Libertarian Party Lobbies
Against S-757
3/10/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim O'Brien
(313) 562-5778
DEARBORN. The Libertarian Party
of Michigan announced today that the party's SpeakOutMichigan.org web-based
lobbying utility will be used in an effort to persuade state legislators to
vote against Senate Bill 757 which would incarcerate non-custodial parents who
are behind by any amount on their child support payments until the arrearage
has been fully paid.
"This bill is positively
medieval," said LPM chair, Stacy Van Oast. "It is bizarre that just as we are
entering the 21st century our legislators propose to bring back the debtors'
prisons of the middle ages."
The senate bill, now under consideration in the house, would require that anyone
arrested for back child support post cash or bond equal to the entire amount in
question in order to be released pending a court hearing.
"The overwhelming majority of
people who have the money to put up the bond would certainly have used it to
simply meet their obligations. This bill is founded on the vicious,
mean-spirited notion that non-custodial parents who have the means are,
nevertheless, deliberately denying their own children.
"The effect of this legislation
will be to jail parents who, through illness, loss of employment, or some other
cause, have fallen on hard times. But these kinds of circumstances always
affect the ability to support a family -- even one that is still intact," she
observed. "Throwing such a person into debtor's prison will only exacerbate the
problem.
"And that's not even taking into
account the cost to taxpayers and the impact on our already overburdened
criminal justice system," she continued. "How many muggers and rapists shall we
let out in order to make room for the so-called 'Deadbeat Dads'?"
SpeakOutMichigan.org is an
Internet site that permits users to write their state legislators using either
a pre-written letter, their own letter, or a combination of the two. By simply
entering a home address the system will automatically determine which are the
user's legislators and direct the e-mail to them. Though sponsored by the LPM,
the site is non-partisan and may be used by voters who belong to any political
party -- or no political party at all.
This is only the second time the
LPM has used its high tech e-mail lobbying tool. The first effort, to persuade
legislators to bring back stalled "concealed carry" legislation, drew well over
1,200 users.
The party expects its Internet based lobbying efforts to continue to
grow.
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