For Immediate Release - Reform Party member Cleave Drummond has announced he will run for Florida’s Second Congressional District’s seat in the 2014 elections, which is currently held by Republican Steve Southerland. He is the first Reform Party member to announce his candidacy for the 2014 Federal Elections. Mr. Drummond will have more than seventeen months to campaign.

“I learned that it’s best to start early,” said Mr. Drummond.

Cleave Drummond is a self-employed web and graphic designer. Originally a Democrat, he joined the Reform Party several years ago when he realized the establishment didn’t have America’s best interests at heart. His platform calls for fiscal responsibility, economic sustainability and ethics reform.

Mr. Drummond ran as a write-in during the 2012 elections. During that election, he was able to participate in three debates. During that campaign, he did not do as well as he would have liked, but hopes to do better since he has gained an early start, and has campaign experience from his previous run.

Currently Mr. Drummond is looking for campaign staff, which currently consists of his wife and son with occasional support of other Reform Party members, and building infrastructure necessary to win a political campaign.

Cleave Drummond will make his first scheduled campaign appearance at the Bonifay’s Down Home Street Festival on March 16-17.

If you would like to know more about Cleave Drummond, it is possible to visit his website at www.drummondforcongress.com, and check out the Reform Party at www.reformparty.org.

The Reform Party are attempting the following:

1. Organize affiliates in as many states as possible

2. Obtain ballot access in as many states as possible

3. Build a fundraising base of small donors

4. Improve the number of social networking followers

What is the Reform Party doing in 2012?
We are currently focusing on:

 - Building strong state party organizations
 - Increasing fundraising capabilities
 - Helping state parties increase their skills and resources
 - Helping state parties identify potential candidates for local, state, and federal office

Building State Party Organizations

In states with very little organization, we are focusing on networking activists so they can build strong, functioning state parties.  Contact us today to find out how you can get involved!

Increasing Fundraising

Printing and mailing material, maintaining websites, hiring petition gatherers, all of these things take money.  The Reform Party can not be successful unless the state parties and the national committee can meet our legal financial obligations and are able to pay for the services we need.  While the vast majority of our labor is all volunteer, it still takes money to have a functioning organization.

At the national level, increasing small donors is critical to our core beliefs.  Only by relying on small donors like you can we ensure we are accountable to all of our supporters and not any single large contributor.

Helping State Parties

Strong state party organizations are critical to our success.  In states with ballot access, we are focusing our national efforts on helping them to identify and run candidates, to build their state fundraising, and to increase their leadership abilities.

In states without ballot access, we are focusing on identifying independent candidates for office that the state party can support, and on strategies to regain ballot access.

Identifying Candidates

The Reform Party is looking for individuals who are willing to seek public office at the local, state, and national level.  We can not be a political party without candidates, and we can not impact the political landscape without credible candidates.

What do we look for in a candidate?  Generally speaking, you should have desire to take on the very difficult problems that face us at all levels of government.  Your focus as a candidate should be in line with the local, state, or national Reform Party Platform.  And finally you should be willing to work for the success of not only your own campaign, but for the success of your fellow candidates and the Reform Party in general.  The strength of a political party, unlike an independent campaign, is that it builds on the success of each candidate, and by doing so can have a gradually increasing impact on elections.

If you are interested in seeking office, please contact us for more information.

At its core, the Reform Party is made up of concerned Americans, tired of the partisan rancor in government and a two-party system that appears committed to putting its support for the special-interests ahead of finding common-sense solutions designed to solve our most pressing challenges.

The people of the Reform Party are former Democrats, Independents, Libertarians and Republicans, who are coming together to form a viable political organization that can best represent both the will and the needs of the American people.

Unlike other reformist organizations, the Reform Party is a political party and not a political action committee that supports candidates from other political parties. The Reform Party (nationally and through state parties) nominates and runs its own candidates to oppose the political institutions that continue to mismanage our government.

They all go together now

PISCATAWAY, NJ - The Reform Party of New Jersey held its state convention on April 14th in Piscataway.  Party founders Jacob Zychick, Dennis “DJ” Mikolay, and LaMont Rouse were reelected to their respective positions as Chairman, Vice-Chair, and Secretary.

Margaret Chapman, a veteran of the United States Army and a breast cancer survivor, will be the party’s candidate in the First Congressional District. Chapman is a vocal critic of Representative Rob Andrews, whom she believes is not readily accessible to his constituents. Chapman promised that if elected to the House of Representatives she would make a concerted effort to hear the concerns and needs of those in the district. Ms. Chapman’s campaign website will be forthcoming. 

Mark D. Quick, a former Republican Committeeman and long-time conservative activist in Warren County, was formally nominated as the party’s torchbearer in the Fifth Congressional District, where he will challenge incumbent Representative Scott Garrett. Mr. Quick also became a delegate to the Reform Party’s National Convention, to be held this August in Philadelphia, and was selected to become a member of the RPUSA National Committee. Mr. Quick’s campaign website is: www.vote4markquick.org

Jack Freudenheim, an IT consultant who has done consulting work for several Fortune 500 companies, will present a fiscally conservative alternative to Rush Holt in the Twelfth Congressional District. Mr. Freudenheim, an environmentalist and advocate of clean energy, can be contacted via www.jackforcongress2012.com

Community activist Omar Dyer, a veteran of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and a leader in the effort to recall Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy, became the Reform Party’s candidate for United States Senate. Dyer’s calls for political unity and his promise to end partisan bickering struck a chord with many Reform Party activists; he criticized both major parties based upon his experiences dealing with the Hudson County political machine. His website will be announced soon.

Other federal and local candidates will be announced in the next month.

Presidential candidate Andre Barnett, a fitness personality and entrepreneur from New York also addressed the convention. Mr. Barnett is considered one of the front-runner’s for the party’s nomination, competing against former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, who recently abandoned the GOP to seek the nomination of Americans Elect and the Reform Party. Mr. Barnett defeated Governor Roemer will seventy percent of the vote during the convention’s straw poll.

Also, Carl Bergmanson, former Mayor of Glen Ridge, spoke about the necessity of more competitive elections.