Libertarian Party of Connecticut

A Brief History of Checkpoints (And What to do About Them)
April 2012
By Patrick Adams

Imagine driving to the local school to pick up your kids. It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, and the day is unseasonably nice. The sun is shining and your otherwise routine schedule is pleasant enough. You drive around a final corner to reach your destination when you suddenly approach a group of police cars. You abruptly halt and observe several officers standing right in the middle of the street. They signal you to stop. You pull up to the stopping point and roll down your window, wondering what could be happening.

The first officer announces that you have encountered a police checkpoint…

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Recently, the press has brought attention to the State Police leadership’s push for officers to issue a certain number of tickets. You can read the memo here (originally published by WTNH Channel 8):

In response to that memo, LPCT Chair Dan Reale offered the following commentary -

“In a time when the economy is struggling, it is more important that we have peace officers, not revenue agents. It should be mentioned that police deal with the worst of the worst. Anyone who protects our life, liberty and property is our friend. Not enough credit is given for that. However, if this is what the State is going to do for revenue especially after spending well beyond its means and raising taxes beyond ours, we should all demand our day in court.”

“The time has come to demand that the State prove its case – for as many of these tickets as humanly possible. We already objected, as we should have, to a neverending series of laws, taxes and regulations designed to send forth a swarm of officers and eat out our substance. We already have a neverending series of crimes, such as Driving While Poor (DWP) and Driving Waiving Your 4th Amendment Because You Don’t Know Any Better (DWY4ABYDKAB). And that’s bad enough in many locations where you don’t even have enough actual infractions reasonably worthy of a stop.”

“This new push for ticket quotas brings existing restrictions at our liberty to a new extreme. It puts officers at risk because they’re spending more time where police experience the greatest occupational risk for the simple reason that they are so near fast moving traffic. This insane approach to revenue enhancement also makes sure that an officer will be a minute or two too late to the scene of an actual emergency because he or she was forced to write tickets.”

“We are short on Republicans and Democrats in office expressing any sort of outrage over this arrangement. It is yet another example out of many examples where both Republicans and Democrats are more concerned about revenue – about how to make the public food for their pet projects – than it is about the safety of the public. Our elected officials are quick to make political gain based on crime, yet they are an immovable object of immense weight and little value when preventing crime would impair cash flow.”

“In short, shame on them all.”

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that the 2012 Annual Convention of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut will be held in Hartford at the Ramada Inn at 50 Morgan Street on April 7, 2012. The doors will open at 12 PM and the convention itself will conclude at 10 PM. We will be announcing speakers as soon as they are scheduled. Otherwise, the schedule between Noon and 5:30 PM is finalized.

This year’s convention will include a presidential debate. Current candidates who have been invited include Bill Still of Virginia, Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, former Congressional Candidate RJ Harris of Oklahoma, Attorney Carl Person of New York, Libertarian Activist Lee Wrights, Jim Burns of Nevada, James Ogle of California and Roger Gary of Texas. I understand that there may be other candidates running for the nomination, but they need to make their presence known so that they can be included in this debate as soon as possible.

On March 20, 2012, the Libertarian Party of Connecticut’s State Central Committee will begin the process of selecting its national delegates at its 7PM Meeting at the Wethersfield Public Library. That process will conclude at our annual convention.

This year, our delegation will be chaired by Joshua Katz, Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut. We view this process as a critical component of moving the Libertarian Party in a positive direction. But I can’t stress enough that 2012 brings unique opportunities and unique challenges. We can neither afford to assume the nominee is already chosen as the Republican Party currently does, nor can we fail to weigh everything each candidate brings to the table – pro and con.

As a party, we have to choose our candidate as if we are choosing the next President of the United States. Is that candidate going to honor the Bill of Rights in office? Is that candidate going to stop the Federal Reserve from destroying the currency to save Wall Street? Is that going to save lives by ending America’s foreign entanglements? Is that candidate going to implement real healthcare reform? How does that candidate plan to reduce the size of government and reduce taxes in such a way that will create jobs? What does that candidate plan to do about fraudulent foreclosures? How does that candidate plan to move America from an economy based on debt to an economy based on actual production?

Our delegates will need to find and nominate the candidate with the best answers to those questions. That process, the process of finding the candidate who the Libertarian Party will nominate so that every American can win the presidency, is not one of assumption. It is a process of thoughtful deliberation.

The time for wedge issues has passed. The time to do away with false bipartisan bickering so we can do the work that voters demand be done has come. It is painfully clear that neither Democrats or Republicans will solve the problems they created. We cannot afford to wait another two or four years for these exclusive clubs to have yet another 23rd chance to get it right. Their goal is not to get it right. Their goal is to buy yet another 23rd chance.

It is now necessary for us to act under the Libertarian Party to do the work that needs to be done ourselves. Your help is critical to our success.

Tickets are $50 in advance. Whether or not we do split pricing at the door is undetermined. So far the meal choices are chicken, fish and beef. Please let us know which one you want when you preregister. Those who don’t choose a meal itemn will recieve chicken by default.

In Liberty,

Dan Reale
Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut
Candidate for Congress (CT-2)

2012 Convention Schedule
12:00 PM Doors Open

2:00 PM Jim Lewis Book Auction

4:00 PM Business Meeting Called to Order

Minutes of Previous Convention

Treasurer and Committee Reports

State Central Committee (SCC): Determination of the size (10 to 40 Members).

Selection of Judicial Committee members (2 for a 3 year term and other vacancies to be filled)

SCC called to order to select Officers

Adjourn Business Meeting

Selection/Confirmation of delegates to national convention

5:30 PM Dinner

6:30 Chair to Address Convention for Fifteen Minutes

6:45 Walter Gengarelly Award

7:00 Speaker: TBA

7:30 PM Presidential Debate

8:45 PM Keynote Speaker: TBA

10 PM Convention Closes

The next SCC meeting will be held on March 20th, 7PM at the Wethersfield Public Library.

The primary purpose of this meeting will be to vet delegates for the national convention.

At tonight’s SCC meeting, we’ve decided to vet and select delegates

for the national convention during February and March. The final

delegate selections per Article III, Section 1 of our bylaws will occur

by selection of the SCC in March.

Our convention is tentatively scheduled for April 1st, but we’re looking

for a date that works for most of the presidential candidates Saturday, April 7th.

If you have any questions, drop us a line and let us know.

In Liberty,

Dan Reale

Chair, LPCT

Candidate for Congress, CD-2

dan.reale@lpct.org

Here is to a year ahead filled with happiness, good health, liberty and freedom. Best wishes!