GILMER--Members of the Upshur County Libertarian Party at their monthly meeting last week criticized the selection of Paul Ryan as presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney's choice for his running mate.

"This guy'll (Ryan) really sink him (Romney) because he's chairman of the (House) Budget Committee, and look where the (federal) budget is," said Criss Bartley during the Aug. 14 meeting at the Buckeye Cafe.

Allen Weatherford and Upshur County Libertarian Chairman Vance Lowry ridiculed Ryan's budget plan, saying it would take 40 years to balance the budget. However, Lowry said he saw a "silver lining" in Ryan's selection in that the vice-presidential candidate had read "Ayn Rand, which is the patron saint" of the Libertarian Party.

"He's a decent guy, plus a good Catholic boy," said Lowry, himself a Catholic.

But former county Libertarian Chairman Mark Grimes said Ryan "voted for all of this TARP (the Troubled Assets Relief Program) and everything else," and said the candidate "voted for some of this stuff he's railing against" now.

Grimes, a Union Pacific Railroad worker, also said "Paul Ryan made all the railroaders mad because he went after railroad retirement." Ryan "thought it was costing the government money," but railroad workers (including company officers) totally fund the retirement, Grimes said.

Meantime, Weatherford praised the Libertarians' vice-presidential nominee, James Ray, who is running with the party's Presidential candidate, Gary Johnson. Weatherford said Ray quit the Republican Party over the Patriot Act.

Lowry said Ray is a judge who wants to "decriminalize the drug war" or devise a different approach to the drug issue, if possible.

As for the top of the presumed Republican Presidential ticket, Weatherford charged "Romney's like the husband your wife decides on, they settle for."

Also at last week's meeting, the Upshur Libertarians discussed their U.S. Senate candidate, John Jay Myers, who was scheduled to make appearances in Tyler and Mt. Pleasant Tuesday, Aug. 21. Weatherford organized the Mt. Pleasant gathering.

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Uphsur Libertarian’s Not Happy With Choice of Paul Ryan