[Lnc-business] LNC Member Blogging

[Alicia Mattson]

Let me point out a couple of things that may not occur to you when you
first hear this idea:

1.  This could change the focus of the LNC and distract us from important
work we need to get done.  It risks LNC members spending their time
perfecting whatever self-indulgent blog post we want to make next week
rather that doing our other jobs.

To keep the LNC more focused on party management issues like affiliate and
candidate support, fundraising, etc. rather than just issuing public policy
statements all day long, the delegates have given us a bylaw that makes it
hard for the LNC to adopt public policy resolutions.  Article 8.11 says it
takes a 3/4 vote with previous notice or unanimous consent without previous
notice.

By allowing LNC members to post blog entries whenever they please, we are
essentially opening the door for a single LNC member to make public policy
statements without any input at all from the rest of the LNC.

Public policy statements should be left to staff, to be done in line with
the party platform, etc.  We have different types of work to do.


2.  One of the reasons this has been a problem in the past is that there
are some propriety issues that are difficult to navigate.

We have LNC policies that require we not use our positions to give
ourselves advantages for election at convention.

See Policy Manual Sections 2.08.2 (Limitations on Party Support for Public
Office) and 2.09.5 (Limitations on Party Support for Party Office).

When it gets closer to convention time, if any of us is running for
re-election, then we have the question of whether 2.09.5 requires that blog
posting privileges also be extended to any other candidate for that
office.  And there will be disputes about when someone becomes a
candidate.  Is it when others suspect they will run, or when they
officially state they are running?  Non-LNC members who declare intentions
to run will do so early just to demand the same posting privileges enjoyed
by LNC members.  But an LNC member could merely not declare their
intentions so as to say they're not yet a candidate for party office, thus
the policy doesn't apply to anyone running for their current position.

These are real disputes that came up in the past, and they were solved by
shutting down blog posting by LNC members.

Then there were disputes about subtle (and not-so-subtle) content that
could be viewed as an LNC member campaigning for either themselves or their
favorite candidate.  I can recall one instance of an announcement of a
"service" being offered by a particular campaign, and having to debate
whether it was party news to let people know of the beneficial service or
whether is was just plugging the campaign to give the candidate increased
exposure before the convention.

Because some people took advantage of the policy more than others did,
there were complaints about that sort of imbalance as being more beneficial
to someone they didn't personally like.

That is how a seemingly simple idea can get very messy and contentious.

-Alicia




On Tue, Jul 29, 2014 at 7:44 PM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:

> All,
> Is there interest from LNC members in publishing articles on the
> official Libertarian Party blog?
>
> My understanding is that LNC members had done so in the past, but the
> policy had been changed for a number of reasons and that was stopped.
>
> If there is interest, I would be inclined to open it up to LNC members
> to post, within certain guidelines, e.g. directly applicable to the
> Libertarian Party, and in line with our overall messaging, positive,
> etc.  Posts would be subject to APRC review as well.
>
> -Nick
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
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