Liberty Maven

The purist libertarian critics of Barr are attacking him for utilizing the court system in an attempt to block the Saddleback Church Presidential Forum where McCain and Obama were invited and Barr was excluded. This libertarian applauds Barr for this fight. He is utilizing their own rules against them, even if he himself wants those rules overturned. It is true that the church is a private organization and can invite whomever they want to such an event. However, Barr’s fight is based on current election law.

“It is our opinion that the Saddleback Church forum failed to publish any pre-established, objective criteria for inviting candidates to the event,” says Russell Verney, Barr’s campaign manager. “Because of Saddleback’s apparent failure to comply with campaign finance laws, the exclusion of Bob Barr appears to be an illegal, corporate, in-kind contribution to Senators Obama and McCain.”

Federal election laws stipulate that an event such as the one Saddleback Church is hosting must provide pre-established and objective criteria for inviting candidates.  A failure to do so can be considered an illegal campaign contribution.

I’m not sure Barr has much hope for winning this case, but it is rather interesting that he is using their own two party duopoly rules against them. He is merely requesting that the rule of law be enforced. Read the full Barr press release on the case and the LA Times coverage.