January 10, 2008

Virginia Independent Greens Affiliate with Independence Party of America
Many Other Independent State Parties Moving Toward Affiliation

Frank MacKay, Chair of the Independence Party of America (IPOA), Chair of the Independence Party of New York (IPNY) and Executive Director of the Reform Party of the United States of America (RPUSA) announced today that the Virginia Independent Greens under the leadership of Chairman Carey Campbell have reached an agreement to affiliate with the Independence Party of America.

The Virginia Independent Greens have the distinction of having in the field the first 2008 petition for Mayor Michael Bloomberg for President of the United States.

“We look forward to being part of this team headed by Chairman MacKay to ballot access an independent presidential candidate who will move this country toward unification and away from the polarization of the present two party system in Washington. Of course the candidate that can do this is Mayor Mike Bloomberg,” stated Chairman Campbell.

Virginia Independent Greens, previous to this, had not been aligned with any national party organization and does have a long history of ballot accessing by petition Virginia statewide candidates.

At meetings in Washington, attended by Chairman MacKay, Chairman Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Independence Party of America and Chairman of the Reform Party of Pennsylvania Tom McLaughlin and Tom Connolly, National Director for Ballot Access for the Independence Party of America and Vice Chair of the Independence Party of New York, the Virginia organization became the latest affiliate to join this ever expanding group of independent state organizations.

Pennsylvania Reform Party like Virginia Independents has a long history of ballot accessing statewide candidates and like Virginia has affiliated with the IPOA.

“We have many organizations like these petition access states headed our way as well as over a dozen states that have instant ballot access,” stated Chairman MacKay

“Instant ballot access is achieved when a state party or a group of state parties, i.e. RPUSA, hold a presidential convention of state delegates and vote to nominate a presidential candidate,” stated Director for Ballot Access Connolly.

“We covered all options to bring together the many states with independent movements for the common goal to elect an Independent President of the United States,” stated Vice Chair McLaughlin.

Today, Chairman MacKay leaves on a southern tour of Reform/Independent state organizations, several of which have instant ballot access. On January 26th, the Independence Party of Minnesota is holding a meeting to affiliate with IPOA.

“There is a growing swell of anticipation within the independence / Reform movement that big things are about to happen. As I have said before, 2008 will be the Golden Age for Independence Politics,” MacKay continued.

“The plan is multifaceted and the personalities, at times, can be difficult but that is all being overcome by our leader, Frank MacKay and our dream to elect an Independent President while establishing another national party, a national party of independence and reform,” concluded Director Connolly.

Contacts:
IPOA Chairman Frank MacKay — 631-741-8518
IPOA Vice Chairman Tom McLaughlin — 610-906-2252
IPOA Director for Ballot Access Tom Connolly — 518-598-4026