[Lnc-business] Financial woes

Wed Aug 13 09:31:32 EDT 2014

Joshua, 

Your idea of using a suite is not so cut driedt.  Just checking the Hilton Riverside in NOLA, it has an Executive Parlor with no bed which makes it more suitable for our needs if we did do that. One thing about renting a “suite” instead of a meeting room is that suites tend to have check in times after noon.  With that in mind we would likely have to rent the suite the day before so staff can prepare it for our needs as well as to insure we have the room for 9am when the meeting starts. The Executive Parlor costs $300/day taxes not included.  With the 3 days needed to rent the room for, that comes to over a $1000 for the trip for a room that won’t fit 25 people in a fashion suitable for conducting business. Add in staff and guests and your going to have some cramped irritated people… 

So you say dump staff for traveling to the area, since its your idea, I suggest you spearhead the effort to rearrange the room to be suitable to our meetings… Also, if we stop allowing guests to attend the meeting then it gets to be more doable.
The amount of productivity lost arguing this is probably in the realm of thousands of dollars already. But being serious..while we fiddled on this..we may lose the rates  that Robert had managed to negotiate for us. He did request we make a decision on a hotel by yesterday. We didn’t even start a motion to pick the hotel yet.  Hopefully this doesn’t result in our having to pay increased rates in NOLA because we engaged in dilatory action.

Daniel Hayes
LNC Region 7  Alternate

On Aug 12, 2014, at 11:31 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was provided with a copy of the email in question.  It appears below.  My reply appears above it.
> 
> I don't believe my loan idea was a borrow and spend idea.  I believe it was a "get out of a dangerous but temporary hole while watching spending carefully" idea.  I don't have much enthusiasm for tax and spend solutions.  I'm all for voluntary contributions, though, and I'm happy to join in an LNC fundraising call effort - just not to raise money aimed at a "building" fund.  For a general fund, absolutely.  However, Starchild last term, and I this term, have suggested what I think is a better model for getting things done - allowing our members to set our priorities by establishing a system whereby much of what we do, minus necessary operations, is broken into categories, with members able to donate to each category as they see fit.  
> 
> So, no, revenue enhancement is not off my table.  I do think, though, that it's irrelevant.  If there is a way to save $10, do it - don't increase your income and then decide to waste the $10 you could have saved.  Ideally, of course, save the money and increase your income.  
> 
> Suggesting a spending freeze is not, in my opinion, using my LNC colleagues as nails.  Nor is suggesting that staff could potentially provide written reports for meetings rather than traveling.  I have never before seen the novel idea that proposing a motion is direspecting knowledge, skills, or rational thinking abilities, nor has it ever been suggested to me before that proposing a motion is as arrogant as you suggest.  The EC is a committee assigned duties by the bylaws and the LNC, and I see nothing wrong with the LNC, if it so chooses, limiting the actions of the EC.  
> 
> I find it odd to suggest that proposing a spending freeze is equivalent to believing that all problems can be solved by passing a law.  If I find myself in a financial hole, and try to get out of it by  imposing restraints on myself, or by "paying myself first" and making it difficult to withdraw the money, am I passing a law or simply exercising good financial sense?
> 
> A proposal to act is just that - not an insult or a threat.  Sometimes, I expect, I'll think of things first.  Other times, others will think of things first, and they'll propose them.  As it turns out, there is little enthusiasm for my ideas.  So be it.  That's part of the point, in my view, of a committee - checks and balances.  
> 
> I of course will argue against all unnecessary spending.  Some spending remains necessary, and I believe that, before committing to bringing hundreds of people to a facility, it is appropriate to actually hold a meeting there.  If doing so is too expensive, then it's probably not a good place for a convention.  As it turns out, that particular meeting is not unusually expensive (unfortunately) and ways can be found to reduce the costs - such as bringing less or no staff.  
> 
> I will study Archimedes.  I have heard you praise it, I have heard others damn it.  I need to investigate for myself before having an opinion.  
> 
> Of course growing the party should not be ignored while cutting costs - but neither, I'm arguing, should cutting costs be ignored while growing the party.  They are not mutually exclusive.  
> 
> As it turns out, I've pointed out a few times that I have located suitable meeting facilities in every state and city that can be rented for a few hundred dollars per day, with internet access and plenty of space, and is available in most hotels - that is, a large suite.  In most hotels, we'd even have a kitchenette allowing us to not break for lunch, or to break only briefly for lunch.  
> 
> By the way, donors to the building fund, who probably thought they were supporting the idea of buying, I don't know, a building, didn't necessarily get us into this trouble.  As Dan points out, we have a plan for the balloon payment and for reducing debt.  As much as I dislike the purchase, we have a lower monthly required payment than we did before, which is a net benefit in allowing us to squeeze by when we're in trouble.  The problem is that we, as our Secretary pointed out, have already spent those savings.  
> 
> Joshua Katz
>>  Josh,
>>     You answered part of your own question.  We can't replace any of paid staff's fundraising duties with your volunteer effort.  When you floated your temporary loan idea, you discovered that there are few borrow and spend Republicans amongst our group.  Our money printing press is broken and we don't have the money to fix it.  You don't seem to have any enthusiasm for Democratic tax and spend solutions, even when the "taxes" are voluntary contributions. 
>>     You're right.  If all methods of revenue enhancement are off your personal table, then spending cuts are the only hammer that you have in your toolbox.  Remember please, though, that your colleagues on the LNC and our staff are not nails.
>>     Respect our knowledge, skills, and rational thinking abilities.  Some of us are as smart as you, maybe even smarter.  We don't need gimmicks that try to trick us into becoming spendthrifts overnight.  You remind me of a politician, no, a typical American.  You think that every problem can be fixed by passing a law.(or motion)
>>     You can't control us, you can only control yourself.  If you want to pledge to not propose any ideas that involve additional spending before November, we will support you and help you to keep that promise.
>>     Better still would be to join with me in arguing against all unnecessary spending and let's keep up the pressure on paring down all spending to the lowest practical level always, because "the fact remains that saving money remains good, even if more is taken in, so more can be spent on our core mission, or saved."  (this may  include resisting the argument that it is OK to spend more than $5,000 that we don't have on an LNC meeting because we are also checking out a possible convention site and impressing the bellhops and desk clerks)  We can handle the occasional ridicule that comes with that territory.
>>     Pull back for a second and look at the big picture.  If we ignore revenue enhancement, (otherwise known as growing the party) those charts that we saw recently depicting membership and revenue trends will inevitably reach zero.  I don't care how perfectly you tighten belts and pare down expenses, I'm expecting you to be the volunteer who turns out the light in the borrowed tent headquarters in a needle park when the last member doesn't renew.
>>     I'm floating two proposals for revenue enhancement from my last message.  One is to bring back Project Archimedes as a direct mail campaign with new mailing lists and freshly written solicitation letters. (funded by dedicated contributions)  The other is to get LNC members to make personal fundraising appeals to the people who have recently contributed to the building fund.  We would be asking them to contribute a much smaller amount into the general fund to help us get through the temporary squeeze caused by buying the building (because it was their fault!)
>>     Please study project Archimedes and help us to redesign it using tools from this millennium.  The original doubled our resources in about six years.  If you put your mind to it, I'll bet you could have young people transmitting billions of bitcoins into our bank account from their smart phones while they are driving and smoking pot.  Or maybe you could hack in to the Federal Reserve.
>>     Oh, here's another opportunity for you to volunteer that you forgot to comment on: "Maybe you could locate a suitable meeting facility within walking distance of headquarters that could be rented for a few hundred dollars per day."  Then do the same for NOLA.  (is that the same place as "N'Orlinz"?)
>>     Please try to be part of the solution.  Don't try to convince us that we have to be restrained because we are part of the problem.
> 
> 
> 
> Joshua A. Katz
> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
> 
> 
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 11:11 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, for some reason, I can only see the first line of Ron's posts.  I know that he wrote something about me answering my own question.  
> 
> Joshua A. Katz
> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
> 
> 
> On Mon, Aug 11, 2014 at 8:46 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com> wrote:
> Our bylaws require our permission to borrow. We certainly can wait for staff requests, but I also see nothing improper in a board acting proactively.
> 
> On Aug 11, 2014 4:18 PM, "Norm Olsen" <region1rep at donedad.com> wrote:
> We have a competent Executive Director who is certainly monitoring this situation.  I am confident that he will implement appropriate policies to address this issue as necessary.  If he decides obtaining a loan is an appropriate action, I’m sure he’ll advise the chair and we’ll soon after have a motion to vote upon.
> 
>  
> 
> We as a governing board should not be trying to micro-manage these affairs from afar.
> 
>  
> 
> Norm
> 
> --
> 
> Norman T Olsen
> 
> Regional Representative, Region I
> 
> Libertarian National Committee
> 
> 7931 S Broadway, PMB 102
> 
> Littleton, Colorado  80122-2710
> 
> 303-263-4995
> 
> Norman.Olsen at lp.org
> 
>  
> 
> "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Gandhi
> 
>  
> 
> From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Joshua Katz
> Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2014 11:21 AM
> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> 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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