Editor’s note: Starting Monday and running through Thursday, The Daily Illini is printing a series featuring lesser-known active political groups in C-U. Today’s story will focus on the Libertarian Party, whose members believe the country works best with little government intervention.

Last Thursday, five Libertarians gathered in the Urbana Free Library’s auditorium to watch Drew Carey on television.

But they were not watching “The Price is Right” or reruns of “The Drew Carey Show.” They were watching a documentary about Cleveland’s unstable economy that featured Carey. The group then discussed the problem with government intervening in the city’s urban renewal and related it to Urbana and Champaign.

This was the monthly meeting for members of the Champaign County Libertarian Party, the local segment of a party that strongly favors a free market economy.

And while the meeting had low attendance, members say attendance varies monthly. Last month’s meeting featuring a presentation on police stops and searches was attended by about 35 people.

Although the local party does not have formal membership, there are between 70 and 100 people on their mailing list, said Dianna Visek, chair of the Champaign County Libertarian Party and Urbana resident. In Illinois, over 1,500 people are members of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, according to its Web site, and over 250,000 people are registered as Libertarians nationally, according to the national Libertarian Party’s Web site.

“We believe in economic freedom and personal freedom, and we are strongly opposed to the first use of force,” Visek said.

The opposition to the first use of force, such as militaristic invasion, police action, government-run education and taxation, is what Visek called “the litmus test” to enter the Libertarian Party’s national convention.

When discussing the documentary at the meeting, Charles Nadolski, vice chair of the organization and University almunus, stressed the idea of a governmental, hands-off approach to urban development, which he called “organic city planning.” This is the hands-off approach the party takes with most issues, such as its opposition to the “War on Drugs” and its support of the right to carry concealed weapons.

Although the party does not support government-run social programs, Visek said it is important to help the needy, which she argued is better accomplished by private charities and philanthropists.

Visek said the local party has had various lives. The current organization began about four years ago, she said, and after its founder moved out of town, Visek took over the lead.

Members are involved in education – its monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of every month are open to the public – and activism to promote governmental transparency, she said, “to make it easier for citizens to follow what they (governmental officials) are doing.”

Like other small parties in Illinois, the Libertarians are running into some obstacles while trying to get candidates on the November general election ballot for statewide positions, such as governor, treasurer and comptroller. As a non-established party, they must get 25,000 signatures from registered voters by June 21.

This week, party volunteers will be on campus collecting signatures from students and faculty in order to reach their goal of 50,000 signatures – a number Visek said will help them if their signatures are challenged by other parties.

The College Libertarians, a registered student organization, or RSO, is the group at the University that represents the party’s ideals. The organization’s fundraising chair, Atanas Stankov, sophomore in LAS, said its goal is to spread the ideas of libertarianism throughout campus.

However, he said the RSO is not closely affiliated with the Champaign County Libertarian Party. He said the campus organization has not been very active over the past few months, which he attributed to a lack of funding and the absence of an assigned meeting room at the University.

“The (campus) party has been in and out of existence since the beginning of the semester,” Stankov said.