Freedom, My Anti-Gov

Freedom, My Anti-Gov, by Bureaucrash

News Room

Audio of the District Attorney candidates' debate hosted by KCPW radio on October 30, 2006.

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The Rob Latham for Salt Lake County District Attorney campaign expresses its sincere thanks to the Salt Lake County Bar Association for inviting our candidate to participate in its very well-attended candidates' debate on October 25, 2006!

See also "Possible Illegal Donation to SL Candidate," KUTV, October 25, 2006.

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News coverage of the District Attorney candidates' participation in the Hinckley Forum at the University of Utah on September 26, 2006.

• KSL TV
  
• Daily Utah Chronicle
  
• KUER FM90 audio transcript (MP3 format)
  

See also "District Attorney race is a dead heat," Deseret Morning News, October 3, 2006, and "DA hopefuls focus on experience," Deseret Morning News, October 1, 2006.

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The Rob Latham for Salt Lake County District Attorney campaign expresses its sincere thanks to the Salt Lake County Deputy Sheriffs Federation for inviting our candidate to participate in its very well-attended candidates' debate on July 11, 2006!



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The advertisements below ran on electronic billboards on I-15 in Salt Lake County during the campaign.















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MySpace page launched!


Go to http://www.myspace.com/Latham4DA, which includes this video produced by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Open letter to KUTV/CBS2News

Tanya Vea, News Director
KUTV/CBS2News
299 South Main Street
Suite 150
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
(801) 415-2222

Dear Ms. Vea:

I understand that KUTV/CBS2News will host a debate between the incumbent party candidates for Salt Lake County District Attorney this Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 11:00 A.M. on its public affairs program "Take Two," moderated by reporter Rod Decker.

Mr. Decker has a history of excluding Libertarian candidates from his political coverage. In 1998, Mr. Decker told our candidate for Salt Lake County Commissioner, Cabot Nelson, that KUTV doesn't "include third parties." In 2004, when he asked a group of gubernatorial candidates who was available to be interviewed and was approached by Libertarian candidate Richard Mack, Mr. Decker replied "not you."

After the incident with Mr. Mack, I contacted your predecessor, Steve Charlier, about Mr. Decker's exclusion of Libertarian candidates from his political coverage. Mr. Charlier told me he asked Mr. Decker about this and that Mr. Decker denied excluding Libertarians from his political coverage. But Mr. Charlier invited me to notify him if I became aware of any future exclusion by Mr. Decker, and I am doing so to Mr. Charlier's successor -- you -- now.

I claim no right to nor do I seek to force myself into any broadcasted political debate.

And I think KUTV/CBS2News has every right to present its viewers with a false choice for political contests. But, like Fox News, its lack of journalistic fairness and integrity speaks for itself.

So far during this election season, I've participated in two debates with Ms. Miller and Mr. Gill, and I believe my presence in those debates has helped voters clarify the differences among the candidates. And Mr. Decker is scheduled to moderate our debate before the Salt Lake County Bar Association on October 25th.

Libertarians didn't design the two-party electoral system that makes it so difficult for our candidates to win elected office. But we are working to raise awareness of important ideas, such as the more inclusive, representative, and competitive multi-party systems used in most of the world's democracies.

I look forward to hearing from you if KUTV/CBS2News changes its mind about my exclusion from this weekend's program, or wants to inform its viewers in some future news broadcast about the issues that motivated me to enter the District Attorney's race -- such as jail overcrowding because of the prosecution of victimless crimes, eminent domain abuse, and jury rights.

In liberty,

Rob Latham
Libertarian candidate for Salt Lake County District Attorney

Libertarians who lay down the law

In memory and honor of the late Norman L. Vroman, Mendocino County District Attorney. December 14, 1936 to September 21, 2006.

One of the myths repeated by the political class is that electing Libertarians to office would lead to a parade of horribles.

But as the experience of San Miguel County (CO) Sheriff Bill Masters and Mendocino County (CA) District Attorney Norman Vroman shows, life is good for citizens who elect Libertarians to protect their communities.

The county seat of San Miguel County is Telluride, Colorado. Home of the famous bluegrass festival, Telluride received a second place ranking in the "50 Best Places to Live" list in the 2002 issue of Men's Journal.

Sheriff Masters is well-known to Libertarians, and an outspoken critic of the war on drugs. His law enforcement philosophy involves trying to limit governmental involvement in our everyday lives, promoting the idea that laws should be simple and few in number, and giving people as much personal liberty as possible. But Sheriff Masters also insists that people accept full responsibility for their actions when they hurt someone or damage someone's property.

On America's West Coast, District Attorney Vroman's office in Mendocino County (PDF file) boasts increased productivity, and generated more income than it spent on operations. The Libertarian D.A. realized these achievements while fulfilling his constitutional obligation to protect the public's safety.

In his famous essay, "On Liberty," philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) stated the "no harm principle":

[T]he sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.

Or, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, if another person's behavior neither picks your pocket nor breaks your leg, you haven't suffered a sufficient harm from that person to justify retaliation.

Some local law enforcers are understandably frustrated because they recognize that, despite short-term headlines, sting operations against consensual crimes seem to generate more problems than solutions.

And there is a more serious downside to tasking law enforcement agencies with the prevention of conduct that does not directly harm others. As another Libertarian with a law enforcement background, Richard Mack, has noted: "today's law enforcement officers are overwhelmed by the demands placed upon them by special interest groups and their political enablers. As a result of these distractions, our children are at increased risk from real predators."

Sheriff Mack's observation is supported by many other commentators who also recognize that the trade-off for increased policing of consensual behavior among adults is decreased protection from assaults to our person and property (DOC file). In other words, getting tough on victimless crimes means getting soft on the criminals who produce victims.

For decades, politicians from the two incumbent parties have told us we are better off if we give up our individual liberty for an illusory security.

Libertarians recognize that the incumbent parties' approach hasn't worked, nor will it work (MP3 file), and it's time to try something different.

Adapted from an essay originally published on March 2, 2006.