Hey all,
It's good to see lots of people getting involved on this. As previously noted, I'd be happy to host. But I don't think we should charge much if anything to attend. I'd rather attract a good crowd, make them glad they came, and then appeal to people's generosity once they're inside.
Donations need not be strictly monetary, either. My theory is that virtually everyone can give either money *or* time. We can do as much with the latter as the former. I'd love for instance to have someone regularly attending Board of Supervisors meetings or other City Hall events and reporting back to us with summary briefings. If you're one of the unfortunate few who don't have money OR time to spare, you can always pledge IOUs or volunteer to let us publicize your hard-luck story as one of the hard-working, impoverished people that the LP represents. 8)
I also believe that when we ask for money, we should have a specific cause that we're raising the money *for*. Something that will let people see exactly how their contributions will be helping the cause of liberty. With the coming presidential election in the news and on peoples' minds, one possibility might be to run newspaper ads calling for all candidate debates to include alternative party candidates. These ads could also tout the Libertarian Party and urge people to register and vote with us.
Perhaps the best approach is to plan this so that the way we get people in the door is directly related to the cause for which we're raising money. On getting people in the door, I have a couple ideas. One is to get Supervisor Ed Jew to come speak, if he'll do it. We could combine his presence with a fundraiser for the SF Taxpayers Union. As a member of their steering committee, I've had to beg off on requests for the LPSF to contribute $5000 as the Republicans and most of the other groups represented on the committee have. They're kind of dormant right now, and if we gave them a targeted donation toward running some tough-on-taxes ads, that could be a nice shot in the arm and make them appreciate us more.
If Ed Jew can't or won't come, there are lots more possibilities for a local speaker or speakers of interest. I think it would be great to find a person or group that is being victimized by local government, invite them to speak to us, and raise money and volunteer hours for some kind of effort on their behalf.
The Hole In The Wall controversy comes to mind. A cover story in the current Bay Area Reporter says the dispute "appears to have settled down, for now," but that "the ruckus over the planned move of the (bar) "has left bitter feelings and a lack of trust between the bar's owners and residents. And a final resolution to the matter will not come for another two weeks, when the city's Planning Committee takes up the issue." For those who haven't heard, this story involves a gay couple who wanted to relocate their SOMA bar a few blocks away from its longtime location, and of course ran smack into the usual opposition from NIMBY neighbors using government regulations to harass them and drain their pocketbooks.
There was an article in one of the weeklies about artists in Hunters Point being threatened by redevelopment. We could invite some of these artists to come and sell us their art, with proceeds from the sales being used to pay for ads attacking the redevelopment plan. Brian O'Flynn, who spearheaded the referendum to overturn the agency's plan and is now going to court over the city refusing to honor the results on a bogus technicality, would also probably be willing to come speak to us.
Meanwhile, street festivals like the North Beach Jazz Festival, the Haight Street Fair, and the How Weird Street Fair are being squeezed by City Hall for higher and higher event fees, and/or having their ability to sell alcohol restricted. We could invite one or more organizers of these events to come talk with us, and use the money and volunteer hours raised toward purchasing and staffing booths at their event(s), perhaps even paying to be listed as an event sponsor.
And of course there are always the medical cannabis and sex work activists -- I have good connections in both communities. The government's vindictive retrial of cannabis grower & guru Ed Rosenthal (starting May 14) is big news -- if we could get him to come speak, that would be an attraction to lots of people besides Libertarians. And there will be a bunch of sex work related stuff happening July 7-14, including the Desiree Alliance conference, which last year brought about 150 attendees to Las Vegas and resulted in terrific media exposure. Getting involved with that event could be very beneficial to the LP.
We could also screen a film. I should shortly be getting a DVD copy of a film called "Entheogens." This has yet to be released, but I saw part of an advance screening at a recent MAPS fundraiser, and it is a fantastic, beautifully made documentary -- production quality on the level of mainstream commercial films, imho -- that offers powerful testimony for the decriminalization of mind-altering substances on spiritual, medical, and humanistic grounds. You can see a five-minute sample here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-342896379933467783 .
Anyway, I hope this post makes clear we have lots of possibilities open to us.
Love & liberty,
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