The speakers for the 2018 Libertarian Party of New York State Convention in Albany, New York have been announced. All will speak on Saturday, April 21, 2018. Click here to register for the convention today!
(9:00 AM) Bill McMillen
Bill McMillen has been an active member of the local, national and New York State Libertarian Party since 1979 having served on the National Committee, the state committee including state chair for four terms (1985-1989). He was on the ballot in 1982 as our candidate for New York State Comptroller and twice, 1988 and 1998, as our candidate for the United States Senate. In 1984, he was the New York State petition drive coordinator for the David Bergland Presidential campaign and been regularly involved in petition assembly, presentation and delivery to the New York State Board of Elections. He has also been a delegate to national conventions fourteen times and has served in numerous roles in the Capital District Chapter.
In 1964, Bill told the draft board that he would not serve and subsequently told the Federal Judge presiding at his trial that support for the South Vietnamese government was misplaced and that the war was wrong both in its purpose and execution. He was found guilty of willful failure to submit to induction in March of 1965 and was incarcerated for a little over two years in federal prison. At the time of his conviction there was just over 800 US military deaths in the Vietnam conflict which subsequently would grow to more than 58,000 as well as millions of civilian deaths and other civilian and combat casualties.
Subsequently, Bill was employed as a Certified Public Accountant including several years with his own practice, followed by several CFO and Corporate Controller positions in both for profit and non-profit environments. He also held part time teaching positions for several years.
Bill has two sons and maintains a long term relationship with his partner, who herself has a lustrous career in public accounting, both nationally and internationally and currently is in her 52nd year of employment and a partner with a nationally affiliated accounting firm.
(9:00 AM) Alyce Auman
I spent years trying to figure out how to reach out and help within my community, state, and country in the best way possible. I have always been involved with things within a church family, but I recognize that not all people that I wanted to help or have a relationship with are religiously affiliated.
I have voted in both the Democrat and Republican Parties, considering myself more of an Independent than anything else, until I found the Libertarian Party. I’ve worked in the Criminal Justice field, the Banking and Credit fields, Youth Counseling, and many other roles until I most recently began working at a College.
I have an Associates degree in Criminal Justice, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, and a whole lot of education from the school of Hard Knocks. My desires are to continually seek to learn every day from others and also to maintain a positive atmosphere around me where I can help people also learn and grow together. Community, compassion and love are very important to me. I believe that most people are good. I believe that we, as a community, need to try to seek out how to become better, but we need to start on an individual basis with self ownership and self responsibility.
My involvement in the Libertarian Party has taught me a lot about Outreach from experiences I have had while supporting campaigns with petitioning, volunteer coordinator, field director, and county organizer. I have been involved in several local campaigns as well as helped with Alex Merced, Tony D’Orazio, Gary Johnson, and currently the Larry Sharpe campaign.
I believe that Voluntaryism is the best answer when it comes to how we deal with each other. This led to my involvement with other Liberty-minded folks with the Liberty Coalition for Disaster Relief. This organization began as some Libertarians starting a Go Fund Me after Hurricane Harvey hit in Texas and has contributed to helping in other locations as well like Florida and Puerto Rico. We provided financing as well as man-power to assist with rescue and clean-up in those affected areas. This was a 24/7 effort for about a month straight. We decided that we liked being able to show people how they can come together and help, so we decided to turn this venture into a Not For Profit.
This is one of my several plans for outreach to show people HOW Libertarians can apply their ideas in REAL LIFE to PROVE that it can work.
(9:00 AM) Siobhan “Trish” Lynch
Siobhan Lynch is a drug policy activist, survivor of Straight Inc., and served on the board of CAFETY (Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth) who started out fighting abusive and coercive thought control rehabs and troubled teen institutions, and branched out into both the science aspects of Drug Use, anda larger analysis of the systems supporting the Drug War and Prohibition. She has also been a Libertarian for over 20 years, and has served on Bronx Community Board 10 in NYC. She serves as the Drug Policy/Criminal Justice Policy Advisor for Larry Sharpe, and feels in order for candidates to be effective talking about these issues, they need the answers to some of the hard questions facing us as Libertarians in favor of and end to all prohibition.
(12:00 PM) Lauren McKinnon
As the Communications Director for Larry Sharpe’s Gubernatorial campaign, Mckinnon has been instrumental in garnering more media coverage for Larry than any other state wide Libertarian Candidate to date, making campaign fundraising and volunteer recruitment efforts more effective.
She previously worked in advertising management as an executive marketing agent for multiple newspapers, magazines, and websites in the south east, as well as small business management consulting, rebuilding failing small businesses, giving them a facelift, and helping them to become more successful, doubling and even tripling revenues for many.
Later, while being a stay at home mom, she remained active by writing and contributing for outlets such as Liberty Quick, Liberty Viral, the Libertarian Republic, and soon Herspiration Magazine online. She has also edited novels for internationally published authors and been a guest on multiple podcasts including Leading Liberty with Jenn Gray and Muh Radio with Chris Ritcheson.
Last year, Lauren created texts on the Bill of Rights that have been adopted and taught as part of middle school curriculums in Texas, in an effort to reach young minds and spread the ideals of liberty to the next generation.
She is also assisting Larry Sharpe in writing his first book, On Leadership, to be released later this year.
She will be graduating this year with a degree in Federal, State, and Local Public Policy and a minor in Communications and Public relations. She is eyeing Notre Dame Law School in the future.
Lauren is a leading authority in the fields of messaging and public relations, with a mind for leadership and a heart for activism.
(12:00 PM) Brian Waddell
Brian Waddell is a Vice Chair of the LPNY, Political Director of the Manhattan Libertarian Party, and is the campaign manager for Larry Sharpe for Governor. Despite having begun his involvement in politics on the party side of things, Brian has made direct candidate support his priority in addition to his party involvement.
This year marks three straight cycles of running campaigns (Alex Merced for US Senate, 2016; his own run for Manhattan Borough President, 2017; and Larry Sharpe for Governor, 2018) while also juggling his photography and writing careers in addition to his newest career as father to his son, Ethan.
(12:00 PM) Brandon Phinney
Rep. Brandon Phinney is in his first term in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Originally elected as a Republican, Rep. Phinney became disenfranchised with how the party conducted business and was frustrated with its leadership.
With the state budget being the contentious legislation of the 2017 session, Rep. Phinney stood on his principles and opposed the massive spending bill. This opposition to the Republicans due to its fiscal irresponsibility among other platform issues, Rep. Phinney officially switched to the Libertarian Party in June of 2017.
(5:30 PM) Lt. Governor and Governor Nominees
Our nominees for Lt. Governor and Governor will be our evening speakers.