Document:LNC Minutes 11-12 August 1990
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Minutes of the Meeting of the
Libertarian National Committee
11-12 August 1990
San Francisco, California
Members Present:
Chair Dave Walter
Vice-Chair Mary T. Gingell
Secretary Joseph W. Dehn III
At Large I. Dean Ahmad
Steven Alexander
Toni L. Black
William Redpath
Region 1 Karen Allard
Region 2 Geoffrey J. Neale
George O'Brien
Region 3 Stephen L. Dasbach
Region 4 Ron Crickenberger
Region 5 Clifford F. Thies
Region 7 Steven I. Givot
Region 8 Gary Johnson
Absent:
Treasurer Stephen R. Fielder
At Large Norma D. Segal
Region 6 Vicki Kirkland
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Libertarian National
Committee was called to order by Chair Dave Walter at 9:02am on
Saturday, 11 August 1990, at the Golden Gateway Holiday Inn in San
Francisco, California.
2. CREDENTIALS: In reply to a question from Dehn about whether there
had been any change in the representation for Region 2 as a result of
this year's California convention, O'Brien reported that the
convention only selects representatives and alternates in a year when
there is a national convention.
3. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES: Gingell said that it was her
recollection that during the discussion of an employee bonus plan
(item 28) a motion had been approved calling for a mail ballot to be
conducted on the question, and moved to amend the minutes accordingly.
The motion failed on a voice vote. The minutes were approved with no
other objections.
4. REPORT ON MAIL BALLOT: Dehn reported [Attachment A] that a mail
ballot had been conducted on the subject of amending the employee
bonus plan, but that the motion had failed for lack of a quorum.
In response to a question from Thies, Redpath said he didn't know if
it we should pursue this plan further at this meeting, given the
budget situation.
5. SETTING OF THE AGENDA: Gingell, noting that Resolution 216 requires
items for which written reports have been distributed to be given
priority on the agenda, moved to move items 16 (Affiliate Parties), 18
(Affiliate Campaigns), 20 (Outreach), and 30 (Auditor) to be items 13A
through 13D. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Ahmad moved to add consideration of a resolution against the
dispatching of troops to Saudi Arabia as item 37. After some grumbling
about the lack of a previously distributed text and a quick survey of
various members' planned Sunday departure times, the motion was
approved without objection.
Gingell moved to add 10 minutes to item 13A (Affiliate Parties); there
was no objection.
6. CHECK OF PAPERWORK: Walter reviewed the paperwork that had been
distributed up to that point. In response to a question from Givot
about item 34 (Malaysia Boycott), there was a discussion of inclusion
on the proposed agenda of items not sponsored by an LNC member.
O'Brien suggested that the check of paperwork be scheduled before
setting the agenda so everyone would have a better idea of what each
item is about. Neale said he could be considered the sponsor of the
item in question. Dehn said that from now on he would only accept
agenda items from LNC members.
7. CHAIR'S REPORT: Walter presented an overview of the Party's status
and reviewed the achievement of goals over the year so far [charts and
graphs, Attachment H]. He said that we had achieved our membership
growth goal, and that although the Membership Committee had put in a
good effort in this area there were not enough prospects coming from
the affiliate parties. He characterized the budget as on track with
the original plan for the year but not meeting the expections we set
in April. He said that improvements had been made at the office, that
there will be about 300 candidates in this year's election, that
planning is being done for ballot access, and cited the Field
Coordinator and TV ads as some of the new things that had been done
this year.
He reviewed and commented on the activities of the various committees,
and said that we had experienced the greatest expansion of Party
activity in years. He said that people outside the Party are saying
that we are doing well, and asked the Committee to consider how we
have been doing in terms of our various goals, where we want to go,
and how to build on the foundation that we have built so far.
Other members of the Committee then made a few comments, among which
were: the growth has been a result of teamwork, not of any one
committee; there has been little "factional" fighting in the last
year; Committee members have been taking their jobs seriously and have
shown a willingness to change their minds based on the arguments of
others; we need to press ahead with what we are doing rather than
restructuring in an attempt to achieve perfection.
8. VICE-CHAIR'S REPORT: Gingell reported that she will be temporarily
living in the DC area and will be spending some time in the office.
She reported that Segal was interested in being replaced as chair of
the Internal Education Committee.
9. TREASURER'S REPORT: Fielder was not present. Walter read from a
memo from Fielder. Results from recent months [Attachment I] have not
been up to the expectations we set in April.
It was reported that we no longer need to report to the FEC on LNC
activity, and will therefore no longer need to ask for employment
information on our contribution forms. We will be filing reports for
the BAC separately.
Black commented that the allocation of expenses to some committee
budget lines needs to be clarified. Walter commented that a lot of
what looks like "bureaucracy" is really a functional part of our
membership or outreach activities, and pointed out that every
organization has a certain amount of overhead that it is impractical
to allocate to specific functions.
Thies moved that the Legal Action Committee look at whether we should
incorporate now that we are not obligated to report to the FEC. He
said he thought that now we might be considered a "partnership", and
that this would be a way of putting our bylaws on file. Redpath said
we are an "association". Negative comments were that we are currently
missing a Legal Action Committee and that incorporation would mean
more work for the Secretary. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dunbar said he had the general ledger with him in case anyone wanted
to look at expenses. Thies and Walter commented on the improvement in
financial reporting since the beginning of the year.
Dehn objected to the characterization that we are on budget not
counting the April changes, saying that revenue was not up to even the
original plan. There was a discussion of the feasibility of doing
seasonal projections, of the difficulty of predicting the response to
fundraising efforts, and of uncertainty about which expense
activities, many of which are now under budget, might catch up toward
the end of the year. Thies pointed out our position is not quite as
bad as it looks because we currently have very low accounts payable.
10. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Walter said the Executive Committee is
trying to cut down on the length of its meetings to reduce expenses,
but that he thinks it is important for the officers to be able to
discuss things every two weeks. In response to a question from Givot
about whether the Executive Committee has enough authority to deal
with things that need to be done, Walter said lack of authority has
not been a problem.
11. HEADQUARTERS REPORT: Dunbar reported that he considers office
procedures to be working well [Attachment J].
He proposed the database be reduced in size by removing people who
have not contributed in three years, and people who have never
contributed after one year. These names would be saved on diskette.
Objections were raised that this would mean we are not treating
"instant" members as real members, that there is a resolution
requiring that we keep a count of such people, and that these names
may be useful for prospecting. It was pointed out that the names could
be retrieved if necessary, and that we could keep track of how many
names were archived if we wanted to include them in a membership
count. O'Brien said that the issue of exactly where the names are
stored should be left to the Management Committee. In response to a
question from Alexander, Dunbar said that transaction records for
removed people are archived.
Alexander moved that we adopt the procedure specified by Dunbar in his
Director's Report. In response to a question from Ahmad, Dunbar said
that some "instant" members had been removed from the database. Walter
suggested that we should keep names for a longer period because of the
presidential election cycle. There was some discussion of the
difficulty of maintaining a meaningful total that would include people
who have been removed if they later reappear with a new address.
After various friendly amendments, the wording under consideration
became: "Member names are archived offline after 5 years of
inactivity, except life members. Statistics regarding types and
numbers of members archived will be kept but not included in
membership totals." Ahmad moved to divide the question. The first and
second parts both passed on voice votes.
Dunbar suggested changing the name of the lowest dues category from
"contributing" to "subscribing". He praised the interns who worked in
the office during the summer. In reponse to a question from Black, he
said that the mailing list for the LP News is produced by the office
each month.
Dunbar and Thies reviewed our options when the office lease expires at
the end of the year [Attachment K]. Dunbar said he was not satisfied
with the layout of the current office, which was intended as a
residence, and said we would be better off with either standard office
space or a house to which we would be permitted to make modifications.
Discussion of the possibilities followed, with points including the
cost of moving, the expected rent on the current space, uncertainty of
our future needs, the cost of renovation vs. getting something
suitable in the first place, and safety problems in the current
location.
Thies moved "The Executive Committee is authorized to relocate the
National Office within Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the
expiration of our current lease, if such a relocation would in its
opinion constitute a significant improvement at a cost not
significantly greater than a renewed lease would cost." The motion
passed on a voice vote.
Thies moved "The Executive Committee is authorized to enter into a
transaction on behalf of the Party to purchase a building or space
within a building within Washington, DC, for the purpose of relocating
our National Office thereto, and to enter into a mortgage in
conjunction with this purchase, if such a relocation would in its
opinion be at least comparable to our present location, and if at
least one-half of the cash required for the downpayment is raised by a
special fundraising effort in contributions of $1,000 or more and the
balance of the cash required for the downpayment is raised by
unsecured loans from individuals making said contributions at an
annual interest rate of no more than 12 percent."
Givot moved to remove the limit of $1000 and to delete the words "from
individuals making said contributions". Thies explained that his
intent was to tie the hands of the fundraisers to prevent interference
with normal fundraising, and that more money might even be raised that
way.
Ahmad moved to substitute for Givot's amendment that the text between
"our present location" and "and the balance" be replaced with "and if
at least 10% of the purchase price is raised through a special
fundraising effort". There was a discussion of how much of this should
be left to the discretion of the Executive Committee and of whether it
might be better to just wait another year.
Ahmad's motion to substitute passed on a voice vote. The substitute
amendment passed on a voice vote, with Allard abstaining. The main
motion passed on a voice vote, with O'Brien, Allard, Johnson, and
Ahmad abstaining.
12. 1989 CONVENTION REPORT: Dehn moved that three appendixes
[Attachment L], consisting of registration statistics, a list of
delegates and alternates, and the state-by-state votes for officers
and committee members, be added to the previously approved convention
report. There was no objection.
13. RESOLUTION CLEANUP: Dasbach moved to repeal Resolutions 331 and
321 concerning Liberty Services. After some discussion of the history
of this, the motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 53 on the grounds that it is
covered by Resolution 243. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 163, concerning payment of debt, on
the grounds that it no longer applies. Ahmad objected that we should
keep it as a statement of policy. The motion passed by a vote of 9 to
3, with Ahmad voting no.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 222 concerning disclaimers in the
LP News, on the grounds that we haven't been doing it. The motion
failed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete the third paragraph of Resolution 271,
concerning party support in situations when there appears to be only
one candidate for the presidential nomination, saying that the 1983
situation cited as an example therein is actually a good example of
why this is a bad policy. Ahmad said that in any case the statement
that there was only one candidate in that year was false, and that we
shouldn't have lies in the resolutions. The motion passed on a voice
vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 173 on the grounds that it was
already covered by Resolution 275. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 57, concerning purpose and
strategy, on the grounds that it is just too old and no longer
relevant. Walter asked if this was like saying that the Declaration of
Independence is no longer relevant. After some discussion, Gingell
moved to amend the motion to just delete the second, "strategy",
section. Gingell's motion passed on a voice vote. The main motion
passed on a voice vote with Gingell and Ahmad voting no.
Dasbach presented a list of additional proposals to consolidate
various sets of resolutions on certain topics into single resolutions.
Dehn objected that this was simply moving text around, and that such
consolidation served no purpose unless someone was going to do the
work to integrate the material into something more coherent.
Gingell moved that further consideration of this topic be postponed to
the end of the meeting as item 38. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Committee members, in response to an informal poll by Dasbach,
indicated that they were interested in considering integration of the
resolutions in question.
[The meeting recessed for lunch at 12:33pm, and was called back to
order by Walter at 1:37pm.]
13A. AFFILIATE PARTIES COMMITTEE REPORT: Gingell provided a written
report on committee activities and plans [Attachment M] and a Field
Coordinator report [Attachment B]. She discussed plans for the APC
News, mixed results on the "ladder of development" and the difficulty
in figuring out what kind of assistance we can provide to get states
beyond "level 3", and the need for administrative help and good
messages for the telephone tree. She said that the Expert Talent Bank
information may be made part of the activist directory and/or field
organizing manual, and that how-to bibliographies would be added to
the manual.
She reported that she had received a request from someone who wants to
use the activist directory as a mailing list for a business purpose,
and asked for comments from the Committee. She said that she currently
gives out labels free for libertarian networking purposes. There was
no enthusiasm for setting up a formal list rental policy, comments
including that there would not be enough revenue involved to be worth
the trouble and that it would be seen as endorsing use of the names
for non-LP purposes. Various people commented on the difficulty or
inadvisability of attempting to restrict the information, comments
including: this is like the list we publish in LP News, we want to
encourage people to use it for networking purposes, a copy is
available on BBSs from which anyone could make their own labels.
There was some disagreement about the expectations of the activists
whose names are listed. It was decided that the information should
remain available to anyone, but that we will not provide labels except
for LP networking.
Field Coordinator Marla Bottemiller reported on her activities. She
said the job has turned out to include being an "ombudsman" with
respect to helping states deal with the national office, that she
plans to arrange for state parties to act as mentors for their weaker
neighbors, and that the field organizing packet had been updated. She
said that in the Council of State Chairs meeting a major concern was
ballot access. Gingell said that Field Coordinator expenses for the
year will be below budget because of reduced travel and because no
supplementary field coordinator staff had been hired. Ahmad suggested
that the field organizing packet include pages on candidate
recruitment and on ballot access.
13B. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT: Allard provided a written report
[Attachment C] and an update [Attachment N]. She reviewed the
activities of the committee. She reported that a letter had been sent
to vendors explaining the membership packet insert program. She asked
that the minutes include a list of who received the membership contest
prizes (page 2 of Attachment C).
Allard moved that Resolution 89 be made part II of Resolution 65, the
existing text being part I with heading "National Dues Reduction",
with the membership category "contributing" renamed "subscribing", the
dollar amount for sustaining increased to $30, for sponsor to $50, for
patron to $125, and for life to $500. Ahmad moved to divide the
question, with the consolidation of the resolutions separate from the
substantive changes. There was no objection, and the consolidation
passed on a voice vote.
There was a discussion of various issues relating to membership
levels, including the roundness of the numbers, the current associate
life amount not being really sufficient to fund continuing service,
when a change would go into effect, the fact that pledgers who give
more than enough to qualify for a premium category are still listed as
just contributing members, and the lack of a program to encourage
people to renew at the same or higher level. The main motion to change
the dues categories passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make Resolution 194 be part III of Resolution 65. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to replace the words "joined as a member" with "signed
the oath" in part III of Resolution 65. The motion passed by a vote of
8 to 4.
Allard moved to delete Resolution 260 and add as part IV of Resolution
65: "Membership Committee: A membership committee shall be created
under the 'General Guidelines for Action Committees' to contact past
contributing members to contribute membership dues, contact 'members'
and LP News subscribers to become contributing members, provide
national LP staff with contents for the membership packets, update LP
News editor of membership activities and membership status, and
organize any 'special' project which will encourage growth in national
LP membership." The motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make Resolution 333 be part V of Resolution 65. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make Resolution 338 be part VI of Resolution 65. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make Resolution 349 be part VII of Resolution 65. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make Resolution 350 be part VIII of Resolution 65. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Allard moved to make the resolution passed earlier in this meeting
regarding archiving of old membership records be part IX of Resolution
65. The motion passed on a voice vote.
13C. OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT: Black provided a written report
[Attachment D] and an update [Attachment O]. She said that the
mailing to gun owners had been ineffective because of inappropriate
material and a poorly-maintained list. She is working on additional
literature but doesn't plan for it to be printed unless we have enough
money.
Bottemiller suggested the development of radio ads. Ernsberger said
that it is unlikely that the profit from the census project will be
needed for legal defense since the house to house operation was over
and nobody had yet been prosecuted.
Ernsberger provided a written report on Campus Outreach [Attachment P]
and said the budget could be reduced by $2000.
There was a discussion of the drug issue, and the lack of
implementation of the Coalition to End Drug Violence, with comments
including: this is a "deadly" issue that legislators are not yet ready
to support, that we needed to get more supporters lined up before
announcing it, that people are moving our way, that what is "deadly"
for the other parties can still be of value for us even if only a
small fraction of the population agrees, that this may not be an
appropriate project for the national LP because of its size, and that
the fact that the Executive Committee was given authorization to spend
money on something and then decided not to should not be viewed as
evidence that the authorization was a mistake. Tonie Nathan reported
that she is still getting calls from people interested in the project
and recommended that we continue working on it.
Johnson said there are requests for outreach material in Spanish.
Ahmad reported on a talk he gave at a meeting of the Islamic Society
of North America.
13D. AUDITOR'S REPORT: Thies provided a written report [Attachment E]
and offered to answer questions. He said he had done only a kind of
spot check this time and had not found any big problems, but that it
was human nature to magnify whatever problems exist. There was a small
fuss about the office allowing the Lord campaign to use the office
address and not offering this service to other campaigns; Dunbar
pointed out that the only cost was a box in the office and that it
wouldn't really be practical for anyone more distant.
14. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT: Alexander provided a written report
[Attachment Q]. He reviewed the direct mail activity and commented on
problems with telemarketing. He said he will be pursuing ways to work
the pledger list without violating our promise not to bother them, and
will be working with Neale on plans for fundraising at the national
convention. He noted that his written report included two policy
guidelines, one concerning use of names of individuals and the other
about promises regarding use of the money.
In response to questions from Walter, he said that candidates could
not be used as a basis for the telemarketing pitch because we spend
little of the money we are raising on that, and that all the people
there are to call are being called. In response to a question from
Gingell, he said he endorsed Fielder's revenue projections. In
response to a question from Gingell, Dunbar said we don't have thank
you notes for contributors. Black volunteered to review a proposed
mailing to Secular Humanists.
There was a discussion of whether to send fundraising letters to
pledgers. Dasbach said that he thought people were mostly annoyed by
the phone calls, that we haven't even been sending pledgers a letter
asking them to raise their amount, that sending some mailings to
pledgers would not be a problem, and suggested that as an alternative
we could include them with the Liberty Pledge News. Black said that
some pledges had been solicited with the pitch "imagine never getting
a fundraising letter from the LP again". Givot said there are few
enough existing pledgers that we could send them personal letters
explaining the situation.
15. BALLOT ACCESS COMMITTEE REPORT: Givot reported that he had been
away a lot and had turned things over to Redpath. He said the Kansas
ballot drive was going well, mentioned some other states, and said the
BAC now has about $6-7000 and filed its FEC report on time. He said
fundraising had not been as successful as he hoped, and in particular
that people were not willing to pledge the amount he asked.
He proposed to switch positions with Redpath. He, as BAC Treasurer,
would handle deposits, financial statements, and thank you notes.
Redpath would handle fundraising, strategy, and everything else.
Black moved to approve the appointment of Redpath as BAC Chair. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Redpath reported that the list currently being used for telemarketing
(non-member BAC contributors) is not very useful, that there will be a
fundraising letter written by Paul Jacob, and that $1500 has been sent
to New York to help with their ballot drive. He said 22 or 23 states
will probably need help getting on the ballot for 1992, and that we
should start working on the ones we can as soon as possible so 1992
can be for campaigning instead of petitioning. He estimated the total
cost at about $400,000, down from more than $500,000 for 1988 because
there are several expensive states that we expect to retain status
this year. He said we need to identify petitioners that we can rely
on to work once we have the money, citing a particular problem with
college students who don't show up. He said BAC plans to contribute
$1000 to the ballot access initiative effort in Massachusetts.
In reply to a question from Walter about an article in a North
Carolina newsletter saying that the BAC had given 51-'92 a monopoly on
helping with ballot access in that state, Givot said that it was North
Carolina people that asked us to stay out, that 51-'92 still says that
they are going to do it, and that there are other states that we can
afford to work on now.
16. AFFILIATE PARTIES COMMITTEE REPORT (see item 13A)
17. REGIONAL REPORTS: Written reports were submitted by Allard (Region
1) [Attachment F], Neale (Region 2) [Attachment R], Dasbach (Region 3)
[Attachment S], Crickenberger (Region 4) [Attachment T], Thies (Region
5) [Attachment U], Kirkland (Region 6) [Attachment V], and Johnson
(Region 8) [Attachment W].
Walter suggested that Regional Representative send copies of their
reports to the LP News.
In oral reports, Allard said she had circulated her report to the
state chairs asking for corrections. She noted that the number of
signatures collected for the Oregon educational choice initiative was
the highest of any initiative this year, not in history. The Oregon
candidate for governor was arrested again this week on a drug
possession charge. Jeff Jared, running for Washington state
legislature, wants to be considered for national money. Jeniece
LaCross has been attending LPWS events.
Neale reported on activities in California including a clean needle
initiative, an NRA resolution allowing support for minor party
candidates, rearrangement of local regions, other campaign activities,
and a public access TV show.
Dasbach reported on a court case in Indiana concerning writeins, lack
of success of a proportional voting system in the Michigan party, a
variety of activities in Ohio and lack of activity in West Virginia,
and Robert Murphy's campaign for Congress in Virginia.
Crickenberger said the states in his region are complaining less about
national; the main things they care about are that they get things on
time and that membership keeps growing. In response to his report of a
potential takeover of the inactive Mississippi party by the New
Alliance Party, Thies and Bottemiller said they would be willing to
work with him to try to reactivate it.
Crickenberger moved to hold the spring LNC meeting on the weekend of
28-29 April. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Thies described a situation in Maryland where several members are
running as Republicans, and also reported on activities in Delaware,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Johnson reported that the Arizona party is not in good shape, that
Nevada and Texas are running lots of candidates, and that New Mexico
has some also.
Givot (Region 7) reported that Kansas is doing well, Wisconsin is
getting better, and there is good communication with Missouri. He
described the situation in Illinois as mixed, with failure to achieve
ballot status for any statewide candidate but a sign of progress in
the form of a tax initiative. He said he has had no communication with
Minnesota or Iowa.
18. AFFILIATE CAMPAIGNS SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT:
[Gingell assumed the chair.]
Dasbach provided a written report [Attachment X]. He said lists of
candidates had been sent to organizations such as NTU at their
request.
He reviewed the legislative races that are considered prospects for
national help, listing Greg Johnson in Idaho as number 1. Toby Nixon,
running in Georgia, and Bob Waldrop, running in Utah, each made some
comments to the Committee about their campaign activities. Dan Becan,
state chair of Nevada, said that four of their six previously
announced legislative candidates had been disqualified for various
reasons.
Dasbach also discussed the fundraising letter for the legislative
candidate project, other support of candidates, and his recommendation
that we change the schedule for presidential nominations.
Dasbach moved to delete the words "for the U.S. House of
Representatives and the U.S. Senate" from Resolution 46. The motion
passed on a voice vote.
Dehn moved to add an item to the end of the agenda to consider the
presidential nominating schedule question; the motion passed on a
voice vote.
19. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT (see item 13B)
20. OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT (see item 13C)
[The meeting recessed for the day at 5:51pm, and reconvened at 9:16am
on Sunday, with Walter in the chair.]
21. MEDIA RELATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT: In response to a question from
Walter, Johnson said that Tonie Nathan's expenses are not approved
ahead of time. Walter moved to defer further discussion of Media
Relations until Nathan was available to participate in the discussion;
there was no objection.
22. INTERNAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE REPORT: There was a discussion of how
to get the Program distributed to members. Black suggested including
it in the membership packet; objections were raised that there may not
be enough room in the envelope, and that there were only 10,000 copies
printed and the plan was to cover the cost of printing by selling
them. Others suggested printing it in the LP News, whole or one plank
per issue. Walter said some version will be put in the LP News with
instructions for ordering the flyer version.
23. ADVERTISING DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: Nolan sent a written
report [Attachment Y], in which he said he had no plans for further
activity this year and indicated he was interested in resigning as
chair. There was a brief discussion of a possible replacement.
Givot moved to dissolve the Advertising Development Committee,
deleting Resolutions 308 and 341. He said there was no point in having
a separate committee since there is no money to do anything, that the
only reason we produced any ads at all this year was to use the money
previous raised for that purpose, and suggested the subject be handled
as part of the Outreach Committee for now. Thies said that the ADC's
status as an SFAC was a sham, since it has never provided financial
statements and never raised money. Several people cited the
continuing enthusiasm for TV ads among the membership as a reason to
continue the activity in some form. In response to a question from
Walter, Dunbar said the office had masters of the TV and print ads.
Ahmad commented on the continuing problem of the failure of SFACs to
produce financial reports, and suggested that we may not be
recognizing the true cost of maintaining this arrangement.
The motion to dissolve the ADC passed on a voice vote.
Givot moved to send a thank you note to Nolan for his work. The motion
passed on a voice vote. Allard volunteered to write the note.
24. ADVERTISING/PUBLICATIONS REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT: Ahmad reported
that nothing had been submitted for their approval.
25. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT: Givot reported on the printing of the
Program, and there was a discussion of whether we should go ahead with
printing the individual planks as separate brochures. He said he would
make them up with artwork and blank panels for candidates to use.
There was a discussion of distributing the Program and membership
information to campaign workers and getting the names of campaign
prospects. Dasbach said some candidates may fear this would scare
people away. Dunbar said the office can provide rapid followup if
candidates provide names, and that he would send the normal packet
which does not contain the Program. In response to a comment from
Bottemiller that some state activists feel that national "runs
prospects dry" when they use the 800 number, before the state gets a
chance to do anything, Dunbar said that prospects just get an info
packet, and that no other solicitation is done by national until after
the name is provided to the state party.
Givot reported that work is being done on preparing an abortion plank
and a gun plank, which he hopes to have available for the December
meeting, and that he has a new "Environment" plank to be approved now.
He moved to discuss that immediately and add a five-minute item to the
end of the agenda for final approval; there was no objection.
Neale suggested that the plank point out that government is the
biggest polluter and exempt from controls that apply to the private
sector, and that in the present system fines are not correlated with
the actual cost of damages.
Dehn said the Program was not serving its purpose because we don't
update it quickly enough to provide candidates with something that
mentions issues that are of current interest during their campaigns,
citing gun rights as a currently hot topic that isn't included.
Dasbach suggested that it should be updated in the April of each
election year.
25A. ADVERTISING DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, continued: Allard read the
thank you note to be sent to Nolan [Attachment EE].
25B. MEDIA RELATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT, continued: Nathan provided a
written report [Attachment Z]. She described a general mailing to the
over 3000 people on her list, which she said cost over $1000. She
said that it is important to do such a mailing occasionally to let
everyone know we are active and to clean the list, and that she wants
to do at least one more mailing before the election.
She mentioned various past and potential media appearances that she
has been involved in arranging, said she has been putting a lot of her
time into organizing the list, clippings, and information about
"luminaries", and said she wants suggestions on how to quantify her
results. She said she looked into a broadcast monitoring service but
it is very expensive, and said she would be asking the state parties
to help gather clippings.
In response to a comment from Nathan about the office sometimes not
being able to provide accurate state contact information that she can
give to the media, Gingell said that the office gets several copies of
the updates so should have no problem with that but so does everyone
else so we shouldn't even need to be bothering the office about it.
In reply to a question from Gingell, Johnson said that there is no
preapproval of Nathan's travel and expenses, that she does what she
needs to do and provides a monthly report. Nathan said she had not
made any trips other than this one during the quarter, and that she
would not be submitting any additional expenses other than ones
associated with this trip, and that she does discuss any major
expenses with Johnson. Gingell suggested that Nathan needs to keep
Walter better informed of what press releases she is sending out, and
that expenses should be approved by Johnson before being paid.
In reply to questions from Walter about involving the state parties,
Nathan said she has contacts in 15 states, that she is planning to put
tips in the APC newsletter because there isn't room in LP News, that
she is interested in working with Bob Waldrop on helping the states
get more organized, that she has a "Tips for VIPs" document that
people have found useful, and that there is more information that
could be a manual but it needs to be reworked. Gingell suggested that
Nathan work more closely with Bottemiller and turn the information
into something that Bottemiller can use in her work with the states.
Dasbach said that Nathan's mailings and phone work was very valuable,
but questioned the cost-effectiveness of her trips. Nathan and
Ernsberger had a discussion about how many trips she had put in
expenses for and why she felt it necessary to go to certain LNC
meetings. Allard said that Nathan's work was helpful in Washington
state both in dealing with the Jeniece LaCross situation and with
campaigns. Bottemiller said that the media contacts that Nathan has
provided have been useful when she visits states.
26. CONVENTION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT: Neale provided a written
report [Attachment AA] and LEI provided additional material
[Attachment G]. Neale said that all parties now have a copy of the
contract as modified. He said that Sue Walton of LEI wants the changes
recorded in the minutes, but he doesn't think that is necessary. Dehn
said that it would be better to have the whole thing with all the
changes on file in case there is any dispute later. Neale said he
would send Dehn a copy.
Neale reported that LEI has asked for an auditor to be appointed
jointly. After a brief discussion, the consensus appeared to be that
we don't need this at this time.
In response to suggestions from various people, Neale said that he
would ask LEI to (1) make sure that "Libertarian Party" appears in all
convention publicity, (2) schedule the Bylaws Committee for just
Wednesday and Thursday, and (3) give consideration to the need for a
media room. In response to a question from Givot about computers that
could be used by convention committees and in vote tallying, Neale
said he was talking to people about it.
Neale reported that Alan Lindsay was asking for a copy of the contract
and that the office had been instructed to refer all such requests to
Neale.
In response to LEI's request for information about the schedule for
business meetings, Thies moved that "We want our convention hall
available from ___ in the morning until ___ in the afternoon". Points
in the discussion included: the purpose of the convention is to
conduct LP business, the contract as it stands effectively says we
have the hall 24 hours a day, the business meeting suffers if there
are attractive speakers scheduled at the same time, people felt that
not enough time was allowed for the business meeting in Philadelphia,
we need to make it practical for C-SPAN to cover both speakers and
business, in Philadelphia people who wanted to attend the business
meeting had to skip the breakfast speakers they had paid for.
Ahmad moved to amend the motion to read "we advise LEI that we intend
to use the hall from 10 to 6 to conduct business". The amendment
passed on a voice vote.
[Gingell assumed the chair.]
Additional comments were made about the amount of time allocated for
business: people can only take so much business, discussion of the
Platform alone should not take that much more time than last year,
delegates only have a chance to conduct business once every two years
so we should allow plenty of time, and the platform discussion made
for more interesting programming on C-SPAN than the big speakers.
Givot moved to amend the motion to say from noon to 6. The motion to
amend failed on a voice vote. The main motion passed on a voice vote.
Neale moved to authorize Neale and Alexander to take advantage of the
option for a second fundraising event. The motion passed on a voice
vote.
Neale noted that LEI wants clarification that they can select
speakers. In reply to a question from Alexander, he said the contract
specifies that we can veto their choice up to 90 days before the
convention.
Gingell moved to add additional discussion of Internal Education to
the end of the agenda; there was no objection.
[Walter resumed the chair.]
27. 1993 CONVENTION PROPOSALS: Neale reported interest from two
parties: Pat Wright representing San Diego and Bob Waldrop
representing Utah. Neither being present at the moment, Ahmad moved
to postpone discussion to the end of the meeting; there was no
objection.
28. LP NEWS REPORT: In reply to a request from Black that the product
catalog items be listed in the LP News, Dunbar said the whole thing
was too big, and that he had arranged with Randy Langhenry to
highlight one item in each issue, but he agreed to have the ad inform
people that the catalog is available.
In response to a request from Lynn House of Alaska that the state
chairs list be included in every issue, someone said there was not
enough room.
29. LEGAL ACTION COMMITTEE REPORT: It was noted that although we
currently have no active committee, David Bergland has done work on
some things for us. Walter welcomed suggestions for a new committee
chair.
In reply to a question from Redpath about the person who had been
repeatedly dialing our 800 number, Dunbar reported that we had gotten
a refund for the phone charges, that Bill Hall had written a letter to
the person, that the area code was no longer blocked, and that it
wasn't happening any more.
Gingell mentioned that the Alaska LP may have a problem with another
group identifying itself as the Libertarian Party, and Nathan
mentioned that the Justice Department is reviewing the anti-trust
exemption of NES.
30. AUDITOR'S REPORT (see item 13D)
31. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT:
Redpath reported that he has started working with Thies and Dunbar on
an operational audit [Attachment BB], and that the insurance plan for
employees is now set up.
In response to a statement by Redpath that the existing employee bonus
plan, Resolution 339, was not suitable for this year and needed to be
updated or deleted, Thies moved to delete the resolution. Ahmad
objected that the existing plan was intended to work for future years
and could simply be adjusted. Redpath outlined a specific new set of
numbers for computing the bonus pool, one feature of which was
separate calculations based on the number of renewals and the number
of new members. Dasbach objected that the sum of the base numbers for
these two categories was less than the current membership, and that it
would be hard to calculate these two numbers separately. Redpath
conducted a straw poll to determine whether the Committee preferred
having some kind of quantitative plan, a qualitative plan, or no plan;
the first alternative was most popular. Thies withdrew his motion.
Redpath moved to amend Resolution 339 by replacing the pool
computation formula with: "(1) $1 for every membership renewal over
5000, plus (2) $10 for every successful Liberty Pledge renewal, plus
(3) $2 for each new member over 2000, plus (4) 10% of the gross of
Liberty Pledge over $8000/month for September-December 1990, plus (5)
5% of gross revenues over $500,000".
Thies moved to amend Redpath's proposal to delete all but the last
point. There was a discussion of the effect of the two variants on
revenue, and of the appropriateness of including in the calculation
various items that are not directly under the control of the office.
Allard suggested including a bonus for good ideas. Dunbar said that
basing the bonus on specific items such as Liberty Pledge was an
interesting way of communicating to the office staff what the
Committee considers important.
Gingell moved to further amend the proposal to base the calculation on
net revenue over $300,000 rather than gross over $300,000. Argument in
favor of net was that it would encourage employees to raise funds in
the least expensive ways, rather than by doing something that might
bring in a large gross but cost a lot. Argument opposed was that net
is not so clearly defined because some things could be considered
either expense or a cost of raising revenue. Gingell's amendment
passed on a voice vote.
Ahmad moved to substitute for the pending proposal that the existing
plan be modified by replacing the existing third and fourth points
relating to revenue by "5% of the gross revenue over the budget
adopted at the beginning of the year", by eliminating the specific
numbers from the first and second points, and by eliminating all
references to 1989. After some further discussion of what areas are
really subject to influence by the office employees, Ahmad's motion to
substitute passed on a voice vote.
The main motion passed on a voice vote, with Givot voting no. Dunbar
thanked the Committee for resolving the question.
[The meeting was recessed, and reconvened at 1:40pm.]
32. BUDGET COMMITTEE REPORT: Fielder sent a written report [Attachment
CC]. Ernsberger summarized the committee's recommendations.
Gingell reported on a revised recommendation that had been put
together by herself, Ernsberger, and Dehn. On the expense side, the
recommendation was the same as in Fielder's memo for
headquarters-related expenses and would make the following changes in
other items:
Budget Item Proposed Change Change
Budget Subtotal
APRC 0 -200
Audit/Management Committee 250 -250
Budget Committee 400 +400
Executive Committee 3900 +900
National Committee 2000 -1000
-150
Aff. Parties Committee 5000 0
APC Field Coordinators 34650 -3850
APC Special Projects 50 -950
Campaign 90 5500 -6500
-11300
Internal Ed. Committee 0 -3000
Membership Committee 6000 +3000
LP News 62000 +1000
+1000
Campus Outreach 8000 -2000
CEDV 0 -5000
Conferences & Seminars 0 -2000
Media Relations 20600 -2000
Outreach Committee 1500 -4500
Outreach Literature 3500 +1000
800 line 6000 0
TV Advertising 8800 +3800
-10700
The revenue side would be the same as in Fielder's memo except for an
additional $3000 for the Torch Club, which she said Alexander thinks
he can achieve. She said the result of the whole recommendation was
$850 out of balance, on a cash basis (following Fielder's
recommendation for dealing with depreciation and capital expenses).
Gingell moved that we adopt the revenue side of the revised
recommendation. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Gingell moved that we adopt the expense side of the revised
recommendation. The motion passed on a voice vote.
33. PANAMA/LEAR LETTER: Allard reviewed the involvement by Jeniece
LaCross in activities of the LP of Washington State, and said that
while we had dealt with the situation properly, we should adopt a
resolution clarifying our policies.
Allard moved:
---
The policy for use of an individual's name in a solicitation letter
will be as follows: (a) The names of individuals who have been elected
or appointed into positions in the federal, state, and local
government and anyone who has direct influence over government policy
may be used in the letter campaigns; (b) The names of individuals who
have become "public figures" because of their actions may be used in
the letter campaign; (c) The names of those individuals identified in
(a) and (b) may be used to emphasize the LP positions on issues and
the injustice of the government policy; (d) The content of letters
will not state the feelings or thoughts of any individual in the
absence of evidence to support the statement; and (e) All other names
of individuals not identified in (a) and (b) will be used only with
the written permission of the individual or his/her family.
---
Ahmad said that this served the purpose of the proposed motion he had
distributed prior to the meeting, and that since we all agree with
this policy there is no reason not to adopt it.
Alexander objected; he said that passing this resolution would not
satisfy the people who are complaining and might encourage them to ask
for more, that this goes against our effort to clean up the
resolutions, that the policy he has already announced is stricter than
this, and that it is inconsistent to have a resolution just for this
particular case when there are no resolutions prohibiting saying
exactly the same thing in anything other than a fundraising letter nor
prohibiting saying other kinds of unfavorable things about people in a
fundraising letter.
Neale moved to amend by changing "elected or appointed" to "elected,
appointed, volunteered, enlisted, or otherwise hired"; there was no
objection.
Additional points in the discussion included: this policy would not
have prohibited a fundraising letter about Lear, we need to be able to
rely on people's good judgement rather than depend on a list of
prohibitions, even if this will not satisfy LaCross there are other
people who will wonder why we don't take a position, this proposal
would do nothing about telephone fundraising or items in the LP News,
it would be better to have a broader policy developed by the Finance
Committee, and if we pass this it will be clear that it is just a
response to the incident and not something that we really expect to be
useful as a guide for the future.
The motion failed on a vote of 6 to 8, with Allard, Thies, and Ahmad
voting yes.
Ahmad moved "Be it resolved that it is against Libertarian Party
policy to publish fundraising letters that invoke the _presumed_
values of people we do not know." After some discussion of the exact
meaning of several of the words in the proposed resolution, the motion
failed on a vote of 5 to 7.
34. MALAYSIA BOYCOTT: Pat Wright was present but indicated that he was
not prepared to make a presentation. Neale moved to discuss Wright's
convention proposal; there was no objection.
34A. 1993 CONVENTION, continued: Pat Wright provided a written
proposal [Attachment DD] and reviewed some of the points therein.
Walter noted that a decision will be made at the December meeting and
advised those interested in doing the convention to provide additional
details by that time.
35. COUNCIL OF STATE CHAIRS: It was reported that Alicia Clark did not
recall that she had been invited to talk to us.
36. LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE (see item 47)
37. RESOLUTION CONCERNING SAUDI ARABIA: Ahmad moved:
---
Saddam Hussein's intervention into the internal affairs of Kuwait by
rolling tanks across its border has outraged the world as an act of
naked aggression. Any such military incursion not required for the
defense of a nation's territorial integrity must be soundly condemned
by all who believe in justice. Accordingly, and in line with our Party
platform's strong and consistent opposition to foreign
interventionism, including the affairs of the Middle East, the
National Committee of the Libertarian Party condemns the Bush
Administration decision to send American troops to Saudi Arabia and
calls for their immediate recall.
A military blockade is an act of war. American youth should not be
sacrificed to defend monarchies, nor artificial national boundaries
drawn by a previous generation of British politicians. Iraq's
marauding despot is no direct threat to America's security. His
pernicious cause is only advanced by the insertion of American troops
into the present turmoil. The residents of the region are the best
defenders of their own interests against Saddam Hussein's aggression.
The Baath movement, Hussein's so-called Arab Socialism, will fall the
same way that the Socialist movements of Europe are falling -- from
the moral and economic bankruptcy of Socialism.
The Republican and Democratic politicians supported Iraq after its
unprovoked invasion of Iran, subsidizing Iraqi grain purchases with
American taxpayers' money. They continue to fund aid to countries
guilty of occupation and annexation comparable to that perpetrated by
Iraq. The hypocrisy of their alleged concern over the most recent
Iraqi aggression is an embarrassment to the founding principles of the
United States.
The Libertarian Party stands ready and eager to lead America back to a
commitment to those principles of free trade and friendship with all
nations and entangling alliances with none.
---
Thies explained that he had an alternative text that was organized
around platform planks.
Neale moved to change "a previous generation of British politicians"
to "previous generations of foreign politicians"; there was no
objection.
Discussion included the following points: the linkage at the beginning
between opposition to Iraq's action and to US action may be confusing,
we need to address this issue as it may turn out be a major war, there
are other aspects of our Platform that apply to this situation and we
should try to address all of them. Nathan suggested passing this as an
official resolution and using Thies' text as a "policy statement" with
which we could approach talk shows.
Givot, arguing that there were little things in the text that could
embarrass us and that a simpler resolution would be better, moved to
delete the two paragraphs beginning "A military blockade..." and "The
Republican and Democratic politicians...", and to change, in the first
paragraph, "Accordingly, and in line with" to "Notwithstanding this
act of war, we reaffirm". Ahmad objected that removal of the two
paragraphs would eliminate the guts of the resolution.
Dasbach moved to divide Givot's motion; there was no objection, and
the change to the first paragraph was considered first. Thies moved
to change "reaffirm" to "support", and to rearrange the sentence so
that "Libertarian National Committee" appeared in place of the first
"we", making appropriate adjustments for grammar; there was no
objection to these changes. The motion to amend the first paragraph
passed on a voice vote.
The motion to delete the two paragraphs failed on a voice vote. The
main motion to adopt the resolution [Attachment FF] passed on a voice
vote.
[Gingell assumed the chair.]
Thies moved:
---
Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait outrages us, the members of the
Libertarian National Committee. It is an act of naked aggression. It
outrages us just as Hussein's invasion of Iran, his use of chemical
weapons, and his threat of using weapons of mass destruction against
the people of Israel and the people of its occupied territories
outrage us.
The question we address is what should be our response. We remind
ourselves of the first brave response to this invasion: the refusal by
hundreds of Iraqi military officers to participate. Their courageous
act cost them their lives, but gained for them a place of honor in
history and in our hearts.
We know that many other brave men and women will resist Iraqi
aggression. Our concern is to be successful, minimizing the loss of
innocent lives, and establishing the basis for a just and lasting
peace.
As we meet, the United States is deploying military forces in and
around Saudi Arabia, joined by the military forces of other nations
including NATO allies, the Soviet Union and various Arab countries.
All of this is for the stated purpose of deterring an Iraqi invasion
of Saudi Arabia.
Our platform clearly states that, while we condemn violations of the
rights of Americans traveling abroad by foreign governments, we oppose
any protection of Americans abroad as an unjust tax-supported subsidy
involving potential military intervention. While we also condemn
violations of human rights throughout the world, we oppose foreign
intervention by the United States. Our platform only supports the use
of military force to protect the lives, liberty and property of the
American people in the United States.
We therefore oppose the deployment of U.S. military forces to Saudi
Arabia.
Our platform opposes the President's power to initiate military
action. There must be no unilateral acts of military intervention by
the Executive Branch. We note that this deployment is not being
conducted under any Senate-approved treaty, binding the U.S. and Saudi
Arabia to mutual defense. It is being conducted as a unilateral act of
the President.
We therefore oppose the action of the President to deploy military
forces to Saudi Arabia and demand that, if he does not order a
redeployment to the United States, the President ask the U.S. Congress
for a declaration of war so this deployment would at least be
conducted in a constitutional manner.
Our platform opposes foreign aid, including guarantees of
export-related loans. We note that U.S. aid to Iraq, consisting of
diplomatic and intelligence support during its recent war against
Iran, and loan guarantees financing food exports to Iraq, did not
serve to placate Hussein, but only emboldened him to continue his
aggressive ways, and propped up his economically-bankrupt regime.
We therefore call upon the United States to end foreign aid programs.
When will the U.S. stop propping up dictators that oppress their own
people and terrorize the people in neighboring countries? When will
the U.S. stop the policies that drag us into one after another war in
distant places all around the world?
Specifically concerning the Middle East, our platform calls upon the
U.S. government to cease all interventions, and opposes incorporation
of the Persian Gulf into the U.S. defense perimeter. Wars and
insurrections have marked this tragic area of the world ever since
European powers first intervened during the Crusades. It's unrealistic
to think continued Western or even global intervention is going to
resolve the underlying problems. An end to interventionism is the best
policy.
Our platform opposes U.S. export policies that hold American farmers
hostage to politics. We note that the U.S. used grain embargoes
against Iran in support of Iraq during the recent Gulf War, and to no
advantage.
On the other hand, our platform supports voluntary cooperation with
economic boycotts. While boycotts have had mixed success when world
opinion has been mixed, we support the U.N. resolution calling for a
boycott against Iraq.
Even though we support a boycott against Iraq, we oppose a Naval
blockade to enforce the boycott since a blockade is an act of war.
Our platform also clearly supports the rights of all people to defend
themselves against tyranny, including their right to revolt against
oppressive governments.
We therefore support Arab resistence against Iraqi aggression, and
encourage voluntary support by freedom-loving people around the world.
We believe that Saddam Hussein's so-called Ba'ath movement of Arab
socialism will fail, and that it would have already failed if it
hadn't been propped up by aid from the United States, Soviet Union
and, ironically, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
We must remind ourselves of the devastating cost of war. The state
loves war. War plays right into the hands of dictators such as
Hussein. Libertarians support the right of self-defense, but making
war shouldn't be an emotional first response.
Freedom works, and socialism doesn't. We can be patient and, in the
long run, we will not only surely win, we will win at the least cost
in terms of lives as well as property.
---
[Redpath assumed the chair.]
Neale moved to replace the first paragraph concerning boycotts,
beginning with "On the other hand", by "Our platform supports
voluntary cooperation with economic boycotts. Therefore, while we
reject the U.N. resolution calling for a mandatory boycott against
Iraq, we support a boycott against Iraq on a voluntary basis."
Ahmad expressed uncertainty as to the need for this resolution.
Neale moved to table; the motion to table passed on a voice vote.
[Walter resumed the chair.]
Givot moved to suspend the rules to take up the question of
presidential convention scheduling, followed by approval of the new
Program plank. The motion passed on a 2/3 voice vote.
38. RESOLUTION CLEANUP, Part 2 (see item 40A)
39. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING SCHEDULE: Givot pointed out that the
Bylaws allow the LNC to set the date as late as June of the election
year, said we've all heard the arguments, said the process of getting
laws changed in various states will take time, and called on the
Committee to take action now rather than leave it to the next LNC.
Givot moved to set the nominating convention for 1996 as late as
possible in 1996 and to authorize the Executive Committee to pursue
negotiations or legal action in various states.
Discussion included the following points: Labor Day has been a problem
for students and maybe earlier in the summer will be better, having
the convention in an odd year gets the party infighting over with well
before the election, it may be difficult to make progress in the
courts before 1996 because we won't have an actual case, there will be
costs associated with the court cases, it may only be necessary to
fight one court battle and then have the decision apply elsewhere,
there is a risk we could not have our candidate on the ballot in all
states if we try this, we could switch back if it doesn't look like it
has a good chance of working, an alternative would be to hold an extra
convention during the election year, having our nomination process
going on during the election year makes our candidates more
interesting to the media, and an election year convention gives
candidates more of an opportunity to demonstrate their campaigning and
the option of using matching funds before we select them.
Ahmad moved to postpone this topic until the next meeting to give
Givot and Richard Winger a chance to prepare a detailed proposal. The
motion to postpone passed on a voice vote.
40. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT, Part 2: Givot moved the adoption of the
following plank on "The Environment" in place of the existing one on
"Pollution":
---
Every one of us is dependent on the environment to support our lives.
When a person, a company, or a government dumps waste from its
property onto the property of others without their consent, it has
trespassed against them. The victims of pollution should be able to
sue the polluter, require it to stop, and collect damages.
The best way to understand why we have the high level of air and water
pollution we have today is to recognize that responsibility for
protection of the environment has been turned over to a government
bureaucracy. Today's failures are a result of the ineffectiveness of
the government to deal with such important issues. Corporate officials
are often protected from liability. Various levels of government --
often the worst polluters -- impose ever greater regulations on
private parties, while hiding behind legal exemptions which permit
them to violate their own standards.
Current laws relating to the environment are not based on the concept
of trespass. These laws define acceptable levels of pollution and
attempt to prevent anyone from exceeding those levels. They fall short
of what is needed for several reasons.
By setting acceptable levels of pollution, the government is actually
approving those levels of pollution. Libertarians do not believe that
government bureaucrats in Washington should determine how much poison
we are forced to eat, drink, and breathe!
Government sanctions environmental destruction; polluters feel safe as
they poison our environment up to government accepted levels. It is an
uphill battle for an injured private citizen to sue a polluter who has
met all government guidelines. Even if the individual has been
unquestionably harmed, the polluter's claim that all applicable
government standards were met provides a strong defense.
When polluters exceed government standards, the penalties they pay
typically go to the government, not to the people who were harmed. Why
should the government be paid for poisoning private citizens? Why
shouldn't polluters compensate their victims?
Faceless bureaucrats can never be as effective in fighting pollution
as individual citizens; provided that we give citizens the tools they
need to do so. The following are some initial steps to protect our
environment.
1. Clearly establish the legal right of individuals or groups to claim
that harmful pollution of their body, property, air or water is a
trespass, allowing them to successfully sue individuals, companies, or
governments for damages.
2. End all regulatory attempts to define acceptable levels of
pollution. Setting such standards has the effect of legally
sanctioning that amount of pollution, even when it might be reduced
below that level. It also deprives citizens the right to successfully
claim damages from levels of pollution which are lower than government
standards.
---
The motion passed on a voice vote.
40A. RESOLUTION CLEANUP, Part 2:
Dasbach moved that a new resolution titled "Position Description of
National Treasurer" be approved, consisting of and replacing the
existing Resolutions 55, 2, 253, and 26. The motion passed on a voice
vote.
Dasbach moved that Resolutions 1, 14, 19, 43, 62, 149, 313, and 348 be
deleted and a new resolution titled "Position Description of National
Secretary" be added as follows:
---
The Secretary shall take minutes of all LNC meetings. Minutes shall
be mailed to all LNC members not more than 30 days after each meeting.
The Secretary shall prepare a synopsis of convention business,
including committee reports and the records of voting for offices, for
approval by the National Committee.
The Secretary shall keep a tally of mail ballots between meetings, and
shall destroy the ballots after each meeting. Mail ballots shall not
include argument (the term argument shall include whereas clauses). An
LNC member may change his or her vote on a mail ballot. The change
must be signed and dated and received by the Secretary by the deadline
for return of ballots.
The Secretary shall maintain a concise and complete accounting of the
LNC's resolutions in manual form. Such form shall be conducive to ease
of identification and replacement of former or amended resolutions.
LNC members, alternates, and state chairs shall receive copies of the
Bylaws and Platform after each convention.
LNC agendas, minutes, mail ballots, resolution updates, and other
supporting material shall be sent without charge to all LNC members,
alternates, and committee chairs, as well as to any state chair that
requests them. Any Party member may obtain these materials at his or
her own cost. A list of such material shall be available from National
Headquarters on request and may be periodically sent to state chairs
and/or advertised in LP News.
---
The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved that a new section 20 be added to Resolution 243: "The
Chair writes a monthly 'Chair's Report' and insures its timely
distribution to all LNC members", renumbering the existing section 20
to 21 and deleting Resolution 311. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved that "in writing monthly" be added to the end of section
14 of Resolution 244, and that Resolution 312 be deleted. The motion
passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved that "Minutes shall be kept of Executive Committee
meetings" be inserted before the last sentence of Resolution 335 and
that Resolution 343 be deleted. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolutions 292 and 325. The motion passed on
a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to amend Resolution 240 by replacing "Resolved" by
"Legal Action Committee", to add a new paragraph:
---
All contracts entered into or modified by the LNC shall be reviewed by
the Legal Action Committee prior to signing by the National Chair or
approval by the LNC, for contracts of more than one year in duration
or more than $5000. Further, that all contracts or modifications
thereto be reduced to writing.
---
and to delete Resolution 294. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to amend Resolution 244 by inserting a new section 24:
"The Director maintains control over the Party's computer data base
and develops distribution and pricing policies for mailing and
telephone lists, with the advice and consent of the Executive
Committee", renumbering existing section 24 as 25. The motion passed
on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolutions 241, 69, 336, 301, and 219, and to
adopt the following new resolution:
---
The National Director shall require a 50% deposit on all mailing label
or list orders, except for commercial mailing list houses or
organizations that have a perfect track record of paying within 30
days for the previous year.
Rentals, exchanges, or sales of the Party mailing list shall not
include the names of anyone who has cumulatively given over $5000 to
the national Party.
Any member of the Libertarian Party who so requests may have his or
her name removed from lists made available to outside organizations.
Neither the mailing list, nor any other Party asset, shall be given,
rented, sold, or otherwise made available to any other political party
or its candidates.
Telephone numbers shall only be provided to state affiliate parties,
LNC members and committee chairs, and Libertarian Party candidates.
---
The motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolutions 96 and 274, and add to Resolution
44: "No news release emanating from the National Headquarters or
National Convention shall misrepresent the position of the Party as
reflected in the Platform. Vote totals are not to be described as
membership in any Party communication." Thies moved to substitute that
Resolutions 44, 96, and 274 be deleted. The motion to substitute
passed by a vote of 4 to 2, with Ahmad voting no. The main motion
passed on a voice vote, with Ahmad voting no.
Dasbach moved that Resolution 324 be amended by deleting "Resolved,
that", deleting the second paragraph, and adding a new paragraph "The
Libertarian Party shall maintain membership in the Coalition for Free
and Open Elections (COFOE)", and that resolution 93 be deleted. The
motion passed on a voice vote.
Dasbach moved that Resolution 307 and Resolution 270C, starting with
"Travel by", be appended to Resolution 316. The motion passed on a
voice vote.
41. INTERNAL EDUCATION, Part 2: O'Brien asked to get a sense of the
LNC as to the purpose of the Internal Education Committee, suggesting
several possible areas: how to deal with the media, communications
skills, organizational techniques, and issues and ideology.
Gingell referred to Resolution 186, which says the committee deals
with both organizational and political education. Thies said the
committee should be involved in educating members directly, not just
through the affiliate parties. Alexander said the committee will have
a lot of work to do if his committee is successful with its mailings
to special interest groups.
Ahmad moved to delete the last sentence of Resolution 186 and to
insert "for use by the Affiliate Party Committee" into the previous
sentence after "programs". The motion was divided and the first part
adopted without objection. Thies moved to substitute for the
remaining portion of the motion that the sentence in question be
deleted. Dehn objected that the resulting motion would leave no room
for directly helping members. The motion to substitute passed on a
voice vote. The main motion failed on a voice vote.
Walter appointed O'Brien to be chair of the Internal Education
Committee.
42. RESOLUTION CLEANUP, part 3: Dasbach moved to suspend the rules to
consider another change; there was no objection.
Dasbach moved to delete Resolution 330, giving specifications for the
office location. Ahmad and Dunbar said they preferred that it remain
since it will help provide guidelines for the possible upcoming move.
The motion failed on a voice vote.
43. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, part 2: Redpath moved to suspend the rules
to announce his resignation as chair of the Management Committee,
saying he would be busy with the BAC and with state activities, and
recommended Thies as his replacement.
Thies said he would be willing to do it, but others objected to having
the Auditor and the Management Chair be the same person, especially
since the Management Chair is on the Executive Committee. Thies said
he would plan on resigning one or the other position in December and
would look for a new auditor in the meantime. Ahmad volunteered to be
Management Chair.
Walter moved to appoint Ahmad as a member of the Management Committee;
the motion passed on a voice vote. A vote by paper ballot was held to
select a chair for the committee from among its members; Ahmad was
elected with 7 votes, 2 votes being cast for Thies.
44. PANAMA/LEAR LETTER, part 2: Allard moved to suspend the rules to
consider the 14 July resolution of the LPWS Executive Committee (in
Attachment F); there was no objection.
Alexander moved to adopt the LPWS resolution as written, but said he
opposed it. After some discussion of the inappropriateness of the
form of that text to be a resolution of the LNC, Alexander withdrew
his motion.
Ahmad moved to respond to point 3 of the LPWS's request by advising
LPWS that our policy is the motion he offered earlier in this meeting
(see item 33) and to say that points 1 and 2 of the request are
without merit. Ahmad then moved to divide the question taking the
part about point 3 first. The motion to divide passed on a voice
vote.
Dasbach moved to substitute that our response to point 3 be to send a
copy of Alexander's report which contains his current policy. The
motion to substitute and the main motion to respond to point 3 passed
on voice votes.
Dasbach moved to divide points 1 and 2; the motion passed on a voice
vote.
Dasbach moved to substitute as a response to point 1 a statement that
since there have been no requests for return of the money there is no
basis for complying with their request. Ahmad offered specific
wording: "Since in our judgement people who donated did so because
because of their support of our policies and given that there have
been no requests for refund by any contributor, we see no basis for
granting this request." The motion to substitute and the main motion
to respond to point 1 passed on voice votes.
[Gingell assumed the chair.]
There was a discussion of whether there was anything specific we could
say in response to point 2 and of whether the letter had promised that
the money would be used to fund something specific.
Thies moved to substitute that the Treasurer be appointed to respond
to this point.
Ahmad moved to substitute that we respond that the money was put in
the general fund and in the following months a major focus of our
outreach effort was the drug issue.
After further discussion of the lack of any way to meaningfully
account for how the money from this particular letter was spent, the
all pending motions passed on voice votes.
[Walter resumed the chair.]
45. MINUTES CORRECTION: Dehn moved to suspend the rules to correct the
minutes of the previous meeting to show that the funds from the census
letter were allocated until June 1991, not June 1990 (item 21A of
28-29 April 1990 minutes). The motion to suspend the rules and the
correction passed on voice votes.
46. CONVENTION OVERSIGHT (1991), part 2: Dehn moved to suspend the
rules to consider further LEI's request concerning scheduling of the
business meeting. The motion to suspend the rules passed by a vote of
7 to 3.
Dehn said that what we had done would not allow LEI to do what they
wanted, and suggested that if we gave up one more hour there would be
time for a speaker before the business. Neale said 10am is a good
time to start the business because of the breakfast schedule. Dasbach
said that a switch to 11am with a speaker just before would encourage
a clean start to the meeting without dead time for C-SPAN. Various
other members objected to the use of the hall for non-business
sessions. Walter said LEI should be asked to come up with another
plan.
47. LONG-RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE: Walter said somebody needs to be
taking a longer range view of our activities, and said he was thinking
about setting up a planning committee consisting of the chairs of the
action committees. He suggested as goals for next year: increasing
membership to 11,000 by the convention, a $550,000 budget, achieving
ballot access in those states where it is possible, and increasing the
number of candidates to 500. Johnson suggested doing some market
research, such as conducting a poll.
48. CONCLUDING BUSINESS
Thies moved to adjourn; the motion passed on a voice vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:43pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph W, Dehn III
Secretary
Attachments:
[Attachments distributed with the agenda packet]
A. Report on Mail Ballot
B. Field Coordinator Report
C. Membership Committee Report
D. Outreach Committee Report
E. Auditor's Report
F. Region 1 Report
G. LEI Material
[Attachments distributed at the meeting]
H. Chair's Report Material
I. Financial Statements
J. Director's Report
K. Memo Concerning National Office
L. 1989 Convention Report Appendixes
M. Affiliate Parties Committee Report
N. Membership Committee Report Update
O. Outreach Committee Report Update
P. Campus Outreach Report
Q. Finance Committee Report
R. Region 2 Report
S. Region 3 Report
T. Region 4 Report
U. Region 5 Report
V. Region 6 Report
W. Region 8 Report
X. Affiliate Campaign Committee Report
Y. Advertising Development Committee Report
Z. Media Relations Committee Report
AA. Convention Oversight Committee Report
BB. Memo Concerning Operations Audit
CC. Budget Committee Report
DD. San Diego Convention Proposal
[Attachments not previously distributed]
EE. Note to Nolan
FF. Resolution Against Deployment of Troops