Caryn Ann Harlos

Caryn Ann Harlos is the 17th and current secretary of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC), the executive body of the Libertarian Party of the United States. Prior to her election in 2018, she served in various positions within the Libertarian Party of Colorado, and as representative of Region 1 (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Hawaii, Montana, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) to the LNC.

Caryn Ann Harlos
17th Secretary of the Libertarian National Committee
Assumed office
July 3, 2018
Preceded byAlicia Mattson
Personal details
Political partyLibertarian
Spouse(s)Wayne Harlos
ResidenceCastle Rock, Colorado

Career

Before entering politics, Harlos was a paralegal for twenty years, working in document management.[1] Harlos joined the Libertarian Party and the state affiliate in Colorado in 2014. She later served as the Communications Director for the affiliate, Region 1 Representative for the LNC, Historical Preservation Committee Chair, and on the National Platform Committee for the 2018 Libertarian National Convention. She became involved in the Radical Caucus in 2016.[2]

On 3 July 2018, at the 2018 convention, Harlos was elected as the 17th LNC Secretary with 372 votes, 56.6 percent of the delegates.[3][4][5] The incumbent secretary, Alicia Mattson, received 36 percent of the vote.[6]

A month after her election as Secretary, she denounced what she saw as socialists entering the party, asserting that Libertarianism is distinctly separate from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. This occurred about a year after the party had denounced a similar issue with people on the alt-right becoming interested with Libertarianism.[7] Harlos also advocates for a pro-life stance on abortion within the Libertarian party.[8][9]

In the July 2020 Libertarian National Convention, Harlos was re-elected as Secretary with 51% of the vote.[10]

She is known for her bright-pink hair, and wearing a crown in the style of the Statue of Liberty to events.[11][12][13] She describes herself as an anarchist.[14]

Ballot-selfie lawsuit

In October 2016, Harlos challenged the Colorado "ballot selfie" law in a lawsuit against Colorado Secretary of State Wayne W. Williams, Attorney General of Colorado Cynthia Coffman, and District Attorney of Denver Mitchell R. Morrissey over its constitutionality.[15] Prior to filing the suit, she had petitioned Coffman and Morrissey to declare the law unconstitutional, to which they declined.[16] In the suit, she argued that it is her constitutional right to post a picture of her voting for the Libertarian candidate in an effort to promote the party. Two other plaintiffs were involved in the lawsuit, both of whom had violated the law by taking and sharing pictures of their ballot, and thus were at risk of prosecution.[17][18] This was the second suit filed against that law, the first being filed by Owen Hill, a Colorado state representative.[17] In November 2016, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, preventing the state from prosecuting people for violations of the law, and in March 2017 Governor Hickenlooper signed into law a bill permitting ballot selfies.[19][20]

2016 election

In 2016, the Libertarian Party's nominee for president was Gary Johnson, who promoted Bill Weld to be the vice presidential nominee. Harlos opposed Weld, arguing for a member of the Radical Caucus to be on the ticket to balance with some of Johnson's views that did not conform to typical Libertarian positions.[21] At the 2016 Libertarian National Convention, she made a nominating speech for vice presidential candidate Will Coley, who lost to Weld.[12][22]

In her capacity as a spokeswoman for the Libertarian Party of Colorado, she heavily criticized the candidates for the two major parties, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, describing them as "the two most disliked candidates since ancient Rome" and predicting "the death of the two-party political system as we know it."[23]

After the election, when membership for the Libertarian Party dropped, Harlos contacted people who let their membership expire in an attempt to retain dues-paying members. Although there were significant ideological conflicts within the party, Harlos heard mostly reasons unrelated to those. Most members contacted were entirely unfamiliar with the names of the party's chair and vice chair.[24]

Historical Preservation

In 2017, while the representative of Region 1 Libertarian National Committee, Harlos worked to establish the Historical Preservation Committee. It was tasked with maintaining the party's history, and given a $10,000 budget to do so. She collected documents, tape recordings, bumper stickers, buttons, fliers, and other items from the party's past. The documents were then organized and digitized in the committee's MediaWiki-based community-driven project, LPedia.[1][25][26] In 2018, Harlos and others recovered the Libertarian Party's founding document, the original "Statement of Principles", which was found on eBay.[27]

Drug advocacy

In early 2018, Harlos advocated her opposition to a ban on kratom, a plant-based pain reliever and stimulant, instituted by Denver Environmental Health. At the time, she was the communications director for the Libertarian Party of Colorado. In agreement with Libertarian Party views, she argued that the government does not have a right to regulate whether the drug can be used. Harlos used the drug herself to help with a degenerative back disorder and spinal stenosis.[28]

Personal life

She is married to Wayne Harlos, who is also active in the Libertarian Party and served as the chair of the Libertarian Party of Colorado.[29]

gollark: 61 ingame, 54 by actual `.jar` file count.
gollark: I think it's because the mod count is high.
gollark: My server is available! Unfortunately nobody likes it, but you know.
gollark: Cannot reproduce.
gollark: Spatial IO is basically for moving areas of space in and out of the world at the cost of significant amounts of RF.

See also

References
  1. Hutchins, Corey (May 30, 2017). "The Libertarian Party's national archives now live in Colorado". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  2. "Big Liberty Little Rock 2019: The LPAR Annual Convention". The Libertarian Party of Arkansas. February 23, 2019.
  3. Libertarian Party [@lpnational] (July 3, 2018). "The vote is in! Caryn Ann Harlos receives a majority vote for Secretary of the LNC. #ImTHATLibertarian" (Tweet). Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Retrieved November 1, 2019 – via Twitter.
  4. Bentley, Robert J. (July 3, 2018). "Caryn Ann Harlos Elected as the Next Secretary of the Libertarian National Committee". The Libertarian Vindicator.
  5. "List of National Secretaries (as of June 11 2019)". LPedia.
  6. "Libertarian convention breaks fundraising records, elects new officers" (Press release). Libertarian National Committee. July 4, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  7. Mohon, Mason (August 13, 2018). "Libertarian Party LNC Secretary Denounces Socialist Entryism · 71 Republic". 71 Republic.
  8. West, Mark (January 22, 2019). "Libertarian Ideals: Unintentional Self-Destruction". 71 Republic.
  9. Harlos, Caryn Ann (August 25, 2015). "Caryn Ann Harlos: Abortion and the Libertarian conscience". Independent Political Report.
  10. Johnston, Bob (July 28, 2020). "New LNC Elected at National Convention".
  11. Mahaskey, M. Scott (May 28, 2016). "Behind the scenes of the Libertarian Party convention". Optics. POLITICO Magazine. Image 9. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  12. Welch, Matt (July 10, 2016). "Did the Libertarian Radicals Lose Their Inter-Party Fight? Not So Fast, Says One". Reason. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  13. "Abortion and the Libertarian Conscience: A Discussion with Caryn Ann Harlos". Flathead County Libertarian Party.
  14. Bacavis, Chris (April 12, 2016). "Anarchy in Pink". Chris Bacavis's Poemunition.
  15. Hutchins, Corey (October 21, 2016). "How a Libertarian plans to challenge Colorado's 'ballot-selfie' law". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  16. Knapp, Thomas L. (October 27, 2016). "The Virtue of Selfies-ness: Libertarians Fight for Free Speech at the Ballot Box". The William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism.
  17. Miller, Blair (October 26, 2016). "Second lawsuit challenging Colorado's 'ballot selfie' statute filed in federal court". Denver7. Scripps Media. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  18. "Harlos et al vs Morrissey et al" (PDF). October 25, 2016. USDC 16-cv-02649.
  19. Miller, Blair (November 5, 2016). "Federal judge keeps Colorado 'ballot selfie' law on books but says AG, DA's can't prosecute". Denver7. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  20. Miller, Blair (March 17, 2017). "Hickenlooper signs Colorado bill allowing 'ballot selfies'". Denver7. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  21. Weigel, David (May 29, 2016). "Libertarians pick Johnson and Weld ticket after close contest". Washington Post. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  22. Harlos, Caryn (May 29, 2016). Nomination of Will Coley (Speech). Libertarian Party National Convention. Orlando, Florida: C-SPAN. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  23. Matthews, Mark K. (August 22, 2016). "Small but growing number of Colorado voters shift to Green, Libertarian parties". The Denver Post. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  24. Doherty, Brian (September 15, 2017). "The Libertarian Party's Paid Membership Numbers Take a Dive". Reason. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  25. Wolf, Stephanie (August 7, 2017). "Libertarianism Was Born In Westminster And Other Historical Party Facts". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  26. Doherty, Brian (February 2018). "LPedia.org". Reason. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  27. Harper, Jennifer (May 22, 2018). "Libertarian Party rescues its original founding document from eBay". The Washington Times.
  28. Roberts, Michael (January 23, 2018). "Kratom: Libertarian Party of Colorado Rips Denver Human Use Ban". Westword.
  29. "2018 Libertarian State Convention". Libertarian Association of Massachusetts. August 1, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.