[Lnc-business] MOTION - Re: Truth in advertising on building fund (letter to donors)

[Mark Hinkle]

This is stupid!

And counter productive.

Hundreds of donors gave hundreds of thousands of dollars when there was 
absolutely no description of any building whatsoever.

The important points are to substantially reduce our office expenses and 
to honor David Nolan.

Everything else is secondary.

It's this type of crap that discourages people who make things happen 
from working hard and long in volunteer roles.

If the LP is to be successful, this nonsense has to be discredited and 
we need to put a stop to it.....now!

Geez......................Mark Hinkle,
LNC At-Large & Retired LP Chair
Tel: 408-779-7922

"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
                                             - Samuel Adams

On 6/22/2013 3:49 AM, Starchild wrote:
> (NOTE: The automated email didn't accept this message the first time I tried sending it, so rather than let it sit in an electronic cue I cancelled the posting and have recopied it here. - Starchild)
>
> *     *     *
>
> From: Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net>
> Date: June 22, 2013 3:31:00 AM PDT
> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> Cc: LPSF Discussion List <lpsf-discuss at yahoogroups.com>, Grassroots Libertarians Caucus <GrassrootsLibertarians at yahoogroups.com>, LP Radical Caucus <lpradicals at yahoogroups.com>, calibs <CALibs at yahoogroups.com>, San Diego LP Chat List <sdlibchat at listserv.sdlp.org>, Jill Pyeatt <stone at altrionet.com>, Krzysztof Lesiak <clesiak522 at gmail.com>, Libertarians for 9/11 Truth <Libertariansfor911Truth at yahoogroups.com>, "Outright Libertarian-Natl." <OutrightLibertarians at yahoogroups.com>, Libertarians For Animal Rights <libertarians_for_animal_rights at yahoogroups.com>, lpusmisc at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [CALibs] MOTION - Re: Truth in advertising on building fund (letter to donors)
> Reply-To: CALibs at yahoogroups.com
>
> 	As I noted in a June 19 message to the Libertarian National Committee's LNC-discuss list,
>
>> • We promised donors to the project [to purchase a new LP national headquarters building] that their money would be spent to buy a *building*, which would be named the "David F. Nolan Memorial Building" -- not just office space in a building. I've seen nothing in this proposal to indicate that we would even have naming rights to the building as a whole...  we need to act with integrity and fulfill the promises we make to people when we ask them to give us their money. People are already calling this a "bait-and-switch", and they have a valid point. If we go forward with this, it will undermine the confidence of donors and supporters in the party.
> 	Having seen no messages disagreeing with that assessment, I hope all of you will join me in supporting the following motion:
>
> MOTION:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Whereas it is important that the Libertarian Party act with integrity and fulfill any promises made in fundraising appeals to donors concerning how their donations will be spent, and
>
> Whereas donors have a right to expect this of the Libertarian Party when making donations to the party, and
>
> Whereas LP secretary David Blau as head of the building fund has acknowledged the "mistake" of having been "a bit lax informing the donors that we were investigating an office condo, rather than a full building", and
>
> Whereas fundraising appeals for the project to purchase a new LP headquarters building repeatedly referred to purchasing a building, rather than only purchasing space in a building, examples of which language can be seen in the fundraising letter published at http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2013/04/libertarian-party-put-your-name-on-the-david-nolan-memorial-building/;
>
> Therefore if the Libertarian Party purchases the office space at 1101 King Street #160, in Alexandria, Virginia, which the Executive Committee voted to authorize the Building Committee to enter into negotiations concerning, or any other office space not comprising an entire building, the committee in charge of the building fund shall send all donors to this fund, by email or printed letter, a written explanation and apology for using the funds to buy a part of a building, rather than an entire building as was repeatedly described in fundraising letters seeking donations for the project. This letter shall ask each donor to send an email to LP secretary and building fund point man David Blau (secretary at lp.org), stating the donor's preference that his or her donation be (a) spent on office space in a building purchased under the authorization of the LNC in lieu of actually buying a building, (b) refunded, in which case a full refund shall be issued to that donor as soon as reasonably possible, or (c) put toward another Libertarian Party budget item of the donor's choice, which should be specified in the donor's email to the secretary; and inform them that if they have any further questions or concerns about the project to purchase a new office or how their donation is being handled they are welcome to contact one of their LNC representatives (listed at http://www.lp.org/lnc-leadership).
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> 	I am seeking co-sponsors for this motion, and urge all my fellow representatives and alternates on the Libertarian National Committee to reply to this email as co-sponsors. Let us not dishonor David Nolan's memory by giving even the appearance of raising under false pretenses money to be used toward purchasing a space to be dedicated to him.
>
> Love & Liberty,
>                                    ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>
>
> P.S. - If anyone not on the Libertarian National Committee receiving this message has thoughts on this matter that you would like me to share with the LNC, please let me know. I hope you will encourage them to support this motion.
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org