Well, it’s not much of a legal document, but the Manhattan Libertarian Party’s heart is in the right place in suing to shut down the city’s public campaign finance system.

It’s hard for me to believe that these programs could even possibly be constitutional, but I’ve never really looked into what relevant court cases there are.

Here’s the press release:

Libertarian Chair Sues Bloomberg, City to Stop Campaign Finance Program

New York, 2/28/05 – Manhattan Libertarian Party chair Jim Lesczynski filed suit in New York County Supreme Court today to overturn New York City’s lavish Campaign Finance Program.

“Today we are putting Gifford Miller and all the other political welfare queens on notice that we are taking them off the dole,” Lesczynski declared. “The city’s obscenely extravagant six-to-one matching funds program is not only fiscally irresponsible, but it violates our Constitutional protections against compelled political speech.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Campaign Finance Board Chairman Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr., the Campaign Finance Board, and the City of New York are named as defendants in the complaint. The complaint alleges that compelling taxpayers to bankroll political speech with which they disagree violates the free speech clauses of the New York State and U.S. Constitutions. Lesczynski is asking the court for a permanent injunction blocking the Campaign Finance Program.

“Libertarians oppose all forms of welfare, whether for individuals, corporations or politicians,” Lesczynski said. “I vehemently object to the content of their campaign messages, which inevitably promise more taxes and less freedom, but I object even more to being forced to pay for those repugnant messages.”

You tell ‘em!