Libertarian Party of New York Transition Committee

Libertarian Party of New York State Committee
Chair:	Michael Dowden (acting)
Parent:	Libertarian Party of New York
← 2018-2019 2020-2022 →

The Transition Committee of the Libertarian Party of New York was a short-lived committee created by the LPNY rules, with the task of transitioning the Libertarian Party of New York from the private membership organization or corporation, to full political party as recognized by the New York State Board of Elections. This was achieved when Larry Sharpe received over 50,000 votes for governor in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

The Transition Committee was a committee outlined in the December 24, 2019 version of the Rules of the Libertarian Party of New York, which allowed for the officers and Members-At-Large of the current State Committee to be a member, along with one from each Judicial District determined by the County Affiliates.

Election

Members-At-Large

Larry Sharpe gathered the names of the volunteers and reported them on January 5, 2019, which consisted of all officers and Members-At-Large who had expressed interest, except Blay Tarnoff. Kari Bittner, Member-At-Large, declined to join the Transition Committee.

District 2 Election

At the Brooklyn Libertarian Party's annual convention on January 15, 2019, Gary Popkin was elected representative.

District 7 Election

Steve Becker was unanimously elected the representative for Judicial District 7 by the Monroe and Steuben County chapters.

District 8 Election

Judicial District 8 Election was controversial, in that a process was never determined for selecting a representative. All county affiliates met separately. Erie County recommended Alyce Auman for the position before December 23. Genesee County discussed their options and Colin McAllister declined to be considered and so Genesee County chose Auman at their January 8 meeting. Chautauqua County met on January 14 and selected Andrew Kolstee, but Genesee County Chair Mark Potwora was insistent that Auman be the representative, despite Kolstee's requests for a formal discussion between all three counties. Kolstee's requests were ignored and there was no judicial proceeding of any kind to resolve the dispute except for a decision by Larry Sharpe to consider Auman the representative.

District 10 Election

Nassau and Suffolk Counties both selected Michael McDermott as their representative by January 19, 2019. Chris Garvey and Jim Harris also ran for the position.

District 12 Election

District 12 election, Bronx, did not have any interested individual to run for hte position. Bronx was governed by the Manhattan Libertarian Party chapter, and so Manhattan selected Andrew Kolstee as the representative, since there was no residency requirment. Larry Sharpe had Andrew Kolstee on his list of committee members on January 20, 2019. There were objections to this appointment, with Jim Rosenbeck and Tucker Coburn citing that Manhattan does not have the authority to make such an appointment. Transition Committee member Brian Waddell of Manhattan supported Kolstee's appointment. Anthony D'Orazio noted that there wasn't a residency requirement and stated the appointment is valid if Bronx is under the jurisdiction of the Manhattan chapter. Mark Potwora and Mark Glogowski opposed the idea of Kolstee serving for District 12 while Kolstee gained support from Shawn Hannon, Michael Dowden, Jeff Motta, and Gary Popkin.

Larry Sharpe put forth a vote on whether or not to include Kolstee as District 12's representative.

History

Meeting

A meeting was set for January 27, 2019, but it was cancelled, and then an informal meeting was held due to a lack of quorum. This meeting was cancelled by Sharpe on January 25, 2019, but it was held regardless.

Aftermath

On February 10, 2019, a newly updated set of rules was endorsed and supported by the State Committee, which did not provide provisions for a Transition Committee. This committee was succeeded by the Libertarian Party of New York Interim State Committee.

Members

Members of the Transition Committee consist of the officers and At Large members of the Libertarian Party of New York who volunteered, and one representative from each Judicial District.

Member	Position	Term start	Term end
Jim Rosenbeck	LPNY Chair	before January 5, 2019
Brian Waddell	LPNY Vice Chair	before January 5, 2019
Shawn Hannon	LPNY Vice Chair	before January 5, 2019
Blay Tarnoff	LPNY Secretary
Michael Dowden	LPNY Treasurer	before January 5, 2019
Mark Potwora	LPNY At Large Committee Member	before January 5, 2019
Tony D'Orazio	LPNY At Large Committee Member	before January 5, 2019
Tucker Coburn	LPNY At Large Committee Member	before January 5, 2019
Steve Minogue	LPNY At Large Committee Member	before January 5, 2019
Mark Glogowski	Immediate Past Chair	before January 5, 2019
Ilya Schwartzburg	Judicial District 1 Representative	bef. January 20, 2020
Gary Popkin	Judicial District 2 Representative	January 15, 2019
Todd Haggarty	Judicial District 3 Representative	January 20, 2019
Fred Cole	Judicial District 4 Representative	January 20, 2019
Millie Dordal	Judicial District 5 Representative
Jason Loveland	Judicial District 6 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Steve Becker	Judicial District 7 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Alyce Auman	Judicial District 8 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Jeff Motta	Judicial District 9 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Mike McDermott	Judicial District 10 Representative	January 19, 2019
Michael Arcati	Judicial District 11 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Andrew Martin Kolstee	Judicial District 12 Representative	bef. January 20, 2019
Richard Bell	Judicial District 13 Representative

Meetings

• January 27, 2019