Unfortunately, I don't see Jim doing this. I spent a long drive with Jim last March down to Poughkeepsie (and back) and I think it's safe to say he won't try it again. Without getting too personal into his life or means, it's sufficient to say that his focus on family and profession at this point in his life is more important than a quixotic run at the head guy job in New York. I spoke with Jim this weekend and he's not interested in running for office.

However, I am urging Warren Redlich to pick up his shield, mount his high horse and charge those windmills. Warren has all the credentials and qualifications that I've listed previously and he also holds public office as a town board member in Guilderland, NY. He's run for Congress twice in a hopelessly Democratic district like Albany. He's helped me multiple times during my campaigns on a pro bono basis. He's smart, funny and media savvy. While Warren does have ties to the Republican party as such, he's by no means a favorite son. If anything he's a bit of a pariah. He likes and understands freedom too much.

Two in one day . . . whew !

Please visit the link and look for more media releases from concerned Libertarians.

The website is here.

First...a big THANK YOU to each of you from the campaign!

As you all have seen, heard & read, Eric's candidacy was cut short by a cabal of GOP backed lawyers interested in limiting the voices heard in Washington. Because of their actions, he has had to endure legal threats & incurred a lot of debt by personally bailing out the campaign to make sure the vendors we worked with were all made whole; it's the honorable way to do business.

As a third party candidate, he hasn't been able to rely on campaign "soft money" from big corporate party sponsors. This has been a grass roots, self funded exercise in the expansion of old-school democracy.

Eric also hasn't had the luxury of raising your taxes to fund his campaign. He has put himself in significant personal debt.

If your personal situation allows you to do so, please help us defray the costs of this exercise in the expansion of freedom.

Please go to: http://www.Sundwall4Congress.org and click on the PayPal link.

With sincere thanks!!

John.

This is one of the reasons the LP has so much trouble in NY. Next year we'll be faced with the prospect of producing a candidate for governor who represents either a compromise of party values in order to get the magic number to qualify as a 'party' (50K - even then it's a crap shoot . . . most voters invest in their heart strings and pocket books before long term strategic electoral value) or we'll run one of our faithful, who will be buried in obscurity, no money or name recognition.

The ballot qualified parties (WFP, Conservative & Independence) will gladly squander their opportunity to produce an independent candidate who speaks to their party's 'ideas/interests'. This in order to gain a little influence for some of the key party members, usually in the form of some patronage for delivering the votes.

Thank you for your help these last two months pursuing a campaign that took the libertarian message in New York to new heights. Thanks to your help our message was spread via a live televised debate on public television on March 18th throughout the whole 20th district. Eric was interviewed numerous times by four different commercial television outlets, had at least a dozen radio appearances and countless print articles in newspapers and on the Internet. He also sat for two editorial reviews for the Times Union in the Capital District and Post Star in Glens Falls. Both of these are unprecedented in LPNY campaign history. In the short time of two months, a campaign was run that will have other campaigns looking to it as a model for years to come.

Unfortunately the campaign came to an ignominious end in Poughkeepsie NY on March 25th as Eric made a decision to protect his family and party when faced with the prospect of taking the witness stand to face baseless accusations of fraud. Had Eric assented to the thug tactics of the political machine, the campaign would have been buried in technicalities and intimidation that would not have allowed him to campaign, let alone fight to over turn a decision by the Board of Elections that same day. We believe we could have won our case with the BoE had the court in Poughkeepsie declared the case moot based on that decision. The fix was in from the start. The judge was specifically selected by the top GOP election law lawyer. Given the time and money available to fight it, both Eric and his lawyer Jim Ostrowski elected to concede in order to fight another day.

Of course anyone bound to inextricable principle or calling would not vote for one of the corporatist party candidates that have bankrupted the nation and engaged us in two occupations in Asia. The message was never intended for them. Instead it was a final shot across the bow of the camp that sunk us. Some call it spite, I'm not sure that I have the mental or emotional reserves to bother with such sentimental and shallow accusations. Those incensed enough to write us in or unconcerned about bothering in the event that we weren't an option, did what they felt they should. I've been writing in 'no confidence' for almost my entire adult voting life and know where those votes end up, no where. This last Tuesday I just didn't feel like getting the sympathetic poll watcher looks as I pretended to take part in the charade we consider our democracy. I didn't vote.

The delicious irony from all this is a tie vote total, two candidates in court and an absentee ballot out there that matters with our name on it. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

In addition, I faced baseless allegations of wrongdoing and threats of criminal prosecution in a lawsuit brought by Tedisco supporters. While I wanted to file a lawsuit in Albany County to overturn the Board's decision, we got stuck down in Dutchess County where the machine felt they would have a friendly bench. While the court there should have dismissed that lawsuit as moot, the judge instead was prepared to keep us down there litigating silly issues concerning the Libertarian Party emblem and whether witnessing signatures from outside the district constitutes fraud. There was no end in sight and we might have been down there for days facing the inevitable loss with no time to appeal and no time to campaign either. The Tedisco supporters who brought the case sought and received an order requiring me to be present in Court, thereby preventing me from campaigning.

I was also concerned that continued litigation would jeopardize the ballots of military personnel and disabled voters who use special machines that need to be programmed several days before the election.

Faced with the prospect of spending much of the rest of campaign on the witness stand being harassed by the machine's hired gun, I chose not to play that game. Since I could not file suit in the county of my choosing, I decided to end my candidacy and not subject myself and my family to any further abuse, threats or harassment from the political machine.

Thus, the Stalinist New York Election Law forced us to spend the first half of the campaign getting signatures and the second half fighting a lost cause in court.

The voters will be deprived of any choice but the two parties that have destroyed the nation's economy in recent years and have us bogged down in two land wars in Asia.

Mr. Tedisco denies any involvement with the concerted effort by his supporters to knock me off the ballot. I don't believe him. The ruthless effort by his supporters to knock me off the ballot without a word of protest by him proves his unfitness for any office let alone Congress in these critical times.

I will be voting for Scott Murphy on Tuesday. While we disagree on some important issues, I find him to be a man of honor, a good family man and successful businessman. Unlike Tedisco, he actually lives in the District. And, unlike Mr. Tedisco, I view Scott's business success as a virtue, not a vice.

I urge my supporters and all those who believe in open and free elections to show their disgust at the tactics of the Republican political machine to win at all costs. Please join me in voting for Scott Murphy on Tuesday.

I want to thank all those who worked tirelessly on my behalf and who donated their precious funds to help this effort. And I wish to thank the media for all their courtesies during this Sysiphean struggle.

We live to fight another day.

Eric Sundwall

Albany, NY 3/25/09 Albany attorney Warren Redlich endorsed Libertarian special election congressional candidate Eric Sundwall, although he is a Republican officeholder (Town of Guilderland board) and was a GOP congressional candidate in the adjoining 21st congressional district. The special election to replace Kirsten Gillibrand will be held March 31st. Campaign manager Richard Cooper announced the endorsement. Cooper notes that Redlich lives outside the district won't be able to vote for Sundwall but GOP candidate Tedisco lives outside the district also and can't vote for himself.

Redlich explained his endorsement of Eric Sundwall "I think Jim Tedisco is a great guy, but I'm endorsing Eric because of our close agreement on policy issues. With bailouts running amok, the people are figuring out that government is causing our problems instead of helping. No one understands that better than Eric Sundwall."

Tedisco supporters launched attacks on Eric Sundwall's petitions to qualify for the ballot. Redlich represented Sundwall at a hearing at the State Board of Elections on Monday

I do consider myself somewhat a political prisoner at the moment because of my requirement to be in court tomorrow. We can't update the contributions at the moment, but thank you to all digging deep right now. Every penny and minute counts.

Anybody watch the bickerfest on WNYT tonight ? Sorry I missed it . . . lol