Thanks to a recent post by ballot access and election law expert Richard Winger on his long running blog, Ballot Access News, we were made aware of a great article on New Orleans Times-Picayue by Jonathan Tilove about independent Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer’s efforts to find a vice-presidential running mate.
Roemer has decided to seek the nomination of the American’s Elect organization, a website that seeks has obtained a spot on Presidential ballots across the country for a candidate that meets its criteria. Wikipedia describes Americans Elect as a “non-partisan non-profit organization in the United States hosting the first national online presidential primary in U.S. history”.
According to the Article on the New Orleans Times-Picayue, Roemer has said that “we’re looking at 23 different people to have as a running mate. Under the rules of the Americans Elect unity ticket we have to pick a Democrat or Independent”. The article also said that “With only 10 days until the first round of voting in Americans Elect’s on-line nominating process, Roemer, with a little more than 4,000 supporters, is the top declared candidate for the nomination of the private organization”.
There is also an interesting look at Roemer’s campaign’s financial situation. Take a look:
As of the end of March, the Roemer campaign was, by its standards, flush with cash with nearly $200,000 in the bank, according to its most recent Federal Election Commission filing, owing to a $185,470.11 deposit of federal matching funds. Roemer, who doesn’t accept any political action committee money or individual contributions of greater than $100, has received a total of $285,470.11 in federal matching funds. He is the only presidential candidate this cycle receiving matching monies.
Thanks again to Richard Winger. His website is a great place for election news and very comprehensive. Wikipedia describes Mr. Winger as follows:
Richard Lee Winger (born August 27, 1943) is the publisher and editor of Ballot Access News. He sits on the editorial board of the Election Law Journal and has been accepted as an expert on election law in federal courts in nine states, including California. He publishes analysis, statistics and legal information and supports more equitable laws allowing access to the ballot for minor parties.
Winger is widely regarded as an expert on ballot access and election law. Though not a lawyer, he testifies in court cases and legislative hearings and is a source for media and political organizers. He has been published in Journal of Election Law, the Fordham Urban Law Review, and other publications. Since 1985 Winger has published Ballot Access News, a monthly newsletter covering developments in ballot access law and among the minor parties generally.
Dave McMahan says
Buddy Roemer is the leading declared candidate at Americans Elect, right now. I recommend you check him out. He grew up on a cotton farm, then went to Harvard at the age of 16 (!). He was a conservative Democrat who voted on Reagan’s side alot, so he was a natural to switch over to the Republican party (though, he came from what- at the time- was a HEAVILY Democratic state). He served as Louisiana’s Governor, then, but has been in the PRIVATE SECTOR the last 20 years, starting and running three successful businesses (including a $750 million bank which took NO bailout money and foreclosed on NO ONE ).
Roemer is a 68-year old grandfather, a VERY successful businessman, and a retired politician who had NO desire to get into politics, again- but he says the country is on the WRONG TRACK, being steered that way by wealthy elites who are profiting off our “Ponzi-scheme-like, financialized/Wall St. Investment Banker-led, Fed-Treasury-abetted” system and the “Global Economy” (short-term profits feeding off the American people as consumers, rather than producers).
These elites (such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, GE, etc..) have made (and are continuing to make- “thanks to the FED giving them $16.1 TRILLION 2008-10 AND COUNTING of zero-interest loans and “toxic asset takeaways” and the Treasury’s SEC-regulated FASB in April of ’09 allowing them to MASSIVELY over-value their ‘underwater’ assets”- along with the continued charade of unabetted “free trade”) HUGE profits off this “race to the bottom” which is making the “richest” (elites) get richer while the rest of us get “poorer” (we’ll end up like a “banana republic”, if they continue to have their way).
The “bought and paid for” (with donations from these multi-national corp’s. and banksters) “Demican” and “Republocrat” parties are SCARED TO DEATH of the American people recognizing them for what they are and LEAVING THEM.
Buddy Roemer is a former politician AND a successful banker, so he KNOWS the “games” these people use and HOW TO FIX AMERICA (“stop the corruption”, “stop the financial greed”, “put the banking and finance communities back on a ‘short leash’ and ‘solid ground’, institute ‘smart trade’ ” and “put America back to work- getting the capital back into production”). Of course, we’ll have to elect a Congress “worth a darn” and “STAY VIGILANT AND INVOLVED” !!!
Buddy Roemer is a smart, successful businessman and an honest politician who truly loves America. He wants campaign finance reform limiting the “big boys” to giving under the limits the rest of us (individuals) are limited by with full disclosure of donations and criminal penalties (which do NOT exist now) for violations. He, also, wants to make it illegal for lobbyists to give checks to politicians. Buddy is “free to lead” as he will NOT take a campaign donation over $100 (to prove- unlike Obama who had a “$35,800 per plate fundraiser in Dec. 2011 which was sponsored by GOLDMAN SACHS and Romney who takes millions from Super-PAC’s- that he is NOT BOUGHT OFF).
I can only advise people that one, street-wise definition of “insanity” is to “keep doing the same thing and expect different results”. We have been “bouncing back and forth” between these modern, “Wall Street Investment banker-financed”, “free trade” globalist Republocrats and Demicans, now for twenty years (of course, the “mainstream”, dinosaur media which these same elites own tell us, “they’re the only realistic ones to choose from”- “just keep choosing from the ‘lesser of two evils’ “).
It’s time to go “unconventional” and let “We The People” take this country back with a candidate like Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt- BUDDY ROEMER !!! GO BUDDY !!!!
http://www.americanselect.com
Adrian Tawfik says
Thanks for the comment. It is very well written and thorough. Good luck to Buddy Roemer – this year’s most valid third party Presidential Candidate. If you have any interest of writing about Roemer or the presidential race, send us an email and perhaps we can work something out. Thanks!
Say Amen says
Buddy Roemer is the best talker in the presidential election campaign. When I heard him speak I was impressed and became a supporter and donated to his campaign. When he switched to Americans Elect after receiving a pathetic 4/10 of 1% vote in the New Hampshire primary, however, I started to do research about him. He is not the wonderful candidate that he appears to be.
He has adopted a technique often used by political demagogues. He relies on the dissatisfaction of the American public toward politics and politicians. His strategy is to attack everyone in politics and the whole system in order to present himself as someone different — an honest politician.
Mr. Roemer’s trick is to blame all the faults of American politics on the excessive money that is raised and spent on political campaigns. Although this problem has existed for decades and there are other problems that are even more important now, almost everyone agrees that the huge cost of political campaigns is an issue. It is a political position that is not disputed, so Mr. Roemer can safely use it as his central theme without being challenged. That is like betting the sun will rise tomorrow. He can’t lose. (See the 1987 NY Times article about Buddy, cited below, where he says he uses his poker technique in politics). He claims the system is corrupt and all other politicians are corrupted. He is betting that because he is so effective at stating this problem, the public will assume that he is the one and only solution.
The real question is not whether there should be campaign finance reform, as Buddy harangues with convincing ferocity. The question is whether Buddy is the man who will fix it. To answer that question, we need to look at his history to learn if he really was as good a congressman and governor as he claims.
Many people accept everything Buddy says about himself as true (as I did). That is a dangerous assumption when dealing with a politician. Let’s look at the record. Independent, objective, and reliable historians and journalists have shown Buddy Roemer to be an exceptionally effective public speaker who is not averse to fabricating the truth to make his point, but is an incompetent disaster when holding public office. Roemer has to be the worst public official that I have ever studied. I thought I was a critical, intelligent voter, but even I was, for a time, fooled by Roemer’s fancy talk.
If you will read the citations below, you will see that I am not making this stuff up.
Most of the things Buddy says about his past are false. See this web page and the comments showing that he obtained a reputation in Louisiana as a liar who did it because he enjoyed seeing if he could get away with it.
https://www.first-draft.com/
That reputation continues to today, as shown by this article written by a political journalist on Louisiana’s leading newspaper, who jibes Mr. Roemer for his current exaggerations and falsehoods:
https://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2011/03/who_is_this_man_former_louisia.html
A PPP poll of Louisiana voters, just released, shows that here in his own home state, he has the worst rating of any candidate for president. Two out of three of the people who know him best have an unfavorable opinion of him. (28% favorable, 56% unfavorable). Twenty years after he last held office, he is still Louisiana’s UNfavorite son.
In this election, he claimed to be a solid Republican, but had a pitifully inept and ineffective campaign. He failed in both the polls and the Republican primaries, especially in New Hampshire, where he campaigned personally almost every day for months and spent over $100,000 on TV and radio ads, but could not even win just one-half of one percent in the election. He will not take personal responsibility for this failure, blaming it on evil forces within the Republican party and the political system that excluded him from the debates.
He has invented a false conspiracy theory for the reason he was not invited to any debate. The debates were run by the networks and they set the rules, not the Republican party. The networks announced that the candidates must have received only 1% at least on several national polls (as the debates went on, they increased the thresholds). These minimum, totally objective standards have been used since the 1960’s. They keep the debates relevant and meaningful by keeping out candidates who have no significant campaign or following and would only detract from the serious candidates. Buddy claims the Republicans intentionally kept him out although he had 4% or 5% on national polls. The truth is that he never had anything close to 4% on any national poll. He did not make the debates because he could not meet the reasonably set minimum standards on the national polls. If he had 4%, as he falsely claims, he would have been on all the debates. For a comprehensive report on all national polls see:
https://www.pollingreport.com/wh12rep.htm
Roemer says he is an honest politician who cannot be bought. However, his actions speak with greater honesty than his words. After failing in the Republican primaries, he switched to the nomination of Americans Elect because he wants to be bought. AE is a secret organization controlled by unknown big money donors who have an agenda. We do not know who they are or what agenda they intend. They have the control of the Americans Elect from behind the curtain. They can override the public internet “supporters.” They may also control the counting and the reporting of the AE vote. This appears to be a set-up job with Roemer’s mentor, Harvard professor Lessig on the Board. Go to irregulartimes.com and search there for articles on Americans Elect.
Roemer talks against corruption and argues for transparency, then seeks the AE nomination, effectively using AE’s $20 million financed by unknown donors to launch his campaign. He limits contributions to $100 because he does not need it. AE will provide the funds.
Roemer did the same thing in the past. In 1991 he was such a bad governor that he could not hope to be re-elected as a Democrat, so he cut a deal with the Republican party to switch to Republican if they would finance his campaign. See this history:
https://www.salon.com/2011/03/03/roemer_duke_president/
In 1987 he won election because he could mesmerize the crowd with his preacher-like talk condemning corrupt politics. But once elected, he did not have a clue how to govern. His personality is that of a loner, a curmudgeon, damning the world with such passion and skill using his “Buddy Talk.” See this fascinating history as to how he struggled to try to figure out what to do as governor. The author tried to make a flattering story about Roemer, but you can see as you read it that Roemer is a strange, unbalanced person who has no ability to serve in any high public office. https://www.hamiltonmixon.com/Ballad.pdf
Raymond D. Strother, a professional political consultant who was hired by Roemer to guide his last successful campaign in 1987 calls Roemer “a misfit.”
https://www.sentinelsource.com/politics/n_h_elects_2012/buddy_roemer/idealistic-outsider-roemer-aims-for-high-office/article_02d4de1f-ce50-556c-a3cf-490dcf0d9fa0.html
Buddy Roemer turned out to be one of the worst governors in Louisiana history. He could not get along with people. He could not put together a competent staff. He lacked the political common sense and ability to pass legislation. He did not work hard and seemed to love the adoration of his campaign followers but had no ability to govern. To see Buddy’s ineffective record as governor and congressman look at this excellent history of Louisiana’s governors, pages 259-268:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-0-kmu4vk0C&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=%22Often+wrong,%22+Roemer&source=bl&ots=GXt38E_jVv&sig=poXJMn9QbCUESjDIP2-foOb3YLY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n-xjT7CXDOORiQL8n_SiDw&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22Often%20wrong%2C%20but%20never%20in%20doubt%22%20Roemer&f=false
As a congressman he was inept. He chaired no committees and did not author any significant legislation. His only accomplishment in Congress was that he won money at poker. Yes, he was a convincing bluffer.
A NY Times article from 1987 describes Mr. Roemer’s record as a poker player, his only achievement in his eight years in Congress.
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/10/us/washington-talk-avocations-networking-at-the-poker-table.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Mr. Roemer says his primary communication style as President will be to resume his successful poker career. Note his statement in this article, the fourth paragraph from the end, beginning with “If elected,”:
He says he “would emphasize listening and working in a bipartisan way, through poker games.” Incredible!
Recently Roemer admitted that when he was a Congressman he hardly did any work. Instead, he spent his time either playing or thinking about Fantasy Baseball (when he was not playing poker). See this video at 1:24 to 1:49
https://www.ultimatesportstalk.com/2012/04/21/former-louisiana-governor-buddy-roemer-loves-fantasy-baseball/
Americans have been deceived by slick politicians in the past. Let’s try to investigate what candidates have done rather than gullibly accept what they say. Buddy Roemer will not withstand that scrutiny.