I know you statists think that repeating the same nonsense over and over again will make people think it's true, but that probably won't work this time for you.

The logic of liberty and the humane nature of allowing choice for people will become self evident, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

I can't call you a retard because I think you know this. Look forward to seeing you on the right side of the liberty fence!! You can't hold out forever…

If Free Staters can convince the local citizenry that their ideas will lead to people leading more constructive, satisfying lives, it's hard to see what's wrong with that. And I would think their spectacular failure in this regard would be a source of solace to people like Ms. Martens. Yet that doesn't seem to be the case. For some reason, she thinks that people will look at the behavior and ideas of Free Staters and think to themselves "Yeah, I want to be like THAT". Sad, all around.

And is Mr Campbell denying he is a member of the Party [shades of the McCarthy era!] or is denying the other scurilous rumors emenating from the Fuhrerbunker on River Rd.? And who cares ,as long as he does a good job as selectman.I would hate to have to reveal all of my associations if I ran for public office,not only would I not get elected,I would probably be run out of town.A person is judged by his associations,but his effectiveness is better judged by who makes him an enemy. —bil

what horrible things have happened to the martens since they started attacking dawn and bill?

if bill decides to affiliate himself with the FSp then he will effect how people view the fsp more than the other way around. I don't think the fsp or freestaters are going to be controlling bill cambell

some of this stuff is funny

but since they want markets to be regulated, then we will continue to oppose one another

Westmoreland News

Supporting Participatory Democracy Through Citizen News

WestmorelandNews@aol.com

March 2, 2010

In April 2009, my wife, Pam Martens, published two in-depth essays on the Free State Project’s activities in New Hampshire in the print and web based editions of CounterPunch. Since that time, a counter-offensive has been launched by Free Staters. The campaign is being directed by Dawn Lincoln, a key participant in the Free State Project who purchased a home in Westmoreland with her husband in 2007. Ms. Lincoln’s husband is Bill Campbell, who has been actively engaged in the Free State Project for many years, helping to organize their annual events, participating in those events, and encouraging people to move to New Hampshire as Free State “early movers.” Joining in the campaign is Mark Edge (real name, Edgington) who co-hosts the Free State Project sponsored radio program, “Free Talk Live.” Mr. Edgington and his wife, both Free Staters, also live in Westmoreland.

Ms. Lincoln ran in the Republican primary for State Rep from Westmoreland without advising voters she is an “early mover” from Connecticut for the Free State Project. (Ms. Lincoln was defeated by Jack Laurent.) Now Bill Campbell is running for Selectman in Westmoreland without being forthcoming about his long term involvement with the organization.

We think voters have the right to make informed choices in local, state and national elections. We think candidates have an obligation to be honest with voters.

In this vein, we are publishing over the next three days a three-part series on the Free State Project, its origins and impact on New Hampshire, adapted and updated from the original articles written by my wife.

Russ Martens, Westmoreland News

————————————————-

Like It or Not, Free Staters Plan to "Liberate" You

By Pam Martens

On the morning of Friday, February 27, 2004, at the Washington D.C. corporate headquarters of the free market think thank, the American Enterprise Institute, a far-fetched plan was carefully rolled out to the national media. The key speaker at the event was Jason Sorens, founder of the Free State Project.

The following are excerpts of remarks made by Dr. Sorens at that event, according to a transcript available at the American Enterprise Institute:

“The Free State Project started as an effort to identify the best state in the country for people who favor smaller government and stronger individual liberties to move to…

"We started signing up people in September 2001, and our growth was slow in our first few months. However, growth picked up dramatically in late 2002 and 2003, and by August 2003, we had 5,000 signed members…

"Once New Hampshire moves dramatically in a free market direction, we are going to continue to attract individuals and businesses from other states. And other states are going to have to reform their own laws in order to avoid losing their tax base to our state." [1] (Dr. Sorens calls it “our state” but in the nine years his plan has wreaked havoc on New Hampshire, he’s never actually taken up residency here.)

One of the most astute questions at this conference came from a man identified in the transcript as William Kelly of Cox Newspapers:

"KELLY: My question is for Jason. I was wondering, when you sign people up, do you do any kind of background check on them or anything, to make sure that you're not importing rapists and thieves to New Hampshire?…

"SORENS: No background checks. I think libertarians wouldn't like that, too privacy invading and too resource consuming as well. So to some extent this is built on trust. Everyone I've met has been normal and well adjusted.”

Jenna Wolf of the Union Leader out of Manchester honed in on another obvious area:

“Have you talked to residents? What are their feelings about this?”

Dr. Sorens assured Ms. Wolf:

“…we have solicited the opinions of people who live in New Hampshire in our forum…And the responses I have gotten have been overwhelmingly positive, conditional. So long as you are good neighbors and really support the political ideals that you talk about, then they are supportive.”

In just four months, both the lack of background checks as well as resident reaction would blow up in Dr. Sorens’ face.

Just nine days before Dr. Sorens gently rolled out his case to a strategically selected group of corporate think tanks and reporters viewed as market friendly at the headquarters of the American Enterprise Institute, Tim Condon, at the time the Director of Member Services at the Free State Project and a Tampa, Florida lawyer, had mapped out an offshoot strategy. The plan was to create a Free Town Project as well – “a low-population town in that same state where Porcupines can congregate….” (Free Staters refer to themselves as Porcupines – upset them at your own risk.) The tiny town of Grafton, New Hampshire was chosen. [2]

According to Mr. Condon’s own account of how the Grafton plan came about, an “exploratory trip was launched in early February, 2004. This time Porcupines Tim Condon and Zack Bass flew to New Hampshire from Florida, and had help from resident Free Staters in exploring. Also present was Robert Hull, who drove up from New Jersey to join us.”

Zack Bass, according to a June 20, 2004 article in The Boston Globe was actually Larry Pendarvis of Brandon, Florida: “A computer analyst who also goes by the alias Zack Bass, Pendarvis was convicted in Polk County, Fla., in 1997 of more than 100 counts of downloading child pornography, a conviction later overturned on appeal. His other enterprises include a website that peddles mail-order brides from the Philippines with the slogan, ‘Date Locally, Marry Globally.’ ” [3]

According to Free Staters, it was Mr. Pendarvis who was responsible for setting up a web site targeting local residents, which read: "This is a list of New Hampsters who have oppressed libertarians…Don't vote for them, don't hire them, don't buy from them, don't sell to them." The list included a Judge, the Selectmen, the Selectmen's Clerk, an attorney, a police chief, various police officers, and former Governor Benson. The web site is still accessible. [4] (In Westmoreland, my husband and I are the Free Staters' favorite pinatas.)

Hostilities flared against the Free Staters in Grafton by residents, followed by a large town meeting and unflattering local and national press. Dr. Sorens has persistently blamed all of this on Pendarvis and dismissed it by noting that Pendarvis was expelled from the Free State Project. Dr. Sorens fails to note that it was he who declined to do background checks and it was his own Director of Member Services at the time, Tim Condon, who has acknowledged in his own article that he was part of the conception and planning of the Free Town Project and made the exploratory trip to Grafton with Pendarvis (aka Zack Bass) in February 2004.

Today, Free Staters in Grafton host an annual “anarchic campout” in the town, advertising the following slate of activities: “There will be drinking, burning things, sitting around BSing, bands, toilets and showers in the woods, talking about the revolution, and of course a giant burning rodent. It'll be one big party. Lloyd is going to do a naked fire dance. “ [5]

While outwardly advocating a government that imposes no taxes for education, Dr. Sorens collects his paycheck from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a tax funded institution. He also has a long history of corporate-based funding.

The Mercatus Center lists him as an Affiliated Scholar. It, and its sister organization, Institute for Humane Studies, have funded Dr. Sorens research since at least 2002 according to public records. [6]

Mercatus is the Latin term for markets. Thanks to an in-depth report published in September 2006 by the public interest nonprofit, Public Citizen, and OMB Watch, we know a great deal about the agenda of the Mercatus Center. [7]

[As part of its anti-regulatory agenda] “Mercatus staffers were pushing rollbacks that would directly benefit their corporate patrons. BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, and the Kochs, for example, would benefit from 14 of the suggestions…filed in 2001 to weaken the Clean air Act. These petrochemical companies would also benefit from four of the Mercatus Center’s 2002 submissions calling for the weakening of the Clean Water Act…

“By far the biggest corporate contributor to the Mercatus Center, and the group with the clearest personal ties to it, is the Koch group of foundations and, through them, Koch Industries. A privately-held $25 billion petroleum, chemical, and agricultural company based in Wichita, Kansas, Koch Industries has good reason to angle for a rollback of environmental standards. In 2001, the company’s petroleum division pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act for releasing benzene, a known carcinogen, into the air at a Texas refinery. Koch agreed to pay $10 million in criminal fines and further agreed to spend $10 million for environmental projects in the Corpus Christi area. In addition, Koch must complete a five-year term of probation and adhere to a strict new environmental compliance program.”

How much exactly has Dr. Sorens received from the Mercatus Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, and George Mason University Foundation? Requests for specific dollar amounts to Dr. Sorens, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and each of the nonprofits was met with silence.

A notice on the web site of the department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where Dr. Sorens now teaches and conducts research, notes that “Jason Sorens and his co-author William P. Ruger, an Assistant Professor at the Texas State University, San Marcos published a study on Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom with the Mercatus Center of George Mason University. The study presents an evidence based ranking of the 50 states in terms of both their provisions for and protection of personal and economic freedoms. Professor Sorens also continues to oversee a grant from Donors Trust. The grant supports a series of research workshops on ‘Markets and States.’ ”

Exactly 13 days after the study on Freedom in the 50 States was released, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law at the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions in Ohio, another free markets nonprofit, used the document in testimony on a House Bill in Ohio threatening to “initiate legal action” if the bill was signed into law. The testimony noted, from the report, that “Ohio recently ranked 38th in an index of economic freedom amongst the 50 states.” The bill the Center wanted to kill would have eased mortgage loan modifications to prevent foreclosures on distressed homeowners.

DonorsTrust, which funded Dr. Sorens “Markets and States” workshops, explains itself this way: “DonorsTrust was established as the sole donor-advised plan dedicated to promoting a free society and serving donors who share that purpose. To date, DonorsTrust has received $230 million from these donors who are both dedicated to liberty and to the cause of perpetuating a free and prosperous society through philanthropic means…Know that any contributions to our DonorsTrust account that have to be reported to the IRS will not become public information. Unlike with private foundations, gifts from your account will remain as anonymous as you request.”

Anonymity by the donors funding Dr. Sorens is not the only black hole. Homes and property purchased by Free Staters in Grafton are in the names of an array of limited liability corporations with no ability to ascertain the true party in interest.

A home in Westmoreland occupied by a Free Stater is also owned by a limited liability corporation.

Notes.

[1] Transcript of Jason Sorens speaking at the American Enterprise Institute

[2] Tim Condon maps out the plan for the Free Town Project in Grafton

[3] “Grafton’s Messy Liberation,” Boston Globe, June 20, 2004

[4] Blood Bath & Beyond, Grafton Locals Targeted

[5] Anarchic Campout in Grafton http://burningporcupine.com/

[6] Jason Sorens affiations with The Mercatus Center
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:NBCGMX1gMYcJ…

[7] “The Cost is Too High,” Public Citizen, OMB Report: Pgs 43 – 55,

“Meet the Mercatus Center”