Local governments should focus on using existing revenues more efficiently, monitoring the effectiveness of school funding, and simplifying rules for land use and zoning. Those are three key recommendations in the John Locke Foundation’s new City and County Issue Guide 2014.

Lucas Overby became the first Libertarian candidate for Congress to participate in a nationally televised debate with his Republican and Democratic opponents Feb. 1. He is running for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. Republican Bill Young held the seat for 43 years, until his death last year.

The March 11 special election has been getting it’s fair share of national press and it is clear the duopolists are taking it seriously. The GOP convinced David Jolly, a former aide to Rep. Young , to put a seven-figure income as a lobbyist on the back burner to run.

The Democrats nominated Alex Sink, an even higher-profile candidate (and Mt. Airy native). She worked for Bank of America and was elected as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer before losing a competitive race for governor to Rick Scott in 2010. Sink is renting property in the district in order to be eligible to run.

by Brian Irving
LPNC Communications Director

Among the several changes in election law enacted by the General Assembly last year was the elimination of the mechanism by which state taxpayers could designate a tiny fraction of what they owed for any of North Carolina’s political parties—the Political Party Financing Fund.

Libertarians are pleased this fund has been abolished. The state has no business funding political parties. But we're concerned about the way it was eliminated, and the cavalier manner by which the legislature ignored the express wishes of taxpayers.

by J. J. Summerell
Chair, Libertarian Party of North Carolina

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Obama announced special new benefits only for employees of government contractors. Via executive order, he raised the minimum wage for employees of federal government contractors to $10.10 per hour, a 32 percent increase over North Carolina’s current $7.65 minimum wage.