Michigan’s Libertarian Party becomes the Island of Misfit Candidates
The Libertarian Party’s lieutenant governor candidate was arraigned last week on a felony charge stemming from complaints that he bilked couples who were slated to get married at his Shiawassee County barn out of their deposits after the county shut it down.
Shiawassee County told Beau Parmenter last year that he couldn’t rent out his Country Barn Estate for not providing adequate bathroom facilities, among other things.
Instead of refunding deposits, Parmenter allegedly gave brides-to-be the runaround, according to their complaints on Facebook. They’re upset about it, as you can imagine.
The party’s gubernatorial candidate, Anthony Hudson, immediately played the “innocent-until-proven-guilty” card in a written statement.
Hudson compared Parmenter’s case to that of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman whose murder trial ended with a hung jury after her attorneys argued that she was legally insane when she killed her three children.
Maybe some would find some irony there.
“This is all a witch hunt,” Hudson said on his video feed. “This is all fake news. This is their attempt to come after me. They’re using Beau, now as their target . . . There’s a lot of Fuck You’s that are going around the state of Michigan today.”
At least two Libertarian Party chapters have already given Hudson their own middle finger. The Macomb County and The Straits Libertarian parties have publicly disavowed the Hudson/Parmenter ticket.
Their issues have little to do with Parmenter’s troubles and more to do with Hudson not being, by definition, a Libertarian.
Traditionally, Libertarians believe in limited government. Limited involvement in business and personal matters. They are economic conservatives, but social liberals.
Hudson’s involvement in the so-called “Christian Crusade” in Dearborn would be seen as repulsive to a traditional Libertarian.
The “0% Liberal” T-shirt Parmenter wore at Hudson’s Michigan State University tailgate isn’t something you’d see Libertarians of yore, like former presidential candidates Harry Browne or Gary Johnson, sporting.
But the Michigan Libertarian Party has changed. It’s no longer a philosophical pole on an ideological spectrum.
It’s become a landing spot for fringe conservatives rejected by the Republican Party. An Isle of Misfit Candidates.
Like Hudson. Last year at this time, Hudson was running around the state as a Republican gubernatorial candidate, gaining some rural support on his message of eliminating property taxes.
Then there was the other stuff.
The plain-spoken, loose-lipped Hudson posted a video declaring that “it’s time to get the rope,” while holding a large loop of rope around his arm. On Feb. 1, he spoke of a “public hanging” during a Mason City Council meeting due to the body’s leaning toward supporting a proposed data center against the desires of several public speakers.
He quit being invited to Republican events. Hudson took offense. Got into verbal tussles with local party leaders.
He said that’s why he left to run as a Libertarian.
Hudson also needed 15,000 valid signatures to get on the GOP ballot. That can be a high bar for low-budget candidates like Hudson to clear.
It’s easier to bring a bunch of buddies to the convention of a dying third party and score a spot on the November ballot. The Libertarian Party was the perfect target.
Since the Tea Party revolution of 2010, limited-government Libertarians have jumped on the Republican bandwagon. In the last 16 years, the number of candidates the Libs have put up for statewide office has dropped from 72 to 29.
The candidates they’ve recruited are generally fringe politicos like Hudson. Among those now involved in the party are folks like:
– William Null, charged and later found not guilty for his role in the Gov. Whitmer kidnapping plot. Lost his bid for lieutenant governor to Parmenter.
– Kevin Vayko, the 9th Congressional District candidate, pleaded no contest in 2015 to groping two University of Michigan students. Described by prosecutors as a “serial groper.”
– Timothy A. Teagan, 6th Congressional District candidate, a supporter of the Boogaloo movement who was sentenced to a year in federal prison in 2023 for lying about his marijuana use while purchasing a Glock 34 pistol.
Hudson said he believes his involvement in the Libertarians is growing the party … clearly with castaways like himself.
