$5,000 for some straight answers

[svillee]

(also sent via email to [email protected])

I'm ready to buy $5,000 worth of Ron Paul blimp time (9 hours), but I need to pay by check, and I want some questions answered first.

I want to pay by check because $5,000 is over my credit card limit. I sent an email to [email protected] on December 7 explaining this situation, and there was no response. For what it's worth, if I had received a response, I would have mailed the check promptly, and it would have cleared by now.

In addition, I'll need straight answers to these questions:

(1) What is the name of the company that is selling blimp time? (It was originally listed on the web site as "Liberty Political Advertising", but all mention of this company has been removed.)

(2) In what state is this company registered? (I want to be able to do a company search with the secretary of state and find it. For example, if I go to http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/CSearch.aspx and look for "Liberty Political Advertising", it responds "No Records Found".)

(3) Who are the principal owners of this company?

(4) Why was all mention of "Liberty Political Advertising" removed from the web site?

I feel that these are perfectly reasonable questions. Someone earlier posted essentially the same questions, and Katharine Memole (Mckarnin) promised answers "in 3 days" (i.e., today).

 

[Cyclone]

I have no idea what this information means, but I pass it on to you to do with what you like. If you go to the google checkout area this shows up:


Order Details - RonPaulBlimpTour, 305 710-7344, 650 Pennsylvania Ave, #25, Miami Beach, FL 33139 US
Qty Item Price
1 Sponsorship of the Ron Paul Blimp Tour - Fly the Ron Paul Blimp to the Inauguration! $25.00


To my untrained and uninformed eye, it looks like there is no company sponsoring this anymore. You are donating to a blimp tour. The blimp tour folks can be reached in Miami, Fl.

I am not an FEC lawyer. I have no idea what that means for donations, or the legality of this.

I do know I saw an article today about the FEC closing for a period while they straighten out a game of chicken and who gets to sit on the panel, but in the article they mentioned that while the FEC was out of action, questions like whether this blimp is legal under their rules would be put on hold. But that all actions have a 5 year Statute of Limitations and they would be visiting these issues after they come back and have a full panel. Suggesting to me, that the FEC intends to look into the blimp donations at some point.

I will try to find a link for you.

Here found it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102299.html?hpid=topnews

"And then there is a range of vexing campaign finance questions that hang in limbo: Can a firm that operates a blimp accept unlimited contributions to fly it over New Hampshire with Ron Paul's name on the side? "

 

[svillee]

A post by francisco has revealed some useful information. Liberty Political Advertising is registered in Missouri. The filings include two documents that can be downloaded.

The second of the two documents is an Agent Change/Resign dated December 14. This form is used to change the registered agent, but the field for the new registered agent is blank. This indicates that Jerry Collette has resigned as registered agent, and nobody has taken his place yet. Maybe he resigned because it was discovered that he resides in North Carolina.

Still deafening silence from the blimp team, but thanks to francisco we now have a little more information.

 

[pacelli]

A post by francisco has revealed some useful information. Liberty Political Advertising is registered in Missouri. The filings include two documents that can be downloaded.

The second of the two documents is an Agent Change/Resign dated December 14. This form is used to change the registered agent, but the field for the new registered agent is blank. This indicates that Jerry Collette has resigned as registered agent, and nobody has taken his place yet. Maybe he resigned because it was discovered that he resides in North Carolina.

Still deafening silence from the blimp team, but thanks to francisco we now have a little more information.

So we have the company registered in Missouri, but the mailing address is in florida. I wonder, if someone were to do a florida LLC search using the names of the organizers of the blimp project, would that florida mailing address correspond with another LLC listing? Is that LLC even active? Might be possible to bottle the egg without disturbing the blimp team from their essential planning.

By the way, KEEP THE BLIMP ALIVE! DONATE TO THE BLIMP!!

 

[texasliberty]

My (completely speculative, but hopefully reasoned) guess has been that one of the partners wants out and they need to restructure, or dissolve and re-form the LLC. Jerry was very active early on and then abruptly went dark at one point, which points me in that direction.

It was around the time there was a huge furor about salaries and the for-profit nature of the project, and if I were to get double-speculative, I think that when it changed directions to be very very bare-bones that maybe not everyone was on board with that, or was able to commit to the pay cuts, paying for the blimp before salaries, etc. I personally found those anti-profit conditions really dismaying; I think they'd be able to work a lot more effectively now if they could spend more money like real capitalists instead of having to beg for everything. But again, that's my own speculation.

If that were the case, they'd have to go through all the legal hoo-haw to get a new agent registered or a new LLC formed, which takes time and effort, and obviously the holidays are going to slow things down.

In the end, I don't think this would really affect much from the purchaser point of view. The blimp is bannered and flying; we send money, it continues to fly. The net net is that the real risk was taken by the airship owner, who allocated the time and resources. He seems to have not flipped out, which indicates that money is probably getting to him. That indicates that a check to Liberty Political Advertising LLC would probably, net net, get spent on blimp. But if it were my $5000 I'd probably send it in as CC donations - several over time, if necessary - or wait for a firm answer. Or ask them for a wire transfer account and wire it.

Speculative, but my best guess.

 

[damon04]

Blimp

 

[Man from La Mancha]

Let wait till after Christmas but I agree that they need a full time person to answer all all consumer questions on a daily basis, but even Sony could take a week or or more to get back to one on company policy. Lets hope they do, but please keep giving. They just need to have a forum board member with a direct Link to their cell phones to call and ask them questions a couple times a day to relay them to us. I think they are doing great but that is a small favor to ask. I will continue giving none the less because the blimp company trust them to keep flying.
.

 

[Alex Libman]

Thank you for doing this, svillee! Both your donation and your oversight are very valuable.

 

[DisabledCombatVet4change]

blimp

 

[pacelli]

No kidding! We want to get the blimp Svillee's 5k, that's a big chunk of air time. As quickly as possible. I hope his concerns are addressed by the appropriate people in the detail he needs to make an informed decision, as an informed consumer.

 

[chestertime]

A post by francisco has revealed some useful information. Liberty Political Advertising is registered in Missouri. The filings include two documents that can be downloaded.

The second of the two documents is an Agent Change/Resign dated December 14. This form is used to change the registered agent, but the field for the new registered agent is blank. This indicates that Jerry Collette has resigned as registered agent, and nobody has taken his place yet. Maybe he resigned because it was discovered that he resides in North Carolina.

Still deafening silence from the blimp team, but thanks to francisco we now have a little more information.

I'm no fan of the blimp but all that filing appears to be doing is fixing a typo ("Theodisia" to "Theodosia")?

 

[svillee]

I'm no fan of the blimp but all that filing appears to be doing is fixing a typo ("Theodisia" to "Theodosia")?

You're right. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[LibertyEagle]

I'm no fan of the blimp but all that filing appears to be doing is fixing a typo ("Theodisia" to "Theodosia")?

If that's all it is, I wonder why they didn't just say so.

 

[tttar]

Being the highly trained, professional reader I am, I also noticed the form changed the address to Box 3279-B.

Maybe they just weren't getting some of their mail.

The first form had the name of the town spelled both ways.