[Lnc-business] Elected Libertarians

Joshua Katz joshua.katz at lp.org
Mon Dec 29 09:42:05 EST 2014


As many of you know, Scott and I have tried to do outreach to elected
Libertarians lately.  We looked up those listed on the website, contacted
everyone we could find information for, and invited them to join a mailing
list for discussing what they were doing, as well as where officials could
provide advice to each other.  It was intended as a low-volume list, open
to  Libertarians serving in public office or not, but focused on this
topic.  To date, less than 10 have joined the list, and three messages have
been posted - one introduction to the list, one post about stopping a ban
on donation bins, and one post by a new member expressing enthusiasm for
joining.

Similarly, the LNCC sponsored a luncheon at the convention for elected
officials, which Scott hosted.  Understandably, we started (tricky language
here - the LNCC paid, Scott organized, I invited people, hence the we)
rather late, so the low turnout was not unreasonable.

My point is, there's not a lot of participation by Elected Libertarians.
Carla reached out to me shortly after I was elected, and I'm assuming this
is done with all of our elected officials.  Do we also reach out to them
after they've been in office a while?  More importantly, do we offer our
officials any value-added for participating?  We have a lot of members with
specific skills, it might be a good idea to form volunteer databases of
those qualified to provide support to our officials (lawyers, (P)RPs,
accountants, etc.)  In addition, I think we should encourage state chairs
to solicit information from their elected officials about the goings-on, if
any support is needed from the affiliate or from national, and for those
state chairs to pass on needed support to HQ, as well as to pass on news
for LP news and the blog.  I would love for the blog, website, and LP news
to feature small pieces, often, about what our officials are doing in
office.  Membership is encouraged by success, and having this sort of thing
in LP News and the website would promote a more inspired membership (and
membership retention.)  It would also be a nice thing for our elected
officials to know we care about them.

Also, there are some things we need to stop doing.  If we're going to have
an elected Libertarians panel at the convention, it should not be held as a
break-out session, unless for some reason we don't want our elected
officials to be able to fully serve as delegates if they so choose.  I did
not participate in the panel, specifically because I was not, as state
chair, an elected delegate, and presumptive regional alternate, going to
miss LNC elections, which is when the panel was held in Ohio.  If that's
how I feel, as an elected official, what about delegates who are elected
officials?  Their only opportunity to hear from elected Libertarians would
have meant giving up their right, as delegates, to vote for their
leadership.

More importantly, I don't think we should have an elected officials panel
as the only opportunity for our elected officials to speak.  During the
convention itself, on the floor, we heard from the head of a
conservative/libertarian organization (one I love dearly, by the way, and
where I spent many summers, before they moved to Georgia), and several
candidates who earned as much as, I think, 5% of the vote.  We didn't hear
from a single elected official from the floor.  Not a single elected
official was a meal speaker.

Many state affiliates have invited elected officials to speak at their
conventions, from their own states or from nearby states.  Why wouldn't
national also?

This is not a plea, by the way, for "speaking welfare."  Certainly, there's
no reason not to have quality speakers - but presumably among our elected
Libertarians, there must be some energizing speakers, since speaking is a
part of campaigning.  We want "the best" speakers - but we have different
speakers every year, so surely we're not having "the best" every year -
we're having a variety of good speakers.  I'm just suggesting that one of
those categories to be represented should be the people from this party who
have helped us to achieve one of our key purposes - the moving of public
policy in a libertarian direction by electing Libertarians to office.  Many
of our members, I've found, do not value winning local elections, and
sometimes refer dismissively to such elections by the catch-phrase
"dog-catcher."  (Joe Biden, on the other hand, in 2007 said that there were
too many judges appointed to the Supreme Court, and that instead a
dog-catcher should be appointed.  He was chair of the Judiciary Committee
at the time.)  Perhaps hearing from such people about how we are, in fact,
moving liberty forward would be helpful.

Also, I mentioned above that Scott and I searched for contact information
for officials.  Checking just now, I found that I don't have my contact
information on the website, and a random sampling of 10 elected officials
revealed that none did.  Can someone at HQ please put my contact
information up, and can we please encourage state chairs to ask their
elected officials if they'd like their contact information displayed, and
to provide it to HQ if so?

People like success.  We need to keep our elected officials involved and
let them inspire our members.  We also need them to serve as examples that,
yes, you can get elected as a Libertarian, and yes, you can do things in
office to move public policy in a libertarian direction.  Doing that means
incentivizing participation, providing opportunities for participation, and
putting our elected officials forward as being valued.  It also means
providing our elected officials with any needed support we can offer - and
seeking them out to offer that support.

Joshua A. Katz

Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate
Libertarian National Committee

Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut
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