Document:LNC Minutes 3 September 1989
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Minutes of the Meeting of the
Libertarian National Committee
3 September 1989
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Members Present:
Chair Dave Walter
Vice-Chair Mary T. Gingell
Secretary Joseph W. Dehn III
Treasurer Stephen R. Fielder
At Large I. Dean Ahmad
Toni L. Black
William Redpath
Norma D. Segal
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 6 Vicki Kirkland
Region 7 Steven I. Givot
Region 8 Gary Johnson
1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Libertarian National
Committee was called to order by Chair Dave Walter at 4:10pm, at the
Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2. CREDENTIALS: The Secretary noted that the new LNC has 18 members,
and announced the names of the members. The members then introduced
themselves.
3. CHAIR'S REPORT: Walter reviewed the need for all members of the
committee to share responsibility and work to make the party grow. He
reminded everyone that reports should be submitted on time, so that
meetings can concentrate on discussion of future plans rather than on
reports of past activities.
Walter announced that Nick Dunbar had resigned to allow us to appoint
a new National Director. Givot moved to reappoint Nick Dunbar as
National Director. Dunbar expressed the view that his work is
determined by what we tell him to do. Ahmad asked about membership
cards; Dunbar responded that there are currently other projects listed
as having higher priority, but that it is up to us to set the
priorities. Walter said that the Executive Committee has been setting
priorities, and that the Membership Committee should consider whether
cards are important. The motion to reappoint passed without
objection.
Givot moved to refer the matter of membership cards to the Executive
Committee. Thies moved to amend Givot's motion by adding that the LNC
feels that this should be handled at an expedient time. The motion to
amend and the main motion passed without objection.
4. VICE-CHAIR'S REPORT: Gingell presented a written report on
activities of the Affiliate Party Committee (included with minutes of
30 August 1989 as Attachment E). She will be working on the telephone
tree and on coordinating some of the committees.
5. TREASURER'S REPORT: Fielder reported that he will be working on
the new budget, and that the format will be revised to be more
comprehensible.
6. SECRETARY'S REPORT: Dehn reported that he will be working on
updating the Bylaws and the Platform, and will be sending everyone a
NatCom profile questionnaire.
7. FINANCE COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Steve Alexander be appointed
as chair of the Finance Committee. The motion passed without
objection.
8. AFFILIATE PARTIES COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Mary Gingell be
appointed as chair of the Affiliate Parties Committee. The motion
passed without objection. Gingell announced that Steve Dasbach will
be chair of the Campaign 90 Committee, which will be acting as a
subcommittee of the Affiliate Parties Committee.
Dasbach reported on campaign workshops and on the use of telephone
conferencing. He proposes to purchase a block of 100 hours of service
on a system being installed by Advocates for Self Government, to be
used by regional representatives, candidates, and the Executive
Committee. He suggested that our goal for next year should be to
elect at least one legislator and to get at least 20,000 inquiries.
Walter requested that he identify a winnable race by the next meeting.
Dasbach said that we should make any financial assistance to such a
candidate conditional on the campaign already showing some success.
9. BALLOT ACCESS COMMITTEE. Givot said that he has been acting as a
figurehead chair, but that he wants to take on the job for real. He
wants to institute a pledge program so that Paul Jacob can concentrate
on actual ballot access work. He has no objection to other groups
also working on ballot access.
O'Brien moved that Givot be appointed as chair of the Ballot Access
Committee. In response to questions from various members, Givot said
that it is fine with him for the office to handle receipts, and that
he was reporting disbursements to the office by the 5th day after the
end of the month. He thinks that the office should be able to handle
both parts of the FEC reports; he could sign them, or the LP Treasurer
could serve as BAF Treasurer and sign them. He favors keeping SFAC
status so that contributors will know that we are committed to
spending the money on what it was raised for. The motion to appoint
Givot passed without objection.
Givot presented a mission statement for the BAC (Attachment),
including guidelines acknowledging and encouraging the independent
ballot access efforts of affiliate parties and other organizations.
He also reported that Karl Hess has agreed to put BAC material in LP
News. In reponse to a query by Walter, Givot said that BAC money
should not be used for petitioning for local offices unless it can get
us continuing ballot status. Dasbach said that paying affiliate
parties for volunteer signatures is a different situation because it
serves to build up the capabilities of the affiliate. Fielder
suggested that Givot review the old plan which outlines generalized
ballot access priorities. Fielder moved to accept the mission
statement as the report of the BAC; the motion passed without
objection.
10. FIELD COORDINATOR: Walter announced that Paul Jacob will now be
supervised by the BAC Chair and Affiliate Parties Chair.
11. MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Bill Redpath
be appointed as chair of the Management and Audit Committee. Redpath
said that he is familiar with the problems of the national office, and
that he sees his role as including review of non-financial procedures.
The motion to appoint Redpath passed without objection.
12. AUDITOR: Redpath moved that Clifford Thies be appointed as
Auditor. Thies noted that he is not a CPA but said that this is not a
problem for an internal auditor position. He is familiar with the
systems, but does not expect to be part of the management team, and is
not on any committee that deals primarily with finances, so will have
some independence. He also informed the committee that the Treasurer
is his brother-in-law. Givot pointed out that if we ran into a real
problem we could always appoint an additional auditor. Thies
suggested that we budget for an external audit by 1991, because a
treasurer's report with a favorable report of such an audit would show
people that a good job is being done. The motion to appoint Thies
passed, with Fielder abstaining.
13. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was appointing
Karen Allard as chair. She will be looking into various ways to get
affiliate parties to promote national membership, such as semi-annual
contests and a full rebate for new members.
14. OUTREACH COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was appointing Toni
Black as chair. He said that a mailing to the Reason list was in
progress, and that Black should check with David Bergland about
pending new literature. Givot suggested that TV advertising should be
under this committee.
15. MEDIA RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Walter announced that since Tonie
Nathan has presented a proposal to serve as a paid contractor, a new
chair is needed for this committee. Gary Johnson volunteered and was
so appointed by Walter.
16. LEGAL ACTION COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was reappointing
Bill Hall as chair.
17. INTERNAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE: There was a discussion of the
purpose of this committee and whether it is still needed. Walter said
that its purpose is to help new members understand the platform.
Redpath said it is needed to keep in touch with other libertarian
organizations. Givot suggested that it would be better to have fewer,
larger committees than many committees with just one member. Gingell
suggested that chairs use her mailings to solicit members for their
committees. Norma Segal volunteered to be chair of the Internal
Education Committee, and was so appointed by Walter.
18. ADVERTISING DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE: Walter announced that David
Nolan is willing to serve as chair of this committee, and will merge
in his Liber-TV fund. Dasbach moved that Nolan be appointed. It was
suggested that Robert Murphy be appointed as a member of this
committee. The motion to appoint Nolan as chair passed.
19. ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIR: Walter announced that he was appointing
Don Ernsberger as Assistant to the Chair. He will be working on
special task force projects.
Ernsberger reported on the census project. This was done by SIL in
1970 and 1980; it involved asking people to either not answer, answer
only with their names, or to provide a full response under protest. He
thinks we should do something similar, although some aspects might be
need to be different because we are a political party, and that we
need to start on it by January 1990. Givot commented that such a
project doesn't address party goals. Walter said that it was a good
activity for between elections. Kirkland said that we need our
resources to get on the ballot. Thies said that although he was
generally in favor, we should get legal advice. Walter said that it
was a moneymaker for SIL. Dasbach said that being in the forefront on
an issue is a good way to attract prospects. Walter requested that
Ernsberger draft a proposal for the next meeting.
20. PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Ahmad moved that we approve the Program.
Dasbach moved that "decriminalize" be changed to "relegalize" in the
drug plank; there was no objection. Segal moved that the word
"voluntarily" on line 4 of the tax plank be italicized; there was no
objection. Black noted that some people have objected to the call for
vouchers in the education plank. Givot said that this was an interim
proposal and no worse than the current use of tax money for education.
The motion to approve the Program passed, with Segal voting no because
of the lack of a plank on abortion, and with Gingell and O'Brien
abstaining.
21. ADVERTISING/PUBLICATIONS REVIEW COMMITTEE: Walter moved that Bill
Evers, Ted Brown, and Dean Ahmad be appointed as the
Advertising/Publications Review Committee. The motion passed without
objection.
22. BUDGET: Fielder reported that an additional $7300 was available
because equipment had been listed under both lease and depreciation.
Fielder moved that $1000 be allocated for purchase of a fax machine
for the national office. Dunbar said that he currently uses the
service at Kinko's 5 or 6 times per week, and that an in-house machine
will also facilitate distribution of material to the press. The
motion passed without objection.
There was a discussion of getting an additional computer. Dunbar said
that he needs a machine that can serve as an additional terminal for
the network, and that can duplicate the function of the main database
machine for backup and testing. Ahmad suggested that the same purpose
could be served by getting a much less expensive computer and adding a
larger disk to one of the existing machines. Givot moved to authorize
an expenditure of not more than $3000 for purchase of computer
equipment, with the Executive Committee deciding on the specific
configuration. The motion passed without objection.
There was a discussion of funding the Media Relations Director
proposal as submitted by Tonie Nathan. Walter reported that
sufficient funds were available from convention fundraising to fund
the position for the rest of the year on a trial basis. Fielder moved
that the budget be amended by increasing convention fundraising income
by $6000 and by increasing media relations expense by $6000; the
motion passed without objection. Givot moved that the Executive
Committee negotiate a contract with Tonie Nathan to implement the
proposal; the motion passed without objection.
Walter reported that he has asked Karl Hess to submit a budget for
publishing the LP News on a monthly schedule.
23. MINUTES DISTRIBUTION: Johnson suggested that minutes be sent to
state chairs. Ahmad pointed out that anyone can get them by paying an
annual fee. Gingell suggested that we could send them just to state
chairs who ask. Dehn moved that LNC minutes and agendas be sent
without charge to any state chair that requests them; the motion
passed without objection.
24. PLATFORM: Givot suggested that we should have someone watching
world events to suggest updates to the platform.
25. NEXT MEETING: Walter suggested the weekend of 2-3 December for the
next meeting, which will be the annual budget meeting. Johnson
proposed holding the meeting in Austin, Texas. Gingell proposed San
Diego, California. The committee approved holding the meeting on 2-3
December in San Diego. The committee approved holding the spring
meeting in Austin.
The meeting adjourned at 6:47pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph W. Dehn III
Secretary
Attachment: Ballot Access Committee Report (Mission Statement)