[Lnc-business] Various items for your consideration

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing to mention various items 
for your consideration; I hope you find these items worthy of your 
attention.

1)  I shall vote "no" on the motion to sustain the ruling of the chair 
and "yes" on the motion to elect Doug Craig to the at-large position 
that became vacant upon Evan McMahon's resignation.  In my opinion, the 
purchase of a convention package should be regarded as the purchase of a 
good or service, not as a donation to the LP.  I hope the Bylaws and 
Rules Committee will propose language for consideration at the 2016 
national convention to amend the Bylaws for the purpose of reducing the 
likelihood of disagreement as to what constitutes a donation to the LP.

     As an aside, in a recent message Mr. Craig mentioned that he had 
spent $5,000 in Georgia (presumably for the Libertarian Party of 
Georgia) last year.  Allow me to offer my thanks to him for his generosity.

2)  As you may know, earlier this month I had the honor of delivering an 
address to the European Students For Liberty Conference in Berlin, 
Germany.  I am pleased to report that the conference was very 
successful; I believe the libertarian movement is making great progress 
among students in Europe.

     Many attendees were very keen to discuss the American political 
scene with me.  (Conference attendees were aware of my LNC membership 
and my service as chairman of the Libertarian Party several years ago.)  
It may interest you to know that the vast majority of questions I 
received concerned Rand Paul.   From what I observed, it appears that 
Sen. Paul is regarded by many libertarian-oriented students in Europe as 
a U.S. presidential candidate for whom they should root despite his 
failings (of which they were aware).  The question I received most 
frequently concerned whether LP members would vote for Sen. Paul (if he 
is the Republican presidential nominee) rather than the LP presidential 
candidate.

     I mention this as a preface to another observation:  in my 
interactions with self-identified libertarian student activists in the 
U.S., I have seen that many intend to work on behalf of Sen. Paul's 
campaign.  Most of these students indicated that while they agree to a 
much greater extent with Libertarian Party positions, they believe it is 
better to work for a candidate who has what they consider to be a 
fighting chance of being elected.

3)  As you may be aware, June 23 will mark the 10th anniversary of the 
Kelo vs City of New London decision by the Supreme Court.  I believe 
that Libertarian Party organizations should use this date as an 
opportunity to draw attention to the issue of takings/eminent domain, 
perhaps as part of more general points about government abuse (e.g., 
takings via civil asset forfeiture, "crony capitalism," etc.).

     For example, I am already scheduled to conduct at least one radio 
interview on June 23 about the Kelo decision.  I shall work with my 
Libertarian Party of Virginia colleagues to publicize some particularly 
ugly examples of "land snatching" in Virginia.  I suspect that if LP 
organizations mount a campaign about takings/eminent domain on or about 
June 23, we shall generate a decent amount of media attention, because I 
consider it likely the LP will be the only political party to publicize 
the issue.

     As always, thanks for your work for liberty.  I look forward to 
seeing you again in mid July, if not before.

     Take care,
     Jim

     James W. Lark, III
     Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
     University of Virginia

     Region 5 Representative, Libertarian National Committee