American Heritage Party
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| American Heritage Party | |
|---|---|
| Party Chairman | Daniel Eby |
| Senate Leader | None |
| House Leader | None |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | P.O. Box 241. Leavenworth, WA 98826-0241 |
| Political ideology | Paleoconservatism, nationalism, dominionism |
| Political position | Fiscal: Right-wing Social: Right-wing (Non-interventionist) |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colour(s) | Red, White, and Blue |
| Website | http://americanheritageparty.org |
The American Heritage Party (AHP, previously the Washington Taxpayers Party) is a splinter offshoot of the Constitution Party (CP) of the United States. It began as a state affiliate of the Constitution (then Taxpayers) Party, and after an acrimonious division of the state party, the AHP separated from the national party. The AHP then reorganized into a national party organization, competing directly against the Constitution Party for the support of Christians, constitutionalists, and right wing conservatives. The AHP has one state party affiliate.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
The American Heritage Party originally began as a Washington State affiliate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party (USTP) in 1992, primarily as a campaign vehicle for William C. Goodloe, a former Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, who ran for the United States Senate that year.
After meeting Howard Phillips in 1991, Goodloe agreed to form a state party affiliate in support of a new national party effort. Goodloe changed the name of his fledgling party from "The American Party" to "Washington Taxpayers Party" (WTP). Judge Goodloe helped Phillips gain ballot access for the U.S. Taxpayers Party in Washington, allowing Phillips to run as a WTP presidential candidate during the 1992 campaign, while Goodloe also ran as a WTP candidate.
Goodloe appeared on the Primary Election ballots, but getting onto the General Election ballot for that office required a minimum 1 percent of the vote statewide. Failing to meet the legal minimum, Goodloe ran in the General Election as a write-in candidate. The laws for a presidential candidate in Washington being different than other offices, Phillips was not listed on the Primary ballots but only on the General Election ballots.
Goodloe recruited about 50 paid members for the WTP, but the conventions were used only for formal nominations of candidacy (as required by state law for ballot access) and no party officers were elected.
Washington became one of 21 states to gain ballot access in the U.S. Taxpayers Party's first bid for president. Washington Taxpayers Party had four delegates to the first U.S. Taxpayers Party National Convention in New Orleans that year: William Goodloe, Richard Goodloe (his son), Todd and Michele Richert (husband and wife).
In 1993, Goodloe left the Taxpayers Party and the state party became defunct. He turned the records and checking account over to Todd Richert who was appointed State Coordinator by the national party.
[edit] 1996 elections
For the 1996 election cycle, Todd Richert recruited John Beal to assist with ballot access. Beal in turn located activists Daniel Eby and Lisa Shinn, among others. Howard Phillips flew out to attend the ballot access meetings, insisting that formal party organizing should be part of the agenda. Richert was elected State Chairman, and a motion was passed giving the new chairman authority to make certain appointments for the state party.
For the second time, Howard Phillips was the presidential nominee of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, however his original vision was not for himself to be a candidate, but that an effective third party could recruit a name-brand candidate with a legitimate chance at winning a third party race for the presidency. Thus, Howard insisted he was only a stand-in candidate for purposes of qualifying the party for ballot access, and intending to step aside the moment a more credible candidate sharing the same ideals was recruited to the party.
Conservative icon Pat Buchanan, a personal friend of Phillips, was running for the Republican Presidential nomination. John Beal, Dan Eby, and Todd Richert were all seated as delegates at the Republican State Convention in May 1996, partly for the advancement of Ellen Craswell's gubernatorial bid, and partly for the promotion of Buchanan's campaign. Beal and Richert had been simultaneously coordinating the Washington Taxpayer Party ballot access meetings, with a view that Buchanan failing to gain a Republican nomination would have a backup strategy of running for President in the General Election on a third party ticket.
Thus, Pat Buchanan, though never officially connected with the Taxpayers Party in any way, became the primary recruiting tool by which Richert, Beal, and Eby promoted the cause of ballot access in Washington State. (Eby was careful during this time to avoid official connections with the third party, as he held a minor office in the Republican Party and preferred to avoid any dual membership conflicts. Shinn similarly wanted to prevent any connection which may compromise the Craswell campaign.) Hundreds of phone hours and thousands of mailers promoted the Washington Taxpayers Party ballot access meetings using the 'carrot' of a potential Buchanan candidacy.
Ultimately, Buchanan refused to switch parties that year and Howard Phillips remained the presidential candidate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1996.
[edit] Formal structure
Even before the elections were over, several of Richert's activists expressed a strong desire for a more permanent state party, rather than to solely seek ballot access at each election. Richert instituted a formal party membership system in November 1996, and recruited a small Policy Board which would work to organize a formal party structure. Todd Richert, John Beal, Lisa Shinn, and Keven Haining were the first members of the Policy Board, followed the next month by Dan Eby, who was slow to join because it would mean resignation of his position with the Republican Party.
Richert explained his choice for leadership recruits as being those dedicated activists who he perceived to be more mature Christians than himself. This strategy quickly bore fruit.
Soon the group saw that Eby had tremendous gifts for administration, and it was mutually agreed that at the next organizing convention, the Policy Board would encourage the membership to endorse a slate of state officers which included Eby assuming position as State Chairman.
The Washington Taxpayers Party flourished under Eby's leadership.
When it became apparent that former GOP gubernatorial nominee Ellen Craswell may consider switching parties, Eby consulted Phillips on the wisdom of changing the state party's name, even though it would mean having a different name than the national party. (It had become known to the State Committee that Craswell was very partial to "American Heritage", which the committee members preferred as well.)
Phillips told Eby that recruiting a personality like Craswell was 'worth a million dollars in publicity', and encouraged Eby to consider the name change. Most of the state membership preferred the name American Heritage Party to Washington Taxpayers Party, so when Eby called a special convention for considering the name change, the nays were few. Washington Taxpayers Party became American Heritage Party in 1998, but still a state affiliate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party (USTP).
Craswell formally announced her switch from the Republican Party to the American Heritage Party at a press conference on the steps of the State Capital in Olympia. The AHP enjoyed a surge of membership, including many recruits from the leadership and volunteers of Craswell's 1996 campaign.
It is hard to overstate the Craswell influence on the party's rapid expansion; without her credibility and endorsement it simply would not have been possible on that scale. Conversely, after she left the AHP, most of the paid membership did not renew.
[edit] The politics of subtraction
Many AHP members had previously been members of the Washington State Republican Party, or at least, frequent supporters of Republican candidates. One of the common complaints was a lack of accountability, and the tendency to "take Christians for granted" by assuming that regardless of who won the Republican nomination, conservatives would have no choice but to vote Republican, even if the candidate was merely a "lesser liberal" than the Democratic rival.
For several years, Howard Phillips had been preaching a third party solution to this dilemma, which now resonated strongly with AHP/CP members. He called it "the politics of subtraction". In short, it meant that if both Republicans and Democrats were fielding pro-abortion candidates, the Republicans could be penalized for abandoning their own party platform by the simple act of offering a pro-life option on a third party ticket.
Ideally, a third party candidate would run a race to win. However, in cases where resources were insufficient for victory in the General Election, it might be possible to gain enough third party votes to equal the margin of difference between the two major parties, and by subtracting enough pro-life votes from the pro-abortion Republican, it would deny victory to the liberal Republican candidate.
In 1998, the AHP was presented with ideal opportunities to execute this strategy.
[edit] 1998 election
The 1998 election cycle represented a high water mark for the AHP. It was the peak of growth and excitement for party members.
At the 1998 State Convention, Ellen Craswell's husband, Bruce Craswell, was recruited to run for U.S. Congress in the 1st Congressional District, while John Beal ran in the 5th. Both candidates were reluctant at the initial suggestion, but with wide support among party members and encouragement from many directions, they each embraced the challenge and gave the AHP its finest hour.
Bruce Craswell and John Beal took their respective assignments seriously, running to win. Both ran against incumbent Republicans believed to have weak voting records on pro-life issues.
In the 5th district, George Nethercutt won by a substantial margin and returned to Congress. John Beal received only 5 percent of the vote, but represented the AHP to great advantage throughout the campaign, as his background in study of the U.S. Constitution offered many opportunites for voter education on fundamental issues.
Some AHP members were optimistic enough to hope that the familiar Craswell name, running in his home district, may actually get elected to Congress as a third party candidate. At 6 percent, Bruce Craswell placed a distant third, however by offering pro-life voters a genuine choice, the Republican incumbent was defeated. Republican Rick White had won the previous two general elections with over 50 percent of the vote each time, 1994 and 1996, but the Craswell candidacy in 1998 pushed White's totals below 45 percent.
The difference between Democrat and Republican totals in that race were slightly less than the total percentage received by the AHP candidate. Therefore political pundits generally agree that Bruce Craswell played the spoiler for the Republicans' campaign, especially in light of the conservative political positions advanced by Craswell which were largely in synch with the themes of many conservative Republican candidates.
Despite losing the race, Craswell's supporters claimed a secondary victory based on "the politics of subtraction" principle. They point out that after Rick White was removed from office, he hasn't voted for a single piece of pro-abortion legislation since.
[edit] 2000 election
For the 2000 election cycle, the national party held its nominating convention a year early, in 1999, in order to take advantage of certain campaign fundraising laws. At that meeting, several disagreements arose between Eby and other members of the National Committee over misunderstandings about meeting procedure and other rules.
Another source of conflict arose when the national party finally ended a name-change process which had been churning contentiously for many years, and did not decide in Eby's favor. They chose "Constitution Party" rather than "American Heritage Party" as the new name for the national organization. (The state parties were permitted to maintain separate party names respective to the desires of each individual state party.)
This, plus other issues, inspired Eby to begin the movement for disaffiliation. The other state party leaders were split on whether to support the national party or the state party. This rift ultimately destroyed the organization that Eby had built for over two years.
In the end, the AHP and the CP both ran as separate parties during the 2000 election cycle; Lorne Blackman ran for Washington State Representative under the AHP banner while Howard Phillips ran as the CP nominee for President of the United States.
[edit] Death of a vision
At its peak, the American Heritage Party had over 700 paid members. Immediately after the split it had dropped to under 50.
The process was long and bitter; one uncomfortable meeting after another. From meetings of the Executive Committee to a special State Convention to State Committee meetings, friends who had worked in loving harmony for the cause of Jesus Christ now met like separated spouses fighting over child custody.
By the end of the conflict, some of the membership perceived that it had devolved into a grudge match between Eby (current chairman) and Richert (former chairman), however neither Eby nor Richert shared that view. Both insisted that higher principles were at stake.
Bruce and Ellen Craswell quit the AHP in protest of Eby's political tactics (circa January 2000), refusing to take sides. It is believed they are now independents. Bruce Craswell described the party split as "the death of a vision".
[edit] Party split
Eby called a special convention for disaffiliation in November 1999. The act would require a change to the state party's constitution, requiring 75 percent affirmative vote. The disaffiliation side received only 53.8 percent affirmative. The pro-affiliation side asserted that the numbers would have been even lower if Eby had not railroaded the issue by actively preventing the membership from receiving pro and con arguments (otherwise known as "voter's guides") prior to the event.
After the initial failure, Eby vowed to disaffiliate in spite of the Convention's decision. He said that God had showed him a different path to achieve disaffiliation, which caused his opponents to cry foul. It appeared that Eby's primary strategy was to reduce the size of membership, in a way that would remove mostly pro-affiliation votes, and then to reconvene with smaller numbers.
At the end of the calendar year, the chairman failed to send out the renewal forms to membership, thus beginning January 1 there were only a few dozen paid members (down from over 600 in December) because nobody had sent in the annual dues. This left only the elected State Committee members still "in good standing", plus anyone who had been hand-picked to receive a renewal form (mainly Eby supporters).
The state party's constitution declared that the State Convention would represent the highest authority of the party, therefore Eby's deliberate plan to circumvent the decision of the Convention led some members to accused Eby of abusing the Chairmanship, and immoral manipulation of the rules. Nevertheless, his opponents were systematically purged from the AHP over the course of a few months.
At each subsequent State Committee meeting, Eby would announce additions and subtractions to the voting members of the State Committee. His opponents claim that some of these changes were in violation of the rules, while his supporters said that it only had the appearance of impropriety. What both sides can agree on is that every vote added to the State Committee was a pro-Eby vote and every one removed was an anti-Eby vote.
The coup de grace for Eby's opponents came in a special 'trial' that was convened under Robert's Rules of Order (February 2000). After most of his opponents had been removed from membership, Eby still had a few very vocal members who were deliberately interfering with his plans for disaffiliation. With a State Committee composed of almost exclusively Eby followers by this time, it was easy to obtain a vote of expulsion for the four unruly members: Richert, Beal, Haining, and Barry Anderson.
Most of the "accused" showed up to brave the proceedings on principle, though knowing that the outcome was predetermined. Richert brought a Beanie Baby kangaroo toy to the event as a political statement, representing his personal view that it was nothing but a "Kangaroo Court".
Three of the five founding members of the state party were kicked out of the state party that day. (Although some argue that nobody was technically expelled due to violations of Robert's Rules which made the entire proceedings null and void.)
Some of the Richert supporters wanted to take the matter to the courts for a real trial, but Richert refused to participate in any litigation, arguing that Eby's version of the American Heritage Party had nothing left worth fighting for. In addition, he had moral reservations about disagreements between fellow Christians being brought under secular jurisdiction. ("If Christ will not reconcile, then what can man do?")
In fact, the bulk of membership was in the larger counties, most of which had been forced out of the AHP already.
Prior to the disaffiliation movement, the AHP had 13 affiliated county parties organized with elected officers. However some of them were merely shells with little activity. By the time of the 'trial', the five largest county parties were all formally separated from the state party, some voluntarily and some involuntarily. Due to the strong local leadership, these five county parties had represented the overwhelming majority of dues-paying members within the state party.
In March 2000, dozens of disgruntled members of the American Heritage Party (or former members depending on one's political view) officially abandoned the wreckage of their old state party by reorganizing under the new Constitution Party moniker. The new Constitution Party of Washington was formed, with Richert elected chairman. Richert immediately applied to the national party for formal consideration as the new state affiliate. The national party rules allow only one party affiliate per state, thereby Richert's request effectively forced the national Constitution Party to choose between keeping Eby's American Heritage Party, or replacing it with a newly reorganized Constitution Party of Washington.
Richert and Eby finally found some common ground, as the American Heritage Party was kicked out of the Constitution Party, replaced by the Constitution Party of Washington as the new state affiliate. This left Eby free to pursue his plans of transforming the AHP from a state party into a national party.
[edit] National party status
Eby was elected National Chairman of the American Heritage Party in 2000.
The national party currently has one state party affiliate (in the state of origin, Washington) although the state party appears to have minimal differentiation from the national party. All the officers named on the state party webage are also named on the national party webpage but under different titles.
[edit] Electoral history
[edit] President of the United States
| Candidate | Election Year | Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Phillips | 1992 | Lost | [1] |
| Howard Phillips | 1996 | Lost | [2] |
[edit] United States Congress
| Office | Candidate | Election Year | Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Senator from Washington | William C. Goodloe | 1992 | Lost | [3] |
| U.S. Representative from Washington's 1st congressional district | Bruce Craswell | 1998 | Lost - 13,837 votes (6.11%) - 3rd Place | [4], |[5] |
| U.S. Representative from Washington's 5th congressional district | John Beal | 1998 | Lost - 9,673 votes (5.01%) - 3rd place | [6], |[7] |
[edit] Washington State Legislature
| Office | Candidate | Election Year | Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Representative from District 16 | Lorne Blackman | 2000 | Lost - 4,685 votes (22.02%) - 2nd place | [8] |
[edit] County Elections
| Office | Candidate | Election Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia County, Washington Commissioner District 3 | Don Jackson | 2002 | [9] |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official American Heritage Party website
- 72nd “American View:” Interviews Daniel Eby, National Chairman “American Heritage Party”
- One Nation Under Shatner
- American Heritage Party mocked
- 1st Congressional District election results
- 5th Congressional District election results
- Bruce Craswell's voter pamphlet statement
- John Beal's voter pamphlet statement
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