Document:LNC Minutes 1 September 1991
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Minutes of the Meeting of the
Libertarian National Committee
1 September 1991
Chicago, Illinois
Members Present:
Chair Mary T. Gingell
Vice-Chair Steve Dasbach
Secretary Joseph W. Dehn III
At Large Don Ernsberger
Steven I. Givot
Geoffrey J. Neale
Ken Prazak
Region 1 Dave Schumacher
Region 2 Steven J. Alexander
Thea McLean
Region 3 William W. Hall
Region 4 Ron Crickenberger
Region 5 Dan Karlan
Region 6 Clay S. Conrad
Region 7 Maggie Kohls
Region 8 Gary E. Johnson
Absent:
Treasurer William Redpath
At Large Tamara Clark
Alternates Present and Participating:
Region 2 George L. O'Brien
Region 6 Vicki Kirkland
Also present:
Director Nick Dunbar
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Libertarian National
Committee was called to order by Chair Mary Gingell at 3:28pm on
Sunday, 1 September at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Hotel in Chicago,
Illinois.
2. CREDENTIALS: The Secretary called the roll and passed around a
sheet for members to note their addresses. Those present introduced
themselves.
3. SETTING OF THE AGENDA: Gingell proposed the following items for
discussion: telephone tree, invitation to hold a meeting in Michigan,
report from the Marrou campaign, Chair's report, questions about the
headquarters, Program Committee, Media Relations, and setting the
dates and locations of future meetings.
Hall proposed including a discussion of the NOTA votes for Judicial
Committee, and Karlan proposed discussing a resolution about the
Soviet Union; there was no objection.
4. TELEPHONE TREE: Toni Black explained the goals of the LP Telephone
Tree System -- to get important news to all national personnel and all
affiliate parties within 48 hours. She said she was working on
improving the structure so that most people would not have to make
more than three calls, and to provide more backup.
5. MICHIGAN INVITATION: Jim Hudler invited the LNC to meet in Ann
Arbor 10-12 April 1992, which is the weekend of their state
convention.
6. MARROU CAMPAIGN: Michael Emerling thanked LEI and the LNC for their
handling of the convention and nominating process, and reported on
plans for the campaign.
He said there will be a unified presidential/vice-presidential
campaign, with one office and a percentage of the budget allocated to
the vice-presidential candidate. He said the campaign wants to work
together with the officers, LNC, and national office. He reiterated
that the campaign's books are open for our inspection at any time, and
that all new names obtained during the campaign would be considerd
co-property of the LP and would be turned over to both the national
and state parties.
In reply to a question from Gingell, he said that the next time they
would need to mail to the LP mailing list would be for a letter about
plans for the New Hampshire primary, and that he would coordinate the
timing of mailings with the National Director.
7. CHAIR'S REPORT: Gingell announced the establishment of transition
teams to consider planning and reorganization of the activities of the
Party, divided into three areas as outlined in her campaign letter.
She said she was asking each of the other officers to head up one team
-- Dasbach for "organization", Redpath for "development", and Dehn for
"education" -- and that they were to report their recommendations at
the next meeting. She asked for volunteers to staff the teams; the
following persons present volunteered: for "development", Prazak,
McLean, Kohls, and Karlan; for "education", Givot, Johnson, and
Prazak; for "organizing", Hall, Vicki Kirkland, Crickenberger, and
Clark. Gingell said that all committee chairs would automatically be
part of the team that will be examining their area.
Gingell said that she herself would be concentrating on ongoing
operations, fundraising, headquarters operations, and overall
co-ordination of the transition process. She said that she believes
in continuity and stability and that all committee appointments would
remain in place until December except where someone did not want to
continue. Specifically she said that O'Brien would remain as chair of
Internal Education, that Karlan would serve as interim chair of
Outreach, that David Bergland would continue as chair of Legal Action
for now but that Hall might assume that role, that Johnson would
remain as chair of Media Relations, that Karen Allard would serve as
interim chair of Finance, and that McLean would serve as interim chair
of Membership. She proposed that the LNC appoint Redpath to continue
as chair of BAC, and Dasbach as chair of APC; there were no
objections. She reported that Neale had appointed Ruth Bennett as the
third member of the Convention Oversight Committee, and suggested
discussing deferring appointements to the APRC and the Management
Committee to later in the meeting.
Gingell said she would be preparing a fundraising mailing to go out at
the end of the week.
She reported that Nick Dunbar had submitted his resignation as
National Director, and proposed that he be reappointed; there was no
objection. She also reported that she had discussed with Dunbar
various problems relating to the office, and that she would be
visiting the office in October.
8. HEADQUARTERS REPORT: Dunbar reported that there had been 6651 calls
to the 800 number as of midnight, and that the office had prepared
3000 packets.
In reply to a question from Gingell, Dunbar said that the interns were
leaving within a week and that he had no plan to hire any for the
fall.
9. MEDIA RELATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT: Johnson reported that MKR
Associates, which have been doing much of the media work, had given 30
days notice of cancellation of their contract; Dasbach noted that the
APC had received a similar notice. Gingell said that she had
discussed with Dunbar moving some of the work to the headquarters.
Johnson reported that Tonie Nathan had inquired whether our rules
require us to have a full-time media coordinator.
10. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT: Givot said that the Program wasn't
really done yet, likening it to "a baby ready to be born". He
reviewed the survey by Life magazine that was reported on in his
report to the last meeting, and suggested that we should consider a
Program of five or so planks based on issues that the public really
cares about. He asked for reaction to the idea that the Program
Committee should rework the program along these lines; there was no
objection.
Givot asked that the Program Committee be expanded, noting that it is
the LNC that has the final decision on approving planks anyway. He
suggested that the following people be appointed, in addition to
himself, Dasbach, and Tonie Nathan who have been serving as the
Program Committee: Prazak, Karlan, Joe Lusardi, Bruce Baechler,
O'Brien, Neale, Kohls, Andre Marrou, Nancy Lord, Jim Lewis, Michael
Emerling, and Ed Clark. In reply to a comment by O'Brien that the
Secretary should be an ex officio member, Dehn said he would just
volunteer to be appointed as well. All were appointed without
objection.
11. COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS: Gingell announced that Ernsberger had
volunteered to serve as chair of the Management and Audit Committee,
and had proposed that the other members be Givot, O'Brien, John
Famularo serving as computer auditor, and Dave Walter serving as
auditor.
Givot suggested that the LNC should have the flexibility of appointing
someone other than the chair of the Management and Audit Committee to
be the fifth member of the Executive Committee, citing the
desirability of having someone with business experience on that
committee. He moved to amend LNCPM VII.2.A to say that the fifth
person shall be "a member of the Management Committee selected by the
National Committee".
Dasbach moved to amend Givot's proposal to say "selected by the
National Chair"; after brief discussion the motion failed on a voice
vote.
Dehn moved to amend the proposal to say "Management and Audit
Committee", explaining that is the actual name of the committee in
question; there was no objection.
After further discussion of Givot's motion, with those arguing in
favor saying that it would give the LNC additional flexibility to
independently choose the best person for chair of the MAC and for
representative on the EC, and those arguing against saying that there
is already enough flexibility since the LNC decides which member of
the MAC is to be its chair, the motion passed, 7 in favor, 6 against.
Gingell stated that the proposal under consideration was the
appointment of the following to make up the MAC: Ernsberger, Givot,
O'Brien, Famularo as computer auditor, and Walter as auditor; the
motion passed on a voice vote.
O'Brien moved that Ernsberger be appointed chair of the MAC; there was
no objection.
Johnson moved that Ernsberger be appointed as the fifth member of the
Executive Committee; there was no objection.
Dehn moved that Gingell be appointed chair of the Executive Committee;
there was no objection.
Gingell announced that Ted Brown and Bill Evers wanted to continue as
members of the APRC, but that it was not known if Dean Ahmad was
willing to continue. O'Brien moved to appoint Brown, Evers, and Ahmad
on the assumption that he agrees; there was no objection.
12. JUDICIAL COMMITTEE: Dehn reported that there had been confusion
during the convention about how votes for NOTA should be treated in
the election of the Judicial Committee, that the convention chair had
ruled that votes for NOTA should not be counted in that election
because the rules did not provide for it, and that his decision had
not been overturned by the delegates. Hall said that there should be
some way to express the NOTA option in Judicial Committee elections,
and pointed out an alternative interpretation of the rules. Gingell
said that since the convention had not overturned the chair's ruling,
the issue had been decided for this instance.
Givot moved to refer the matter to the next Bylaws and Rules
Committee, asking that they address the various questions that had
come up. O'Brien objected that since we did not have jurisdiction
over the matter, we could not "refer" it, and moved to substitute that
we "inform" the next Bylaws and Rules Committee that the Bylaws and
Convention Rules may need clarification in this area; there was no
objection. The motion to "inform" passed on a voice vote.
13. RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE SOVIET UNION: Karlan moved:
The Libertarian Party National Committee urges the LP Chair,
upon assumption of the office on September 1, 1991, to send
letters to the families of the three Soviet men who died in the
recent outbreak of violence during the Soviet struggle for
freedom. The letters should, along with any other sentiments of
the Chair's discretion, convey "Our heartfelt condolences for
their loss, our profound respect for their sacrifices, and our
fondest wishes that the future will accord them the ultimate
tribute: that their deaths will be remembered for being the LAST
in the long struggle of the people of the Soviet Union for
freedom."
Prazak suggested that this issue not be used for fundraising given
problems we have had in the past. Johnson suggested that future
resolutions of this type should be accompanied by an actual letter, so
that the Chair does not have to do the work.
The resolution passed on a voice vote.
14. FUTURE MEETINGS: Ernsberger proposed that the next meeting be held
in Washington, DC on 14-15 December, which is the weekend of the Bill
of Rights ceremony. O'Brien reported that the Los Angeles group has
proposed that we meet there the weekend of 7-8 December, also in
conjunction with a existing event. Dasbach reported that there was an
invitation from Ohio but that it was not for one of the months in
which we would normally meet; Gingell reported another invitation from
California with the same problem.
There was a general discussion of selection of sites, points
including: we should pick places that are not hard to get to, people
inviting us should understand that we will not be able to attend most
of their events, we don't need to decide at this meeting anything
other than the December meeting, that it might be valuable to have a
meeting at the site of our next convention.
Neale moved to hold the next meeting 14-15 December in Washington, DC;
the motion passed on a voice vote.
Johnson moved to hold the following meeting 11-12 April 1992 in Ann
Arbor, MI; the motion passed on a voice vote.
Givot moved that the Convention Oversight Committee contact Bob
Waldrop to arrange for a meeting in Salt Lake City next summer.
Various members suggested that it be before Labor Day and that it not
conflict with the ISIL conference. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Neale suggested that we may want to hold one of the later meetings in
one of the cities being proposed for the 1996 convention.
There was a discussion of the date of the 1996 convention. Givot
reported that no real progress had been made yet toward getting ballot
access laws changed. He moved that we postpone until our December 1992
meeting our review of the date and selection of the site, arguing that
we would have a better idea of the ballot access situation by then.
Others pointed out that this would also allow us to better judge the
size of facility needed, since the number of delegates will depend on
the 1992 vote and membership growth, and that this would allow us to
visit the site before deciding. Neale reported that we already have
two letters of intent from prospective convention organizers. In
response to a question from Karlan, Givot said that his motion would
not prevent us from considering site selection earlier if we wanted
to. Givot's motion passed on a voice vote.
15. COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS, part 2: Karlan reported that he had spoken
with Dean Ahmad, and that Ahmad said he did not want to serve on any
committee but would be willing to continue until a replacement was
named. Dehn volunteered to serve on the APRC, and was appointed
without objection.
16. CONCLUDING BUSINESS: The meeting was adjourned at 6:02pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph W. Dehn III
Secretary
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