Whether it's a good idea or not -- and I'm told that it could violate FEC rules -- it's not going to happen. A campaign spokesperson told me that "Harry refuses" to take the cash, period. -Declan

At 01:24 PM 6/19/96 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote:

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Jim:

This is a nice idea, but it's not going to happen.

Yes, Harry Browne has raised enough money to qualify for matching funds from the FEC. But he's unable to give out the cash or use it to pay down the gvt debt since doing so could violate FEC regulations. The FEC is also unwilling only to certify Browne for matching funds without giving it to him -- he's got to take the money and spend it on campaign foo and nothing else, says the government. Finally, once they give you cash you have to meet a higher degree of scrutiny, which costs money in lawyers and accountants. Talk about bureaucracy. At least this is what the party tells me. I'll be covering their convention, which is in DC a few weeks from now.

It seems to me that since paying people funds that were stolen from them would produce good publicity, which by definition could be argued to be spending it on the campaign. Sure, it's a non-traditional tactic, but that doesn't mean it's in violation of the campaign law. They could also email along a set of libertarian literature, and the recipient would certify that he would promote the libertarian cause and work for the election of the candidate, etc, etc.

As for "lawyers and accountants": I'm sure there are enough libertarian-leaning lawyers and accountants around who would be willing to help out to make this project a net positive. Remember, the publicity is the important thing.

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-Declan

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In 1996, the Libertarian Party will apparently qualify for Federal matching funds for its Presidential political campaign. That does not mean that it will _accept_ them, being stolen goods. However, a few years ago I heard of an idea that they should accept the money, and return it to the people, a small amount at a time, to whomever asks for it. Besides returning the stolen money to its rightful owners, that would produce substantial positive publicity for the Libertarian party, embarrassment for the Democrats and Republicans, while at the same time reducing the amount of money available for the D's and the R's.

But there's been a practical question of how to actively do this, economically. Issuing checks and mailing them costs money, and they're traceable, etc. The advent of digital cash suggests an answer: Make the payments in the form of digital cash, payable on the Web. This will encourage the use of digital cash, and provide a sudden infusion that will promote other uses. There's another advantage, however. Since "Netizens" are somewhat biased towards libertarianism, this will have the effect of keeping more of this money "in the family" as it were, while at the same time being open, technically, to everyone who can get on the 'net.

Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com

Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com