Brian Holtz's LP Activism

Summary

  • Elected to Purissima Hills Water Board in Los Altos Hills, where the city council is on track to accept my market-based alternative to the state's onerous default water-conservation ordinance.
  • In three races for Congress, twice set a new record in my district for a third-party vote share. In the other race, outpolled the Green candidate despite my district having almost twice as many registered Greens as RegLibs.
  • 2004 race for Congress earned a nationally-broadcast story on the Fox News Channel and an interview on the top-rated morning news program in the nation's 5th-largest metro.
  • Chaired the subcommittee that accomplished the 2008 LPUS platform overhaul, based on a draft I had written 14 months earlier.
  • Years of hard-working LPCA leadership in the areas of candidate support, newsletter editing, website construction, and finding budget savings.
  • Created a comprehensive suite of LP outreach tools: campaign-site-in-a-box, original videos, pamphlets, bumper stickers, campaign cards, interactive Nolan quiz, interactive candidate map, online debt clock.

Electoral Campaigns

2008 - Elected to Purissima Hills Water District board

  • Elected by default to four-year term when three available seats attracted only one incumbent and me

2008 - Candidate for Congress, CA-14

  • Received 11,929 votes (4.37%) — 2000 more than my Green opponent, despite there now being 50% more registered Greens in our district than Libertarians, and despite her purchase of TV commercials on local cable systems. My percentage was the highest among the eight third-party candidates in four 4-way races in California for Congress or state legislature. It also broke the record (set by my 2004 total) for highest percentage ever won by a third-party candidate in my district (with data going back to 1992).
  • Gave a speech at 2008-04-11 LPCA candidate rally on the Capitol steps in Sacramento, and created a highlights video of the event
  • Debated Rep. Anna Eshoo 2008-09-09 at West Valley Community College (audience ~15)
  • Received front-page article in Los Altos Town Crier (circulation 16,500)
  • Authored a joint press release by 18 LPCA congressional candidates opposing the mortgage crisis bailout
  • Aired video campaign statement on KTVU
  • Distributed 250 Libertarian-branded frisbees at Stanford University
  • Placed 300 campaign cards on windshields at a mass naturalization ceremony in San Jose, 200 at a Belmont town hall meeting held by Rep. Anna Eshoo, and 200 on windshields at Stanford the weekend before the election
  • Created candidate profiles at VoteSmart, SmartVoter, Vote-USA.org, Grassroots/Netroots, Your Candidates Your Health
  • Campaign web site traffic averaged 30 unique visitors per day in October, 90 per day in the campaign's final week, totaling 4000 page views by 2000 unique visitors over the campaign cycle. (Traffic down from previous cycles because campaign traffic was separated from traffic to my Libertarian activism library.)
  • Nine campaign videos totaled 1900 YouTube viewings in two months

2006 - Candidate for Congress, CA-14

  • Received 4,692 votes (2.3%) — 59 more than my Green opponent, despite there being almost twice as many registered Greens in our district as the 2300 registered Libertarians, and despite her media exposure as a leader of the 9/11 "Truth" Movement. In the previous 4-way race in CA-14, the LP received 1.6% in 1998.
  • Debated Rep. Anna Eshoo 2006-10-06 at Saratoga Community Center (audience >100)
  • Campaign site daily traffic averaged 1000 pageviews and 200 visitors

2004 - Candidate for Congress, CA-14

  • Received 9,588 votes: 3.6%, compared to 2% for the LP in CA-14's 2000 3-way race, and 3.5% in 2002's 3-way race. Only three other California Libertarians in three-way races got a higher percentage.
  • Voter bet press release earned
    • a story on the national Fox News Channel
    • an interview on the top-rated morning news program in the nation's 5th-largest metro
    • a story in The Hill, a Washington D.C. newspaper "for and about the U.S. Congress"
    • an article in the San Mateo County Times
  • Video campaign statements (like this) aired on KTVU, KMVT, KTEH, and AccessSF (SF cable access)
  • Debated incumbent Dem. Anna Eshoo
    • 2004-10-21 in Mountain View (audience ~50)
    • 2004-09-30 at West Valley College (audience ~25)
    • 2004-09-27 at Canada College (audience ~50)
  • Emailed 23,000 voters in my district in groundbreaking use of voter registration data
  • Interviewed by Stanford Daily and editorial boards of San Mateo County Times, San Mateo Daily News
  • Election night on-air interview on KMVT (Mountain View cable access)
  • Campaign site traffic showed a daily average of 500 pageviews and 100 visitors

2001 - Candidate for School Board, San Carlos CA

  • Paid for voter guide candidate statement
  • Stopped campaigning when our infant son Blake died 2001-09-14
  • Finished 2nd of 3 non-incumbents, all of whom finished behind the 2 incumbents (with 3 seats open). Received 1,462 votes (13.8%). Winners received 27%, 23%, 23%.

County Activism

  • Monitored Santa Clara County election postings and announced uncontested races
  • Signed ballot argument against Palo Alto School District Measure A bond
  • Applied to Palo Alto School District Measure A bond oversight board
  • Challenged Los Altos Hills town ordnance against lemonade stands (resulting in California Freedom article)
  • Extracted list of in-district registered voters email addresses for email campaign by Jack Hickey, who then won his race for Sequoia Health Care District.
  • San Mateo County LP Newsletter Chair 2004-2005
  • Helped staff the LP table at Apr 2004 Junior State of America convention in Santa Clara

LPCA Executive Committee 2007-2009

  • Authored a joint press release by 18 LPCA congressional candidates opposing the mortgage crisis bailout
  • Created a YouTube video of the 2008-04-11 LPCA candidate rally on the Capitol steps in Sacramento
  • Authored the LPCA statement of party purpose in the June 2008 California voter guide
  • Distributed custom spreadsheets of RegLib contact info to 63 prospective LPCA candidates seeking signatures
  • Extracted 1.3M voter email addresses from statewide voter registration database
  • Published audit of LPCA budgeting
  • Forced $5000/yr newsletter layout savings by offering to do layout myself if necessary
  • Monitored top 20 California Ron Paul meetup groups and collected contact info of >100 prospects
  • Helped local meetup publicize Ron Paul rally in Mountain View
  • Published detailed reports of ExCom proceedings (e.g. Dec 2007, Sep 2007, Apr 2007)
  • Proposed guidelines for LPCA candidates use of unsolicited email to voters
  • Ran on a comprehensive LPCA strategy
  • Proposed an innovative set of LPCA tactics

Other LPCA Activism

  • California Freedom Associate Editor Aug 2006 - May 2007
  • LPCA Rep to 2006 LPUS Platform Committee
  • LPCA Platform Committee 2005-2006
  • Delegate to LPCA Conventions: 2004 (San Jose), 2005 (Los Angeles), 2006 (Long Beach), 2007 (San Ramon), 2008 (San Diego), 2009 (Visalia)
  • Preserving the LPCA archives of longtime activist Ernst Gherman
  • Preserving copies of all LPCA minutes from Dan Wiener's archives

LPCA-Related Spending

  • 2004 - $629 in filing fees so that Libertarians in CA-14 would have a candidate for Congress (me).
  • 2004 Nov - $800 to finance sending the LPSM election newsletter to all reglibs in the county.
  • 2005 Jun - $300 to Richard Rider's campaign for mayor of San Diego.
  • 2005 Nov - $936 to finance sending the LPSM election newsletter to all RegLibs in the county.
  • 2006 Mar - $1000 in filing fees so that Libertarians in CA-14 would have a candidate for Congress (me).
  • 2006 Mar - At the 2005 LPCA convention, Allen Rice ended a bitter fight over "floor fees" by donating $195 to cover unpaid fees. I paid him the $195 when he later complained about the controversy.
  • 2006 May - $500 to Bob Weber's write-in primary campaign, in an LPCA effort to create a test case by which to challenge an election law and make it easier to get Libertarians into general elections.
  • 2007 Apr - $200 to the LPCA convention for permission to email all the delegates regarding my race for ExCom.
  • 2007 Sep - $200 to the LPCA pursuant to the 2006 Operation Breakthrough.
  • 2007-present - ~$1000 in travel expenses for ExCom meetings
  • 2008 Jan - $170 to BuildASign for metal campaign yard sign and 3 large color car magnet campaign signs
  • 2008 Jan - $83 for 500 color campaign business cards from VistaPrint
  • 2008 Mar - $980.19 in filing fees so that Libertarians in CA-14 would have a candidate for Congress (me).
  • 2008 Aug - $115.82 for 1000 4x9 color campaign rack cards from PrintPlace
  • 2008 Sep - $414.75 for 250 Libertarian-branded campaign frisbees
  • 2008 Nov - $200 to LPCA at a fundraiser featuring 1980 LP presidential nominee Ed Clark
  • 2009 Oct - $250 each to LPCA

Other Political Spending

  • 1995 Oct 12 - $250 to Arlan Specter when he was the lone socially-tolerant candidate for the GOP nomination.
  • 1999 Oct - $50 to Gov. Jesse Ventura when he told Playboy "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
  • 2000 - $1000 for a life LP membership in 2000 or 2001.
  • 2000 Nov - $250 to libertarian-leaning Republican Tom Campbell's Senate race.
  • 2001 Aug - $175 for a voter guide statement in my race for San Carlos School Board.
  • 2002 - I'm pretty sure I donated a couple hundred bucks to Rep. Ron Paul, but haven't dug up the records to confirm it.
  • 2004 - $500 to liberal Republican Steve Poizner's campaign for CA Assembly (no Libertarian in race)
  • 2004 June - $500 to Michael Badnarik's presidential campaign.
  • 2004 Oct - $1000 to the LPUS.
  • 2005 Nov - $500 to Michael Badnarik's congressional campaign.
  • 2006 Jan - $750 to the LPUS to help finance that lame Penn Jillette LP-promoting video clip eventually shown at the Portland convention.
  • 2006 Jun - $399 to the LPUS
  • 2008 May - ~$2000 in Reform Caucus expenses for Denver: booth fees, booth equipment rental, booth staff, printing
  • 2008 May - ~$3000 in travel and accomodations for me and two other delegates to Denver
  • 2008 - $100 donation to Richard Winger for Ballot Access News
  • 2009 Jan - ~$90 to LPSCC
  • 2009 Mar - $277.05 to LPCA, $92.35 to LPUS
  • 2009 Oct - $250 each to LPUS, LPSCC

LPUS Activism

  • LPUS life member; joined LP c. 1999
  • Delegate to 2006, 2008 LP National Conventions
  • Secretary, 2008 LPUS Platform Committee
  • Board member of the Libertarian Reform Caucus, which seeks to unite all libertarians in an ecumenical LP
  • California representative to 2006 LPUS Platform Committee

Online Activism

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