[Lnc-business] Financial woes

Sun Aug 10 00:32:28 EDT 2014

Josh,
    I appreciate your thoughtful concern about our current financial situation, and your previous suggestions for saving money, but these three proposals don't appear to be particularly effective or necessary to address the situation.  Dan has explained why the balloon payment is not threatening us.  Nobody else thinks that we are anywhere near bankruptcy, just experiencing a temporarily tight cash flow.  Our financial experts advise us that we'll get by just fine if we avoid extravagant spending for a while. 
    If we had the votes to pass #1, we would have enough votes to reject any unnecessary new expenditures without tying our own hands.    Furthermore, it would prevent us from pursuing opportunities to spend a small amount to dramatically improve our financial status.  I was thinking of new membership and fundraising outreaches, but what if we received an email from the son of a Nigerian prince, who's father tragically died of ebola before he could finish donating a hundred pounds of gold to our building fund.  Your motion would prevent us from sending the small sum needed to pay the duties, shipping, and handling (sterilization?) to carry out his father's dying wish. 
    Any negotiated agreements with vendors concerning delayed payments are voluntary contracts that don't require formal apologies from the LNC.  If you feel that it is necessary to apologize personally, you are free to do so.
     #2 implies that staff doesn't know how to do their job and that it would somehow save money if no more than two staff members walked down the street to physically attend the meeting. (do we actually have more than two paid staff on duty any particular day?)
    While #3 doesn't authorize any additional expenditure, it does expend paid staff's time to produce an unneeded report.  I believe that Wes has already gone through that planning process many times in order to enable our tiny staff to accomplish the great things that they have.  Do we really need him to write a report telling us how efficiently he will manage things after he finishes writing the report? Do we have the expertise to interpret that report and tell him how to do his job better? 
     I believe that our staff practices economy every day and doesn't need us to tell them how to be thrifty.  The last thing that they need from us is more make work assignments.
    Better that you return to thinking of ways to help our cash flow by reducing spending and increasing revenue.  Maybe you could locate a suitable meeting facility within walking distance of headquarters that could be rented for a few hundred dollars per day.  And/or you could help me convince this group that our continuous email meeting would allow the in person LNC meeting to be shortened to a single day.(cutting the expenses in half would save over $2,500 from our current tentative arrangements)  The second day could be taken up with familiarizing us with our staff and the new building, checking out future convention sites, and socializing in the parking lot or at that great barbeque joint I found during the last convention in DC.
    During the last decade of the last millennium, we doubled our membership and revenue, mostly with a project called Archimedes.  Amidst some scandals and infighting, we abandoned it because it had been overpromised way beyond its wonderful results.  Both revenues and membership have been steadily declining ever since.
    You're a bright young guy who understands this new digital stuff.  Could you develop a modern version of Project Archimedes involving social media, crowd sourcing, bitcoins, etc?  We could use another doubling of resources about now.
    Or maybe we don't need to update it.  Lots of other organizations are still using direct mailing, so it must still work. I would be willing to put up the first $1,000 if we dust off the results from Archimedes and sent out a new batch of tested effective solicitations to the proven profitable mailing lists that we found. (see, there's ways to get around your proposed spending freeze)
    In the immediate short term, conventional political wisdom says go back to your previous donors and ask for more.  We (yes, I mean you, me, and the rest of the LNC) could make personal phone calls to the donors to the building fund, asking them for just a 5 or 10% additional contribution to the general fund to protect their previous investment.  Warn them that some crazies within the LNC want to sell the new building and move headquarters staff into a needle park nearby.  The brass plaque with their name on it might be put on Ebay, where some metal recycler will buy it.
    Or, we could pass a special rule that says the sponsors of any motion that commits to new spending must personally submit the funds to pay for their proposed project along with their list of cosponsors. 
    Even without your spending freeze, we have been doing pretty good so far this session.  Alicia's proposed motion does commit the cost of a stamp and envelope.  No expenses were actually committed to in the meeting motions.  You and I and some others are lobbying to keep those meeting costs down.  All other motions have been freebies.
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: Sat, Aug 9, 2014 10:21 am
Subject: [Lnc-business] Financial woes

Since I had only one person join me in my call to authorize additional debt, and that was qualified with the idea of waiting another month, I now float the following three motions and seek sponsors.  

1.  The LNC shall authorize no expenditures other than those necessary for activities already authorized by vote or bylaws to be undertaken (to include votes which closed before the effective date but which have not yet been reported on the effective date, if any.)  No money shall be expended by the party until November 1, 2014, other than that which has already been authorized or encumbered, exempting expenditures from restricted funds.  No additional expenses shall be undertaken, and no agreements with vendors entered into requiring payment before November 1, 2014.  In addition, the LNC shall direct the Secretary to write official notices of apology to all vendors whose payments are delayed via negotiations by staff, or via non-payment or extension of terms, on behalf of the LNC.

2.  Prior to the December meeting in New Orleans, staff shall be requested to issue all necessary reports in written form, to be presented at the meeting (as specifically required, or traditional.)  Staff presence at the LNC meeting shall be restricted to the Executive Director and one additional staff member, to be chosen by the Executive Director following consultation with the Chair.

3.  The LNC directs the Executive Director to issue a report with all specific staff responsibilities, estimated hours required per week, and skills needed to perform staff functions.  The Executive Director then shall issue a report indicating potential to replace staff functions with volunteer efforts, after conducting a member survey for skills and willingness to volunteer.  The LNC requests that the Chair, after consulting said report, reconsider all staff arrangements and contracts.

I favor the first, but am looking for all ways to stem costs.  We have a balloon payment hanging over our heads, currently are bankrupt, and have continued to vote to authorize expenditures.  I believe these operations must be reconsidered.  I understand that our financial hole is a temporary phenomenon, and that our bankruptcy is a matter of accounting, but we are still in dire financial straits.  I do believe that we need to bring in more money, but a financial crisis is also an opportunity to reconsider our spending habits, which should be restrained, and mostly aimed at our core mission, at all times, regardless of circumstances.

Joshua A. Katz

Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate
Libertarian National Committee

Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut

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