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Robert Sarvis Qualifies for the Ballot, this Time Without Liberal Funding?

written by Paul A. Prados July 23, 2014

Last year, conservative stalwart Ken Cuccinelli narrowly lost his bid for Governor of Virginia.  Although I believe that other factors, (press coverage predicting a McAuliffe landslide) tipped the balance away from electing one of the most freedom loving governors in our time, many laid blame on the libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis.

Sarvis

The quasi-libertarian Robert Sarvis

In 2013 Sarvis (a former Republican candidate) repeatedly took positions unorthodox to libertarian principles casting doubt on whether he actually believed in the platform underlying his nomination as a libertarian.

He said he’s “not into the whole Austrian type, strongly libertarian economics.” NRO.

He further came out in support of a vehicle miles driven tax, a tax that would require constant monitoring of driver behavior.  Breitbart.

He also expressed openness to Medicaid Expansion in Virginia as long as it was connected to more state level control.  MSNBC.

In response to these statements voluntarily made by the candidate and reported on by media, conservative publications, and conservative bloggers, supporters of Sarvis acted as if this was a smear campaign as opposed to vetting.

Then days before the election it came out that Sarvis was funded by democrats

It turns out that “Libertarian Booster PAC” was the single largest contributor (outside of the candidate himself) to the Sarvis for Governor Campaign, providing in kind services to gain ballot access for Sarvis.  Libertarian Booster PAC received almost 2/3’s of its funding from a known Obama bundler, Joe Liemandt in 2013.

This news came out the day before the election, too late to reach anyone but the most involved activists.  Blaze.

Sarvis, even if he was not a democrat plant to dilute the Cuccinelli vote, was used by democrats in an attempt to dilute the Cuccinelli vote.

Sarvis is running for Senate now, but have the democrats come out again in support in order to dilute the Gillespie vote?

Given the timing of Sarvis’ announcement, he has not had to file a campaign finance report until now.  The just now available FEC quarterly report filed by the Sarvis Campaign reflects that no funds were spent on petitioning to be on the ballot.  The question then becomes, does Sarvis have an amazing volunteer base, or is something missing from the report?

Sarvis submitted over 19,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot in Virginia this year.

Only two candidates for statewide office in Virginia (Governor and Senator) have qualified from the Libertarian party in the last ten years.

In 2008 William Redpath qualified as the Libertarian Party for Senate.  In that election year Redpath spent a little over $13,000.00 on petitioning for ballot placement.

In 2013 Robert Sarvis qualified as the Libertarian Party for Governor.  Sarvis received $10,000.00 in ballot petitioning services as in-kind contributions from “Libertarian Booster PAC.”

In federal campaigns, in-kind contributions are required to be reported just as contributions of hard dollars are reported.  Robert Sarvis for Senate has reported no ballot petitioning expenses or in-kind contributions.

Given the negative fallout from last year’s last minute revelation, if funding for ballot petitioning was funded by a not-so-libertarian group, there may be delays in reporting such donations.  If the money came from truly libertarian individuals or organizations then there will be an amendment and this will not be an issue.

But, as over 19,000 signatures were gathered, either the Libertarian Party of Virginia is far more organized than in the past ten years or something is missing from Sarvis’ report.

Robert Sarvis Qualifies for the Ballot, this Time Without Liberal Funding? was last modified: July 23rd, 2014 by Paul A. Prados
Robert Sarvis
17 comments
Paul A. Prados

Having fallen prey to the allure of DC politics in college, Paul escaped only to make the similar judgment error of going to law school. Trained at the side of a sitting state Senator, Paul is now the owner of a law firm in Reston, Virginia. In previous years Paul built a base of support on Twitter @ppradoslaw and founded and wrote for a blog on Virginia politics and legal procedure northernvirginialawyer.blogspot.com. As a pro-life libertarian, Paul finds himself at home within the broader conservative movement, and believes in a big tent Republican Party. In May 2016 Paul was elected as Chairman of the 11th Congressional District Republican Committee. Paul resides in western Fairfax County with his wife and children.

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