A reporter for the Media Research Center was banned recently from the official Libertarian Party Facebook page for asking a question about former Gubernatorial Candidate Robert Sarvis, who came under fire in 2013 after it was revealed that his campaign was receiving funding from Obama donor, Joe Liemandt.
Ashley Rae Goldenberg, (who also runs the popular Facebook page Communism Kills) has been refused reinstatement and mocked by both Robert Sarvis himself and the current Libertarian Party Chairman after a petition circulated calling for her ban to be lifted.
Goldenberg was originally banned from the Party’s Facebook page in 2013 for linking to an article about Robert Sarvis’ campaign being funded by an Obama supporter and asking for an explanation.
Goldenberg has since started a petition asking for her reinstatement, which currently has over 100 signatures and reads in part:
“While I acknowledge the moderators of any Facebook page have the right to ban any individual for any reason they see fit, it is not in the spirit of liberty for the Libertarian Party–the political party that claims to promote free expression and free exchange–to block someone for merely asking a question.”
The response? Ridicule by not only Sarvis himself but also Libertarian Party officials, including the Chairman, Nicholas Sarwark.
Sarvis called her a “nonsense-spouter” on Twitter, while former Libertarian National Committee Vice-Chairman Chuck Moulton accused her of “libeling” Sarvis and spreading “demonstrably false Republican propaganda.”
Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark defended the ban, accusing her of “spamming” the page and saying he was “not surprised she was blocked.”
In a conversation with a student journalist, Goldenberg (who identifies as a libertarian) said she was planning to vote for the Libertarian Party candidate in the upcoming election before this incident occurred.
Libertarian Party officials and Facebook moderators have been reached out to for comment and have not responded as of this writing.
Tom Ciccotta writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or on Facebook. You can email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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