[Lnc-business] Various items for your consideration

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing to provide information 
about various items for your consideration; I hope you find my comments 
worthy of your attention

1)  Last night the Patrick Henry Supper Club (Richmond, Virginia) 
celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first major event.  Since 
February 1993 the PHSC has provided a forum for Libertarian speakers, 
helped Libertarian candidates find support, and allowed activists for 
liberty to make friends and strengthen the liberty movement.  I had the 
pleasure and the honor of serving as one of the featured speakers during 
the celebration.

     Please join me in thanking Marc Montoni, Leonard Harris, Jeff 
Barnaby, Jon Walker, Steve LaBianca, Patrick Ward, Donna Grebas (the 
current coordinator of the Supper Club), and several other champions of 
liberty for their fine work with the PHSC.

2)  Allow me to offer my thanks to the several people who are seeking 
election to serve as LNC secretary.  I believe we have many strong 
candidates; of the four candidates who have already received votes (Mr. 
Blau, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Mattson, and Mr. Moulton), I believe each would 
perform the job well.  Indeed, at various times during the voting period 
I have considered voting for each of them, as each has particular 
strengths that would be of value to the LNC. In a separate message I 
shall send my vote for Mr. Blau to the LNC-Business list.

3)  I intend to send my vote to the LNC-Business list around 6:00 p.m. 
EST this evening.  In part my waiting to vote at that time is due to the 
fact I have been torn between which of several good candidates to 
support.  However, there is another reason, which involves an issue we 
must consider if a second ballot is necessary.

     Article 8, section 10 of the LP Bylaws reads as follows:

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.

     In his message to the LNC on Jan. 26, Mr. Neale stated the following:

However, I ask all of you to keep in mind that you can change your vote 
on a mail ballot, as long as the changed vote is received by the 
deadline.  Therefore, I urge you to review the balloting over the voting 
period.  If your chosen candidate is in last place, you can possibly 
reduce the need for subsequent ballots by changing your vote to an 
alternate choice.

     I mention this because even though Mr. Neale has stated one may 
change one's vote as long as the changed vote is received by the 
deadline, one may reasonably construe the Bylaws as implying that the 
voting period closes as of the moment all LNC members (alternates not 
included) have voted.  Thus, to avoid as much as possible a potential 
problem with the Bylaws, I shall wait until roughly 6:00 p.m. EST to vote.

     Please note that under different circumstances it is likely I would 
wait until shortly before the 6:35 p.m. EST deadline before voting.  
However, I need to cast my vote  around 6:00 p.m. EST due to other 
commitments this evening.

4)  In one of my messages to the LNC on Jan. 14 I mentioned some 
problems with the Policy Manual.  I am pleased to report that I have 
received a revised version of the Policy Manual from Alicia Mattson.  
Ms. Mattson took the initiative to prepare a revision to correct the 
problems; I greatly appreciate her effort, which will likely relieve me 
of an enormous burden.

     I shall soon send you the revised version.  I request that you 
review it and inform the LNC if you find any errors.  Allow me to 
suggest that unless there is an objection within 14 days after 
distribution, the revision will be considered the approved version of 
the Policy Manual.

5)  If all goes as planned, I shall send you new drafts of the LNC and 
EC meeting minutes by next Monday at the latest.  I had hoped to send 
this material previously, but noticed some additional items worthy of 
correction in some of the previous drafts.

     As always, thanks for your work for liberty.  I look forward to 
seeing you at our March meeting, if not before.

     Take care,
     Jim

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

     Region 5S Representative
     Secretary Pro Tem
     Libertarian National Committee