Election Night

The combined LPMC/LPIN/Gividen for Governor Election Night Party will be at Bearno's Pizza located at 1 N. Pennsylvania St. (corner of Pennsylvania and Washington), Indianapolis, beginning shortly after the closing of the polls at 6p.m. This new small business is hosting the party at no cost to the LP or the campaign and will provide their regular menu with beer and wine available. They have 15 televisions, which will be tuned to 5 different new sources so we can constantly monitor developments around the country and the state. Please bring your friends & family to help us celebrate a wonderful election season!

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate
says toll-lanes key to improving state commerce
Gividen eyes toll-lanes to ease highway congestion; taxes

The time is come for the Indiana's legislators to consider the concept of truck-toll express lanes along Indiana's interstate highways, according to gubernatorial candidate, Kenn Gividen.

Gividen, a Libertarian, notes that express lanes, long supported by the American Trucking Associations, are being considered by the Department of Transportation in Washington. 'Why does Indiana always seem to be last in innovation?" he wonders.

Express toll lanes are constructed along side existing interstate highways. Truckers travel at an increased speed with fewer exit ramps to impede their travel. Gividen says that, while truck would pay tolls, they would be exempt from federal fuel taxes and user fees while traveling on the express lanes.

The candidate also says such a project would have significant benefits for Hoosiers. These include:

• Alleviate congestion on Indiana's interstate system.
• Improve traffic flow.
• Improve travel time.
• Enhance the state's economy.
• Be funded by tolls; not tax dollars.
• Improve safety.
• Reduce shipping cost.

What's more, the tolls from the new lanes would help fund Indiana's highway infrastructure. The candidate points to proposed routes already in consideration in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa as evidence that the concept is worthy of consideration.

Citing a report in the <I>Indiana Legislative Insight</I>, he also notes that, nation-wide, two prospective Indiana routes rank in the top 11 in projected revenue-generation. Most notable is the I-65 corridor that stretches from Gary to Nashville, Tennessee.

Gividen admits the concept has its hurdles. Most notable, he says, is the start up cost that he estimates to be around $700,000. But, unlike other construction projects, the cost of express toll lanes would be recouped from tolls and could even become profitable. To avoid that obstacle, Gividen says legislators should consider allowing the project to be managed by a private for-profit firm.

TOPIC: Libertarians wonder why Democrat Kernan doesn’t want Libertarian Gividen at debates

CONTACT: Brad Klopfenstein, 317-920-1994 or lpinhq@lpin.org

So, Joe, are you against one-class basketball too?
Gov. Kernan invites Republican nominee, but not Libertarian Gividen, to three debates

Why doesn’t Gov. Joe Kernan want Libertarian Kenn Gividen in the gubernatorial debates?

At a time when involvement in politics is at an all-time low, and the lament all over the state is that voters deserve more choices, it is quite ironic that Kernan excludes the state’s No. 3 political party from the debates.

Gividen, who was the first nominee in the 2004 governor’s race, invited all of his challengers to a debate on April 24, the day he was nominated at the Libertarian Party of Indiana convention.

The Libertarian Party’s candidate has been in the debates in 1996 and 2000, the races that came after the party achieved automatic ballot access in 1994.

It’s obvious that Hoosiers are accepting Libertarians.

• Vote totals have increased with each election.

• Seven Libertarians serve in elected office and six in appointed office.

• The party ran 170 candidates in 2002.

Rebecca Sink-Burris garnered over 4 percent of the vote in her 2002 race for secretary of state, more than double the requirement to keep Libertarians on ballots in Indiana.

For reference, 4 percent of Indiana’s population is 240,000 people – that’s more than the populations of South Bend and Evansville combined.

So, Joe, why don’t you want to debate a Libertarian?

Contact: Brad Klopfenstein - Executive director for the Libertarian Party of Indiana
Phone: 317-920-1994; cell: 317-442-4061; email: lpinhq@lpin.org

Gividen tells government to get out of the way
Democrat, Republican gubernatorial candidates will face Libertarian nominee in November

State officials frequently deny that there is anything they can do about property taxes.

They are wrong, said Kenn Gividen, the Libertarian candidate for governor. And voters know it.

“In reality, there is much state officials can do,” said Gividen. “For example, the state legislature in New Hampshire recently passed legislation that would limit state funding for new-school construction to 160 square feet per student. That put a stop to the new-school spending binge.”

Libertarians selected Gividen Saturday at the Libertarian Party of Indiana convention in Indianapolis. Two Libertarians, Jeff Adkins and Gividen, ran for the party’s nomination.

Gividen, 51, Columbus, is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Bartholomew County and the founder of the Libertarian Party Writers Bureau. He is a self-employed direct marketer and the author of The Prayer of Hannah.

“Kenn Gividen is a successful small-businessman. He is a successful author. He is a successful marketer,” said Mark W. Rutherford, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Indiana. “We need a small-business voice in the governor’s office. I am glad that the Libertarian Party of Indiana chose such a candidate in Kenn Gividen.”

Gividen said he looks forward to debating his Republican and Democrat opponents.

The Libertarian Party’s Central Committee will choose Gividen’s running mate, Rutherford said.

Libertarians also selected Joe Hauptmann, 50, Indianapolis, as its candidate for superintendent of public instruction. The physics teacher at Zionsville High School has run previously for Congress.

Also, Libertarians nominated Sam Goldstein, Indianapolis, to run in Indiana House Dist. 86. Goldstein received 81,722 votes when he ran for superintendent of public instruction in 2000, becoming the LPIN’s largest vote-getter.

Also, party members selected 41 delegates to the national convention May 27-31 in Atlanta, where Indiana Chairman Mark W. Rutherford is running for an at-large position for the Libertarian National Committee.

Political parties must get 10 percent of the vote to participate in taxpayer-funded primaries. Gividen is the first candidate to qualify for Indiana’s General Election ballot for governor.

Libertarians select candidates at self-funded conventions at the town, city, county, state and national levels.

Seven partisan Libertarians serve in elected office in Indiana, and other party members are being appointed to boards across Indiana.