[Lnc-business] LP of Oregon - reply to Wes Wagner

[Scott L.]

Mr. Burke asked me to forward this to the LNC and State Chair e-mail lists.


  Scott Lieberman    Region 4 Alternate, LNC

 

  _____  

From: Richard Burke  
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2014 3:24 PM




All,

Last night, Mr. Wes Wagner issued an email post discussing the amicus brief
submitted by the Oregon Republican Party in support of litigation being
advanced by the so-called "Reeves Group" relating to the situation in
Oregon.  This is my reply.

If you think it is bad that the Republicans filed an Amicus brief on our
behalf, do not blame us. Blame Mr. Wagner.

I have a copy of an email conversation between Mr. Wagner and Noah Robinson,
son of Oregon GOP Chair Art Robinson. In this email thread, Mr. Wagner
repeatedly threatens the GOP with political warfare and various political
consequences.

While they were vaguely aware of what was going on within the LPO, they
hadn't given it a lot of scrutiny as they have bigger fish to fry. It was
Mr. Wagner's threats that woke them up and caused them to focus more closely
on what was going on within the LPO. It occurred to them that what happened
to us could happen to them, and they realized it almost did.

Specifically, during the last term, the Oregon Republican Party was poised
to recall their state chair Suzanne Gallegher. There was a lot of
speculation about whether or not she would step down or fight. She resisted
stepping down. It was feared that, as the Republican "Chair of Record",
Gahlleger could have done what Wagner did and rework the Republican Party's
governing documents and officer lists in order to hold on to her seat.

Ultimately, Gallegher did not follow Mr. Wagner's lead and stepped down. But
the situation was a wake-up call to the GOP. Then after receiving Wagner's
threats Robinson authorized Buchal to write an Amicus brief supporting our
position in the lawsuit. Here is an article covering the GOP situation:

http://oregoncatalyst.com/24675-suzanne-gallagher-steps-orp-chair.html

Seriously - If Mr. Wagner (or any other "Chair of Record") wished, he could
sit at his kitchen table tonight, write a new set of governing documents and
list of officers, provide it to the Secretary of State, and it would be
accepted because of their unwritten policy. There is no way to build a
foundation on such a system.

This should be a wake up call to all political parties in Oregon - not just
the Republicans. I know it had been discussed, but I didn't know about the
actual existence of the Amicus brief until three days ago. If we had more
time, we would seek Amicus briefs from every party from the Constitution to
the Pacific Green Party.

On other subjects, I have this to say:

1. Mr. Wagner is fond of telling people that he is running a large slate of
candidates this year while accusing us of helping Republicans. What Mr.
Wagner doesn't advertise is that 17 of his nominees are Republicans. I
support fusion voting too, but 17 candidates is a bit ridiculous. If at any
time we had nominated 17 Republicans, Wagner and his friends would be all
over us. If anyone wanted to build a conspiracy theory around that, it would
be easy.

2. Yes, I worked for James Buchal in 2012 and made no secret of it. My name
was on his press releases as a contact. I thought Buchal was the best
candidate who had won a party nomination legitimately. Because of the
illegitimacy of Mr. Wagner's bylaws, I did not view the Libertarian nominees
as legitimate and could not support him. Mr. Buchal is a candidate for
congress this year, I have not worked for him, and had nothing to do with
the drafting of his brief.

Mr. Wagner is the true father of the GOP Amicus brief for reasons stated
above. And, at least in this case, we offer Mr. Wagner a hearty "Thank You."

Richard P. Burke
Libertarian Party of Oregon

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