For Immediate Release Friday, May 30, 2008
Top Honors given to LP members every two years
The Libertarian Party proudly announces recipients of this year’s Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Jefferson awards. These awards are given every two years at the biennial national conventions. They are given to individuals whose achievements place them among the best activists in the history of the LP.
The Thomas Paine award honors individuals within the LP who have excelled in the area of communications. This year the award will be given to two great communicators, Michael Ferguson, of Missouri, and Eric Schansberg, of Indiana.
Ferguson runs a political Web site called MissouriViewpoints.com that features Libertarians and other political figures. Mainstream media sources permanently link to his site. His video interviews posted on his Web site have been covered by a number of different media sources.
Schansberg has run for public office and plans on running again this year for Congress. He is the author of three books on limited government, regularly writes articles for the Indiana Policy Review Journal, and publishes an influential blog called the ‘SchansBlog.’
The Samuel Adams award is presented to LP members who have been effective in building party membership, involved in community outreach, running for office and managing campaigns. This year’s award recipient is long-time party member and LP Counsel Bill Hall, of Michigan.
Hall has been a member of the LP since 1977. He has been a local contributor, a state chair, an LNC member, a candidate for public office multiple times, a very generous donor to the LP and a professional consultant to the LP.
The Thomas Jefferson award is the Party’s highest honor, presented to members whose achievements merit our recognition of outstanding leadership, high character and dedication to the principles and goals of the Party. This year’s award will be given to two individuals who have both displayed exemplary leadership skills and long-time devotion to the Libertarian Party.
The first recipient is Ruth Bennett, of Washington, who has been a party member since 1978. She has run for office on multiple occasions, as well as helping to manage several campaigns. She has been a state chair multiple times and has been involved in organizing a number of conventions at both the state and national level. Bennett has also been an outreach speaker and has served on the LNC. She recently announced that she would be seeking the Libertarian Party of Washington’s nomination for governor.
The second recipient of the Thomas Jefferson award is Virginia Libertarian Jim Lark. Lark has been a party member since 1983. He was LP Chair from 2000-2002, and has worked tirelessly in organizing student groups at universities across the nation. He has served many years on the LNC, been a generous donor to the LP, and organized local parties in Virginia and other states. Lark has served as an advisor to a number of campaigns and also served as seminar faculty member for Success ’97 and Success ’99.
