[Lnc-business] Various items of interest

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing to offer comments about 
various items of interest.  I hope you find my comments worthy of your 
attention.

1)  In a separate message I shall abstain on the motion regarding the 
allocation of $5,000 from the "legal offense" budget line.  I believe 
the LNC should help the Libertarian Party of Arizona concerning the 
ballot access burden it faces; also, it is frequently appropriate to 
make an explicit financial commitment before the funds are needed.  
However, ceteris paribus I would have preferred that we wait until more 
information regarding the particulars of the situation (e.g., the 
expected cost of a legal challenge) is available to us.

2)  I share many of the concerns that have expressed regarding the 
proposed contract between the LNC and the Johnson-Weld campaign.  I 
would appreciate it if Mr. Sarwark would indicate whether both parties 
have signed it.  (If the signing of the contract by both parties has 
been announced, I did not see the announcement.)

     As of this moment, I have not seen the contract; in particular, I 
have not decided whether I should request the contract.  While I believe 
that discretion and confidentiality are appropriate for certain aspects 
of our activities, it is not clear to me that 
confidentiality-in-perpetuity is appropriate for an agreement of this 
type.  If such a confidentiality-in-perpetuity requirement is part of 
the agreement, such a requirement raises questions about the ability of 
LNC members to uphold their responsibilities to the LP membership.

     Frankly, I am unsure as to the best way for the LNC to proceed in 
this matter.  In any event, I believe there are aspects of this matter 
that we should address at the December meeting, if not before.

3)  Allow me to offer some remarks about Mike Fellows.  I had the 
pleasure of meeting him at a meeting of libertarians in Missoula, 
Montana in May 1986.  The meeting was organized as part of an effort to 
build a local Advocates for Self-Government "Seminar 1" group. (Over the 
course of roughly two weeks I drove from Evanston, Illinois to Crooks, 
South Dakota via Omaha (NE), Casper (WY), Boise (ID), Eugene (OR), 
Portland (OR), Vancouver (BC), Seattle (WA), Tacoma (WA), and Missoula 
to help build such groups.)

     Mike always impressed me as a fine gentleman: he was a man of 
intelligence, wit, and generous spirit who represented the Libertarian 
Party (and the liberty movement in general) very well. Moreover, I found 
him to be a tireless worker for liberty and a great team player.  As far 
as I could tell, he always put the interests of the Libertarian team 
ahead of any parochial interests. Because of his team spirit and 
humility, I suspect many people do not know of the substantial 
contributions he made to the LP.

     I anticipate that within the next two days, I shall prepare a 
resolution of appreciation for Mike.  I hope my words will express 
appropriately our appreciation for his good works and friendship, and 
that you will find my resolution to be worthy of your support.

     As always, thank you for your work for liberty.  I look forward to 
speaking with you soon.

     Take care,
     Jim

     James W. Lark, III
     Dept. of Systems and Information Engineering
     Applied Mathematics Program, Dept. of Engineering and Society
     Affiliated Faculty, Dept. of Statistics
     University of Virginia

     Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
     University of Virginia

     Region 5 Representative, Libertarian National Committee