[Lnc-business] Meeting costs

[Ron Windeler]

    Neither Starchild nor I ever suggested that all future LNC meeting be held at headquarters, only that the one being discussed to introduce us to the newly acquired building should be.  Mr. Katz is agreeing with us though, that it is fiscally irresponsible for the LNC to splurge on many thousand dollar luxury facilities when adequate meeting places are available in any city for between free and a few hundred dollars.
    The ALP holds similar sized meetings as often as weekly in restaurant meeting rooms that we reserve for free.  Anchorage, a town of just over 1/4 million, has about a dozen such rooms available.  We don't even have to commit to buying a certain minimum of food.  They know that some of our members are bound to show up with a strong case of the munchies.  I've come to associate the fragrance of French fries and catsup with libertarian discussions. 
    Our board meetings, which are considerably smaller than the LNC, are held in private homes or office space provided by a member.  A libertarian friendly banker/politician once hosted a meeting for us in his living room.  It was almost big enough to hold a National Convention.  
    We do hold our State conventions in hotel meeting rooms, but usually pay no more than a few hundred dollars for meeting space to accommodate fifty delegates and provide coffee, water, a whiteboard, and sometimes a sound system. 
    If you want to hold a future LNC meeting in Anchorage, ALP could provide free meeting facilities and host many of you in private homes. It might take several weeks and thousands of dollars in gas for you to drive your motorhome to Alaska, but air fare for you would be similar to what I would spend to attend a meeting in any other state.
    We are currently rejecting an action item (fighting top two in Oregon) based not on its merits, but rather on our tight cash flow.  I think we should do the same for any LNC meeting proposal that budgets more than $300.00 for meeting facilities.
    On a side note, Sharron Harris has offered to come to Alaska to make a presentation based on her new book if I can assemble an appropriate audience of a dozen or more.  Whether meeting in Anchorage or other cities, I suggest that we invite her to an LNC meeting soon. 
 
Ron Windeler
rowindeler at aol.com

 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Katz <joshua.katz at lp.org>
To: lnc-business <lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
Sent: Sun, Aug 3, 2014 9:26 pm
Subject: [Lnc-business] Meeting costs



Ron posted an excellent letter from Starchild on the costs of conventions.  I thought the $2500 I had heard was high.  As I said a few days ago, when I was corrected and found it was much higher, I was shocked.  


I do not want to meet in DC every meeting.  We should use the office we own when feasible, but it's just not fair to hold every meeting in the same location.  If LNC members want to bring a camper instead of staying in a hotel, that's fine, but irrelevant, since it has nothing to do with what the LP pays for our meetings.  But, really, $3000 for a room for 18 people to meet (or $2000 in food and beverage to get the room for 'free?')   I used to work at a school that weekly held meetings for 40 people.  I assure you we could not have rented out the room we used for $3000/weekend.  And we were on the beach!  


18 people can meet in a park in nice weather.  18 people can meet, as I said before, in a suite.  18 people can meet in a coffee shop.  18 people do not need to pay $3000 for a room - and we wouldn't if it were our money.  We should be as careful, if not more so, with our donors money, as with our own.


Convention is one thing.  This is quite another, and is quite insane.  


Joshua A. Katz


Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate
Libertarian National Committee

Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut



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