RLC National Committee Member Biographies

William Westmiller is a co-founder of the Canadian Libertarian Party, past LP National Secretary and California LP Chairman. He was a Republican candidate in California's 24 Congressional District, served as RLC California Chairman, and as a national RLC Board member before being elected as national RLC Secretary.

Bill has ten years of experience as a Data Processing Manager, Radio/TV Broadcaster and retail store manager/owner. He has been a member of the 999 society and the Electrochemical Society, wrote an anti-gerrymandering initiative in California, and has been an official spokesman for several school choice initiatives. His commentaries on political issues have been published on several major internet websites.

Bill lives in Thousand Oaks, California with his wife Robin and is the father of three adult daughters.

Advisory Board Director

Douglas Lorenz

Douglas Lorenz founded the computer consulting firm, Lorenz Technologies, in 1990. With offices in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, he provided network solutions and computer systems to companies throughout the Bay Area. As the Internet began to grow as a business and communications tool, Douglas returned to college to update his focus.

While in college, Douglas became active in politics, and used his computer skills to encourage greater online communication among political efforts. Douglas has been very active in developing volunteer political organizations, having created the first online presence for the California College Republicans during his college years. He continued his activities with volunteer political organizations through the Republican Liberty Caucus, and currently serves as California RLC Chairman. Adding to his technology background, Douglas completed his B.A. degree from California State University Sacramento in Public Relations, with a minor in Economics.

Douglas came to the political consulting firm Russo Marsh & Rogers in 2000, and developed the company’s current information technologies capabilities. Subsequently, during Bill Simon’s campaign for Governor of California, Douglas served as the campaign’s Director of Information Technologies, and designed the campaign’s mobile “War Room” capabilities, allowing campaign staff to stay connected to the main office during remote activities such as conventions and political debates.

A member of the RLC since 1997, Richard Freedman has also been an officer for the Massachusetts Coalition for Freedom as well as a Republican Candidate for State Representative in 1996 and 1998. Nowadays rather than running for office he supports the much more attractive candidacy of his wife, Ilana Freedman. Running for the State Senate as a Libertarian in 2000, she got more votes than any other Libertarian State Senate candidate in the country. Running for Congress in 2002 in a three-way race against Marty Meehan, she got more votes than any other Libertarian Congressional candidate in a three-way Congressional race.

Richard is a prolific writer of letters to the editor, many of which can be seen on his website, http://www.rfreedman.org. Richard Freedman is a resident of North Billerica, MA.

Bennett Kopp is President/Owner of Sentinel Pension Institute, Inc. and of Sentinel Information Services, Inc. The former company provides investment consulting information to corporate pension plans; the latter provides Information Marketing services.

After many years of Republican political activity on the East Coast, Mr. Kopp relocated to Arizona in 1995. He became a Republican Precinct Captain, was appointed to the Board of Arizona's largest Legislative District and served as its Finance Chairman.

Mr. Kopp is Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Arizona and an At Large member of the RLC National Board of Directors. He has recently been reelected President of the Scottsdale Republican Forum, one of the largest Republican clubs in Arizona. He has also served on the Board of the Arizona 100 Club, an organization of more than 1,000 members, providing financial assistance to public safety personnel.

Additional political activities have included conducting fundraisers for federal, state and local public officials on the East Coast and in Arizona. Other interests include membership in Toastmasters International where he has received awards for communication and leadership.

A member of the RLC since 1991, Jeff Palmer currently serves as the North Carolina RLC Coordinator and is a Past-Chairman of the Florida RLC chapter. He has participated in innumerable GOP political campaigns and has held leadership positions in more than a dozen GOP and non-partisan political organizations in North Carolina, Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania - among them, his service on the Executive Board of the Republican Party of Dade County [Florida] Executive Committee and as President of the Kendall [Florida] Republican Club, co-founder of the Columbia [Maryland] Republican Club, and founder of the South Florida RLC chapter.

Jeff is a Nuclear Engineering Consultant by background with experience in radioactive waste site remediation, reactor engineering, nuclear training, emergency preparedness, regulatory policy studies, and technical management.

Born and raised in Southern California, Thomas Sewell now hails from Northern Virginia in Mannassas. Thomas has been a die-hard Lakers fan since the showtime era and a member of the RLC since 1998. He started his career in politics as an eight-year old child passing out flyers for Congressional Republican races in Southern California. Thomas also spent several years as a founding member of the "Youth of America", a political performing group for teenagers. During a later stint as a professional petitioner, he learned to discuss political issues with a variety of people in a non-confrontational manner.

Thomas was raised in a family environment with heavy emphasis on freedom of choice, constitutional principles and a study of history. With a love of history and a penchant for reading just about any book he could get his hands on, it didn't take long for him to discover works from such economic masters as Adam Smith, Ludwig Von Mises and Thomas Sowell. This led him to F.A. Hayek and dozens of other related authors, giving him a solid economic background to support his belief in personal freedom.

Having worked with computers since he was five years of age, Thomas has spent much of his life in front of a computer screen. After spending some time volunteering to rebuild old computers for use in school classrooms, his first professional computer engagement started in 1995. He is currently employed as the Systems Engineering Manager for Chelsea Interactive, where he and his department design and administer the networks, servers and applications for a shared platform of retail electronic commerce sites, including brands such as Ralph Lauren's Polo.com, Timberland.com, Liz Claiborne's Elisabeth.com, Nike's Colehaan.com, etc... Thomas also edits the BooksUnderReview.com website, a collection of 100,000+ pages of books reviews organized by subject.

Thomas' political priorities focus on reducing government control of individual's freedom. He believes that the best way to accomplish this in the short term is to push issues with broad support for personal freedom such as school choice and reducing/eliminating taxes. His belief is that more education without a socialist agenda combined with smaller resources available to the forces of government control will naturally lead to more freedom for all.

Dr. Murray Sabrin is Professor of Finance in the School of Administration and Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey. He is a nationally recognized spokesman for free enterprise, limited government, and political incorrectness. He has spoken before scores of civic, business and educational organizations, and has been interviewed on approximately 200 cable television programs and radio shows throughout the United States. He lectures frequently for the Foundation for Free Enterprise and has lectured for the Foundation for Economic Education.

Sabrin hosted The Sabrin Report, a biweekly radio talk show that aired on 1160 AM WVNJ, Oakland, New Jersey (1996-97). Sabrin's show featured public officials, public policy analysts and authors, discussing the issues that affect the income, wealth and quality of life of the citizens of New Jersey. Previously, Sabrin hosted On the Money, a weekly program featuring investment and financial analysts. Sabrin hosted nearly 150 shows since he went on the air in January 1994.

He produced and hosted a half-hour special for New Jersey Network, "Your Dollars: Up in $moke," which aired in December 1990; "Up in $moke" was a weekly series on the Cable Television Network during the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. He hosted approximately 40 half-hour shows.

Sabrin's op-ed articles have appeared in The Record (Hackensack, NJ), The Newark Star Ledger, and Business News. His essays have also appeared in Commerce Magazine, Mid-Atlantic Journal of Business, and Privatization Review. He is the author of Tax Free 2000: The Rebirth of American Liberty. He has finished a draft of a personal finance textbook, and he is writing a book on politics and culture.

Dr. Sabrin was the 1997 Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey, and the first third party candidate to receive matching funds and participate in the official debates. He received more than 114,000 votes, approximately five percent of the turnout. In January 1999 he rejoined the Republican Party and formed an exploratory committee to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Frank Lautenberg. In the June 2000 primary, he received nearly 13% of the vote in a field of four candidates. In December 2000 he was elected Vice Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a national GOP-affiliate organization dedicated to helping elect individuals who support limited government, free enterprise and personal freedom.

Adam was born April 15, 1975 in Fresno, California, where he has lived for most of his life, except for a three-year period when he moved to Los Angeles and attempted to break into the screen-writing field ... and ended up homeless and broke on the streets of Hollywood. He's since moved back to Fresno, gotten his Bachelors degree in Communication Studies (minor in Mass Communication & Journalism) at California State University Fresno, and has begun studies towards a Masters of Theology in Rabbinical Studies from the correspondence Messianic Bible Institute.

He has worked as a fund-raiser and research consultant the Alliance for the Separation of School and State, the local talk show producer for KMJ 580AM in Fresno, and a spokesman for the Gray Davis Recall movement in California. He is also a columnist for the web journal Palace of Reason. his column is called The Unmitigated Gall.

Adam currently serves as the RLC's GOP Activism. He is the Secretary and Communications Director for the California Republican Liberty Caucus.

Adam is a Messianic Ministry Apprentice with the Messianic Bureau International and the Student Rabbi of a new Messianic fellowship in Fresno. He hosts a weekly radio talk show, Right of Way, Sundays from noon to two PM on KIRV 1510AM in Fresno, and his "paid gig" is working as a Board Operator for KMPH NewsRadio 107.5FM in Fresno. He is single and looking for Miss Right. His hobbies include science fiction fandom, karaoke, and spouting opinions.