Business as unusual

Disclaimer: This is NOT an official communication of Kubby for President. It is a personal statement which was not approved, or even seen, by the candidate prior to its publication. I assume sole responsibility for its content -TLK

I just got off the phone with Steve Kubby a few minutes ago. At his request (and per my longstanding desire), I have tendered my resignation as his campaign manager.

If the above sounds a lot like "Knapp got fired," yeah, pretty much ... but let me plainly state that I fully concurred with Steve's judgment, and was more than happy to resign a title which I never wanted to hold in the first place. If I'd thought he was making a mistake, I'd have argued the point and forced him to fire me if he wanted me gone.

Gone, by the way, I am not. I still support Steve's campaign, I expect to continue working with Steve's campaign in various roles, and I'm not available to any other presidential campaign in any role.

I'll discuss the straw the broke the camel's back in a moment, but first, a recruiting pitch for my own replacement: If you are a political professional with campaign management experience, the Kubby campaign needs you. I became campaign manager over my own objections, because there was no one else to do the job ... and it is a job that very much needs to be done.

I stand by my claim that Kubby is, as of this time, the only remotely plausible candidate who has so far declared for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination. What he needs is a political professional who can take a very strong core team of volunteers and create a successful campaign organization. I'm not that person, and I never was. If you think you may be, drop me a line and I'll put you through to The Man as part of an interview list.

I can't over-emphasize this: The Libertarian Party is in danger of throwing away what could be one of its best presidential election opportunities ever. A number of factors, internal and external to the party, are driving us in that direction ... and right now the only counter-force to that trend is Steve Kubby.

That could change with the prospective entry of new candidates, but it hasn't changed yet -- and we can't afford to just wait and hope for the best. Right now, Kubby is the only horse on the track for those who care about the party's future.

And now, for those of you wondering what my resignation is all about, three words: Wayne Allyn Root. In particular, my public comments on him and his candidacy, starting with this one and this one.

When I first agreed to work with Steve, and then when he hit me up to assume the title of campaign manager, one of my clearly stated conditions was that I remain free to express my own opinions. In the case of becoming campaign manager, I had frankly hoped that that condition would be a deal-breaker (have I mentioned that I didn't want the job?), and it should have been. But it wasn't, so here we are.

Steve Kubby wants to run a very "high road" presidential campaign. He wants to talk about the issues. He wants to talk about what he has to offer to the Libertarian Party and what the Libertarian Party has to offer to America. He's happy to lay out his vision next to the visions of his opponents and trust his fellow Libertarians to choose wisely.

I think that he's spot-on with that desire and that approach ... but I'm not a high-road kind of guy. I call it like I see it, and sometimes what I see isn't pretty. I also place my estimate of the interests of the party and of the movement ahead of the interests of any candidate, including whatever candidate I happen to be working for, and that sometimes means that I deem it necessary to say things the saying of which might damage, rather than benefit, a candidate I support. Which, in a nutshell, is a hell of a reason for me to not be given management of a presidential campaign. I'm glad Steve agrees.