The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado held a charter meeting on September 24th to begin organizing the 2020 Liberty Scorecard. The RLCCO will be reviewing and rating bills as they make their way through the Colorado State Legislature. At the end of the 2020 session, the RLCCO will compare their ratings with the votes of each legislator based on the principles of Personal Liberty, Free Markets and Limited Government. The Liberty Scorecard will be posted in late May. If you’re interested in helping us rate bills, contact Sue Moore at suemoore303@gmail.com or 303-349-6185. Training is provided. No experience necessary and this can be done from the comfort of your own home. Help us hold our elected officials accountable.
Liberty Rising – 2019 RLC Florida Convention and Constitution Day Dinner a Huge Success!
Melbourne, Florida – September 14th. Approximately 60 delegates from around the state came together in Melbourne for the 2019 biennial convention of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida. Officers and directors were elected during the business meeting that morning followed by lunch with noted Constitutional writer and lecturer KrisAnne Hall as the speaker. Three panel discussions in the afternoon featured Florida Legislators Anthony Sabatini, David Smith, Byron Donalds and former house member and Agriculture Commissioner candidate Matt Caldwell. Erika Donalds, founder of the School Choice Movement was also a panelist, as were Liberty Lobbyist John Hallman and US Term Limits Executive Director Nick Tomboulides. National Chairman Matt Nye was also a presenter at the convention. Clearly this was the most successful convention ever for the RLC Florida!
Many of the convention delegates joined with 250 local Republicans later that day for the 11th Annual Constitution Day Dinner presented by the Republican Liberty Caucus of Central East Florida. Keynote speakers Byron and Erika Donalds, along with featured guest speaker KrisAnne Hall provided stirring and inspiring remarks to a very receptive audience. Other highlights of the evening included a very successful gun raffle along with the presentation of the Jefferson Cup to Pat and Dave Pasley, and the Chairman’s Leadership Award to John and Barbara Weiler.
Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado Organizes for the 2020 Liberty Scorecard
Encouraged by the positive feedback from the 2019 Liberty Scorecard, the RLC of Colorado will be expanding the number of bills reviewed and compiling more comprehensive results for the 2020 Liberty Scorecard.
The Liberty Scorecard is closely modeled after Principles of Liberty’s State Legislator Ratings from 2011 – 2018. A committee reviews bills that are going through the State Legislature on a weekly basis, then assigns a “support” or “oppose” rating based on the principles of personal liberty, free markets and limited government. Ratings are then compared with each legislator’s vote on those bills and results are compiled at the end of the legislative session. Grades are assigned to each member of the Colorado Legislature.
“When Principles of Liberty’s founders Rich & Laurie Bratten moved out of state, they certainly left a void. Other than the Colorado Union of Taxpayers (CUT), no one was measuring how our elected officials were voting on bills based on conservative ideals. While CUT measures fiscal responsibility, the Liberty Scorecard is more comprehensive and measures votes based on the principles of personal liberty, free enterprise and limited government. The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado was always aligned with POL’s vision, so continuing their work was a natural fit for us,” said RLCCO State Chair Sue Moore.
Organizational meetings will begin in late September. Dates and locations will be posted to the website rlcco.organd facebook page www.facebook.com/rlcco/. If you are interested in joining this effort, please contact Sue Moore at 303-349-6185 or suemoore303@gmail.com.
RLC Welcomes New & Returning Board Members
The Republican Liberty Caucus held it’s Biennial Convention over the weekend of May 17th-18th in Redondo Beach California. At the convention the elections for the RLC National Board were held.
We would like to welcome or new board members and returning board members. We look forward to their leadership for this new term.
Elections Results
Chair: Matt Nye (Returning)
Vice Chair: John Dennis (Former Secretary)
Secretary: Col. Rob Maness (New)
Treasurer: Jeff Larson (Returning)
At-Large 1: Luis Vargas (Former Regional Director)
At-Large 2: Dave Nalle (Returning)
At-Large 3: Adiel Mora (New)
Atlantic Regional Director: Robert Kenyon (New)
Southwest Regional Director: Melissa Hamilton (Returning)
South Central Regional Director: Lee Neher (Returning)
Northeast Regional Director: Russ Hryzan (Returning)
Great Plains Regional Director: Camelia Plosser (New)
Southeast Regional Director: Erik Wilson (Returning)
Central Regional Director: Zavior Bicott (Returning)
Northwest Regional Director: Cornel Rassor (Returning)
Peter Buxtun given RLC Liberty Valor Award
The Republican Liberty Caucus has awarded the first annual Liberty Valor Award to Peter Buxtun of San Francisco, California. The Liberty Valor Award (LVA) is presented to those who represent the spirit of individual liberty in the face of government overreach, incompetence and tyranny.
In the 1960’s Peter worked as an epidemiologist at the former US federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare when he learned of the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment. The experiment, begun in 1932, infected black men in Macon county Alabama with the syphilis bacterium and recorded its effects over the decades that followed. None of the experiment’s subjects knew they had been infected.
Despite having penicillin confirmed as a cure in 1952, the subjects of the experiment were never treated.
In a chance encounter in a coffee room in 1966, Buxtun became aware of the experiment. He filed a complaint with his superior, questioning the experiment’s ethics.
Despite continuing complaints through the chain of command, the experiment continued until 1972 when Buxtun leaked information to a reporter at the Washington Star. Within 24 hours, the story was on the front page of the New York Times.
Senator Edward Kennedy held congressional hearings at which Peter testified. At those hearings Peter said “I felt what was being done was very close to … an institutional form of murder … it had become an accepted thing within the Public Health Service … not subject to review.”
Peter Buxtun’s whistleblowing led to both new laws governing human research, and Medical Ethics Committees with non-physician members.
Republican Liberty Caucus chairman Matt Nye said “In an era when retribution against whistleblowers encourages government abuses, Peter’s story is both poignant and, at the same time, a beacon. Governments have awesome power. Whistleblowers help prevent that power from running amok.”
Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado Releases 2019 Liberty Scorecard
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado has just released their 2019 Liberty Scorecard for the 2019 Colorado State Legislative Session. The only A’s were awarded to House Republicans Steve Humphrey, Patrick Neville and Lori Saine. Complete results can be found at rlcco.org/liberty-scorecard.
The legislative review committee of the RLCCO looked at over 300 bills, finally selecting 72 that illustrated the RLC’s principles of personal freedom, free markets and limited government. The committee applied a position of “support” or “oppose”, then rated each member of the House and Senate according to whether or not they agreed with the RLC’s position.
For more information, please contact Sue Moore at 303-349-6185 or suemoore303@gmail.com.
RLC of Arizona Publishes Second Annual Legislative Scorecard
The 2019 Liberty Index is the second annual legislative scorecard published by the Arizona chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus. The Liberty Index scores legislators on 20 pivotal bills selected by the RLCAZ that either advance liberty or diminish liberty.
See how your legislators scored! View the scorecard here: https://www.scribd.com/document/412675104/Liberty-Index-2019
The Republican Liberty Caucus is a 527 voluntary grassroots membership organization dedicated to working within the Republican Party to advance the principles of individual liberty, limited government and free markets. Founded in 1991, it is the oldest continuously-operating organization within the Liberty Republican movement. The Arizona Republican Liberty Caucus chapter was launched in January 2018.
Follow us at facebook.com/RLCArizona.
Visit RLC.org to learn more about the Republican Liberty Caucus.
U.S. Supreme Court blocks Trump’s census citizenship …
By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant defeat on Thursday, ruling that his administration did not give an adequate explanation for its plan to include a contentious citizenship question on the 2020 census and preventing its addition to the decennial survey for now.
The justices – in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s four liberals in the majority and writing the ruling – upheld part of a federal judge’s ruling barring the question in a victory for a group of states including New York and immigrant rights organizations that had challenged the plan.
Opponents of the question have called it a Republican ploy to scare immigrants into not taking part in the population count.”
Republican Liberty Caucus of Missouri Hosts Hemp Association’s, Eapen Thampy
On March 16th, MO RLC held a statewide meeting in Columbia, MO. Eapen Thampy of the Missouri Hemp Association gave us an update on the promising potential of medical and agricultural hemp and related legislation in the state.
Former presidential and senate candidate Austin Petersen spoke about the rise of white national socialism in the US. He also updated us on his new upcoming radio show on KWOS in Jefferson City, and how we can work together to grow liberty and the RLC in Missouri.
The Mid-Missouri chapter is forming, and we had several visitors and signed up new members!
In the coming weeks, we will be scheduling a joint meeting with the Missouri House and Senate Conservative Caucuses. Details will be posted to the state Facebook page.
RLC of Colorado Hosts Mayoral Candidate Forum
RLC Colorado was a sponsor of the Denver Mayoral Candidate Forum on Monday March 25th. It was a great event that had close to 250 people in attendance.
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado will not be endorsing in this race, but follow us at rlcco.org for a recap of the forum.
The April meeting of the RLC of Colorado will be announced soon and Kathleen Chandler of the Independence Institute will be the speaker for that event.
Ms. Chandler will be discussing the Local Government Project and letting us know how to get involved in local boards and commissions in our communities. These unelected positions often go unfilled, so even if you don’t have a lot of time to be involved, this is where you can have a lot of influence. Stay tuned.
