[Lnc-business] [Lnc-discuss] Oregon Resolution - is Wes Wagner chair of the Oregon affiliate

[Alicia Mattson]

Regarding the portion excerpted below...

No, the Secretary of State in Oregon did not determine Mr. Wagner was the
Chair of the LP of Oregon.  As I posted previously, the SOS filed a
declaration in the case specifically stating that their Elections Division
office

"...*has not and will not enforce or adjudicate disputes about political
party bylaws*.  We have told the parties that they have to go to court to
adjudicate this matter if there is to be any change because *we do not
adjudicate this type of dispute*."

I have attached that declaration for easy verification of the quote.

The SOS and the judge both disagreed with the national Judicial Committee
ruling about how this should be decided.

Besides the point that it's just bizarre for Libertarians to say the
government gets to regulate our party workings, the SCOTUS has found (see
Eu vs. San Francisco County Democrat Central Committee) that it is
unconstitutional for state governments to regulate the internal workings of
political parties.  Any of our affiliates who have state laws prescribing
membership, structure of the party, etc. might be able to sue on the basis
of that ruling and have those laws overturned.

-Alicia




On 7/18/14, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote (in part):

> The question appeared rhetorical.  Since you indicate it was not, I'll
> answer it.  Political parties are regulated by state law.  I doubt the
> Louisiana LP would have quite as complex a governing structure as it
> does without being required to by the state ( see the org. chart here:
> http://lplouisiana.org/party_organization ). In absence of an internal
> resolution to a dispute (the Libertarian Party of Oregon judicial
> committee was vacant at the time of this dispute), and given the LNC
> has no authority in the bylaws to resolve an internal dispute in a
> state affiliate, the next step is to look at the opinion of the state
> government and courts who regulate the political party.  The Secretary
> of State in Oregon determined Mr. Wagner was the Chair.  Mr. Reeves
> sued to overturn that decision.  That suit was dismissed (as noted in
> the order you forwarded to this list), which returns the issue to the
> posture prior to the suit, i.e. the Secretary of State recognizes Mr.
> Wagner as the Chair.
>
> If a similar situation arose in another state and the Executive
> Committee of the LNC acted similarly, I would hope the Judicial
> Committee would abide by the previous ruling.  But our Judicial
> Committee, like courts generally, does not seek out disputes, it only
> decides those brought to it.  So no, I don't think the national office
> should contact each Secretary of State to see if the affiliates have
> their paperwork up to date.  If a dispute came up, it would be an
> appropriate inquiry, however.
>
> -Nick
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