LNC Meets in Las Vegas

by: AuGeo

Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 10:44:48 AM MDT

Seebeck writes:  OK, finally got connection here at Ballys and we're underway. H/T to Don Wills, LPWY for the connections. Public comment.

Who's not here: Oaksun (family emergency), Olsen (4, Wills covering), Sink-Burris (3, Wolfe). In crowd, Starr, Ray Strong, me, all CA, more

Creds report by Mattson.

Setup this morning tweaked by Kraus and me, ditto getting projector going. Hotel connection sucks. Room is huge, 109 in Vegas today, yuck.

Region 5 (Karlan/Vassar) both not here.

Still getting stuff organized here on the binders, Mattson directing traffic on this, newbie instructions for this time only.

Agenda review.

Rachel Hawkridge now on board of LOLA.

4 minutes ahead of schedule. Chair's report. Liberty Links at lp.org, FreedomFest attendance & talked to Mackey who is supportive in ways.

Neale, Lark, Root, Ruwart, Hall on this cmte. Still want to be in DC for volunteers from GWU, others nearby. amt to raise TBD.

Nolan asks if presumption is HQ continues in DC if buy made. Hinkle says yes unless LNC says otherwise. (They should check nationwide IMO)

Chair report done. +16 minutes. Treasurer out, family emergency. Hinkle has Starr covering for it, maybe from transition? not sure here.

Will try to figure this out later. Thought Oaksun was going to submit a budget today, so this is off the plumbline some.

Going over numbers on screen. I need a telescope to see them from here. BBIAM.

NEW MATERIAL

BTW, I'd webcast this, but the video is upside down and the audio in here is lousy and all anyone would here is my typing. Aint tech fun?

What's confidential? Not reporting any numbers anyway.

OK, back, still in Treasurer report. I don't have a copy here so I can't really tell much about it.

Convention operations made $6K, not counting banquet donations. That's a different switch, mainly from no speaker fees.

LNC members treating Starr like he's still on the LNC? Also he's taking chair ops instead of simply giving a report? Hinkle needs to rein.   6 minutes ago via web

Treasurer report done. Still +8. Now secretary report. Motion to adopt 5-28 LNC mtg minutes, pre-convention. Seconded, objected by Hawk

The Other Side from Lee Wrights

by: AuGeo

Tue Jul 06, 2010 at 09:47:05 AM MDT

We can certainly contrast Lee Wrights' approach - grab a solid libertarian issue, actually a bunch of them - and run with them, with the latest proposals from the LNC, as leaked to Liberty for America magazine. This is a preview from our forthcoming issue, though coverage of the return of limousine Bob may tend to push it to shorter length.

The LNC email list according to my sources recently had the following dispute between Wayne Root and David Nolan. I believe that the exchange as forwarded to Liberty for America magazine, which is going to be a bit full this issue, is authentic. You may decide for yourself how this sort of discussion advances our National Committee's business. Root responded to Nolan's comments (which were in turn a response to an earlier Root post, which we'll reach separatelybecause it more or less shows stands the opposite of Wayne's.):

"On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Dave Nolan wrote:
Wayne, I'd have a lot more respect for your unsolicited advice if you actually had a track record of winning elections, inside the LP or outside. In 2008, you ran for our Presidential nomination and YOU LOST by a large margin. You came in third, with 26%, behind both Barr and Ruwart. You just ran for LNC Chair, and YOU LOST, despite raising and spending more than all of your competitors combined (your claim). The Nevada LP begged you to run for U.S. Senate this year, and you refused. Instead, you spoke at an event with Sarah Palin, the whole purpose of which was to rally people to vote for the REPUBLICAN candidate, to defeat Harry Reid. And now you're still banging the drum for the REPUBLICAN nominee, Sharron Angle, who is not a Libertarian.

LNC to meet in Las Vegas

by: AuGeo

Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 20:56:06 PM MDT

Readers may be aware that there will be a meeting of the Libertarian National Committee in Las Vegas on July 11.  This is a one-day meeting, not a day and a half meeting, so time will be tight. What will be on the Chair's proposed Agenda, which was recently circulated to the LNC by the Secretary?

For answers, see below the fold.

New LNC Elected

by: AuGeo

Sat Jun 26, 2010 at 08:28:19 AM MDT

The Libertarian National Convention met over the Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis.  An interesting time was had by many.  There were a series of bylaws and platform changes that we will need to cover in future issues.

The New Path slate, and thus, in considerable part, the plans it proposed, were almost without exception defeated.  The only declared New Path supporter who was actually elected at the convention was Treasurer candidate James Oaksun.

Oaksun, however, received by far the largest applause when his victory was announced.

Vote totals included (Counts as reported in Tom  Stevens blog:    DrTomStevens.BlogSpot.com

Carpetbaggers at the National Convention

by: AuGeo

Sat Jun 19, 2010 at 08:15:08 AM MDT

Those of you who attended the 2002 LP National Convention in Indianapolis will remember the Carpetbaggers for Eli - that was the badge several of them wore.  These were the two dozen Indianans added to the 2002 Massachusetts delegation as a dirty trick of Indiana State Chair Mark Rutherford,  to pack the National Convention in support of the (failing) National Chair campaign of Eli Israel.

The Indiana Party is up to its tricks again. This time, 15 Indianans were added to the delegations of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and South Carolina.   Another 10 Missouri libertarians were added to the state delegations of Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, and other places.  That's convention packing, back from the dead.

Let's start at the beginning.  We return to the August 2002 Let Freedom Ring!, which you can read at cmlc.org/letfreedomring.htm.  The article is page 1, top left column.  We quote from the article:

"I was delighted to leave the surplus of my hospitality suite with the LPIN.  I am even happy to specify that that it was very generous of LPIN chair (and LNC member) Mark Rutherford to supply the LPMA delegation with a list of Hoosiers who wanted to be seated as Massachusetts delegates 'so they could attend National' because 'their state delegation was full'.  Returning the courtesy, the LPMA delegation narrowly voted (2-vote margin) to seat the 15.   Admittedly, I was busy with my own campaign, but I recall seeing only two Hoosiers at the delegation vote to admit them.  I first saw the rest of them Saturday morning at the National Chair vote... National Convention

LNC Meets After NatCon

by: AuGeo

Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 18:29:52 PM MDT

First, the protagonists.  I've divided them into four groups using James Oaksun's coalition analysis.

Chair Hinkle - very long-time dominant coalition man; Project Archimedes advocate
Vice Chair Rutherford - dominant coalition; Root man
Secretary Mattson - dominant coalition
At-Large Redpath - dominant coalition
At-Large Knedler - dominant coalition; Root man
Regional Rep Karlan - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Lark - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Wiener - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Flood - dominant coalition
Regional Representative Sink-Burris - dominant coalition

At-Large Nolan - major Hinkle-for-Chair advocate; tagged by his endorsements.
Regional Rep Craig - Georgian. 2008 Barr supporter.
At-Large Wayne Root - his own man.  
Regional Rep Norm Olsen - ran against New Path supporter

Treasurer Oaksun - New Path
Regional Rep Hawkridge - New Path
Regional Rep Visek - not New Path member, but offered motion implementing two New Path ideas

At-Large Ruwart - radical
That's 10 dominant coalition people, plus four likely dominant coalition supporters.                                                                                      

New LNC Meets

by: Forwarder

Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 09:37:57 AM MDT

Chair Hinkle - very long-time dominant coalition man; Project Archimedes advocate
Vice Chair Rutherford - dominant coalition; Root man
Secretary Mattson - dominant coalition
At-Large Sink-Burris - dominant coalition
At-Large Redpath - dominant coalition
At-Large Knedler - dominant coalition; Root man
Regional Rep Karlan - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Lark - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Wiener - dominant coalition
Regional Rep Flood - dominant coalition
At-Large Nolan - major Hinkle-for-Chair advocate; tied to Hinkle by his endorsements.
Regional Rep Craig - Georgian. 2008 Barr supporter.

At-Large Wayne Root - his own man.  However, the dominant coalition has a long record of pursuing Republicans, and Root thinks we should chase right-wingers, so some lean is present.

Treasurer Oaksun - New Path
Regional Rep Hawkridge - New Path
Regional Rep Visek - not a New Path candidate, but offered motion implementing two New Path ideas

At-Large Ruwart - radical

By my count, the dominant coalition has increased its strength on the LNC.  That vote division will not protect Oaksun or Ruwart from suspension, should the question arise. Mr. Starr may not be on the LNC, but several of his friends are. It would also not block the widely-rumored motion to expel me from the party, in the case that my supporters on the committee did not honor my request that they abstain on any such motion, and vote against any effort to avoid a vote.  

Step Four -- Mobilize Every Libertarian

by: AuGeo

Fri May 14, 2010 at 21:30:08 PM MDT

Our objective is to turn the Libertarian Party into the American majority party.  We will become the majority party through thoughtful, effective, hard-working leadership that spends your money effectively, that mobilizes volunteers in useful ways, that incites effective grass-roots organizing, and that spends its time electing Libertarians and creating the conditions that will elect more.  On our way to that objective, we will reunite vast numbers of Republican and Democratic politicians with their families in much-needed retirement, and not incidentally re-unite their political parties with their political ancestors, notably the Whigs, Federalists, and Know-Nothings.

Mobilizes volunteers? Anyone can talk about mobilizing volunteers.  You need to do real work to make it happen.

The National Committee can and should maintain an internal education campaign.   Our message: Take charge of your political life.  You don't need our permission to become an activist.  We need every Libertarian to be active in politics.

The National Committee can't ask every Libertarian individually to volunteer.  We still have people with titles, people who have promised to spend their time helping the party. These people should view candidate and activist recruitment as a major personal objective.

More Below the Fold

LNC Kills Floor Fees

by: AuGeo

Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 17:47:09 PM MST

The advice of seven state parties, the New Path slate, and many other individual libertarians was accepted by the LNC.

On a 10-5 vote, the LNC has killed floor fees for participation in the National Convention business meeting.

Voting against killing floor fees were LNC members Starr, Sink-Burris, Lieberman, Mattson, and Sullentrup.  

Voting for killing floor fees were Ruwart, Flood, Ryan, Fox, Karlan, Wrights, Lark, Hawkridge, Dixon, and Jingozian.

How We Get There

by: AuGeo

Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 19:26:10 PM MST

We start moving in the right direction by putting our Libertarian party on the New Path, the path to Libertarian Renewal.

Just imagine if every election campaign included a Libertarian candidate.  Just imagine if we were the majority party. Just imagine if our sound social and financial policies restored true American greatness, the greatness of being the country that offers its people more freedom and more prosperity than anywhere else.  Just imagine if our wise foreign and domestic policies made America once again that shining city on the sunlit hill, the country whose very existence signified peace, liberty, and opportunity.

That's wonderful to imagine.  How do we get there?

Every journey begins with a first step.  The journey may be long.  Some of us may not live to reach our destination.  But if we do not take the first steps on our journey, none of us will ever reach it.

The New Path, the path to Libertarian Renewal, is a commitment to take some of those first steps.   The New Path starts by fixing our National Party, so that it plays an effective positive role in the greater Libertarian political movement.

Statement Concerning Floor Fees for LP National Conventions

by: AuGeo

Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 19:21:11 PM MST

A floor fee will restrict the delegates' participation in party business, hindering their ability to carry out their responsibilities to the state parties.

Given that the anticipated revenue from the floor fee amounts to only one percent of the LNC's 2-year budget, it seems unreasonable that the LNC should be unable to earmark 1% of its annual budget to cover expenses for a required event.

If we allow the LNC to circumvent the By-laws and Convention Rules in this seemingly small regard, we may find it difficult to keep it from running roughshod over the By-laws in more controversial matters in the future.

The statement above has been endorsed by the following individuals:
George Phillies - candidate, LNC Chair
Carolyn Marbry - candidate, LNC Vice Chair
Rob Power - candidate, LNC Secretary
James Oaksun - candidate, LNC Treasurer
Mary Ruwart - candidate, At-Large
R. Lee Wrights - candidate, At-Large
Rachel Hawkridge - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Michael Seebeck - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Jake Porter - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Scott Williamson - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Charles Wilhoit - candidate, LNC Regional Alternate
Eva Kosinski - 2008 National Convention Team

Slate of LNC Candidates

by: AuGeo

Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 20:00:25 PM MST

And here are some choices at http://www.libertyforamerica.com/ , seen in the New Path section.  There's even a partial list of LNC Candidates, some or many of whom you might want to consider supporting:

George Phillies -- National Chair
Carolyn Marbry -- National Vice Chair
Rob Power -- National Secretary
James Oaksun -- National Treasurer
Joe Kennedy -- At-Large
Jim Remmert -- At Large
Rachel Hawkridge -- Regional Representative
Jake Porter -- Regional Representative
Scott Williamson -- Regional Representative
Charles Wilhoit -- Regional Alternate

And note other fine candidates:
Michael Seebeck -- Regional Representative
Mary Ruwart -- At-Large
Lee Wrights -- At-Large

Each and all of us would be delighted to have endorsements from fine Libertarians such as those here.

Liberty for All: In opposition to Floor Fees

by: AuGeo

Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 20:16:45 PM MST

We strongly oppose the imposition of a floor fee by the LNC for credentialing of national delegates. The By-laws and Convention Rules are quite clear in saying that delegates are chosen by the states and do not allow additional requirements to be added by the national party.

A floor fee will restrict the delegates' participation in party business, hindering their ability to carry out their responsibilities to the state parties.

Given that the anticipated revenue from the floor fee amounts to only one percent of the LNC's 2-year budget, it seems unreasonable that the LNC should be unable to earmark 1% of its annual budget to cover expenses for a required event.

If we allow the LNC to circumvent the By-laws and Convention Rules in this seemingly small regard, we may find it difficult to keep it from running roughshod over the By-laws in more controversial matters in the future.

The statement above has been endorsed by the following individuals:

George Phillies - candidate, LNC Chair
Carolyn Marbry - candidate, LNC Vice Chair
Rob Power - candidate, LNC Secretary
James Oaksun - candidate, LNC Treasurer

Mary Ruwart - candidate, At-Large
R. Lee Wrights - candidate, At-Large

Rachel Hawkridge - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Michael Seebeck - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Jake Porter - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Scott Williamson - candidate, LNC Regional Representative
Charles Wilhoit - candidate, LNC Regional Alternate

Eva Kosinski - 2008 National Convention Team

Mary Ruwart: Minority Report of the DCC

by: Forwarder

Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 08:30:39 AM MST

Minority Report of the
Donor Confidentiality Committee

We now turn to Mary Ruwart's minority report to the Libertarian National Committee from the LNC ad hoc Donor Confidentiality Committee.  The report is a bit long, so a short summary is in order.  

Readers will recall that last Spring an effort was made to remove Lee Wrights from the National Committee, based on claims that he was not or had ceased to be a sustaining member of the National Party.  During the affaire, claims about Mr. Wrights membership status, in the form of a memo from Aaron Starr, appeared on IndependentPoliticalReport.com.  According to Ruwart's report, the memo made a number of claims about Wrights that have not been substantiated and that were damaging to Lee Wrights.  

At the Summer LNC Meeting, the LNC formed a Donor Confidentiality Committee to make recommendations to the LNC for protecting the good names of its donors.  Chairman Redpath appointed to the committee Mary Ruwart, and then Mark Hinkle, Stuart Flood, M Carling,...and Aaron Starr, whose memorandum was the proximate justification for forming the committee.

The conduct of the committee, as described in the Minority Report, may be characterized as 'interesting'.  Apparently Messrs. Carling and Starr wrote a 'final report', vetted by Mr. Flood, which they shared with Mr. Hinkle, but not with the  fifth Committee member, Dr. Ruwart.  There was allegedly a conference call to approve the report.  According to Ruwart, Starr demanded that Hinkle exclude Ruwart from the conference call, Ruwart writing:

"When I told Mr. Hinkle that I was available for the meeting, he told me that I could not participate because Mr. Starr had specifically asked that I be excluded until the document was "finalized." When I pointed out that he, as Committee Chair, could overrule Mr. Starr's request, Mr. Hinkle said he was unwilling to do so because he felt beholden to Mr. Starr for preparing the report. Although Mr. Hinkle did not appreciate being excluded from earlier meetings, he was quite willing to continue to exclude me."

And now, below the fold, the actual report:

The Other LNC Financial Disclosures

by: Forwarder

Fri Jan 01, 2010 at 17:10:07 PM MST

Of course, book-keeping rules readily lead to all sorts of outcomes, so it is not surprising that the two sets of financial reports do not agree with each other, but the two reports do present two different perspectives on the same pile of cash.  For example, FEC reports are by date, while these financials are by month, and pay dates are shown when people are paid (FEC reports) or are accrued when they work (LNC financials), but if you decide to spend money up to the limit of income it is convenient to keep clear whether the income so far the year is $822,141 or $787,094, and why the two numbers are different.

For the current year, on the income side the internal report is somewhat less positive than the FEC filings are.  The Quarter  numbers are cumulative for the year to date. In particular

                  FEC To-date              LNC to-date
Q3 2009
Income
Outgo                     796 807                       762 487

Q2 2009
Income                   556 857                      522 704
Outgo                     524 932                      505 374

Q1 2009
Income                     290 671                      256 669
Outgo                     266 019                      241 900

2008
Income                1 669 047                     1 637 139
Outgo                   1 779 028                    1 803 580

Income                 1 454 411                    1 613 727
Outgo                   1 346 854                     1 337 686

2006
Income                 1 277 215                    1 289 792
Outgo                   1 257 274                    1 246 585

2005
Income                  1 337 702                   1 367 329
Outgo                    1 394 063                   1 497 666

There are various accounting process for describing the same situation, so there is no indication of impropriety here, but it is certainly interesting how a change in perspective can have a considerable effect on nominal income or outgo.

LNC Passes Motion on Memberships

by: AuGeo

Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 20:20:05 PM MDT

Against:
Pat Dixon
Lee Wrights
Mary Ruwart
Tony Ryan
James Lark
Jake Porter
Rachel Hawkridge

Abstain Bill Redpath

LibertyForAll.Net: LNC Wants to Eliminate Rights of Sustaining Members

by: Forwarder

Wed Sep 23, 2009 at 08:22:14 AM MDT

Mind you, when you aren't up to publishing the LNC newsletter regularly, threatening to take it away loses savor as a threat.

A motion now before the LNC, would amend the Policy Manual. In the following quote, Sections 2, 4, and 5 are new as worded.  The motion, which has not been widely circulated, takes away fundamental rights of the Sustaining Membership.

For starters, Sustaining Members no longer get to be called "Sustaining Members."  Instead, for most of the Membership Rules they will have an "Association Level" of "Basic."

For next, the motion makes up in complete violation of the By-Laws the notion of "benefits lapse date," after which you stop receiving the Newsletter (which, of course, the LNC mostly fails to publish).  The claim of the new motion is that when you first give $25 you establish a day and month on which your membership expire, and you cannot extend your membership by giving more money except in response to a membership renewal request.