[Lnc-business] [Statechairs] Resolution of Censure and Referral of Action against the National Libertarian Party

[Alicia Mattson]

It was no surprise to me to receive the resolution I forwarded below.  Even
before the Wagner board passed that resolution on Tuesday night, last week
on this blog thread:

www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/07/open-thread-for-lnc-discussions-and-updates

Mr. Wagner wrote the following (seemingly about the LNC's Oregon Resolution
v2 email ballot):

The non-apology after careful scrutiny, shall be interpreted as:

“We don’t agree with them, but some people though us raping you was wrong
and we want to let you know that.”

I presume there was a typo in that post and "though" was intended to be
"thought".

After having made such a public threat to the LNC, and not having gotten
what they wanted, they probably felt like they had to do something or else
look silly.  What is a little more notable than their resolution is the
fact that allegedly their board had already voted to "disaffiliate", and
their decision about whether or not to tell the Secretary of State they had
"disaffiliated" would hinge upon whether or not we appeased them.  They are
clearly not appeased, yet all they did was pass a resolution saying they're
not appeased.

I will keep putting "disaffiliate" in quotes because I do not believe the
Wagner group is the affiliate, thus any vote they take to "disaffiliate" is
meaningless except to signify that they are no longer asserting their claim
to be our affiliate.

I would like to know what happened to the Wagner board's previous motion to
"disaffiliate".  If it passed, as has been publicly reported, then they are
no longer even asserting themselves to be the affiliate, whether or not
they have told the Secretary of State about it.  If they rescinded it, they
should have told us that.  If their board has already voted to
"disaffiliate", why would it matter what their 2015 convention decides, and
what do they believe their status to be until then?

Mr. Sarwark, given your belief that the Wagner group is the affiliate, if
the Wagner board has not rescinded a previous vote to "disaffiliate" it
seems that would logically result in a direction from you to staff to
remove Mr. Wagner from the State Chairs' email list and remove the link to
Mr. Wagner's group from the LP website.

I am requesting that our Chair make inquiry with the Wagner group and
report back to the LNC his findings about what happened to the Wagner
board's previous vote to "disaffiliate".  Did they rescind it or not?
 Copies of minutes (even if in draft status) and copies of email ballot
results would help clarify these questions.

Their having adopted this resolution just makes it clear that the Wagner
group only wishes to continue their game at least until their 2015
convention so they can continue to threaten us with "disaffiliation".

-Alicia




On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 12:11 AM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm just forwarding Wes Wagner's message from the State Chairs' email list.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Wes Wagner <wes.wagner at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 7:39 AM
> Subject: [Statechairs] Resolution of Censure and Referral of Action
> against the National Libertarian Party
> To: State Chairs Group <statechairs at hq.lp.org>
>
>
> Please be advised that the Libertarian Party of Oregon passed unanimously
> at our board meeting last night (8/5/2014) the following resolution. It
> should be also well advised that the past transgressions that gave rise to
> this situation, most of which were even more egregious, shall be taken into
> account when we take final resolution of this dispute at our convention.
>
>
> RESOLUTION
>
> Libertarian Party of Oregon
>
> Board of Directors Meeting, Beaverton, Oregon
>
> August 5, 2014
>
>
>
> SUBJECT:  2014 Libertarian Party National Convention
>
>
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon, founded under Oregon law prior to
> the founding of the National Libertarian Party, is an independent
> organization neither subordinate nor bound by any contract to the National
> Libertarian Party,
>
> WHEREAS at the 2014 Libertarian Party National Convention, the delegation
> from the Libertarian Party of Oregon was modified by the convention without
> the consent, and over the objection, of this state affiliate,
>
> WHEREAS the National Libertarian Party bylaws require that “[e]ach
> state-level affiliate party shall, in accordance with its own Bylaws and
> these Bylaws, determine who shall be its delegates to all Regular
> Conventions” (NLP bylaws §6(3)),
>
> WHEREAS the National Libertarian Party bylaws require that “... delegates
> to a Regular Convention shall be selected by a method adopted by each
> affiliate party” (NLP bylaws §11(3)(b)),
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon bylaws make it a duty of the board
> of directors to appoint delegates (LPO bylaws §5(3)),
>
> WHEREAS the board of directors adopted the following delegate appointment
> rule: “to accept applicants in the order they were received, with later
> applicants being placed in alternate slots”, (LPO Board meeting, January
> 15, 2014),
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon solicited delegates via a sign-up
> form in our 2014 primary election announcement letter, mailed to every
> person registered to vote as a Libertarian in Oregon,
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon also solicited delegates via a
> sign-up form in our 2014 primary ballot materials, mailed to every person
> registered to vote as a Libertarian in Oregon,
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon also solicited delegates via
> announcements on our website and other social media,
>
> WHEREAS the National Libertarian Party bylaws direct that “[a] list of the
> names and addresses of all delegates and alternates *chosen by each
> affiliate party* shall be sent to the Credentials Committee” and that
> “[a]mendments to such lists may be made *by the affiliate parties* and
> submitted to the Credentials Committee” (NLP bylaws §11(5)(c), emphasis
> added),
>
> WHEREAS there is no suggestion anywhere in the National Libertarian Party
> bylaws that any body other than the state affiliate party is ever granted
> the authority to determine its delegation,
>
> WHEREAS the procedure used to modify the Libertarian Party of Oregon's
> delegation – amending the Credentials Committee report – is not permitted
> by the National Libertarian Party bylaws,
>
> WHEREAS the *exclusive* means to modify a delegation during the
> Convention is provided by §11(5)(e) of the National Libertarian Party
> bylaws,
>
> WHEREAS the purpose of the §11(5)(e) provision is to enable *the state
> affiliate* to submit additional members of its delegation to the
> Credentials Committee during the convention,
>
> WHEREAS the fact that §11(5)(e) is silent regarding *who* may make
> submissions to the Credentials Committee is *not* an implicit grant of
> authority for any other body to make submissions on the state affiliate
> party's behalf, or over its objection,
>
> WHEREAS even if others could make submissions, the application of
> §11(5)(e) requires a seven-eighths vote, which was not obtained,
>
> WHEREAS “[m]otions that conflict with the corporate charter, constitution,
> or bylaws of a society … are out of order, and if any motion of this kind
> is adopted, it is null and void” (RONR (11th ed.), p. 343, ll. 14-17),
>
> WHEREAS the convention did not act to modify or suspend the National
> Libertarian Party bylaws in the course of modifying the Libertarian Party
> of Oregon's delegation,
>
> WHEREAS the Libertarian National Committee, aware of these facts, has
> failed to apologize to the Libertarian Party of Oregon for violating the
> autonomy guaranteed to it under the National Libertarian Party bylaws
> §6(5), invoking either an erroneous reading of §11(5)(e) or erroneously
> believing that its parliamentary authority binds it to defend actions of
> the convention even when they are void,
>
> AND WHEREAS the Libertarian Party of Oregon, as one of the founding
> affiliates of the National Libertarian Party, is hurt and saddened by the
> National Libertarian Party's failure to adhere to its own bylaws and by its
> apparent disrespect of this state affiliate party; now, therefore be it
>
> *RESOLVED, that the Libertarian Party of Oregon repudiates the
> modification of its convention delegation and CENSURES the National
> Libertarian Party for that act.*
>
> *RESOLVED, that the Libertarian Party of Oregon invites other Libertarian
> state parties to join in this censure to support us, to defend the
> integrity of their future convention delegations, and to defend their own
> autonomy,*
>
> *RESOLVED, that the topic of the Libertarian Party of Oregon's
> relationship with the National Libertarian Party shall be placed on the
> agenda of our next state convention by our Convention Committee.*
>
> *RESOLVED, that the long history of the National Libertarian Party's
> unacceptable conduct toward the Libertarian Party of Oregon will be
> discussed at our convention, with consequences as may be chosen by our
> members.*
>
> *RESOLVED, that the Libertarian Party of Oregon will welcome a
> representative or a statement from the National Libertarian Party at our
> convention concerning this matter.*
>
>
> --
> Wes Wagner
> Chairperson, Libertarian Party of Oregon
>
> _______________________________________________
> Statechairs mailing list
> Statechairs at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/statechairs_hq.lp.org
>
>
>
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