Chereé Dumas, a Realtor from Signal Mountain, and Trevor Southerland, a university student from Chattanooga, were chosen state officers of the Tennessee Libertarian Party.
Libertarians held their state convention April 8-10 in Murfreesboro.
The main orders of business were to update the state party's bylaws and elect statewide officers to serve for the next two years. The convention also hosted a variety of speakers on various topics of interest to small-government advocates.
Small business owner Alicia Mattson of Cookeville, formerly the party's
treasurer, was chosen as chair for the 2005-2007 term. The new vice chair is Kingsport resident Tony Wall, area manager for a nationwide restoration and reconstruction firm. Ms. Duma is secretary and Mr. Southerland is treasurer.
The keynote speaker for the Tennessee LP convention was retired Federal Express pilot Vernie Kuglin of Memphis who spoke of her legal struggles and eventual victory over the IRS in court. Other featured speakers included Libertarian
National Committee members Dr. Jim Lark of Virginia and R. Lee Wrights of North Carolina, Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt, Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, and Rob Ikard of the National Federation of Independent Business.
The Libertarian Party is America's largest and most successful third party. Founded in 1971, today the party is organized in all 50 states. Currently, more than 600 Libertarians hold public office, more than all other third parties combined. Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats are the only three parties in U.S. history whose slates of candidates have received over a million votes for U.S. House of Representatives in a single election.
More information about the party and the convention is available at www.lptn.org or by phoning the Libertarian Party of Tennessee at 1-888-960-1776.