[Lnc-business] Some items for your consideration

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing to mention some items 
for your consideration.  I hope my comments about these items are 
helpful to you.

1)  I shall vote against the motion to amend the Policy Manual regarding 
membership levels.  While I understand the concerns expressed by several 
colleagues, I believe it is best not to amend the Policy Manual as proposed.

     During the discussion of this motion, an issue was raised as to 
whether there are people who have (a) donated at least $25,000 in a 
given year and (b) attended a national convention.  I hope you won't 
consider it impertinent of me to mention that there is at least one LP 
member (Jim Lark) who satisfies conditions (a) and (b).

2)  In case no one has mentioned it previously, allow me to note that I 
believe the closing date cited for the aforementioned motion should be 
clarified.

     According to the time stamp associated with Ms. Bennett's message, 
the motion was sent by her to the LNC on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 8:09 p.m. 
EST.  According to Article 8, Section 10 of the LP Bylaws, the period 
for voting on a question shall remain open for ten days.

     If one assumes (as I do) that the "ten days" phrase should be 
interpreted as the question must remain open for at least 240 hours, 
then the closing date must be no earlier than 8:09 p.m. EST on Tuesday, 
Dec. 18.  The convention I have always used is that December 18, 2012 at 
12 Midnight EST should be interpreted at 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

     Thus, I request that Ms. Bennett restate the closing date as 8:09 
p.m. EST on Dec. 18.  As long as no one else objects, it is OK with me 
if the secretary restates the closing time as 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 
18.  Allow me to suggest that henceforth closing dates be stated in 
terms of a.m. or p.m., and that terms such as "midnight" not be used.

3)  In one of his messages to the LNC yesterday, Geoff Neale requested 
feedback concerning the matter of issuing a press release about the 
horrible events in Connecticut on Friday.  I greatly appreciate his 
message and comments.  I also appreciate the comments of Arvin Vohra and 
others about the nature of "social media," and the importance of 
responding quickly and boldly.

     Allow me to share some information with you about a previous 
horrible event in U.S. history; I hope this info is helpful to you as we 
look forward.  As you may know, I had the honor of serving as LNC chair 
during the 2000-2002 term; in particular, I served as chair when "9-11" 
took place.  The official LP response was issued roughly 24 hours after 
the event.  In preparing the statement on behalf of the LP, I considered 
two points to be of particular importance:

*  It is crucial that we get it right the first time; it is much more 
important for the LP to have a first-rate statement than to be fast in 
releasing a statement.

*  It is important for us (a) to allow people to take stock of the 
situation, (b) to recognize the enormous pain and grief that so many 
were suffering, and (c) to avoid treating the victims in a cavalier 
fashion in order to make partisan political points.  As I mentioned to 
my Executive Committee colleagues, I felt it was important that "we wait 
for the rubble to stop bouncing" before we issued a statement.

     My EC colleagues and the staff (in particular, executive director 
Steve Dasbach and communications director Bill Winter) apparently shared 
my perspective.  I am proud to note that as far as we could tell, the 
statement I issued was very well received.  (I worked with Mr. Winter on 
the statement; he deserves a great deal of credit for his work.)

     Thus, my experience leads me to believe it was appropriate for Mr. 
Neale and Ms. Howell to wait until today to release the statement about 
Newtown.  (I suspect it would have been OK to release the statement on 
Saturday evening; however, I also suspect we didn't lose much by waiting 
until this morning.)

     I realize the world of communication has changed substantially 
since Sept. 11, 2001.  I also suspect that many gun-control enthusiasts 
will not hesitate to exploit the pain and suffering of others to achieve 
their political goals.  However, all things being equal, on the margin I 
prefer that we take a little more time in the effort to get our 
statements right, and that we show proper respect for those who have 
suffered so greatly.

     As always, thanks for your work for liberty.  Best wishes to you 
and your loved ones for a wonderful holiday season.

     Take care,
     Jim

     James W. Lark, III
     Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
     University of Virginia

     Region 5S Representative, Libertarian National Committee
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 From the LP Bylaws:

Article 8, Section 10:

The National Committee may, without meeting together, transact business 
by electronic mail.  The Secretary shall send out electronic mail 
ballots on any question submitted by the Chair or cosponsored by at 
least 1/5 of the members of the Committee.  The period for voting on a 
question shall remain open for ten days, unless all members have cast 
votes, or have stated an intention to abstain, by electronic mail to the 
Secretary. Votes from alternate regional representatives will be 
counted, in accordance with the ranking procedure of the region, only if 
the regional representative fails to respond to the ballot.  The number 
of votes required for passage of any motion shall be the same as that 
required during a meeting. The Secretary shall preserve all such votes 
until the next meeting of the National Committee, at which meeting the 
Committee shall order the disposition of such votes.

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On 12/8/2012 8:09 PM, Ruth Bennett wrote:

Mark Hinkle moves this motion and it is cosponsored by Tim Hagan, 
Michael Cloud, and Vicki Kirkland.

Voting will close on December 18, 2012 at 12 Midnight EST



Move that the following language be stricken from the LNC Policy Manual 
Section 2.05 Membership Policies: