-77% oppose raising the federal gas tax

-Only 33% think transit should get more funding than its share in travel

-By a margin of 62% to 30% Americans favor more spending on roads because people and goods use them, as opposed to shifting funding to transit and other non-driving alternatives to try to get people out of cars.

-58% think new lanes or new highways should be funded with tolls rather than tax increases, and 59% say they would pay a toll if it would save them a significant amount of time

-57% support converting HOV lanes to HOT lanes, meaning letting single-occupant vehicles use carpool lanes if they pay a toll.

-55% support public private partnerships to build new roads and other infrastructure

-By 55% to 34% they support private companies funding and building high speed rails lines rather than the government.

Professional Background: Bob’s resume consists of 25 years of human resource management (16 years at 3M as well as ten years in the electronics field.) He also has been the owner of a successful small business (A Perfect Fit Alteration Shop), which he sold at a profit. His background in HR taught him to listen to all sides of an issue before deciding on the fairest and most equitable solution. This willingness to listen to opposing viewpoints will be invaluable as City Council tackles some of the major issues facing Springfield in the next four years.

Volunteer Positions: Bob has always felt that Springfield is a great place to live and that we all have an obligation to make it better. He has long been involved in volunteer positions—most of them involving Board service.

In the past, he has served on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Ozarks, the Springfield Family Y, and the Board for Camp Fire Boys and Girls. Most of his volunteer positions have dealt with enhancing the quality of life for Springfield’s young people.

In addition, his municipal government experience includes two terms on the Springfield Art Museum Board, including one year as Chair during a major building renovation project. He also completed an unexpired term on the Springfield Personnel Board because of his background as  an HR professional. These two positions have given him a working knowledge of how our municipal government operates.

Family: Bob and Cindy have been married for 14 years. She is an administrator in Workforce Development at OTC. Bob is dad to two daughters: Alicia is married, lives in Denver, and is a certified Physician’s Assistant with an Master’s Degree from St. Louis University. She assists with spinal surgeries and was recently selected to be Denver Nuggets cheerleader for 2008-2009. Rebecca graduated from MU with a double major in International Business and Accounting. She works as a Financial Analyst in Kansas City and she and Jason have presented Bob and Cindy with their first grandchild. The Stephens household is also ruled by a somewhat rotund cat named Tristan.

Education: In addition to his degree from SMS, Bob also holds a Master’s degree in Communication from Drury University and a Specialist Degree in Technical Communication from California State University. He has taught courses in HR Management at Phillips Junior College and a number of Communications courses at Drury University. Also, he has conducted numerous workshops and training sessions based on his background in management and human resources.

But does Obama’s rhetoric of spending cuts match the reality of his proposed budget?

Come on.  We’re talking about Barack Obama.

Cato @ Liberty’s Tad DeHaven points out just some of Obama’s touted “cuts” that don’t actually reduce spending or government power :

• The administration proposes to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Automotive Technology program for savings of $16 million. However, the proposed cut doesn’t reflect a sudden desire to end federal “green” subsidies to car manufacturers. Instead, the administration says “other Federal programs are better positioned to research, develop, demonstrate, and deploy a broad suite of advanced vehicle technologies.”

• The administration proposes to cut funding for the Department of Health and Human Service’s Community Services Block Grant program from $679 million to $350 million. The administration cites reports from the HHS inspector general and the Government Accountability Office that “have documented failures in program oversight and accountability.” However, instead of proposing to completely terminate it, the administration says it’s going to fix the program and basically apologizes for having to cut it to meet discretionary spending caps.

• The administration proposes to cut funding by $226 million for fossil fuel subsidies administered by the Department of Energy. These subsidies should be eliminated. But they should be eliminated along with all energy subsidies because the federal government should stop trying to pick winners and losers in the energy market. Unfortunately, it appears that the administration is really only interested in scoring political points with the “green” crowd.

• The administration proposes to save a whopping $3 million by terminating the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s public broadcasting grant program. The administration correctly points out that the program is duplicative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. However, the CPB would get another $1 million in funding for an overall budget of $445 million. In other words, the proposed cut would have practically no effect on the federal government’s subsidization of PBS and NPR.

The most common mistake campaigns make when designing a yard sign is adding too much stuff. Your average voter doesn’t spend more than a few seconds looking over a direct mail piece, so imagine how little time that same voter spends on reading a campaign sign.

We typically don’t expect folks to get much out of a yard sign except for some increased name identification for the candidate, which brings us to the question of adding so-called Quick Response barcodes to campaign signage. Some strategists have suggested it’s time these black boxes become a requirement, just like having the candidate’s name and the office he’s running for.

More often than not, though, QR codes will simply add clutter and are not useful to the campaign. I will hedge a bit here and add that good designers can incorporate QR codes into the design of a sign in a way that doesn’t detract significantly from the candidate’s name and the office he’s seeking—the most critical elements of any campaign lawn sign…

If you do decide to incorporate QR codes into signs, literature or mail:

…make sure you’re getting the most out of the QR code by sending the voter to appropriate content. Just linking to the campaign website isn’t effective. Some of the best uses of QR codes on campaign yard signs:

• Connecting the voter to the candidate’s social media networks on Facebook or Twitter.
• Signing up the voter for text message or email alerts from the campaign.
• Asking the voter to indicate whether he is a supporter or not.
• Sending the voter to a biographical or issue-based video of the candidate or a mobile optimized landing page with similar content.

250 Libertarian students groups are hosting National Expose Cronyism Day.

“This event is a great way for students to come together and fight for free market capitalism.” said Heather Tix, of the libertarian group Young Americans for Liberty.

Want to end the sweetheart relationship between business lobbyists and Big Government, set up by Republican and Democrat matchmakers?  Run for office as a Libertarian.

Libertarian National Campaign Committee

“Our government is addicted to spending. It doesn’t matter what the tax rate is. It doesn’t matter how high the tax revenues. We could raise tax rates to 90% and government would still spend $1.40 for every dollar it takes in. So why are we blaming the victim (taxpayers) for the national debt?…

“…If President Obama got his way federal income taxes would hit 40% or higher. And he’d take the cap off FICA taxes. And he’d dramatically reduce or eliminate mortgage, charitable and business deductions. And then just for fun, he’d add a national VAT tax. Now add in the new taxes for ObamaCare. Add it up.

“Americans would face tax rates approaching 70%. And this time there is no cash economy. The government would take 60 to 70 cents of every dollar we all make, while we do all the work. The mafia has nothing on the government!

“So why is Obama playing fast and loose with the facts? Taxes aren’t low and he knows it. And the increases he desires aren’t small or fair, and he knows it.

“Our government is heavily in debt, and Obama needs to find targets of opportunity (i.e. victims) to pay the bills, so America doesn’t go bankrupt on his watch.

“Second, Obama’s only chance at re-election is to redistribute billions of dollars to his voters and campaign contributors in the way of entitlements, welfare, food stamps, stimulus, and green energy ‘investments’ by government.

“Third, by targeting, demonizing and punishing small business owners and high-income earners (the people who make almost all the contributions to conservative causes and candidates), Mr. Obama can starve his political opposition. If taxes are higher on the rich, then the president’s opposition has no money left to give to conservative candidates…”

Read more at http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/13/mr-obama-dont-have-tax-problem-have-spending-problem/

This class is for:

• candidates running for office now
• people thinking of being candidates in the future
• volunteers who want to work on campaigns

The convention dates are May 3 – May 6th, 2012 at the Red Rock resort in Las Vegas, NV.  Don’t miss the excitement of our delegates choosing the Libertarian Party nominee for President!

Come one day early for our candidate training on May 2nd, 2012 also at the Red Rock resort in Las Vegas, from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

AGENDA (subject to change)

8:00am         Registration/Check-in

9:00 a.m.      What Every Candidate Should Know

10:00 a.m.    Websites and Online Communications

11:00 a.m.    Voter Contact Mail that Doesn’t Suck

Noon             LUNCH BREAK

2:00 p.m.      How to Deal with the Press

3:00 p.m.      Robo-Calling for Dollars & Votes

4:00 p.m.      Fundraising for Small Campaigns

If you’re planning to attend, please let us know to expect you.  When you register for the convention, please check the box indicating you’re planning to come, so we can expect you. 

Or if you’re not attending the convention, please email us at training@lncc.org to let us know the name of all attendees.

Click here to book your hotel room now at the Red Rock at the reduced group rate of $119/night – an amazing rate for this resort facility!

We look forward to seeing you on May 2nd!

“And when Social Security, Medicare and unemployment benefits are included, nearly half of the nation lived in a household that received a government check, according to the analysis of third-quarter 2010 Census data done by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a libertarian-leaning think tank. That’s more than 148 million Americans,” CNN reports.

The culprit?  Democrat and Republican lawmakers, such as defeated Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who supported George W. Bush’s budget-busting plan to buy votes with a new Medicare prescription drug entitlement.

“Whether we like it or not, we know it’s not fiscally sustainable,” Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at Mercatus, tells CNN. “The bigger these programs, the bigger the voting block is against reform.”

The solution? Vote Libertarian.

Matt Welch looks at the growing phenomenon of independent voters backing libertarian candidates in this month’s issue of Reason.

He writes, in part:

But even after the initial Iowa caucuses, exit polls showed something extraordinary: Independents are making up for the enthusiasm gap created by the declining rolls of Republicans, and they are breaking hard for the only libertarian in the race, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

The Iowa Republican caucuses had virtually the same voter turnout this year (122,000) as in 2008 (119,000), leading to many headlines like “Why the GOP Still Has an Enthusiasm Problem” (as Talking Points Memo put it). If anything, the problem for Republicans is worse than those numbers suggest.

In 2008 exit polls showed that 86 percent of Iowa caucusers self-identified as Republicans. In 2012 that share was down to 75 percent. The difference? Again, independents, whose ranks grew from 13 percent to 23 percent. And who did they favor? By more than 2 to 1, Ron Paul.

Paul received 43 percent of the independent vote, compared to 19 percent for runner-up Mitt Romney. He also led the field among those who had never previously voted in an Iowa Republican caucus (33 percent, compared to Rick Santorum’s 23 percent) and dominated among voters under 30 (48 percent to Santorum’s 23 percent)…

…The bad news for this legacy GOP is that voters have fresh memories of what big-government conservatism looks like, and they disdain it. The good news for those of us who share that disdain is that our numbers are growing.

“I am a 42 years old father of two. I have been employed in Topeka at AT&T for thirteen years as an Order Support Specialist.

“I am actively involved in the Libertarian Party and was elected to the position of Chairman of the state party in April 2009. The Libertarian Party is attractive to me due to their strong beliefs in fiscal conservatism and civil liberties.

“I was asked to run for the city council by countless people due to these beliefs. I am running for the 8th District City Council position because of the respect that I have for the generations that built this city and because of the deep sense of responsibility I feel to generations which raise their families in Topeka after me.”