2021 Award Nominations

Dr. Barbara Bourland Light of Liberty Award

The individual most responsible for growth of the party and dedication to the libertarian cause.

• Danny Lundy (Morgan)
  Since attending his first convention, Danny has been a force to be reckoned with in his county and throughout the state. He organized and founded his County Affiliate, he ran a competitive race for Township Board, he has gone toe to toe with his Town Board and forced them to start being more transparent, he served on his town’s Police Commission and created a fair hiring process for the next Mooresville Police Chief, and has grown his County Affiliate to the height of winning the 2020 Bill Bean County Affiliate of the Year Award.
• Micah Haynes (Knox)
  For his tireless efforts in reaching out to members of the 8th district and getting them onboard; resulting in the organization of several counties in the 8th district. Micah’s infectious enthusiasm and skilled leadership inspires all of those around him to work harder and build a better party.
• Cassie Rolon (Kosciusko)
  Cassie has energy and enthusiasm about spreading the message of liberty to Indiana. She participated in many campaign rallies and overreach protests in her area and the statehouse this last year and travelled many times back and forth for massive campaign signs and literature. She chaired her county’s Rainwater Facebook page and Twitter. She is putting in the hours learning about how local government works as well as affiliating Kosciusko County and becoming chair.
• Brad Klopfenstein (Marion)
  Brad has served in many capacities with the Libertarian Party of Indiana since the 1990’s. Soon after graduating from Purdue in 1992, Brad served as a college recruiter for the national party. Soon thereafter he became active in the Libertarian Party of Marion County, as a volunteer with candidates, including Andy Horning’s campaign for Indianapolis Mayor in 1999.

  Brad became LPIN’s Executive Director in January of 2000, and held the position until October of 2005, when he became Executive Director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association. While as Executive Director he worked hard to bring the Libertarian national convention to Indianapolis in 2002, 7 Libertarians were elected to local office, 8 Libertarians were appointed to various boards and commissions and record vote totals were had by many Libertarian candidates. He also became active with the politically important Indianapolis Press Club and worked with Libertarians to become active in it.

  Brad was appointed to the Indianapolis-Marion County Board of Zoning Appeals as a Libertarian in 2008 and served until 2009.

  Brad remained very active with the LPIN after he left its employ, helping candidates and lobbying the General Assembly and Indianapolis City-County Council on libertarian issues. He has hosted, and continues to host fundraisers and events for Libertarians at his homes, in his bar area which is effectively known as Klop’s Speakeasy Lounge. He provided essential volunteer service in the 2012 Libertarian Indiana Secretary of State’s race. He has volunteered for many activities over the years, including work on behalf of Libertarians at the Indianapolis Hob Nob.

  Starting when he was Executive Director, and continuing thereafter to the present, Brad has participated in numerous political shows on radio, television and internet media, as a Libertarian commentator. This includes, but is not limited to, WXNT and WIBC radio in Indianapolis, “”Indiana Lawmakers”” on Indianapolis PBS television and radio, and “”Indiana issues”” on Abdul Hakim Shabazz’s Indiana Politics radio, television and internet network.

  Brad has served as a Libertarian candidate numerous times, including Marion County Assessor in 1998, Indianapolis City-County Council in 1999, Indianapolis City-County Council in 2003 (he was endorsed by the Indianapolis Fraternal order of Police Lodge 86), and Lt. Governor of Indiana in 2012.

  Brad has attended numerous state conventions of the Libertarian Party of Indiana since the 1990’s and numerous Libertarian Party national conventions since 2000.

  Brad served as the General Manager of the private Antelope Club in Indianapolis from 2013 to 2020. The Antelope Club has always been “”thick”” in the Indianapolis political world. Brad was open and accommodating to all political parties, including the Libertarian Party. Since 2013 numerous party meetings of the Libertarian Party of Marion County and Libertarian Party of Indiana have been held there, and continue to be held there. The Antelope Club has become the site of several Libertarian election night parties, and fundraisers for Libertarian candidates.

  Brad was named president of The Greater Lawrence Chamber of Commerce in January 2020, the highest ranking executive position with the Chamber. He continues to serve in this position to this day.

  Brad has served the Libertarian Party of Indiana continually since 1992, and to this day.

Susan Bell Office Holder of the Year Award

A current elected office holder from the Libertarian Party who best promotes

• Nathan Kring (Tipton)Nathan is the elected Libertarian on the Tipton City Council.As councilor he serves as the following as well:

  1) Treasurer of the Tipton County Solid Waste District
  2) Representative on the City Ordinance Committee
  3) Board of Works member
  4) Council representative on the Health Insurance Board

  As a Board of Works member, Nathan helped lead a new effort in enforcing local codes and laws, removing ones that are outdated or problematic, and streamlining or reviewing/improving permitting processes. This has lead to new growth in the City of Tipton, abandoned or city owned properties being put back in the tax roles, and certain constitutional rights being restored.

  As the Treasurer of the Solid Waste District, he has served as one of the budget representatives. Because of the fiscal conservatism of the budget committee and the hard work of the board in 2020, he has been able to advocate and gain support for lowering the tax rate for the solid waste district in 2022. This will save the county taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars (all paid by residential property owners).

  As a member of the Ordinance Committee, he advocated and received support for eliminating the city’s mandatory dog registration and fee, arguing that pets are legal property and the government has no right or need to know what a private citizen owns. Also he helped review old ordinances regarding pet and implemented solutions for loose pets violating private property rights. He also led discussions that seek to remove restrictions on overreaching zoning and planning laws, specifically as they pertain to property use.

  As a member of the Health Insurance Committee, he helped review and institute changes to the city’s healthcare program that saved 15% of the city’s budget for projected rate increases. This equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in saved tax dollars.

  And lastly, as a city councilman he has stood firm in his conviction that tax and utilities rates should be kept as low as possible. This has been evident in his record, as he has voted no on tax abatements, voiced his opposition to TIF districts, and only supported a $3 water rate hike for Tipton’s municipally owned utilities (the first since 2009). He has also advocated that the city council know and understand its role in relationship to the executive and the clerk, and pushed council members to carefully consider whether or not the council (or the government in general) is the proper channel to solve a community’s or individual’s problem.

• Jamie Owens (Henry)
  Jamie stepped up to the plate when she was asked to run for office in Liberty Township Trustee in Henry County. When Jamie ran and accepted her position as township trustee she did not know she would be taking over such a mess. The former trustee had been convicted of embezzlement and left the township in dire needs. Jamie went in and has worked hard to get her township back up to promising standards and has done this by using libertarian principles and values through it all.
• Cheryl Heacox (Wayne)
  Clay Township Advisory Board – 2011-2023
• Larry Walters (Wayne)
  Dublin Town Council – 2016-2024
• Jessica Wallace (Whitley)
  Larwill Town Council At-Large – 2016-2023
• Renee Sweeney (Wells)
  Ossian Town Council – 2015-2023
• Terry Coffman (Henry)
  Liberty Township Advisory Board – 2015-2022
• Dean Hartley (Montgomery)
  Franklin Township Advisory Board – 2019-2022
• Ryan Coby (Wayne)
  Milton Town Council – 2020-2023
• Patricia Warner (Kosciusko)
  Claypool Clerk-Treasurer – 2016-2023

Phil Miller Candidate of the Year Award

The candidate who has shown an extraordinary ability to reach and connect with voters as well as further
the cause of libertarianism

• Donald Rainwater (Hamilton)
  Excellent campaign and huge voter outreach for Governor of Indiana. Record number of votes. Large crowds at this campaign events with most attendees never having attended a Libertarian event before. Excellent job in the debates with his opponents. Record setting outcomes for a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate. He helped lay the foundation that has allowed approximately 20 new county affiliates to be organized between the general election and the end of February 2021.
• Tonya Millis (Lawrence)
  Tonya Millis, while being new to the Libertarian Party, campaigned harder than almost anyone during her race for Ninth District Congress. She got around the entire Ninth District several times and spread the message of liberty to so many. Her infectious enthusiasm for the LPIN and for holding our elected officials accountable is to be noted.

Ken Bisson Outreach Award

The party member who has worked exceptionally hard to spread the message of libertarian principles to as many potential voters as possible

• Jeremiah Morrell (Henry)
  For creating and co-hosting their podcast, the Boss Hog of Liberty, which has brought libertarian issues to the forefront of his county’s conversation and is shaping the local election.
• Micah Haynes (Knox)
  Micah has gone above and beyond as the former Knox County Chairman to becoming the 8th district rep. With the effort that Micah has put forward they have been able to expand and build Indiana’s 8th District. For all of his time spent at his local affiliate to being there to help other counties be able to affiliate, to just simply attending the various monthly county meetings. He has thoroughly educated the public about the libertarian party and its values.
• Sam Goldstein (Hamilton)
  As campaign manager for Donald Rainwater for Indiana starting at the end of July, 2020, Sam organized a volunteer staff that grew to 17 people that managed a truly statewide campaign. This was done in only 4 weeks and the campaign was visible in all parts of the state, with radio, television, social media and billboards across the state, and organized-well. It was one of best campaigns to date in Indiana for Libertarians, and for a statewide officer at that.
• Dan Shank (Hamilton)
  Dan stepped forward and took over the distribution of Rainwater for Indiana yard signs across Indiana in August 2020. This involved 1000’s of yard signs delivered to all areas of the state. Thousands and thousands of voters were touched by the Rainwater Campaign and the Libertarian Party message because of Dan’s expertise in organization and logistics. It was an amazing job under short deadlines and incredible pressure.

Joe Hauptmann Campaign Leadership Award

The campaign volunteer who has worked above and beyond in an extraordinary fashion and has significantly contributed to the success of a campaign

• Stephanie Dasbach (Hamilton)
  Worked more than full time from August through November coordinating Donald Rainwater’s calendar, events, and all other administrative needs during his historic run for Governor in 2020. Effective and a critical part of his campaign team. Stephanie dealt with the influx of contacts and event requests with ease. She prioritized events for Don, while keeping careful consideration for his work and home schedule, as to not overwhelm him. Stephanie is efficient and effective in her planning. She would plan several events within a region or a county cluster to meet as many potential voters as possible in the time that we had. Most notably, she organized the whistle stop tour at the end of the campaign, where the campaign team covered most of the major cities in Indiana in the last couple days before the election. Stephanie was time conscious and always made sure we left with enough time to get to the next event. She also took it upon herself to bring and set up our tent at each event and make it was stocked with flyers, volunteer sign ups, buttons, t-shirts, etc. She also recruited her husband Garrick to the campaign to act as an IT guru and often brought her super awesome kids to help out at events as well.
• Sam Goldstein (Hamilton)
  Beginning the last week of July and going full steam ahead through November, Sam put together a team of approximately 17 campaign staffers that rivaled the Democrat’s team and gave headaches to the Republican team as Don Rainwater’s campaign manager. An incredible effort to allow Don to be the great candidate, and let Sam worry about the mechanics. An exceptional performance of creating a legitimate statewide campaign in 30 days.
• Rosalyn Kowal (Marion)
  Outstanding volunteer for Rainwater for Governor campaign. Worked nearly full-time on the needs of the campaign from August through November as volunteer coordinator and anything else that needed to be done. Took charge of her efforts and needed minimal guidance. Highly effective.
• Lauri Shillings (Hamilton)
  Lauri was one of the first people to work on the Rainwater campaign. Her highly skilled and professional presentation made an incredible first impression on voters. Her signs, logos, media designs, billboards, and eye-popping merchandise became the rallying banner for the Rainwater campaign as they charged into history. She brought a level of professionalism and quality branding rarely seen in Libertarian campaigns and raised the bar for all future campaigns.