Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Phillies Rejects Massive Pay-Off

Today, Libertarian Presidential Candidate George Phillies rejected

out of hand a massive pay-off offer conditioned on his changing his

campaign stands. "I read my morning email, and there it was," he

said. "I suppose I should be honored. So far as I know, no one has

ever tried to pay off a Libertarian Presidential candidate before."

The message read, "I might have donated to your campaign 

had you not attacked Ron Paul. 

I raised over $50,000 for Ron Paul's presidential campaign, 

and could have helped you too. 

Please retract your Statements and say something 

to the effect of "Ron Paul is a 

champion of liberty and an essential part 

of the freedom movement." 

Thank you. Feel free to have your finance 

director give me a call."

Phillies discussed the numbers. "For a Libertarian Presidential

campaign, that's a huge amount of money. $50,000 is about what

Libertarian Aaron Russo spent on his 2004 Presidential nominating

campaign. But I'm not for sale."

"Furthermore," Phillies noted, "The offer was public. In the same

morning email was a request from a Libertarian Party county chair

that I answer the message. 

Ignoring the message was not an option. I immediately answered:

"I'm not open to bribery.

"You may rest assured I will continue to make fair and honest

comparisons between my positions and those of my opponents. 

That's why I said that Senator Obama's words prove that 

he is incompetent to manage American foreign policy. 

That's why I will continue to make fair comparisons 

between myself and your candidate.

"Let me urge you to look at your candidate's actual stands."

Phillies urged all Americans to give honest support to candidates

they actually agree with. "Don't be discouraged by horse-race

handicapping coverage of campaigns," he said. 

"Remember, your support counts twice: 

once for the candidate, once for the candidate's issues.

Even if your man or woman is not elected, 

your donations and volunteer time 

advance their causes and yours and 

send a message to Washington about what Americans really think."

*The reference to Senator Obama appears in the August 16th press

release, "Phillies: We Don't Invade Our Allies."

Contact Information:  

Carolyn Marbry, Press

Director                                                                                   

pressdirector@phillies2008.org

(510) 276-3216