[Lnc-business] agenda business items

Kevin Ludlow ludlow at gmail.com
Mon Feb 8 13:08:57 EST 2016


All:

I'm going to guess that I lack the ability to craft these motions in a way
that will satisfy the nuances of our process.  I don't think this makes
them any less relevant or necessary; I think it just illustrates that I'm
not as good at politics as many of you are.  So with that, I would like to
ask for some help - publicly in this discussion thread - about how we can
address these.

1) Our website is a joke.  I mean a real, horrible, laughable, "maybe it's
1996 and the www portion of the internet has just been unleashed" joke.
It's got ridiculous internal ads all over it.  It's terribly organized.  It
uses bad images.  It has an outdated font, not great font colors, and
antiquated font-spacing and sizing.  It barely functions on mobile
devices.  It's full of information it doesn't need to have.  It conveys
that we're not a serious organization.

As I mentioned to some of you in previous months when discussing this, I
just took two non-profits I work with from start to finish with new
websites.  I facilitated the conversations with multiple 3rd party vendors,
selected one within days, created the deadlines for them, and then worked
as the point of contact to ensure they were built, tested, and rolled out.
Both of these from start to finish took less than 2 months.  One was
$15,000, the other was about $12,000.  We have we not been able to do that
in 24 months?

This can be done and it should be done.  It is incredibly simple.  We could
pay for it with so many different budget strategies I don't even know where
to begin.  How can we accomplish this?  How would THIS body like to put it
on the agenda?

If the solution is to spend more time talking about the details then I'm
not interested and I'll just proceed with my original motion.  We are
supposed to be a high-level governing body.  How do we allocate $20k and
give this to a 3rd party to have it built?

2) It's bad enough that we are excluded from most media discussion.  I
commended Nick on his on-camera interview a few weeks back.  It was great.
Unfortunately such interviews only happen once in a Blue Moon.  My point
being that we are not taken seriously.  We are neither seen as a threat to
other parties nor much of an beacon to voters angry with the two parties.

Derrick Michael Reid appears to be dressed in a union soldier costume on
his website.  ...which is only slightly better than if he appeared to be
dressed as a confederate soldier.  Ms. Sterling's headshot isn't even a
real proportion.  It's actually stretched tall on our site and on her own
website.

I really have no idea what the language needs to be to correct this kind of
behavior, but I firmly believe that the LNC has both the right and the
responsibility to govern our candidates.  They serve to provide an
impression of our party.  Most of my friends are not Libertarians (few are
very politically engaged at all).  When they see many of our candidates,
they actually laugh out loud.  I hear this commonly from people.  Yes it's
anecdotal, but this is a subjective matter and therefore relevant.  I
cannot imagine any of you can take some of these candidates seriously.
This presents a even worse PR problem for the LP than it already has.

I realize everyone is paranoid that creating rules will allow us to remove
people who are unpopular (Austin Peterson for example) which is not at all
my intent.  So you guys tell me, from the point of view of living in the
real world, the one that has newspapers, and media stories, and where PR
matters and people think with their emotions and don't philosophize all
day, how do we fix these two specific problems that I listed and ensure
that this body has a process in place for addressing it in the future?

I would be happy with the LNC making a motion directing Ms. Sterling to
provide a proper headshot and to Mr. Reid altering the content of his
website consistent with the professionalism that we should be pushing for.

Am I really the only person on our board who has a problem with these
things?

Thanks very much.
Kevin Ludlow
Region 7 Rep

On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 11:04 AM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:

> Happy to do that, Sam.
>
> Is the intent to provide the specific motion to the group? I thought all I
> was asking for was time on the agenda thus allowing me time to present a
> Motion at the meeting.
>
> If I need to or it is strongly suggested that I provide motions then I can
> do so now.  I figured they would get amended anyways in session so the
> broad idea would suffice.
>
> Kevin
>
>
> On Monday, February 8, 2016, Sam Goldstein <goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Kevin,
>>
>> You might want to develop your ideas into formal motions to give the
>> committee a basis of discussion in
>> your time allotments rather than just opened ended ramblings.
>>
>> Sam
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 11:49 AM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Perfect.
>>>
>>> Thanks guys.  I'd like to have the following two items put on the agenda:
>>>
>>> 1) I would like 30 minutes to discuss allocating $20,000 for the purpose
>>> hiring an outside software firm to redesign and launch the lp.org
>>> website.  I would note that if we took action on this on February 20th, a
>>> fully functional site could be in place 4-6 weeks before the National
>>> Convention.
>>>
>>> 2) I would like 20 minutes to discuss creating stricter standards for
>>> our presidential candidates.  Namely, I would like to make it a requirement
>>> that our candidates submit a professional headshot, bio, and website before
>>> being permitted to be considered a nominee of the Libertarian Party.  I
>>> would also like to introduce a motion whereby the LNC can vote in 2/3rd
>>> majority to remove any candidate from the nomination process based upon
>>> subjective criteria including, but not limited to, their professional
>>> demeanor, their headshot, and/or their candidate website (or lack thereof
>>> one). (and yes, I'm referring to the absurdity that is Totaliarian
>>> Democracy, although Ms. Sterling isn't doing us any favors either).
>>>
>>> That's all.
>>>
>>> Thank you.
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 10:31 AM, Sam Goldstein <
>>> goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> But be aware that motions submitted in advance have different
>>>> rules/priorities than motions submitted
>>>> without prior notice.
>>>>
>>>> Sam
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 11:28 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Kevin,
>>>>>
>>>>> If you (or any other LNC member) would like items added to the agenda,
>>>>> just send me an email with the topic and the time requested.  It is
>>>>> often advisable to send a motion out ahead of time to the LNC Business
>>>>> list so people have time to consider it before the meeting, but it's
>>>>> also in order to make a motion at the meeting.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Nick
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 1:54 AM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> > Mr. Chair,
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Could you (or staff) let me know when would be the appropriate time
>>>>> for me
>>>>> > to request items on our upcoming Phoenix agenda.  I have a few
>>>>> topics that I
>>>>> > would like to have come up for discussion and potentially a vote.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Do I need to have motions distributed in advance of the meeting or
>>>>> can I
>>>>> > present these in Phoenix?
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Thanks very much!
>>>>> > Kevin
>>>>> > LNC Region 7 Rep
>>>>> >
>>>>> > --
>>>>> > ========================================================
>>>>> > Kevin Ludlow
>>>>> > 512-773-3968
>>>>> > http://www.kevinludlow.com
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>>> > Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>> > Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>> > http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> ========================================================
>>> Kevin Ludlow
>>> 512-773-3968
>>> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> --
> ========================================================
> Kevin Ludlow
> 512-773-3968
> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>
>
>


-- 
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968
http://www.kevinludlow.com
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