One Last Time
At the State Convention on March 9 I'll complete my third and final term as Monmouth County Chairman, so this will be my last Chair Report. I suppose I should have something special to say, but I don't.
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot to say, but I feel I've been saying it virtually every month -- sometimes it feels like every day -- for the past three years. The best I can do now is to summarize what I feel I've learned.
First and foremost, I believe we need to operate as a political party. This means a concentration on campaigns, candidates and elections. Other activities such as outreach booths, talks and demonstrations are fine. They're certainly preferable to doing nothing. But they are not our primary task.
That task is to contest and win elections. Yes, we lose. I know that. Well guess what, in the last three years the Monmouth County Democrats have lost every Freeholder race. They've lost every race for every county office.
They've lost every Monmouth seat in the State Legislature which they tried to win. So what? They're not closing up shop. They haven't decided to switch to education or issue advocacy.
I have no problem with allocating scarce resources. I have a big problem with how this too often works out in practice: not running a candidate. When we stop running candidates we more than take a step backward; we negate our existence as a political party.
Another thing I've learned is that campaigns are the best recruitment or outreach activity possible. The most dedicated long-term activists I've met in the party all joined as a result of a political campaign that introduced them to the LP and/or got them excited about doing something.
You want members? Run candidates. You want publicity? Run candidates. You want to promote the LP program? Run candidates.
The third thing I've learned is the overriding importance of money. It's a constant source of amazement to me how Libertarians can rant and rave about campaign donation limits being an infringement on their free speech when they don't donate a dime -- at least not to their local party.
In the past three years I've seen individual members, time and time again, reach into their wallets to fund the most basic activity. At no time have I seen anyone profit in anyway from their work for the party. Perhaps things are different outside Monmouth County, but here at the Shore every dime members have donated has been spent carefully and exclusively to advance the county party and nothing else.
Hey, volunteer labor is great. But no amount of volunteer labor is going to get us a billboard on Rt. 35 or an ad on FOX News Channel. The county party will never grow unless we start bringing in more monetary donations.
But I don't want to end this final report on that note. Instead, I want to thank everyone who has done so much. I want to thank those who've stepped forward to help me during my tenure, and I especially want to thank all those who truly built the foundation of the county party over the past decades.
I think the county party is in great shape thanks to a lot of hard work by a lot of people over a lot of years. I'm confident if we stay focused and maintain our diligence success will be certain.
Pat Bontempo
County Chair