Stephen P. Gordon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephen P. "Steve" Gordon (b. July 31, 1962) is a libertarian political consultant and activist. Gordon accepted the position of Communications Director for the Libertarian Party in June, 2006 and served as the party's Political Director until June 2007.[1] After resigning his position with the national party, he was named Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama at the LPA's 24 June 2007 convention.
In addition to his former positions with the national Libertarian Party, Gordon was co-editor of the libertarian news blog Hammer Of Truth, he teaches campaign management at the Libertarian Leadership School, and is a member of the American Association of Political Consultants.
He was the campaign Communications Director during Michael Badnarik’s run for President of the United States during the 2004 elections. Gordon also managed Hollywood producer Aaron Russo's campaign for the Libertarian nomination in 2004.
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[edit] Political background
Gordon’s first notable position with a political campaign was managing south Arlington County, Virginia during the Oliver North for Senate campaign. Following the Republican Revolution in 1994, Gordon became increasingly disenchanted with the Republican Party. His gradual transformation to the Libertarian Party was completed by 1999, when he was a local organizer in Macon, Georgia for Harry Browne’s presidential campaign.
Gordon moved back to his native Alabama in 2002 where he became involved in state level Libertarian Party activities. His first project was manage Libertarian Party efforts to defeat Amendment One, the tax increase plan proposed by Republican Governor Bob Riley. He was credited by talk radio host Russ Fine as a "the leader in Internet activism" for his efforts in directing an online campaign against the tax plan, as well as for his article titled "Open Letter to the Governor of Alabama", which spread across the Internet during the political debate on the issue. Under Gordon’s direction, the Libertarian Party of Alabama hosted a meeting in Birmingham, Alabama between many of the key people and organizations opposing the ballot measure. Key personalities from the Tennessee Tax Revolt shared their experiences from recent tax battles in the neighboring state. In attendance were representatives from the Eagle Forum, talk radio programs, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Libertarian Party and local businessman Stan Pate. The primary result of this meeting was a coordinated coalition activity geared toward defeating the ballot measure. While the Alabama Republican Party eventually offered a weak disapproval of Riley’s tax plan, the Libertarian Party of Alabama was the only political party to offer active resistance to the proposed tax hike. The measure was rejected by voters on September 9, 2003, with 68 percent opposed to it.
From 2003 to 2005, Gordon was involved with various state level political activities, including election reform and medical marijuana legislation. Gordon served as Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama from 2004 until his resignation in 2006. During the 2005 elections, Gordon consulted with Libertarian, Democratic and Republican city council campaigns in Birmingham, Alabama. After his 2007 resignation from his national LP staff position, he accepted the position of Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama.[2]
[edit] 2004 presidential races
In early 2004, Aaron Russo asked Gordon to manage his campaign for president of the United States. While some considered Russo's earthy, emotionally powerful presentation a bit rough for polite circles, others considered him to pose a serious threat to incumbent President George W. Bush, pulling enough votes from otherwise likely Bush voters to affect the outcome in battleground states, in the same way that Ralph Nader was considered to be in relation to Democrat John Kerry. [3][4]
At the LP national convention in Atlanta, Georgia in May 2004, Russo narrowly won a plurality on the first two ballots, but not a majority. He was defeated on the third and final ballot by nominee Michael Badnarik by a vote of 423-344. George Washington University credited Gordon [5] with running a "professional campaign" as well as directing two television commercials and a well designed website.
Following Russo's loss at the Libertarian Party Convention, Gordon eventually became the Communications Director for the Badnarik campaign, for which he utilized the Internet to raise about one third of the approximately million dollars raised during the campaign.
Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb were arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 8, 2004, for an act of civil disobedience. Badnarik and Cobb were protesting their exclusion from the presidential debates of the 2004 presidential election campaign. They were arrested after crossing a police barricade in an attempt to serve an "Order to Show Cause" to the Commission on Presidential Debates. Gordon's blog coverage [6] of the event at Badnarik's website was the primary news source of the arrest.
By the end of the election cycle, Badnarik's presidential campaign had obtained ballot access in 48 states plus the District of Columbia (the Libertarian Party failed to obtain ballot access in Oklahoma and New Hampshire, although Badnarik received write-in votes in New Hampshire), and placed nationwide political advertisements on CNN and Fox News in addition to local advertising buys in the swing states of Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona.
No national polls including Badnarik had put him above 1.5%, though one poll put him at 5% in New Mexico and another at 3% at Nevada.[7]. A Rasmussen Group poll on 26 October 2004 put Badnarik at 3% in Arizona.[8] Gordon coordinated most of the polling operations for this campaign.
Badnarik polled just under 400,000 popular votes nationwide, in the 2 November 2004 election, taking 0.34% of the popular vote and placing fourth, just behind Ralph Nader.
