Eric Sundwall

I'll be off to the National Convention from June 29 - July 5.
Hopefully we'll upload some pics and video while we're out there.

Sam and my Mom are going too. We'll be staying with my brother's family.

Jeff Russell, the LPNY candidate for US Senate, says there's nothing more refreshing then
hanging out with hundreds of Liberty oriented folks. Hope he's right.

We'll start full bore into petitioning upon return.

Despite being an Intel Product Dealer for about ten years I have no inherent bias against the company seeking over a billion dollars of taxpayer aid for their proposed project in Luther Forest. They have a reasonable product that has produced competition for the biggest CPU maker in the world.

I think I get it now. The FSP is an attempt to take otherwise robust individualists and prompt them into spirited activists. Their orientation is towards real results. Their gathering this last week in Lancaster, NH is a testament to their successful activity in the last three years since its inception. Not directly associated with the NHLP many aspects of freedom and liberty are shared amongst this growing group.

Here's an interesting piece about Kinderhook's biggest little guy.

I nice quick read from the Mises Institute. Who knew Matty Van ?

Troy Polloi gave us some space today.
It's one of those clever and snarky blogs commenting on local issues and players.
As usual the author is of some unknown origin so we are all left only to speculate.

If it wasn't for Polloi we might not have come across KG's campaign so early.
The constant unlinked ad at the top seems to be an implicit Gillibrand endorsement,
prior to the 'pretty face' comment.

What about Ed & Morris ?

Repeat the lie often enough and people will accept it as truth. Apparently this is what Bill Hyers does for a living.
Candidates were offered the choice to share costs of the event which included a 'taping' of the event. They were also given the option to appear for FREE.

Hopefully the people of the district will appreciate the effort when it makes its way to public access during the month of July. Some candidates feel they just sidle up to the debate trough with the Big Horse. None of us expected a sitting Congressman to attend. Some are born to such expectations.

Here's the spin from the TU.

Radio show host Scott Leffler from Buffalo on 1340 AM interviewed Eric for his show on June 22, 2006.

The show should be available on his website in the next few days.

The movement needs more hosts like Scott touting the neccessity for Liberty.
It took the right-wing blather heads twenty years to gain power and look what they did with it.

The 'green'-Blue campaign issued a challenge to John Sweeney to debate. That's original.
Good thing our certified return invite went out sooner. Just Iraq ? No local issues ?

Seems kind of petty to assail the poor Congressman about the 'pretty face' remark
and the lack of leadership accusations.

At least ours held no rancor or malcontent towards what might have been an honest mistake.
Here's the text of the KG 'challenge'.

I know if I were the Congressman, I'd log right in and see how KG's going to do it. UGH

Roy Smalling came over after work and did his best asking the questions that Troy Polloi submitted to us.

Check it out.

Thanks to Gary Popkin for getting this done so quick, enjoy.

Hardfire Show June 13th.

A couple weeks ago I stopped by a buddy's new house and he was celebrating it's imminent completion. We were chipping golf balls in a improvised fashion and decided a beer would be nice after a long week of work. We would be heading back to our wives and children after about a 1/2 hour recreation. I drink beer more then I golf (which is never), but not much more. We went down to the store and I got a Heineken in a can. I wasn't a forty ouncer. The girl made me package it up because it was the 'law'. Completely annoying. I'm an adult and a citizen. I can't carry a beer without a bag ?

My wife was in the drive thru and there was a cop inside. He was complaining because there was something wrong with his free stuff. They get every order free. He was berating the poor counter girl about something.

Max Kessler & Chris Edes shared some amazing stories about what's happening in Rochester. They finger print new business owners in town, because of drugs. They smash down doors in apartments that require landlords to fink on them. The building inspector comes the next day and fines the landlord after the cops ripped out the toilet.

Do you have a story of government abuse and power ? Send it along.

Getting used to questions and cameras has been one of the biggest campaign challenges.
This week allowed for this twice. After some thought, however, if I could go back and have a 'do-over', this is what
I'd prefer to convey. Usually this is done by some wily staff member to spin the mistakes of their leader.

Presumably if a client asked, Zogby Int'l would produce a poll for any candidate. Thus if Ed Pell or Morris Guller ponied up the bucks, a poll would be produced with their names opposite Congressman Sweeney.

Thus the default numbers that Democrats typically get might be the same, in the 20-30% range. The only point is that 700K and a 'real' candidate might not be the reasons for any particular results.

We thought it was pretty neat to get 2.4% in a recent Zogby effort. The disappointing part was another poll indicating that 5% of Americans would vote for anybody else. We're 2.6% from default at this point. There's about 20% out there in the open electoral market.

Just when you think all that hard work is paying off, another challenge. A third party run is kinda like owning a small business. There's no amount of work you're prevented from doing.

This will go out today sometime certified return receipt.
Make a bet they don't answer ? I wouldn't make the bet or answer.

Dear Congressman,

We regret your office was unable to respond to our invitations to debate in April and May. Regardless of the reason for this misunderstanding, we are offering an additional opportunity to discuss the national, state and local issues confronting the voters in New York’s 20th district.

We were disappointed to hear that Doug Walters has apparently dropped out of the race. He wasn't able to make the taping of 'Hardfire' Tuesday night. Nor was he at last night's taping in Hudson.

Morris Guller and Ed Pell did brave the New York traffic and the 'libertarian' TV show hosted by the estimable Joseph Dobrian and produced by Gary Popkin. Hopefully Mr. Dobrian's tendency for the 'statist' jugular didn't scare them away for a future opportunity.
This was the first time I met either man and didn't have an opportunity to spend additional time with them after the show. We were able to stroll down Warren Street together after the Hudson debate and have dinner at the renowned Mexico Radio.

The Gillibrand staff seemed a bit surprised when we stopped in to say hello and were probably on the phone to Manhattan as Kirsten was packing to see Nancy. I wish Morris luck on his trip to Iraq in August and I'm impressed with Ed's knowledge of all things Libertarian. I hope both men put a good fight up against the machine. Stopping the 'war' in Iraq is one of our common campaign goals.

In the twelve years that I've been in business in Columbia County I've only been brought to court by a client once. We have however, had to take others to court for non-payment. That's why it was disappointing that Kirsten Gillibrand was more concerned about her meeting with Nancy Pelosi today then our debate last night. The rumor mill suggested that we were asking for five thousand dollars for her participation.

Letter to the Editor,

Please note that the League of Women Voters was simply asked to moderate the June 14, 2006 debate at the MidHudsonMedia studio in Hudson, NY. They did not sponsor the event, nor were they asked to do so.

Congressman Sweeney and all the declared candidates in the 20th district were invited to the debate. Either the Post Office or a staff member was remiss if the invitations were not delivered. Apparently my biggest mistake was not sending two lawyers letters that were certified return receipt. The original invitation was also sent as a press release to as many news sources in the 20th district as possible. There was no cost for the event associated with those releases out of respect to the business practices of Mid Hudson Media.

Elizabeth Benjamin is a focused journalist who asks pertinent questions and does her job.
That much seemed obvious of her coverage of William Weld at the LPNY convention.
When she called yesterday asking about the apparent reason for KG & JS not being at the debate
we assured her it was not due to price gouging or lack of effort.

When journalists like Bill Press or commentators like Alan Chartock assail bloggers for their credentials, skewed content or nasty attacks they should take note of their own.

The Capitol Confidential blog does function as a real time RSS feed that keeps readers and voters informed about current happenings that might not have enough room in print. The handful of politicos who feed on that stuff certainly chime in enough so that the semi-casual or serious reader pretty much know what their answer will be in the shouting match between the blue & red.

Congressman Sweeney is running for re-election.

Sounds like he knows about KG, or were his remarks directed against Morris Guller ?

With any luck the LPNY effort can started again this week. Here's what the Greens candidate is doing:

OSSINING - Malachy McCourt - author, playwrite, radio host and now Green Party candidate for Governor - stood astride and atop of Main Street yesterday for several hours at the entry point to this community's annual fair. "Don't waste your vote - give it to me," he said, proffering a flyer with his picture in the center. "That's me, I'm Malachy, and I'm standing for Governor of the great state of New York."

To the Editor or whom it may concern,

While it was nice to finally be included in the coverage of the 20th CD race by the Albany Times Union on Sunday, Mr. O'Brien's reporting seemed to lack a few elements about my person, however. It would have been nice if my place of residence, almost life long in Columbia County, was mentioned. The addition of the fact that I have run a business there for over 12 years might have been included. These biographical courtesies were given to the Democratic candidates mentioned in this article.

Charley Reese is a bit of an old school curmudgeon.

A couple of his things caught our eye this week.

One on terrorism and another on freedom.

We're posting this entry that we tried over at the de facto Gillibrand blog, 20TrueBlue.

Or is it just a big Sweeney bashfest ?

Where are you Troy Polloi ? Demacratus ?

Here's the text of it. Well Lisa M ?

We were thinking this, but were afraid that Andrew Wilkow wouldn't like it if we said so. Wouldn't want to give him an excuse to back out of wrangling with a real candidate who can take whatever he thinks he can dish out.

Sometime in March we sent notice to Zogby International to include our candidacy in any polls in the 20th CD.

We also asked if they would give us an explanation or reason for not including us. The most likely answer would be you didn't pay for it and we're not obligated to do so.

OK, so when next week's poll is released look for us not to be on it. While it may not be fraud, it certainly reeks of push polling.

As Hamlet's step-dad said, ' My offence is rank' .

As we scramble to fix the Weld thing, here's a piece worth reading about going after Elliot.

My approach would be to get the Greens into a Badnarik/Cobb style debate throughout the whole state.

Video tape it and redistribute via the Net and local public access.

Any Greens watching us ? Let us know, we'll do lunch.

The departure of Bill Weld from the governor's race will come as a disappointment for those hoping the LPNY would achieve ballot access with fifty thousand votes cast in the general election. Others might find themselves invigorated by the challenge of supporting a true Liberty candidate.

Why is it so hard to find fifty thousand votes for Liberty ?

Are people so timid not to try something differrent ?

Is the yearning for change real ?

Is your vote so critical and important ?

The small government blog has a nice piece about 'third parties'.

Some cross blogging as this up over at the TU blog.

Took 'em while, hope it went up to Rex . . . YouTube helps.

Here's the text . . . .

We sent this in to ask the Congressman . . .

Given the obvious intelligence and security failures on Sept. 11, 2001 and the subsequent over reaction of an undeclared war, without international support, isn't Homeland Security a series of pork projects based on the irrational fear of a nominal threat at best ?

Here's a clip of Bill Weld at the LPNY convention indicating he would run even if he didn't get the GOP nod.

Read on for the clip . . .

Here's a good article about what we're up against this summer.

Where's the cape crusading AG on this stuff now ? Here's what he's concluded in the past.

Volunteers are starting to trickle in for our effort and there's a good round of fairs in the ten counties.
This is the most critical elemnt of the campaign. Contact us if you can help.

You tell us . . .

Open question to blog audience . . .

Look who popped up at HoT just after my comment.

The Master Jedi himself . . .

Aaron Russo's "From Freedom to Fascism" is due into theaters soon (?).

Check out some highlights to this certainly to be controversial film.

We didn't seem to have problems with our little jaunt to a Memorial Day parade.

We beat the rain by about 15 minutes and nobody official or otherwise told us we were doing anything wrong.

Check out some footage we took that day . . .

Our original plan was to have the RV down there for the entire weekend. Turns out you can only tent camp. Given the rain and the impractibility of tenting with a baby, we'll be there most of Sunday.

While I certainly would drag equipment into a site and hang with the people, family man stuff before tunes and grooving. You coming down Crowrath ?

Next weekend Americade !

We pass this church every time we stay at Camp Wakonda on the Southern tip of Schroon Lake.

As a former fireman I condemn any individual(s) reponsible for this loss.

Every once in a while you have to take heart from kind encouragement. Robert Currier wrote:

Just wanted to let you know that it's great to see the Libertarian ideals being carried out in our neck of the woods (I was beginning to think I was the only one).

I look forward to signing your petition. Please make it a good run and keep the faith. We'll get there someday. Hopefully before it's too late for our children (Ihave two boys three and one y.o. respectively).

Robert N. Currier

p.s. Great website. I enjoyed the essays and will continue to read.

p.p.s. What team did you play for in the CDMSBL? I played for the Mets (2002 & 2003) and the Nationals (2006).

Our recent taunting expedition to all things MSM has a letter out to Andrew "the next generation of great talk radio" Wilkow at WGY. On my way to a client I heard he had Ms. Gillibrand on a little while ago. He mentioned a debate challenge to the Congressman she issued on the air. Funny how even the MSM ignores the debate on June 14th amongst the noble and truly anti-war candidates. Well this is my microphone and I might as well use it. Kowtow.

Today Andrew was berating his favorite enemy, the non-existent strawman liberal he so often derides, for not supporting a referendum on gay marriage. He challenged anyone who is for gay marriage to support such a referendum. I would support such a referendum and accept that the overwhelming majority will be against it. It would not stop me from advocating support of it. Gimmee 15 minutes on your show buddy and see if you can handle the truth of Liberty. It doesn't look like he'll respond either . . . Here's the letter.