Posted by MarceloMunoz on 11/20/09
Last updated 11/19/09

Birmingham, AL (November 17, 2009)
Over 250 people showed up Tuesday, November 10 for the Alabama Campaign for Liberty Straw Poll and Gubernatorial Forum, co-sponsored by the 10,000 member strong Rainy Day Patriots. The event was held at Matthew's Manor in Springville, Alabama, home of the Conservative Patriots Club, and who assisted with the event. The number of attendees was spectacular considering that Tropical Storm Ida was directly overhead at forum start time. Since the forum was broadcast live on WAPI 1070 AM to the Greater Birmingham area, many chose to listen from home instead of attending.

The event was a very enlightening evening which was not without some controversy. One of the candidates in the race, Mr. Bradley Byrne, cancelled his appearance on Friday, November 6, a mere five days before he was scheduled to appear. His campaign indicated that they had a conflict in schedules. The controversy arose from the fact that their campaign had committed to attend a month earlier, was in constant communication with the organizers, and even confirmed their appearance less than 24 hrs before cancelling. We must note that Mr. Byrne was scheduled to be in the Birmingham area throughout the week at other events. Mr. Byrne also cancelled his interview with Matt Murphy of the Matt Murphy Show on 1070AM scheduled for Wednesday morning. The expected topic was the prior night's forum. To date the only explanation he has given is that he was at a "private event."

This perceived slight did not go unnoticed by those in attendance and the listening audience who flooded WAPI's phone lines with complaints and less than kind words for Mr. Byrne and his campaign. The political turmoil this created was such that Mr. Byrne appeared on Matt's show on Thursday morning to, among other things, explain his absence from the forum to incensed voters.

The gubernatorial candidates that did participate were Dr. Robert Bentley (R), Tim James (R), and Bill Johnson (R). Prior to and after the event, the candidates made themselves available for a meet and greet with supporters and the general public.

A special thanks go to Matt Murphy for his excellent moderation of this event. The panel that consisted of Zan Green (President of the Rainy Day Patriots), Marcelo Munoz (Campaign for Liberty) and Matt Murphy (1070AM) posed their questions to the candidates, which covered the Constitution, state rights and other important issues for the State of Alabama. The audience was also given the opportunity to submit questions. Some of the issues covered were home schooling, abortion, gambling, and stimulus money. After the debate, a gubernatorial preference straw poll was conducted with the candidates obtaining the following results:

Tim James 75%
Robert Bentley 14%
Bill Johnson 7%
Bradley Byrne 4%

This was a great forum for getting to know the candidates and make an informed decision in the upcoming very important 2010 Gubernatorial election. The candidates were so pleased that all three committed to attend other Campaign for Liberty events in the upcoming months in cities such as Tuscaloosa, Mobile, Montgomery, Decatur and Huntsville.

By all accounts, the event was a huge success. Thanks to Kristin Brantley, Linda and Mack Gowder, The Rainy Day Patriots and all of the many volunteers who gave up their time to help in making this a very successful event!! Thanks also go to Mr. Matthews and the Conservative Patriots Club for allowing us to have this event at Matthews Manor.

Below is a video link to part 1 of 17 of the Forum.

http://www.youtube.com/ConservativePatriots#p/u/16/HgMmp1PJye0

Below is a link to a picasa album of the event<
br />http://picasaweb.google.com/rainydaypatriots/RainyDayPatriotsGubernatorialF
orumSpringvilleALNov102009?feat=content_notification#

Reported by Marcelo D. Muñoz, Alabama Campaign for Liberty Interim State Coordinator. Deanna Frankowski of the Rainy Day Patriots contributed to this report.

Posted 11/20/09 MarilyninLakeJackson Lake Jackson, TX

Good job Birmingham. Have family in Gulf Shores and Anniston.

Posted 11/20/09 sam972 Rainbow City, AL

Thanks and good job to all who put this event on. it was very enjoyable.

Posted by MarceloMunoz on 11/09/09

Candidates vying for votes will face tough questions in a live forum at Mathews Manor.

Springville, AL November 9, 2009 - Alabama gubernatorial candidates will each make the case for their candidacy in a public forum on Tuesday. The event, hosted by the Alabama Campaign for Liberty and co-sponsored by the Rainy Day Patriots, will be in Grace Hall at Mathews Manor in Springville. The forum is slated to begin at 7pm and is expected to conclude at 9pm. Organizers expect Tuesday's event to draw a large crowd and advise arriving early to ensure a seat.

The event will be moderated by WAPI 1070AM radio talk show host, Matt Murphy, and will include a range of pre-selected questions with additional questions submitted by the audience. All of the official gubernatorial candidates were invited to participate in the event. The list of participating candidates includes Robert Bentley, Tim James, and Bill Johnson.

A gubernatorial preference straw poll will be conducted at the conclusion of the forum. Members of the audience can participate with a donation of $5.00 per ballot. The public is also invited to a candidate meet-and-greet including a free hot dog dinner preceding the forum from 5pm to 6:40pm.

All representatives of the media are encouraged to attend the event. A limited number of audio feeds will be provided, and a press room will be available for interviews with the candidates. The event will be recorded for distribution on the internet, and WAPI 1070AM will be broadcasting the event live.

On Thursday, the event organizers held a similar forum with the congressional candidates from Alabama District 6. There were approximately 150 people in attendance. All candidates were invited, and participants included Stan Cooke, Michael Early, and Paul Lambert. The results of the congressional preference straw poll were as follows:

Stan Cooke (R): 58% Michael Early(I): 4% Paul Lambert(R): 38%

Event Location:

Mathews Manor 9997 Old Springville Rd. Trussville, Alabama 35173

For directions to Mathews Manor call (205)467-7042.

About the Campaign for Liberty

The Campaign for Liberty's mission is to promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity.

For more information visit http://www.campaignforliberty.org.

Posted by MarceloMunoz on 10/26/09

Greetings Fellow Patriots.

We've come a long way since the April 15th Tea Party. At that time the C4L member in Shelby County had a grand total of 12 members. Today, thanks to all your hard work in educating and recruiting people we have grown to 41 members!  Similarly, Jefferson County had 20 members and they now have over 66!  This story is repeating itself all over the state - well done!

Because of all of our hard work and success in forging alliances with like minded groups, when we call, politicians listen. A great example of this was helping Spencer Bachus decide to co-sponsor HR1207, something that seemed impossible at the time.

We have now taken the next step in our journey and will cap the year with a congressional and a gubernatorial forum to be held at Mathews Manor in Springville, AL. We do need volunteers for the congressional forum on the 5th of November AND the Gubernatorial forum on the 10th. Both programs start at 7 pm.

Please do set the date aside as we really need all of us to come out if we can. We will need volunteers to help set up chairs and tables, serve as C4L ambassadors with the candidates, conduct the straw poll, collect donations, work as ushers, man video cameras, etc. There's a lot of work to do but I know we can all work together get it done.

Both events will be webcast with the gubernatorial forum also being broadcast in the greater Birmingham area by WAPI 1070 AM.

As we are the forum hosts, we will get to choose which questions are asked of the candidates. Even if you cannot attend, please contact me and provide a question you would like asked at the congressional and gubernatorial forum. We want to make sure we get everyone's input to make sure we make the most relevant question possible.

If we do a good job (and we will) we can attempt to duplicate the event all over the state later on in the election cycle.

In Liberty,

Marcelo D. Munoz
205 901 0618
Alabama C4L Interim Coordinator

Posted by MarceloMunoz on 05/14/09

WE PASSED! Now Call/Fax/Email Governor Riley

By Danner | Published: May 14, 2009

Just before 3:00pm today, the Alabama Senate passed HB373. Success. Vindication. The blood, sweat, and tears of all of our many supporters paid off.

BUT. We are at a point where we must have the Governor's signature for our bill to become law.

We need to do everything we can to encourage the Governor to either sign our bill. That's why we're asking everyone in the state who values personal freedom and who thinks the Alabama government should stop telling us which beers are ok to drink and which ones we can't handle to contact Governor Riley immediately. By phone, fax, or email, whatever works best for you.

We've even had one of his former staffers give us some tips on how best to go about this:

The volume of letters and phone calls that he receives on a particular issue is reported to him every morning, and he takes them seriously. ... A couple quick points:

* They have a pretty sophisticated constituent database, so multiple calls/mail from the same person won't accomplish much. They report to him the number of persons, not the number of communications.
* Any arguments that sounds like something the gambling folks would say should be avoided ("People go over state lines to do it anyway..."). You don't want to equate yourself with those guys in his mind.
* Arguments about personal liberty and economic development will probably have more sway.
Pointing out the surrounding states that allow it will also be helpful. The fact that GA, NC, SC, and WV have passed these bills in the past couple years is persuasive.

Just keep it short and to the point. Let him know you support the bill and why.

Here's contact information for the Governor's office:

Switchboard: (334) 242-7100
Fax: (334) 353-0004
Email form: http://www.governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx

Don't hesitate! We haven't come this far only to suffer a veto now. Make sure Gov. Riley knows the people of Alabama want him to sign HB373 into law.

Thank you to everyone who has gotten us to this point. Time to seal the deal.

Posted 08/27/09 Jeffersonman85 Athens, AL

For those of you who are tired of drunk drivers killing our older parent, our kids and our grandkids, call the same number listed at the top, and ask the Governor to VETO this bill.

Posted by MarceloMunoz on 04/22/09

 Press Release

Birmingham grassroots activists, comprised of average citizens, members of the Rainy Day Patriots (organizers of the Birmingham/Shelby County Tea Party), The Campaign for Liberty, and Students for Liberty will gather at 5 Points South in Birmingham Saturday, April 25, 2009, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm to demand a full and independent audit of the Federal Reserve.

The Birmingham protest of the Federal Reserve Act is part of a nationally coordinated action organized in support of  the Federal Reserve Transparency Act H.R.1207, the rally will highlight the lack of accountability in the Federal Reserve System, and protesters will call for President Obama to honor his campaign pledge for increased government transparency.

"Regular independent audits are standard practice for any legitimate financial institution, so we believe our demands will receive strong mainstream support," said Marcelo Muñoz, local coordinator of the Campaign for Liberty and Rainy Day Patriot. "Americans need to know what is really happening to their money, and we know an audit will expose the true and fraudulent nature of the Federal Reserve."

For additional information, visit http://rainydaypatriots.org ,  http://www.endthefed.us,  http://campaignforliberty.org, or contact Marcelo Muñoz at Marcelo_munoz@bellsouth.net or 205 901 0618

A little background:
In 1950 the law was changed to exempt the Federal Reserve from any auditing procedures. Essentially, the Fed can use our tax dollars however they wish, without any obligation whatsoever to disclose what they're doing. HR 1207 seeks to repeal that portion of the code, so when we ask questions, they HAVE to answer.

Why is this important?
As just one example, the Fed is refusing to give a public accounting of the trillions in recent taxpayer backed loans. Just look at the 700 billion in TARP funds that Congress appropriated and the Fed refused to talk about - we now know a portion of it ended up going to bonuses for the AIG execs.

 We deserve to know how our tax dollars are being spent, and allowing the Federal Reserve to remain out of control and shrouded in secrecy clearly allows for abuse.

 The good news is that this bill is actually gaining momentum - we're up to 60 co-sponsors as of today (4/21), which is pretty phenomenal. The American people are starting to demand more oversight and push for transparency, and that's exactly what we need to get things turned around.

 The bad news is that some very powerful special interests really don't want this to happen, so we're up against a pretty major hurdle.  Our own representative in the 6^th district, Spencer Bachus, has not co-sponsored the bill.

 So, what can you do to help?

Sign this petition to urge your congressman to co-sponsor the bill.

 Find out if your reps are on the list.

 Please spread the word about this game-changing bill!