[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2015-07: Oklahoma petition drive - v2

[Norm Olsen]

Nay!

 

I have true sympathy for states which are afflicted with nasty ballot access laws.  This vote is not a vote against Oklahoma or any other state so afflicted.

 

I vote against the unofficially adopted policy of this committee that 50+ state ballot access for our presidential candidate is the primary and sole objective of this committee.  I write this as expenditures other than ballot access are carefully scrutinized and maximum frugality is demanded; and even then are often rejected.   But when it comes to 50+ state ballot access, nothing is too expensive; frugality and cost/benefit analysis goes out the window.  Major fundraising efforts are implemented, major donations made, and many volunteers are recruited to work the malls.  Also, ballot access funding requests routinely get approved by huge majorities, usually  16-1.  I am unaware of any that have failed.

 

Used to be that Libertarian principles were considered to be extreme; but now they are being adopted as law everywhere.  Libertarian registration is increasing in many of the states in my region; 10% annually for three years now in my home state of Colorado.  Yet at the same time, membership and revenue of our organization is shrinking, and  this effect has been quite dramatic in recent months.  The focus on ballot access does not appear to be providing the success upon which volunteer organizations like ours need to grow.

 

It is time to reconsider strategies.  While ballot access is a valid endeavor for a political party, the BIG BIG question remains:

 

    Is this the very best use of our very limited (and currently dramatically shrinking) resources?

 

While ballot access is a valid objective for any political party, the unilateral focus on ballot access is causing us to ignore organizational strength.  And it is lack of organization strength that underlies the ballot access issue.  (Catch 22 if you will.)  Curing the ballot access problem is best achieved by building the organization strength of the individual affiliates.   It cannot be denied that ballot access is an important ingredient to building a state affiliate or local affiliate.  However, ballot access cannot guarantee that an organizationally strong affiliate will emerge.

 

Our emphasis needs to change; the scope of our activities broadened, and our resources put to the very best use possible.  Building organizational strength needs to gain our primary focus; ballot access should be only a judiciously applied part of this larger objective.

 

Norm

 

PS> One might say politics is about running candidates.  However, this applies only if, at least occasionally, some of those candidates actually get elected.  Running candidates when none ever get elected is not politics.  To actually elect a candidate takes three things: organization, organization, and more organization.

--

Norman T Olsen

Regional Representative, Region 1

Libertarian National Committee

7931 South Broadway, PMB 102

Littleton, CO  80122-2710

303-263-4995

 

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Alicia Mattson
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 12:49 AM
To: lnc-business
Subject: [Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2015-07: Oklahoma petition drive - v2

 

We have an electronic mail ballot.
 
Votes are due to the LNC-Business list by June 29, 2015 at 11:59:59pm Pacific time.
 
Sponsor:  Sarwark
 
Motion:  Increase the Ballot Access Expense line item by $65,000, from $57,500 to $122,500, contingent on the LNC receiving cash receipts, that are earmarked for a 2015 Libertarian Party of Oklahoma petition drive, of at least $60,000, and cash receipts (net of associated fundraising costs) of at least $55,000.

Alicia Mattson

LNC Secretary



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