[Lnc-business] Screening Presidential candidates

Tue Feb 9 12:11:08 EST 2016

Dan,

Just to be clear on the Presidential candidate listings, staff follows 
the instructions of the chair and LNC. If the criteria is changed, we'll 
try to follow the criteria. However, if you do change the criteria, I 
hope you can find a way to do it that doesn't create a lot of busy work 
for staff, the LNC, the candidates, or the state chairs. Requiring a 
certain number of supporters to be listed, (e.g. chairs, members, LNC 
members, etc. ) is the kind of busy work I'm hoping is avoided.

Conducting, for example, an approval voting process at the upcoming LNC 
meeting, where those with more than 50% support by LNC get listed, would 
not involve a lot of busy work. It's still objective criteria, just not 
overly engineered and time-consuming, and amendable by email ballot 
after the fact if necessary, such as if someone new files.

If a few were pulled off our current list, I don't think there'd be a 
lot of comlaints. There'd be a lot of people happy about that. If, on 
the other hand, most were removed and only a few remained, then you'd 
probably see a lot of complaints.

Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

On 2/9/2016 12:51 AM, Daniel Wiener wrote:
> Kevin, I agree with you that I don't like our party being embarrassed 
> by fringe candidates.  I have urged for a long time that we create 
> more stringent criteria for officially acknowledging those individuals 
> who've decided to run for the LP's Presidential nomination.  (Not to 
> stop them from running, just not publicizing them.)  Four years ago I 
> proposed a Policy Manual amendment to do just that (see the email 
> below), but it went nowhere.  Who knows, perhaps the LNC may have more 
> interest now than it did then in coming up with _something_ to 
> distinguish serious candidates from frivolous ones.
>
> However, back in 2011 I did succeed in adding the following provision 
> to the Policy Manual:
>
>     *Section 2.06 PARTY COMMUNICATIONS*
>     *5) Assuring Quality Communications*
>     If a majority of all LNC members notify the Secretary of their
>     belief that a proposed or actual public communication is
>     detrimental to the image of the Party, such notification to occur
>     no later than 72 hours after the public communication is
>     published, the Secretary shall inform the Executive Director and
>     Chair of this finding, and such communication shall not be further
>     disseminated, and to the extent possible, already-disseminated
>     material shall be promptly removed from the public sphere.
>
>
> You should keep this provision in mind for any future instances in 
> which you've spotted something which you think is "detrimental to the 
> image of the Party".  Whether it's something new on the LP web site or 
> Facebook page or whatever, you should immediately email the LNC with 
> your objection.  If a majority agree with you and act fast, it can be 
> quickly deleted.  Failing that, four LNC members can sponsor a motion 
> to delete it, although the voting on such a motion will take a lot longer.
>
> As a member of the Advertising & Publication Review Committee, I 
> should also mention that the APRC does look at all LP communications.  
> However, its role is officially limited to assuring that the Platform, 
> Bylaws, and Policy Manual are not violated, and its deliberations are 
> required to be confidential.  So when issues arise from time to time, 
> no one outside the APRC sees what things are prevented from being 
> published, nor does anyone else hear the concerns and arguments (and 
> disagreements) which are expressed within the committee.  That can 
> often be frustrating for those of us on the committee, but those are 
> the limitations we have to abide by.
>
> Dan Wiener
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Daniel Wiener* <wiener at alum.mit.edu <mailto:wiener at alum.mit.edu>>
> Date: Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 9:14 AM
> Subject: Policy Manual motion on Presidential candidates
> To: LNC Discussion <lnc-discuss at hq.lp.org <mailto:lnc-discuss at hq.lp.org>>
>
> I haven't seen any further suggested modifications for the last five 
> days, so at this time I am proposing a motion to make the following 
> changes (underlined in blue) to Section 2.08(2) of the Policy Manual, 
> and I am asking for co-sponsors.
>
> Daniel Wiener
>
>     *Section 2.08(2) Limitations on Party Support for Public Office*
>
>     *Party resources shall not be used to provide information or
>     services _or promotional material_ for any candidate for public
>     office prior to the nomination unless:*
>
>     *• such information or services _or promotional material
>     facilities_ are available and announced on an equal basis to all
>     Libertarians who have declared they are seeking the nomination for
>     President or Vice-President, _providing that a candidate is
>     qualified according to the following criteria:_*
>
>     *·_The candidate is a sustaining member of the national party; and_*
>
>     *_
>     _*
>
>     *·_The candidate supplies a list of at least 100 sustaining
>     members of the national party who have declared that they consider
>     the candidate to be "acceptable"; and_*
>
>     *·_The candidate has raised at least $5,000 in campaign
>     contributions from donors other than the candidate or the
>     candidate's immediate family.
>     _*
>
>     *·_During the month immediately prior to the national nomination
>     convention, an additional criterion is that the total money which
>     the campaign has raised since the candidate announced _**_shall
>     have exceeded $10,000_**__**_(from donors other than the
>     _**_candidate or the candidate's immediate family)_**_._*
>
>     *__*
>
>     *• _or,_ such information or services are generally available and
>     announced to all party members**_in the case of non-national
>     candidates_.*
>
>     *• or, the service or candidate has been approved by the state
>     chair _in the case of non-national candidates_.*
>
>     *_Qualified Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidates may, with
>     the assistance of any LNC member, post promotional material to the
>     LP Blog, but the total number of such posts shall be limited to
>     the number of 30-day periods prior to the nomination convention
>     (rounded up) from when a candidate first became qualified.  A list
>     of qualified candidates along with links to their web pages shall
>     be featured on the www.lp.org <http://www.lp.org/>web site and in
>     LP News, and may be included in appropriate publications and mass
>     emailings to members.  In each case there shall be a disclaimer
>     stating that the party does not necessarily endorse or agree with
>     the candidates or the contents of their web pages.
>     _*
>
>     _*The above restrictions do not apply to the dissemination of
>     newsworthy information about candidates and their campaign
>     activities, where the source or the object of the information
>     involves significant media outlets which are not affiliated with
>     the candidate.Contemporaneous newsworthy information about a
>     candidate shall be aggregated to the maximum extent practical. The
>     APRC shall be authorized to resolve any uncertainties by majority
>     vote.*_
>
>     __
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20160209/e14c7ede/attachment.html>