Sebesta for Secretary of State of Kentucky

UPDATE THE THIRD:  (the second update is on the update tabs if you want to see it)

I'm in the race and running fast!   For the last month I've been criss-crossing the state, speaking with every group that I can, knocking on doors, talking to people in the line at the grocery store and basically doing everything I can to get the message out.  When I started this race I thought it would be a simple matter of repeating that felons need the right to vote for three months.  Since then I've realized that what I'm offering is a lot simpler and a lot more important.

I'm publishing ALL correspondence when I'm in office.  ALL of it.  If the Secretary of State knows it, you will know it.  If I get an email, it goes on the web.  When I respond, it goes on the web.  When I get a letter or a memo, it get scanned and posted.  If somebody tells me I can't publish something, then I go on the web and tell you who told me that and what authority they have to say so.  No exceptions.  Perfect 21st century transparency.

This has two major implications:

A)  There's no reason why any other official or candidate can't make the exact same promise, and in fact, some of them are starting to.  The more people I can tell about this, the more I can awaken Kentucky's latent desire to truly know what's going on, to have the information available so that we can decide for ourselves what is best for ourselves.  This is truly what I'm campaigning for.  This is what I'm accomplishing.  I'm not just offering 21st century transparency for myself, I'm asking for you to want it for yourself.  I'm asking for you to offer it.  I'm asking for you to demand it.

B)  "The Secretary of State shall keep a fair register of and attest all the official acts of the Governor"

--Kentucky Constitution, Section 91.

If it's in the office, it's official.  This means that I will use literally every power at my disposal, granted to me by the Kentucky Constitution, to publish literally everything that I can from the Governor's office.  No more secret deals.  If I'm working with a governor who respects the people, like Young or Adkins, then I can promise the most transparent state government in the history of this and any other state.  If I'm working with an adversarial governor, like that low-rent bargain-basement teacher-hating hack we have right now, then I will be in his office, in his face, every single day, saying, "What's that?  Can I print that?  What's on this post-it note?  You don't mind that I'm livestreaming this, do you?  You better not."

So please, donate, distribute, and volunteer.  When you donate, you help me amplify this message.  You help me tell everybody in Kentucky, "Hey, you want this too.  This is what we all want.  Ask for what we want."

 

Oh and also I've decided to design my campaign to be perfectly congruent with libertarian and socialist principles, because I can.  I'm running for an executive position without budget authority, which makes it easier, but the way I'll run the office will be in no way against the principles of either the libertarian* or socialist** movements; I'm running to return power to the people, I refuse all coercion, I refuse all secrecy, I am all for minimizing regulation and government overreach whenever possible, I will not in any way attempt to increase the budget of my office, and my voting rights platform is exponentially more ambitious and egalitarian than all the other candidates on both sides combined.  I'm still running as a Democrat, I'm just a Democrat who's willing to admit that libertarians and socialists exist and that we are willing to work to earn their votes.

I edited the campaign goal from $500 to $2500 because I could do some really cool stuff with about $2000.  Time's running  a bit short for my campaign to make a million dollars but I'm doing well with what I've got.

In the interests of transparency, here's what the last $90 went to:

Gas money for Boyd, Madison, Clark, Rowan, Powell, Bullitt (twice), Jefferson, (three times), Scott, Woodford, Franklin (three times) and soon Owen, Oldham, and Fulton counties.
About a hundred tiny plastic Kentucky tokens (biodegradable PLA plastic, contact me on the website (s4sos.politicsky.org) if you want one)
$20 of Facebook ads (hopefully starting today, Facebook has a weird verification process for political candidates, I'll let you know how it goes)

*  To the extent that libertarians agree with each other about their own principles.

**  The same as the libertarians except far moreso.

 

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UPDATE:  I'm in the race!  Thank you very much for your donations, in the interest of transparency I'll tell you what I used them for:

$500 for filing fee
$20 for business cards
$25 for new toner cartridges for the printer

I am running because I want to stand on stage and talk about early voting, re-enfranchising felons, ranked-choice voting, modern voting security, and government transparency.

I am in the Democratic primary.  There are at three other people running.  The winner will almost certainly be the person who spends the most money.  Let's not have any illusions about that.  But running has a value all its own.  A good campaign is worthwhile in and of itself.

I can't promise that I'll win; that will depend on donors, voters, and fate.  But I can make darn sure that we talk about early voting, about same-day party registration for our closed primary state, about returning the right to vote to felons, about reforming first-past-the-post voting, about blockchain voting security, about the responsibility for perfect governmental transparency in every department, and about the unique genius of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

It costs $500 to run for office in Kentucky.  All donations up to $500 were be used for the filing fee, all donations past $500 will be used for promotion of the campaign.  I strongly intend to run the campaign with the coolest swag.

My campaign web page is s4sos.politicsky.org .

Thank you very much for your consideration.