Open letter to Kent Snyder, Lew Moore, Jesse Benton, Joe Seehusen, et.al

Dear Campaign team,

I know that a lot of you guys want to see Ron Paul win as badly as we leaders in the grassroots do, but there is a crisis facing this campaign that involves a growing level of discontent from the grassroots with the way the official campaign relates to the unpaid "staff" out here in the hinterlands.

There are many, many complaints popping up with increasing frequency on many popular Ron Paul forums, and I will summarize some of the key ones for you here:

1. The communication responses some of us have been getting from Arlington when we either write or call in are HORRENDOUS. I don't mean that we are upset that ideas aren't adopted (though I'm sure some of that is a concern to some people) it's that we DON'T RECEIVE ANY RESPONSE at all many times.

2. The word is spreading that Arlington staff has been told to have no communication with certain of us with "conspiracy views." That condescending attitude towards a HUGE part of your support base (and I am not limiting this to 911 stuff) is AWFUL, and is only going to hurt the campaign in the long haul. We have had enough with pandering to the "conspiracy-nuts-in-the-grassroots-don't-deserve-our-attention" attitude.

3. The Michigan situation has grown intolerable. You have put people in place there with next to no political experience AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PRIMARY before Super Tuesday. You have a former Communist Party member and pornographer, a housewife who never voted before, and a very young former Bush campaign staffer handling this state now, and we are going to pay for it dearly on January 15th.

4. We were promised a campaign liaison for this message board (and others) MONTHS ago and one was even hired at one point, but there is no liaison and has not been one since somebody told Justine to stop posting here months ago. That is intolerable. There are pinned threads at the top of these boards FOR A REASON.

5. Iowa reports say that we had only one copy of a voter list of all RP supporters NOT BACKED UP ANYWHERE on a computer that was to be used by 250 college volunteers all day in Iowa for the day before the IA caucus and it was destroyed. WHAT KIND OF INCOMPETENCE ALLOWS FOR SUCH A SITUATION? Remedies must be instantly employed to insure: A> It was not intentionally destroyed, and B> That this can never happen again.

6. There are eminently qualified people who have offered expertise on many issues who are being snubbed continually--especially with regard to commercial production.

I know you are all very busy, but in the final analysis, so are we, and we are the ones paying your (in some cases exorbitant) salaries. It is beginning to feel like Arlington is becoming to RP supporters what Washington, D.C. is to Americans more generally. We matter, and we have good ideas. LISTEN TO US, COMMUNICATE WITH US, DON'T WRITE US OFF if our position on a couple of things may vary with yours, or even with Dr. Paul's.

We can not win this nomination unless things change, and the cooperation between you guys and the grassroots improves DRAMATICALLY and VERY QUICKLY.

Thanks for listening.

Steve Martin
Ron Paul Meetup Coordinator #17
Northern Maine

Steve, you claimed on the RonPaulForums that you were able to speak directly to Ron Paul on the phone. If that is in fact the case, why don't you do it with these points? It seems things keep getting worse at HQ and that might mean that he has no idea about these problems. He might get some new people on staff if he thought it was necessary. The final decision is probably his, so what good does it do to send email to the very people who almost never even acknowledge a message, let alone respond?

It's frustrating, Steve.

Especially the part about the TV Commercials. I've seen better Youtubes that we are probably better off burning and sending to people in an entire state --probably the cost of 1 bad commercial for 30 seconds!

What is pretty amazing though is that with the lack of communication --look at all the progress! Look at all the groups that form and rally at a moments notice no matter if it's a Rudy speaking engagement or a Hillary --there is always a Ron Paul group lurking.

We are pretty amazing!

Lets give ourselves a round of applause. The meet-up members are FANTASTIC!!!!!!

Keep up the good work. In the meantime....they do deserve a swift kick in the arse Steve Martin and you go right ahead and do what you are doing!

Pat,

I do indeed have Dr. Paul's phone number, but I really hesitate to use it again unless it is a campaign-ending emergency. There is still some time for the campaign to take some action on their own to rectify things before calling him. BUT I WILL if things don't change for the better pretty soon. I have posted this letter on RonPaulForums too, and it is getting a lot of responses. Eventually, word will get back to HQ...and we'll see if we get any genuine change.

Gigi,

Thanks, sis! You know me...I ain't shy...

http://www.ronpaulfor...

Pat,

I do indeed have Dr. Paul's phone number, but I really hesitate to use it again unless it is a campaign-ending emergency. There is still some time for the campaign to take some action on their own to rectify things before calling him. BUT I WILL if things don't change for the better pretty soon. I have posted this letter on RonPaulForums too, and it is getting a lot of responses. Eventually, word will get back to HQ...and we'll see if we get any genuine change.

Gigi,

Thanks, sis! You know me...I ain't shy...

In my opinion this is to important to our futures to not act and act now! DO NOT PUT this off we are talking 4-5 weeks to super Tuesday what the hell are you waiting for?

I will probably give this a week to 10 days, then I will call RP personally if there has been no response.

I just spoke to someone who said we are nearly out of literature, and there are no yard signs (even though people want them). All of this stuff comes from HQ. We have a primary a week and a half away. Had I not sen the only money I have to the campaign, I might be able to go to Kinkos and print my own literature. I can't now. I'm really pissed.

Steve, fill me on these details about the Michigan people that you mentioned.

Also, Steve, which email addy did you use?

Susan,

Call me and I will fill you in.

I used various ones at various times.