POLITICS: New Libertarian Party chapter aims to suit voters unhappy with ill-fitting labels

Local News

November 11, 2007

By Joyce Miles/milesj@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sun Nov 11, 2007, 12:40 AM EST

Tired of trying to square yourself with party lines that don’t ring true?

Try going Libertarian.

The Niagara County chapter of the New York State Libertarian Party has been revived, and according to temporary chapter Chairman Scott Leffler, it’s welcoming voters who can’t honestly say they feel like Democrats or Republicans anymore.

Libertarians say they believe in small government, self responsibility, personal freedom and a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. They’re people whose views are somewhere between “left” and “right” and can’t be neatly labeled liberal or conservative.

Leffler, a WLVL radio host, suggested the Libertarian view — the one espoused by Thomas Jefferson and other American founding fathers — might appeal to Niagara County residents disenchanted with the political status quo.

The former Democrat made overtures to the state Libertarian executive committee about re-forming the Niagara chapter earlier this year, when the general election ballot started shaping up and he saw the usual suspects surfacing again.

“I was not happy with the choices in the last election, not happy with the lack of choices,” Leffler said. “In this county we have five (political) parties controlled by two people, Henry Wojtaszek and Dan Rivera. We need something else.”

Bob Confer, a business executive who writes a conservative-leaning weekly opinion column for the US&J;, has been a registered Libertarian for about two years.

Confer said he abandoned the Republican Party when it seemed to him that its standard bearers “were getting away from core values, embracing big government and spending.”

Confer looked into the Constitutional Party, which on the surface aligns with a strict-constructionist view of the Constitution, but found what he viewed as its hyper-religious bent unsupportable. After some study, he decided the Libertarian label was the most accurate expression of his beliefs in both limited government and personal responsibility.

If party affiliation is an expression of identity, or a statement of belief in certain ideas and actions, there are probably a lot of conflicted Republicans and Democrats in Niagara County, Confer suggested.

By and large, critics of the two major parties say Republican candidates for office this year proclaimed all is well when it’s not, and Democratic candidates simply declared everything stinks without suggesting how to make it better.

“There has to be many voters on either side who are disappointed in those narrow views,” Confer said. “Everyone is born to thinking they’re either Republican or Democratic. They tend to view third parties as not worthwhile, when in actuality they do offer a solid alternative.”

The county chapter’s aim is to sign up as many new members as possible, at least seven by early next year, so the chapter can elect a slate of officers and qualify for the state Libertarian convention, according to Leffler.

Chapter members are required by the state committee to pay dues of $25 per year. That’s because the party is rebuilding in New York, after losing standing with the state elections board because its candidate for governor did not fetch 50,000 votes in the 2006 election.

“Personally I don’t think it should be that way,” Leffler said of the dues, “but then again, I’d say it’s a small price to pay for trying to return America to what she used to be.”

For more information about the chapter, visit www.niagaralp.org; call Leffler at 308-5486; or send an e-mail to sleffler@niagaralp.org.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.

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