[Lnc-business] Region 7 Report - Title: Better Late Than Never

[Kevin Ludlow]

All:


Apologies for sending this just before the meeting.  I've been waiting on
reports from a few states, but am submitting with them missing.

Arkansas:

Lawsuit:

On October 14th, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas filed suit in United
States District Court seeking injunctive relief to allow for more time to
nominate candidates for the 2016 general election.  In a special session in
late May, the state legislature adopted new deadlines for candidates to
file for an early primary election – the so-called “SEC primary.”  As a
“new” political party, established by petition, the Libertarian party is
required to choose its candidates by convention but must register those
candidates at the same time that the other parties’ candidates are signing
up to run in the primary.  With the new deadlines in place, that required
the LPAR to hold a special nominating convention in October, over a year
before the general election.

The party is represented by attorney James Linger, who is confident about
the prospects of the case.  “It is hard for me to understand what
compelling state interest Arkansas would have in having the nominees of
minor parties chosen so far in advance of the general election and
significantly earlier than the date for picking the nominees of the major
parties.”

Nominating Convention:

Doing its best to comply with the new early deadline, the LPAR held a
Special Nominating Convention on October 24th.  Despite the difficulty of
finding potential candidates who could commit so far in advance of the
election, 25 candidates were nominated, including candidates for all four
of Arkansas Congressional districts.  Frank Gilbert, who was the party’s
candidate for governor in 2014, will run for U.S. Senate.

Candidate Filing:

During the candidate filing period, 24 LPAR candidates successfully filed.
Three nominated candidates did not follow through with the filing process,
but two new candidates were approved by the Executive Committee, as
authorized by the nominating convention.

Of the state’s four Congressional races, three will be two-way contests
with no Democrats filing.  Both LPAR candidates for State Senate will be in
two-way races against Democrats, with no Republicans filing.  Out of ten
LPAR candidates for State House, eight will be in two-way races, with only
two Libertarians facing both Republican and Democratic opponents.  In
total, of the 17 LPAR candidates for state and federal legislature, 13 will
give voters a chance to actually cast a vote next November.

-Michael Pakko, Chair

Alabama:

No report.

Louisiana:

No report.

Mississippi:

This past election cycle 3 candidates broke the long-standing "Single
Digit" curse that has plagued MSLP since Will Chipman ran for Congress.
Joshua Hardy ran for State House against incumbent Manly Barton and took
11% of the votes.  Boyd Kendall ran a surprisingly good race against
heavily favorite incumbent "Christian Conservative Coalition" Republican
Michael Watson and took 17% of the votes.  And Donald Todd ran for Harrison
County Supervisor and took 18% of the votes.  While, sadly, none of them
won their race, they put forth a great effort and taught this chairman some
lessons on what we need to do next time for the candidates.  Two of this
year's candidates have decided to continue the momentum and throw their hat
into the ring for US Congress against 2 term Congressman, Steven Palazzo.
According to many, this is Palazzo's last vulnerable year and a win to
unset him is necessary.  Therefore, we must get an early start campaigning,
especially since qualifying is the first week of January this year.

-Aaron Barksdale, Chair

Oklahoma:

No report.

Texas:

LP Texas signed an Enterprise contract with NationBuilder and is currently
in the process of systems and data migration to the new platform.

LP Texas signed an agreement with the Norris Convention Center, a newly
built highly modern conference facility for our 2016 Convention in San
Antonio.

LP Texas has selected a 2016 convention theme: Liberty Now! (attached)

LP Texas has effected a complete organizational restructuring around the
idea of an all-volunteer organization and over 60 specific, well-defined,
and strategic organizational roles. (attached)

LP Texas has filled over 40 volunteer staff and committee positions in the
past 8 months, and is now functioning at a level higher than when we had
paid staff.

LP Texas has completed a total marketing overhaul based on a modern, clean,
and professional design – mirroring the most successful commercial and
non-profit standards. (business cards, as an example, attached)

LP Texas has created a highly functioning Political Department with 5
volunteers, and has completed several major projects including:

-          Orchestrating the defeat of HB464 during the legislative
session, a bill targeted at eliminating third parties from the ballot in
Texas

-          Producing super high-quality collateral such as our Platform,
2015 Legislative Review and 2015 Voter Guide (attached)

-          Implementing modern technology such as online petitioning and
calls to action (action.lptexas.org), as well a system to coordinate
text-message activism.

-          Creating broad coalitions, bringing together groups from across
the political spectrum around a libertarian agenda.

-          Working through County Party and non-partisan organizations to
engineer local victories such as banning water fluoridation in San Marcos
Texas.

-          Created the “Choice, Change, Challenge” campaign for candidate
recruitment, to replace the dated messaging around “paper candidates” etc.
(attached)

LP Texas is in the process of a total overhaul of our Membership programs
around an idea of rewarding members for more than just donating money

-          “You are LPTexas” campaign to launch the idea of party
ownership, and responsibility

-          “Time, Talent, Treasure” campaign to create membership rewards
for volunteer hours, skilled contributions, and of course also donations.

LP Texas has reinvented itself as a modern, technologically adept,
professional, and efficient organization

-          “Lean, Mean, and Green” initiative cut over 75% in expenses from
the budget, reversing a budget deficit into a surplus, all while increasing
service levels and conserving the environment (by switching from a printing
and postage driven methodology to electronic).

-          Transition from brick and mortar offices to a Virtual Office
gave the party a prestigious First Street and Congress Ave. physical
address, and high quality impressive office space in one of the most iconic
buildings in Austin, with a live receptionist, phone and mail service, and
all while saving the party over $400/month in operating costs.

-          Extensive use of web and video conferencing, screen sharing,
cloud collaboration tools, and online events services has allowed the
volunteer organization to collaborate more often and more effectively,
while saving hundreds of dollars per month in staff and member travel
expenses.

-Kurt Hildebrand, TX

--

========================================================

Kevin Ludlow

512-773-3968

http://www.kevinludlow.com
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