Jason Bateman at Common Ground Festival

On Saturday, August 25th Jason Bateman and campaign volunteers participated in the LGBT Pride Festival in uptown Charlotte and the Common Ground Music & Arts Festival in Charlotte’s Plaza-Midwood neighborhood.  Jason’s team hosted tents at both venues to display support for event causes and to share Libertarian candidate information with festival attendees.

The Charlotte Pride Festival is an annual two-day event featuring food and product vendors, live music, and a variety of scheduled entertainment programs celebrating Charlotte’s lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender community.  The Common Ground Festival showcases local musicians, artists, craftsmen and artisans with the goal of uniting Charlotte neighborhoods for a weekend of fun and entertainment for all ages.

Additional Libertarian candidates participating in the local events were Barbara Howe, NC gubernatorial nominee, and David Speight, contender for one of three seats on the Davidson County Board of Commissioners.  Throughout the day, candidates and volunteers provided tent visitors with voter registration forms, Libertarian party documentation, and promotional materials for individual Libertarian candidates including US presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

Jason Bateman Introduces Gary Johnson

On Saturday July 21st Jason introduced Gov. Johnson at the Conservatives against Unconstitutional Wars rally at Midtown Park in Charlotte.  The rally was attended by several hundred concerned citizens who oppose any conflict not authorized by a formal declaration of war from Congress.

Jason Bateman and Gov. Johnson at the Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas

The Libertarian Presidential nominee Gov. Gary Johnson released a list of candidates around the country that he is endorsing. Among them was Jason Bateman of Charlotte, NC who is running for Mecklenburg County Commissioner At-Large. Jason has served on Libertarian Party of North Carolina’s executive committee for 4 years as Membership Director and as an At Large member. He is a 35 year old Greensboro native who has lived in Charlotte since 2002 and has a BS in Finance and Economics from UNC- Wilmington and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Vanderbilt University. He has already been endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Mecklenburg County (LpMeck) and MeckPac

Governor Johnson states, “Jason is dedicated to the Libertarian principles of both fiscal responsibility and social tolerance.
Jason knows that government is best when it does not burden citizens with unnecessary laws that reduce both individual liberty and economic freedom.”

Jason Bateman has already endorsed Gov. Johnson for President stating, “I feel Governor Johnson and Judge Gray represent the best combination of experience and principle. We need someone to bring the out out-of-control spending and increase in government to a halt. Governor Johnson is the right man for the job.”

A list of all the candidates endorsed and their websites:

RJ Harris for US Congress, Oklahoma 4th District. www.rjharris2012.com
Steve Collett for US Congress, California 33rd District. http://electcollett.com
Muir Boda for US Congress, Maryland 1st District. boda4congress.wordpress.com
Mark Grannis for US Congress, Maryland 8th District. www.grannisforcongress.org
Danny Bedwell for US Congress, Mississippi 1st District. www.dannybedwell.com
Andrew McCullough for Utah Attorney General. www.andrewmccullough.org
Nathan Eberly for Ohio House of Representatives, 3rd District. http://nathaneberly.org
Margaret Melson for Delaware House of Representatives, 14th District. http://margaretmelson.blogspot.com
Will McVay for Delaware House of Representatives, 32nd District. www.willmcvay.com
Robert C. Coogan for Ohio House of Representatives, 52nd District. www.bobcoogan2012.org
Jason Bateman for Mecklenburg County Commissioner At-Large, Charlotte, NC. www.electjasonbateman.com
S. Rowan Wilson for Reno Nevada City Council. www.srowanwilson.com

“I am thrilled to receive MeckPac’s endorsement and have always believed that the fight for equality was essential to the fight for personal liberty. Discrimination at any level of government or by government is a threat to the liberty and privacy of all citizens and as County Commissioner I promise to continue the fight against such intrusions. Unfortunately, one does not have to look very far today to see examples of this, as such a threat is facing the voters at the ballot box on May 8th. My campaign and the Libertarian Party have been trying hard to convince voters in Mecklenburg to vote ‘against’ Amendment One. I thank MeckPac for their support and I am confident that this is the beginning of many more endorsements and support as our message reaches more voters and citizen groups. That message is that Mecklenburg County government needs to focus its efforts and resources on essential functions such as law enforcement, infrastructure and education rather than interfering in its citizens’ private lives, legislating morality and spending taxpayer money on corporate giveaways and pet projects.”

Jason Bateman’s website is electjasonbateman.com

(The writer is a Libertarian running for an at-large seat on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners.)

With budgets strained we can only hope our city and county leaders focus on legitimate functions of government.

Spending money on a baseball stadium when law enforcement is regularly hampered by staffing shortfalls and outdated technology would prove that serving special interests is more important to our leaders than protecting the welfare of citizens.

If the Knights want to move uptown let them pay for it and profit from it alone.

Jason Bateman

Charlotte

by Mike Parks

….Jason Bateman would like to become the only Libertarian on the county commission. “I have a really good opportunity to sell a third way for people in Mecklenburg County.”

“Lots of people identify themselves as socially progressive and fiscally conservative,” Bateman said, “so a lot of times when people vote … they feel like they have to hold their nose and pick one over the other.”

Bateman wants to study how at how money is spent on CMS, saying the school district “clearly gets the lion’s share” and the county “needs to look at how efficiently we spend on schools.” Bateman is in favor of studying a school voucher system where parents would get a check for the money spent per student in the district and could then decide where to send their kids.

“They could take that money to any school they saw fit and spend that money on a school of their choice,” Bateman said. “And school administrators would be released from the bureaucracy so they could do things differently.”

Bateman is against any talks of city-county consolidation, and in favor of Ballantyne splitting off to become its own town. Bateman is working on a website, www.electjasonbateman.com, but in the meantime people can email the candidate at jasondbateman@­hotmail.com.