:
  • Ken Ashby (e-mail) – U.S. House District 5
  • Hugh Chauvin – U.S. House District 6
  • Matthew Solodow (e-mail) – U.S. House District 12
  • John Stathas (e-mail) – U.S. House District 24
  • Mark Boler (e-mail) – U.S. House District 26
  • Seth Hollist – U.S. House District 32
  • Jason Darr (e-mail) – State Board of Education District 11
  • Stephen Hawkins (e-mail) – State Board of Education District 14
  • Ed Kless – State Senate District 8
  • Dave “Mac” McElwee – State Senate District 9
  • John A. Betz, Jr. (e-mail) – State Senate District 12
  • Richard Forsythe (e-mail)- State Senate District 30
The only nomination that failed was for the new U.S. House District 33, due to a lack of knowledge or information on the only registered potential nominee: Tommy Alicia. This lack of knowledge caused a debate between putting an unknown candidate on the ballot, and the potential for missing out of votes that may add creditability and members to the party. The Dallas and Tarrant county delegates finally voted to leave him off the ballot by 3 – 5; including 2 voting for “none of the above”.
There was some debate over Dave “Mac” McElwee due to some questionability as to if some of his campaign issues were in-line with Libertarian ideals. The main issue was over a desire to use state funds to implement trade schools as a way to attract new businesses that were looking for skilled labor. McElwee latter commented that the education funding structure was already in place, and all he wanted to do was to put the funds to what he felt would be a better use.  His vote came out at 7 – 2 in his favor, with most delegates seeming to agree that most of the candidates have something that differs slightly for the official Libertarian Party Platform.
One other candidate, John Stathas, had some opposition, with a vote in his favor of 9 – 2, mainly due to him being absent; however, one of the delegates at the meeting was willing to vouch for him. Other candidates, like Jason Darr, were also not present, but were spoken of highly.  The candidates that were present, gave speeches about themselves and their plans for running campaigns.  One in particular, Hugh Chauvin, did quite well at presenting himself.
Hugh, is a Vietnam Vet with a college degree, and many years of experience working in the oil industry around the world; including Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Iraq, Mongolia, Kuwait, and Far East Russia. He commented on the lack of any real energy policy within the U.S. government, and said that we do have very real solutions to our energy problems but seem unwilling or unable to implement them; even mentioning South Africa’s program of turning coal into oil, and coal being something we have a very large abundance of in North America. Hugh also mentioned he would personally match contributions to his campaign, up to ten thousand dollars.
Other districts were also mentioned, but it was determined that they were to be held in other locations. Districts fully within a single county were nominated at last Saturday’s county conventions, and the party’s state convention will be held on June 8-10th to nominate state wide candidates. After adjournment the candidates and delegates took the opportunity to talk and mingle, about different strategies for running effective campaigns, sharing ideas, and even a little friendly debate.

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