Root Makes Clear He Is Chair Candidate

by: AuGeo

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 21:21:15 PM MST

A few weeks ago, CA Libertarian Party Judicial Committee Chair  (and LNC Chair candidate) Mark Hinkle circulated to some number of libertarians a formal statement on behalf of the Judicial Committee of the Libertarian Party of California.  The statement read:

"For Immediate Release:

On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, the Judicial Committee of the Libertarian Party of California issued a ruling that overturned the suspension of a member by a vote of 5-0.  While Robert's Rules of Order prevents the Judicial Committee from revealing the details of the proceedings, the Judicial Committee finds that it may comment on certain inaccurate information circulating about this case.  The suspension of the member by the Executive Committee was not for the commission of any crime, the Judicial Committee was not asked to render a decision that depended on the determination of whether or not the member had committed any crime, and the statements of the causes for suspension that were submitted to the Judicial Committee did not pertain to any such crime.

The Judicial Committee recognizes that the Executive Committee acted within the authority granted to it by the Party Bylaws to vote to suspend a member for a specific cause or causes.  The member also acted within the Bylaws by appealing the suspension to the Judicial Committee.  The Judicial Committee met the time lines delineated by the Bylaws and held an extensive hearing during which both parties had the opportunity to present their cases and call witnesses.  Following the hearing, the Judicial Committee carefully reviewed the statement of the causes, and the evidence and arguments, which had been submitted to it.  The Judicial Committee concluded that neither the Executive Committee nor the member presented their respective cases effectively.  The Executive Committee not having met the burden of proof on the causes as stated, and the Judicial Committee not being empowered nor inclined to extend or substitute for the stated causes, the Judicial Committee accordingly rendered a decision to overturn the suspension and restore the individual's membership as provided for under Section 6 of Bylaw 5.

Privacy considerations which are described in Robert's Rules of Order, as well as past precedents from membership suspensions by the Executive Committee, prevent the members of the Judiciary Committee from making any more specific comments with regard to this case.  Individual members of the Judicial Committee are of course always free (as is any member of the Party) to advocate for improvements in such things as declarations of Party membership requirements and the quality of administrative procedures, but such advocacy should not be assumed to reflect on the merits of this individual case.

The Judicial Committee has reviewed and affirmed its decision of Tuesday, January 26, 2010."

Wayne Root's response appears below the fold.

In response to the above announcement, prominent California Libertarian activist Michael Seebeck wrote Wayne Root, receiving the answer:

"This matter has been off my radar as I run multiple businesses, do hundreds of media interviews about Obama, Obamacare, and "state of the union", and run a family of 6. I try to stay out of LP affairs- especially on the state level. This was for California to handle. I just cannot get involved in every intra-party issue.

But now that these results are public, I may very well weigh in.

All I can say without knowing all the facts yet, is this is precisely why I'm going to run for National Chairman.

I'm sure you are well aware of how I felt about the opinions written in a book by a potential LP candidate for President in 2008. Those opinions on the topic of "age of consent" shocked and sickened me. I was the ONLY major LP figure that spoke out loudly.

This decisions sounds even worse.

I will look into it and do whatever I can to fight it, reverse it, and/or prevent it from ever happening again.

But the whole incident highlights the problems and disconnect from reality that have held this party back for 39 years... and why I'm running for National Chair- TO DRAMATICALLY CHANGE "business as usual."

Wayne