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Davenport Man Announces Campaign for Treasurer of Libertarian National Committee
April 5, 2004

Davenport -- Pledging to "insist on financial integrity and continue his initiatives to improve budgetary construction and reporting," Mark Nelson announced his candidacy for the position of Treasurer of the Libertarian Party. "I was the primary architect of the current budgeting format, and the primary creator of the past two budgets," he said, noting with some pride that: "2003 was the first year the budget was close to actual results." The election for Treasurer will be held at the Libertarian Party's national convention May 27-31, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia.

He declared his intention to "continue this level of oversight and promote strategic initiatives to make LP operations more effective and efficient." He also promised to ensure that the newly purchased Raisers Edge database system is implemented successfully, "and that states receive the functionality they have been promised for years." Nelson is also determined to help the Libertarian Party achieve some non-financial goals, including the "continuation of the trend to narrow our focus on politics, rather than philosophy."

Nelson first became an LP Member in 1995, has been a Pledger since 1996 and became a Life Member in 2002. As a candidate he has run for School Board three times and State Senate once. He was also a crucial part of the campaign team that got Bill Lynn elected to City Council in Davenport, Iowa (pop. 100,000).

He was elected to the LP of Iowa's Executive Committee in 1997, and has been their State Chair since 1999. That state now has three Libertarians serving at the city council level, all of whom were elected during his Chairmanship. The party has substantially improved its statewide election results in each of the past two-year cycles. On the national LP level, Nelson has been on the Libertarian National Committee for the past four years, first as an Alternate, then as Region Eight Representative since 2001. He was also a member of the Strategic Planning Team in 2001. Nelson also has facilitated the past three state chairs conferences, shepherding the meeting from an LNC financed event through the first conference without LNC funding.

Nelson, 43, has been a Commercial Real Estate Appraiser since 1992, licensed in both Iowa and Illinois. He has spent 22 years in the Real Estate Industry, in appraisal and property management, and specializes in complex multifamily and commercial analysis. Divorced, he has had custody of Spenser (15, and an LP member and delegate to the 2000 and 2002 National Conventions) and Aubrey (14) since 1991.