All of his statements about me and my election campaign are false and misleading and in fact are lies. It is in general my policy not to respond to personal attacks and I rarely do so, but because Jim Lesczynski keeps repeating the same lies over and over again, I feel that I must now respond.
What happened last January is completely the opposite of what James "Keep and Bear Arms" Lesczynski keeps saying. Here is what really happened:
I had been a member of the Free Libertarian Party in 1974 but had dropped out. This year, because I had worked on the Bloomberg for Mayor Campaign, I received an invitation to the Bloomberg Inauguration on January 1, 2002 at New York City Hall. At the Inauguration, I met an old friend named Joyce whom I had not seen in nearly 30 years, who had also worked on Bloomberg for Mayor. She invited me to a Junto meeting a few days later. At the Junto meeting, we were told about a Libertarian Party meeting a few days after that, so we went to that as well.
That meeting was held at Carnegie Hall on January 9, 2002. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpny_manhattan/message/1770
By then, I had paid my dues to rejoin the party. At the convention, it was announced by Jak Karako that the State Board of Elections had announced that a Special Election would be held on February 12, because four members of the New York State Legislature had resigned on January 1. Jak Karako said that he was going to run for one of the vacated seats and asked for candidates to run for the other three seats.
I had never had the idea or the intention of running for anything, so I said nothing at that time.
A meeting of the Queens Libertarian Party was held three days later on Saturday January 12, 2002. Again, the question came up that there were three newly vacant state assembly seats and they were looking for Libertarian Party candidates to run for them. Again, the thought never even crossed my mind to run. However, the discussion turned to the so-called "Harnett Strategy". The strategy is that, in a special election, in view of the impossibility of obtaining 1500 signatures in just a few days, to get as many signatures as possible, submit them, and then, if challenged, to fight the case in court. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPQC/message/9
On the way home from the meeting, I shared a subway ride with John Clifton and we talked about the Harnett Strategy and the possibility of my running. After he got off the train, I thought about this more and finally I decided to try and run as a learning experience.
I sent out an e-mail later the next day stating that I was going to try and run. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPQC/message/12
The problem was that I had only three days, until January 15, to collect the signatures. Following the Harnett Strategy, Jak Karako printed the petitions for me, I collected as many signatures as I could, submitted them and, as nobody objected, I got on the ballot.
Up until this point, having just rejoined the party after an absence of 24 years, I had no idea of the party structure. I had never even heard of the State Committee and had no idea that such a thing even existed.
A few days after I got on the Ballot, I was told by Blay Tarnoff that a State Committee meeting was going to be held Saturday, January 26, 2002 and, since I was a candidate on the ballot, I should appear.
I took the train to Westbury, New York, where the meeting was being held. I called to ask directions. After my train had passed Jamaica Station, I received a call from Richard Cooper, Chairman of the New York State Committee, who stated that I was not invited to the meeting and that I should not attend. I replied that I had been told by Blay Tarnoff, Vice-Chairman of the State Committee, that I should attend. Richard Copper replied that this statement by Blay Tarnoff had not been authorized and he would call him about it.
Since I had already passed Jamaica Station, I was beyond the point of no return, so I remained on the train and continued to Westbury.
At the meeting, Richard Cooper treated me politely and did not try to throw me out. However, Jim Lesczynski started attacking me on the issue of gun rights. I was completely surprised by this. I stated at the meeting that when I had been a member of the party back in 1978, the issue of gun rights had never come up and had never been discussed. I was quite sure that Gary Greenberg, who was the Libertarian Party candidate for Governor shortly after I dropped out of the party and who was also an Assistant District Attorney of New York, did not take the extreme views that James "Keep and Bear Arms" Lesczynski was espousing, which was that all guns are allowed everywhere, and not just simple handguns but weapons of mass destruction like M-16s and AK-47s, and not just to own but to be able to carry these guns anywhere.
I was and still am not aware that the extreme views on gun rights taken by Jim Lesczynski are the official Libertarian Party position and that no person who does not agree with Jim Lesczynski on this issue should be allowed to appear on the ballot as a Libertarian Party candidate in the State of New York.
Following this interrogation by Jim Lesczynski and others present, a vote was taken. The vote was 7 to 5 not to endorse me as a Libertarian Party candidate for the 56th General Assembly District. Committee members have since told me that it was almost entirely because of the "gun issue" that they voted not to endorse me.
I was still on the ballot. During my election campaign, I received favorable reviews. For example, the Citizens Union, an influential group, wrote:
"First-time candidate Sam Sloan (Libertarian) is an independent thinker who persuasively champions changes in public policy, such as abolishing rent control and eliminating the NYC income tax.
None of the other Libertarian candidates received such a favorable review from the Citizens Union. I do not wish to tell you what the Citizen's Union said about the other Libertarian Party candidates.
The special election was held on Tuesday, February 12. I had television ads running on Cablevision TV all day that day and the previous day in Brooklyn where I was running. I was the only Libertarian candidate in recent memory to have television advertising. True, I did not get many votes, but I had a real campaign.
Now, let us take a look at the lies which James Lesczynski keeps repeating, over and over again:
At 04:51 PM 8/22/2002 -0700, James Lesczynski wrote: >Did you at least get the endorsement of one of the Libertarian Party's >duly authorized bodies _first_ this time around, in accordance with LPNY >bylaws? Or are you hoping to sneak onto the ballot as an unauthorized >Libertarian candidate again?
>Jim Lesczynski
The fact is that I did not "sneak onto the ballot as an unauthorized Libertarian candidate". I was asked to run at both the Manhattan Libertarian Party Convention and the Queens Libertarian Party meeting. Jak Karako, Chairman of the Manhattan Libertarian Party and now Vice-Chairman of the State Committee, printed out the petitions for me. I circulated the petitions and got on the ballot. At that point, I had never even heard of the State Committee and did not even know that there was such a thing.
At 01:25 PM 9/3/2002 -0700, James Lesczynski wrote:
>Gee, I go away for a week and all hell breaks loose. ;-)
>1. Sloan filed a petition to run for Congress as the Libertarian Party >candidate. He did not have the official endorsement of the LPQC, as >required by LPQC's and LPNY's bylaws. Sloan may have in fact received >some encouragement from the officers of LPQC, who even signed his petition, >but regardless of "what was agreed to" or "no one objected to", the fact is >that Sloan was never _officially_ endorsed.
Again, Jim Lesczynski lies. On Tuesday, August 6, 2002 on the "Libertarian Party of Queens County" e-mail group, it was announced by John Clifton, Vice-Chairman of the Queens Libertarian Party, that I was running. John Clifton stated ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPQC/message/127 ):
"The following is in development for Saturday:
" 1) Scott Jeffrey would like others to join him for a Sonic Youth concert in Manhattan, as a climax to the petitioning efforts.
" 2) Sam Sloan is interested in running for Congress (7th district), and is getting Jak Karako to prepare a petition form he can do last minute petitioning. He is prepared to litigate if he falls short of the sigs required, and plans to make his case for a Queens endorsement at the meeting.
" 3) I will bring the campus organizing info I started to introduce in July, and hope to get 5 minutes to go over it.
" P&F, John "
The official monthly meeting of the Queens Libertarian Party was held on Saturday, August 10. There was a quorum present and all of the officers of the Queens Libertarian Party were there. At that meeting, it was decided primarily by Bradford R. Arter, Chairman of the Queens Libertarian Party, that it would not be necessary to hold a special meeting to endorse me as a candidate. As I had only a few days left to circulate petitions, I should circulate them, get on the ballot if possible, and, once I was on the ballot, then a special meeting would be held to endorse me as a candidate.
The decision was unanimous. Nobody disagreed with this.
Thus, both the Chairman of the Manhattan Libertarian Party, Jak Karako, who printed my petitions, and the Chairman of the Queens Libertarian Party, Bradford Arter, agreed for me to run and asked me to run. They knew that I would not be able to get 3500 signatures, as I had less than a week to get them. I told them that I would get about 200 signatures and submit them, and that is what I did.
So, Jim Lesczynski is lying when he states that I merely "received some encouragement" to run as a candidate, when in fact an official meeting was announced, held and concluded on this subject.
At 01:25 PM 9/3/2002 -0700, James Lesczynski wrote:
>Sloan knew he did not have the party's endorsement but chose to file his >petition as the Libertarian Party candidate anyway.
Once again, James Lesczynski lies. In the first place, James Lesczynski is not a member of the Queens Libertarian Party and, since I was running for US Congress in Queens, he has no standing to complain.
At 01:25 PM 9/3/2002 -0700, James Lesczynski wrote:
>4. Sloan has a history of running as a Libertarian Party candidate without >the LP's official endorsement. He got on the ballot for the special election >in January as the "Libertarian party candidate" prior to seeking the LP's >endorsement. When he did seek the party's endorsement after the fact, he was >rejected -- twice. That rejection turned out to be meaningless, since Sloan >was already on the ballot. At that time, the state LP failed to take any action >to have Sloan removed from the ballot or to have the LP label removed from >Sloan's line. In retrospect, that inaction on the part of the state LP may >have been a mistake.
More lies by Jim Lesczynski. The fact is that four members of the New York State Legislature resigned on January 1, 2002. On January 6, the New York State Board of Elections announced that special elections would be held for these vacant seats. The deadline to circulate petitions to get on the ballot was January 15, only 9 days later. Not only did I not even know about the existence of the state committee but, even had I known, the state committee did not meet at any time between January 6 and January 15. So, there was no way that I could have gone to the State Committee to get its official endorsement. More than that, Jim Lesczynski is claiming here that a candidate cannot be endorsed at a mere meeting, but that a convention must be held. The Libertarian Party of New York State never held a convention or a meeting in January to endorse candidates for the Special Election. (The Manhattan Libertarian Party did hold a convention at Carnegie Hall and endorsed Jak Karako for election. However, since I was running in Brooklyn and there is no Libertarian Party for Brooklyn or for King's County, no county convention could be held.)
At 01:25 PM 9/3/2002 -0700, James Lesczynski wrote:
>I believe that Sloan was rolling the dice again. He hoped to get on the >ballot as the LP candidate first, and would think about seeking the LP's >endorsement second. If things played out the way they did in January, the >result would once again be that a candidate was on the ballot representing >the Libertarian Party, even if he was officially rejected as the LP >candidate. (We have no way of knowing how the members of the LPQC would have >voted on Sloan's nomination, of course. However, the fact that the members of >the state committee voted twice in January to reject Sloan -- once at an >in-person meeting and again in an overwhelming online re-vote -- makes me >skeptical.)
Still even more lies by Jim Lesczynski. One difference between me and other party members is that if I say that I am going to run, I actually run. Several other party members just put their names on the ballot and never actually campaign. I ran a very energetic and active campaign when I ran for New York State Assembly in February. I could not commit myself to running this time unless I knew that I could actually run.
I was one of the two invited speakers at the convention of the Queens Libertarian Party on Saturday, June 8, 2002. I was asked if I wanted to run but I could not make the commitment at that point in time. Two people asked to be endorsed as candidates for other districts, but, as it turned out, neither of them actually ran. My mother had just died on May 16 and I had just returned from her funeral. There was and will be for the next several years extensive litigation over my mother's estate. I had a newborn baby, now nine months old, and I had a new wife. I was driving a limo 18 hours a day to support my family.
Now, Jim Lesczynski is stating that the reason I did not ask to be endorsed as a candidate on June 9, even though without doubt I would have obtained that endorsement had I asked for it, is that, according to Jim Lesczynski, I was "rolling the dice again". He points out, correctly, that "the members of the state committee voted twice in January to reject Sloan" but fails to mention that the State Committee has no authority over this Queens matter. This matter concerns the Queens Libertarian Party, not the State Committee, plus most of the people who were on the state committee which voted to reject me are no longer on that committee. http://www.lp.org/organization/NY/ In particular, Richard Copper, who was chairman of the committee which rejected me, is no longer on the committee, plus one of the people who helped me prepare my campaign for US Congress was not on the committee then but is on the committee now. This may explain why Albert Dedicke acted alone without consulting the committee. He must have known that few if any committee members other than Jim Lesczynski would agree with his actions.
I think I have written enough on this subject. I think that Jim Lesczynski should work for party unity instead of attacking Libertarian candidates who want to run for election. I would also like to point out that on the well-known test for Libertarianism, the "World's Smallest Political Quiz", which is online at http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html there is no question about gun rights. The extreme views of Jim Lesczynski on gun rights are not in the official party line. I feel that if he cannot accept the presence of those who do not agree with his extreme views, he should go out and form his own Gun Rights Party.
Sam Sloan