Quantcast
Published On: Wed, Nov 6th, 2013

Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was co-opted by Obama operatives to ensure Terry McAuliffe victory

Ignorance will abound from GOP talking heads, blaming the governor loss in Virginia on the libertarian candidate and the tea party.

A closer examination of the candidate, Robert Sarvis, reveals ties to Obama administration through a Libertarian PAC.

Robert Sarvis photo LP.org

Robert Sarvis photo LP.org

Campaign finance records reveal that the Libertarian Booster PAC has made the largest independent contribution to Sarvis’ campaign, helping to pay for professional petition circulators who collected signatures necessary to get Sarvis’ name on the ballot.

A closer look at the Libertarian Booster PAC reveals that Joe Liemandt is the PAC’s major benefactor. He’s also a top bundler for President Barack Obama.

Translation: Robert Sarvis was a Democratic plant, disguised as a libertarian to syphon off votes from the Republican candidate.

Charles Cooke of National Review pointed out some serious issues with Sarvis and his ideology compared to traditional libertarian standards.

In a recent Reason interview, Sarvis explained that he was “not into the whole Austrian type, strongly libertarian economics,” preferring “more mainstream economics” and while talking with MSNBC Sarvis said he would be hesitant to cut taxes, unsure as to how he might “reduce spending,” and open to indulging the largest piece of federal social policy since 1965 by expanding Virginia’s Medicaid program.

All of this was outlined by Cooke who even contacted the candidate for a follow-up, which raised even more questions.

Conclusion: The GOP lost in Virginia not because of the tea party, the libertarians or even Ken Cuccinelli. No, the GOP lost to a Democratic Party which just raised the stakes on the tactics that can and will be used to win elections.

 LEIMANDT

March 2012, ABC News reported Liemandt was among three dozen of the Obama campaign’s largest bundlers invited to a state dinner honoring British Prime Minister David Cameron. ABC News reported the invited bundlers, who also included Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, were responsible for at least $10.7 million of the $250 million the campaign had collected to that point.

Liemandt and his wife Andra have also been contributors to the Libertarian National Committee, but their largess has been mostly focused on the Democratic Party.

Donations linked to Liemandt’s company, Trilogy, also has split its political giving between libertarian third-party efforts and liberal Democrats. During the 2012 election cycle, Trilogy poured $100,000 into another libertarian group — Libertarian Action Super PAC — while simultaneously making generous contributions to the Democratic National Committee ($92,400), the Democratic Party of Ohio ($12,453) and Barack Obama ($10,000), as well as more than $25,000 for Democrat Party organizations in Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire.

The Liemandts have some other friends in common with the Obamas. The couple and some friends flew to New York to have dinner with Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Warren Buffet in October 2011.

 Source

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Writer and Co-Founder of The Global Dispatch, Brandon has been covering news, offering commentary for years, beginning professionally in 2003 on Crazed Fanboy before expanding into other blogs and sites. Appearing on several radio shows, Brandon has hosted Dispatch Radio, written his first novel (The Rise of the Templar) and completed the three years Global University program in Ministerial Studies to be a pastor. To Contact Brandon email [email protected] ATTN: BRANDON

Displaying 16 Comments
Have Your Say
  1. […] For more on the story, see Libertarians Brag About Throwing Kentucky Governor Election to Democrat: “Your Tears are Delicious” and Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was co-opted by Obama operatives to ensure Terry McAuliffe victo… […]

  2. […] For more on the story, see Libertarians Brag About Throwing Kentucky Governor Election to Democrat: “Your Tears are Delicious” and Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was co-opted by Obama operatives to ensure Terry McAuliffe victo… […]

  3. On Black Friday, Trying to Understand How to Prevent Other Days from Becoming Black | LET US STAND TOGETHER says:

    […] the “resurgence” of American libertarianism, such as that is, is vulnerable to, beyond electoral defeat, leftist capture because it is split by conflicting forces of traditionalism and technocracy, both […]

  4. Mayall B. Free says:

    Funny how there was virtually no mention of the money Sarvis accepted from high-profile REPUBLICAN donors:

    http://freeliberal.com/articles/12173/rob-sarvis-ron-wyden-and-the-liberty-left-constituency

  5. Everyone Else is To Blame | Looking Into The Arena says:

    […] Cantor backed, for the nomination. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was a Democrat plant, even if, according to the polls, he didn’t play into Cuccinelli’s loss. Or that it was because […]

  6. Mayall B. Free says:

    Here is the response of Libertarian Party of Virginia Chairman Chuck Moulton to this story:

    “Republicans — and particularly people who claim to be libertarian Republicans associated with the Republican “Liberty” Caucus, the Campaign for “Libe…rty”, and the Ron Paul grassroots — spread an article around on the morning of the election which alleged that Robert Sarvis was a Democrat plant funded by a large Obama campaign bundler for the purpose of “stealing” votes from Cuccinelli thus handing the election to McCauliffe.

    http://www.theblaze.com/…/

    The story is demonstrably false for many reasons. As state chair of the Libertarian Party of Virginia I personally witnessed many ways in which it was not true.

    First, the Libertarian Booster PAC was supporting Virginia regardless of whether we ran a governor candidate and some of the other candidates supported by the PAC did not have a Republican or a Democrat in the race.

    Second, that donor gave money to the PAC indifferent as to whether it supported a governor candidate.

    Third, as one of a group of people who personally recruited Rob Sarvis and familiar with the others in that group, I know for a fact we did not do so in order to defeat Cuccinelli.

    Fourth, that donor has supported many candidates and the state and national party repeatedly over the years when there was no Republican to “siphon votes from” or Democrat to “help”.

    Fifth, the Booster PAC spent roughly $17,000 on petitioners — at most half of which was attributable to the Texas donor. Sarvis spent at least $35,000 of his own pocket for signatures. Sarvis raised $175,000 for his campaign. Ed Crane’s Purple PAC spent $300,000 on Sarvis advertisements. The idea that $8,500 sent to a PAC Sarvis had no control of had any effect on Sarvis’s agenda out of $527,000 spent is absurd.

    Sixth, Sarvis’s first advertisement and a big portion of his campaign was about marriage equality. That would draw McCauliffe votes, not Cuccinelli votes.

    Seventh, polls have shown more Sarvis voters would cut towards McCauliffe than Cuccinelli if Sarvis were not in the race.

    For those reasons — among others too numerous to list — that whole article is ridiculous. It was a smear campaign launched on election morning filled with demonstrable falsehoods to sucker gullible people. It was the height of intellectual dishonesty. And it lowered my opinion of everyone who facilitated the rumormongering.”

  7. June Genis says:

    So what if some some well-heeled Democrat helped Sarvis get past the obstacles of getting on the ballot and getting some visibility? The people who voted for him did so because of his positions on the issues. On a votes per dollar basis Sarvis is the clear winner.

  8. Colonial Heights third highest supporter of Libertarian candidate – Progress Index | Amazing News says:

    […] to Road Socialists: There Is Nothing Unlibertarian about Road PricingOpenMarket.orgThe Global Dispatch -NBC4 Washington -Opposing Viewsall 41 news […]

  9. Andrew says:

    The Republicans didn’t lose my vote because a Libertarian was on the ballot — the Republicans never had my vote in the first place and when they complain that the Libertarians are spoiling their election, the truth is that the GOP’s views are why I don’t vote for the GOP. Plain and simple.

    For what it’s worth, the exit polls indicated the second choice among Sarvis voters was (by a 2:1 margin) McAuliffe, not Cuccinelli.

  10. Mr. Econotarian says:

    Most Libertarian candidates on the ballot get 1% or less. For Sarvis to almost get almost 7% meant that an unusually large part of the Virginia electorate was sick of the Democratic and Republican choices available.

    It may be that Democratically-linked money got him on the ballot, but in truth we should have automatically more open ballot access in Virginia. He shouldn’t need to have to reach out to the monied incumbent parties to get on the ballot.

    As to whether Sarvis is a “Democratic plant”, you will have to explain why Sarvis formerly ran as a GOP candidate. Maybe he is a “sleeper agent”? He went to GMU to study economics, one of the most libertarian economics programs in the country. I guess he was a “deep sleeper agent”.

    Most people talking about “Austrian Economics” do not even know what that means. Even Milton Friedman said he thought Austrian Business Cycle theory is dangerously simplistic. You can disagree with Austrian Business Cycle, or at least some elements of it, and still be a libertarian. You can disagree with ABC but still believe that Hayek was right regarding “the fatal conceit” or the “socialist calculation problem” or “the road to serfdom”. You can even disagree with the details of Newtonian Physics, as Heisenberg and other quantum theorists did, and still be a physicist.

    I don’t think you will see Sarvis run as a Democrat any time soon. I think you will see him take his results and work on growing the Libertarian Party of Virginia.

    It should be clear, the libertarian minority will be heard in the GOP. Run candidates like Cuccinelli, and they will rise up. Libertarians may become the new “moral majority” in the party. Take off your blinders, the libertarians are not a conspiracy, we are for real.

    • stevereenie says:

      Mr Econotrarian…..congratulations, but next time out you can help raise funds to try and thwart the overwhelmingly likely successful candidacy of Hillary in that swing state of Virginia. Of course you know that this is what that was all about.

    • Richard Winger says:

      According to the Virginia State Board of Elections web page, the six Libertarian nominees for legislature polled these percentages: 22.39% in the 23rd district and 22.26% in the 47th district (those two races only had one major party candidate running); and in the four races with both major parties running, the Libertarians got 3.39% in the 33rd, 4.18% in the 53rd, 5.54% in the 55th, and 3.69% in the 78th.

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives