Advice to Libertarians who wish to run for City Council:

You may or may not follow my path.  It’s a change of life and a lot of work.

Find a leadership area in your community that’s of interest to you.  Seek a volunteer or appointed position in a community organization such as PTA, charity, local committee, city board or commission.  Attend City Council and commission meetings regularly.  Know the agenda topics. Write and speak to the City Council. Write letters to the editor.  Establish name recognition.

After you have a community resume and some name recognition, start a city council campaign 6-12 months before the election.  Know approximately how many votes it takes to be elected and focus on getting those votes.  Votes are all that matter.

Form an organizing committee.  Recruit campaign committee members to coordinate volunteers, manage a bank account, file state forms, and prepare your printed material (brochure/door hanger, signs, newspaper ads, campaign mailer).  You the candidate must do fund raising (about $15,000 for my successful re-election campaign for the Nov 2012 election).  You also must develop your campaign priorities and platform to reach voters, answer questionnaires, attend press interviews, attend candidate forums and walk precincts to meet voters.

Those are the essentials.  As an elected official you do not need to preach everything that is contained in the Libertarian Party Platform. There are enough bad policies and squandered taxpayer dollars to reasonably argue against.   You must have complete command of the facts involving a wide range of Council agenda topics and just use common sense in policy making.

“That’s the lowest level measured since Jan. 27 and is just two points above 2012′s low.  The Consumer Index is down five points from a week ago, down 12 points from one month ago and down 11 points from three months ago.”

Americans and job creators have no confidence in Barack Obama.  With Mitt Romney now leading in the polls it appears they still see no relief on the horizon.

It’s time to vote Libertarian.

74 percent of adults favor “requiring public employees to contribute more toward their own pensions and health care,” and 24 percent oppose, a new Reason-Rupe survey of Wisconsin finds.

“The Reason-Rupe poll asked Wisconsinites how the state should raise funds to pay government employee retirement benefits if the state did not have enough money to fund these benefits,” Reason reports.

72 percent oppose “increasing sales, income, or property taxes” to help fund government worker retirement benefits, 25 percent favor.

75 percent oppose “cutting spending on government programs, such as education and health care” to help fund public employee retirement benefits, 23 percent favor.

49 percent oppose and 46 percent favor “reducing public employee benefits.”

However, 74 percent favor “requiring public employees to contribute more toward their own pensions and health care,” and 24 percent oppose.

The poll followed by asking “if the state and local government had to reduce spending, which of the following areas would you reduce spending on first?” The plurality of Wisconsinites (38 percent) chose reducing spending on “pensions and benefits for public employees” followed by “prisons and courts” (29 percent).

“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.”

“SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, is the House’s attempt to severely censor the internet ostensibly in order to clamp down on piracy. The companion bill in the Senate is the Protect IP Act. The two bills create an armada of new regulations that help big corporations and hurt regular people, start-ups, and clamp down on innovation.”

And as with most bad ideas, both Republicans and Democrats are teaming up to push Big Government, with libertarians fighting back.

“In the Senate, Democratic senator Patrick Leahy is leading the push to pass Protect IP. In the House, Republican congressman Lamar Smith is leading the charge for SOPA,” writes Kain.

“…I’ve written about this before, but I think we need a civil liberties caucus. Who cares about right or left? Progressive vs. libertarian? What I want – what I care about – are elected officials who want to stop madness like SOPA, the Patriot Act, and TSA abuses (not to mention things like assassination of US citizens and nation-building.)”

E.D., you have that civil liberties caucus. It’s the Libertarian Party and the LNCC.

The only way to stop attacks on citizens like these is to vote Libertarian.

Now you must be thinking, “what do I do now?”

Four things lay a strong foundation to becoming a successful Libertarian official, and thus a successfully re-elected Libertarian candidate.

1) Constituent service comes first.

While Libertarian principles are important and should guide every vote, keep in mind most people did not vote for you to get a lecture on how Austrian economics applies to Request For Bid on repairing the water treatment plant.  People expect one thing of their elected officials, especially at the local level — constituent service.

If their street has a pothole, a streetlight is out, a bus shelter has graffiti or the high school football team needs new shoes — you are on top of it and the problem gets solved quickly.  That, more than anything else, is what being an elected official comes down to.  You’re going to spend more time taking calls from people who want their streets plowed than you will spend debating economic issues.

That means you should make sure every constituent has a phone number where they may reach you, especially in the evenings and on weekends when they are home.  Providing a home or cell phone number is ideal.

And that means making sure the problem is solved to their liking.  Take detailed notes when a constituent calls, take down contact information, REMEMBER THEIR NAME and give them a date and time you will call them back with an update.

Bring the matter to the immediate attention of the government staffer responsible for resolving the issue and STAY ON TOP OF THEM.  Despite the stereotype, many government staffers are heavily overworked and unless you keep politely asking for updates on progress your request will find its way deeper down the inbox.

2) Stay visible, and in constant communication.

Be sure to publish updates and newsletters to your constituents.  An e-mail newsletter can be quickly written and published for free.  Be sure to ask constituents to provide e-mail addresses so you can provide free updates on what is going on with the city council/town council/school board/water board, etc.

If your office has a budget, you can also print, publish and mail a print newsletter to constituents.  The voter database is best to use, as it includes nearly every occupied household and is the easiest database to narrow down to your district.

Voters expect you to not only serve their needs, but to keep them informed.  Do your duty.

The newsletter also keeps you atop a voter’s mind, and lets them know you are someone they can trust and go to when they need problems solved.

The bonus?  A good chunk of the electorate, especially in down-ballot races, may only recognize one or two names on the ballot.  They’re busy people.  If your name is one of them, that may be enough to cinch victory.

3) Mind your manners.

Always be polite to everyone, especially if they are not polite to you.  Elected officials quickly become unelected chumps based on nothing more than a reputation for being difficult or short-tempered — especially at the local level.

Elected officials who yell at or belittle constituents, office staffers and government staffers will soon find themselves the subject of unflattering news coverage and neighborhood gossip — and that alone can be enough to sink a sure re-election bid.  Just this last week I saw it happen twice.

Never, ever, ever lose your temper or treat anyone with disrespect, even if they are being disrespectful to you.  As an elected official, you are held to a higher standard and have a lot more to lose than a surly government staffer or a constituent upset their pothole isn’t being patched quickly enough.

4) Constituent service comes first.

I’m repeating it for one reason.  THIS is your job.

Serving constituents politely, quickly to their satisfaction is — more than anything else — what being an elected official is all about.  It’s also the one thing ALL voters expect from you.

Treat each constituent’s problem, issue or request as your own, because it is.  You represent and serve, so get out there and do your job.

Do your job, and voters will more often than not re-elect you to do it again — even if they disagree with your personal views.  Providing prompt, courteous, top-to-bottom constituent service should be your top priority at all times.

Go here to Ken’s YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/ken4ky, to hear directly from him.

Go here or to http://ken4ky.com/ken_donate_online to help Ken on Tuesday by chipping in $10 or more to his campaign.

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Silver is a highly respected statistician and political analyst.

Since 1993, CNN has conducted an annual poll of Americans’ political views asking two questions: “Some people think the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Others think that government should do more to solve our country’s problems. Which comes closer to your own view?” and “Some people think the government should promote traditional values in our society. Others think the government should not favor any particular set of values. Which comes closer to your own view?”

Courtesy: The New York Times

This year CNN finds 63 percent of respondents agree “government is trying to do too many things.”  That figure is an increase from the 61 percent who agreed in in 2010 and the 52 percent who agreed in 2008.

50 percent agree “government should not favor any particular set of values.” That figure is an increase from the 44 percent who agreed in 2010 and 41 percent in 2008.

“It was the first time that answer won a plurality in CNN’s poll,” Silver reports.

The CNN poll is just the latest to find Libertarians, not Republicans or Democrats, are the growing, mainstream party.

“(T)here have been visible shifts in public opinion on a number of issues, ranging from increasing tolerance for same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization on the one hand, to the skepticism over stimulus packages and the health-care overhaul on the other hand, that can be interpreted as a move toward more libertarian views,” Silver reports.