[Lnc-business] book Phoenix flights for Feb LNC meeting

Thu Jan 7 13:52:48 EST 2016

All:

This is a comedy at this point.  A bloody comedy.  I seriously think we
should share the script of this email.  A few points:

1) To echo Ms. Matton's recent point, these rates are NOT connected with
the rates the larger 2018 body would pay.  I literally based an entire
argument against price on that very notion once HB came back and it was
clear that the prices were ONLY for the weekend of our LNC meeting and not
for the larger body (as I thought was our entire rationale for getting
quotes in the first place).  I can get quotes for 20 people over a weekend;
I can't do it for 1,000 people over half a week.  Please re-read if
necessary.  That was my beef, but it's what we got and everyone should have
known that.

2) Not that anybody has done this exactly - yet - but please do not confuse
my comments of "we should spend what we need to as a board" with "we should
spend frivolously".  I have always been quite clear as to what I mean
between the two and I think any reasonable person should understand
precisely what I mean.  There are responsibilities this board has (or damn
well should have).  They cost real money.  Within reason we should not balk
at paying for those responsibilities.

3) Which brings me to this, everyone is now balking at a single number!
$200 for a room.  Why?  Is it more than $75?  Yes.  But given how this has
gone, I am certain none of you is factoring ALL of the costs.  It's not the
delta of FREE vs. $200.  It's the delta of whatever OKC would cost vs.
whatever Phoenix would cost.  You have to spend SOMETHING.  So maybe
Phoenix is a bit more, it's not infinitely more.  In the end, I am very
much willing to guess the overall delta isn't all that much - even if the
rooms are double the cost.  Phoenix is one of the 4 largest hubs in the
US.  If anybody else is a pilot, you're more than aware that they cover the
entire SW quadrant.  Southwest flies there super cheap.  If we missed those
super cheap deals it's because we spent two months discussing it rather
than doing it (as you'll note was my reason for wanting to expedite this in
the first place).  So I would ask again, please consider the full delta
between A and B.  If the $100 or $150 difference is too great for you then
talk to me and we'll find you a donor.  But I'll say this sincerely and
possibly to the chagrin of others: I cannot believe that anybody put in
charge of a $1.4 million dollar budget would balk at $100-$200 of their own
personal investment for a hotel.  Most of you have had 25 more years to
save than I have had and I know I can figure it out.

Which all brings me to this final point.  None of this really matters.
There was a motion made by Ms. Mattson, voted on by the EC, and was pretty
overwhelming adopted in favor of Phoenix.  Last I checked this board still
runs on procedure.  I am booking flights to get there.  I will book a
hotel.  Hell, I will even find a block of 20 rooms myself that has a nice
conference center in it if that's the struggle here.  It would take me 45
minutes on the phone to do it.  If somebody is going to argue differently,
I would suggest you find 3 sponsors and make a motion to change the venue.

And since I have been ambiguous in the past, I want to be clear that I am
not placing one iota of blame for this on staff.  They did exactly what we
asked them to do.  I am placing 100% of this blame on the board for this
lengthy, comical, aneurysm-inducing situation.  We had two months to figure
all of this out.  Anybody could have found flights in advance.  Anybody
could have inquired about prices in advance.  And when we finally voted
yesterday, we even did so with the knowledge of the HB rates namely thanks
to staff.  So this is on us, plain and simple.

tl;dr: the delta isn't much, you had the info, we took two polls to select
phoenix, the ec adopted a motion, that should be the end of it.  See you
guys in Phoenix! ;)

Send all of your complaints to 512-773-3968.

-Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968
Region 7 Rep

On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 12:22 PM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com> wrote:

> It is not accurate to assume the rates we were quoted for an LNC meeting
> are the same as what the COC is considering for the 2018 convention.
> Offers that high were rejected on the first pass.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 8:46 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>
>> If the LNC members are not willing to stay at the Arizona Grand due to
>> price considerations, it may be that this property shouldn't even be
>> on the short list.  My experience is that convention delegates are
>> more price sensitive than members of the LNC.
>>
>> It's a solid 30 minute drive (without traffic) from the Holiday Inn to
>> the Renaissance in Glendale.  45-60 minutes is more likely if we cross
>> town Friday afternoon.  It's only 15-20 minutes to get to the Arizona
>> Grand from the Holiday Inn, but then we're fitting two bus trips in
>> the middle of an LNC meeting.  If we stay at the Arizona Grand,
>> there's only one trip.
>>
>> -Nick
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 9:37 AM, William Redpath <wredpath2 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I agree with Dan Weiner.  $200+ per night is out for me.  My
>> understanding
>> > is that there is a very inexpensive option in Oklahoma City.  New
>> Orleans
>> > would probably be better than this, too.  Also, has anyone priced
>> flights to
>> > Phoenix in February?  Bill Redpath
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 11:16 AM, Daniel Wiener <wiener at alum.mit.edu>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I'll second what Sam said.  I'm not planning on spending $189+$20+tax
>> per
>> >> night for a hotel room.
>> >>
>> >> Dan Wiener
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 8:11 AM, Sam Goldstein <
>> goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> I thought Robert said we could meet at the Holiday inn airport again.
>> >>>
>> >>> On Jan 7, 2016 11:10 AM, "Wes Benedict" <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Yes, the LNC-EC voted to have the meeting in Phoenix.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> The hotel in the Helms Briscoe proposal has rooms for $189 per night,
>> >>>> plus $20 per night resort fee. Plus tax.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> There is a 32 room-night (could be 16 rooms 2 night each) mandatory
>> >>>> minimum if I read the proposal right. You pay penalties if we don't
>> make it.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> We are about to ask Helms Briscoe to book it.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I just want to make sure most of you plan to stay at the hotel so we
>> >>>> meet our mandatory minimum.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> If not, please speak up. If so, speak up. We need to see if 14 of you
>> >>>> will book rooms for 2 nights. Two rooms will be booked for staff.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> It might be worth it for Kevin Ludlow to set up a poll to see who
>> agrees
>> >>>> to stay at the hotel, and if there is going to be a large penalty,
>> then we
>> >>>> locate alternatives. I respect Mr. Ludlow's preference not to use
>> cost as a
>> >>>> factor in choosing hotel locations, but the party will have to pay
>> the
>> >>>> penalties if enough of you don't stay at the hotel (unless other LNC
>> members
>> >>>> agree to pay the penalty if we don't meet the minimum).
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Barring obvious clear opposition, Friday (tomorrow) morning 1/8/2016
>> we
>> >>>> will have Helms Briscoe initiate the contract prep and signing for
>> the
>> >>>> Arizona Grand Hotel.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Thanks,
>> >>>>
>> >>>> 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 1/6/2016 11:51 PM, Roland Riemers wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Praise the Lord!
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ________________________________
>> >>>> From: Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
>> >>>> To: lnc-business <lnc-business at lp.org>
>> >>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 6, 2016 10:16 PM
>> >>>> Subject: [Lnc-business] book Phoenix flights for Feb LNC meeting
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I'll have the EC minutes out soon, but for those of you anxious to
>> book
>> >>>> flights for the Feb 20-21 LNC meeting, the Executive Committee
>> decided to
>> >>>> break the stalemate on the question and voted to have the meeting in
>> >>>> Phoenix.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Now you can book flights.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> -Alicia
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>> 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
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> Lnc-business mailing list
>> >>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> >>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> "In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we
>> >> guess it (audience laughter), no, don’t laugh, that’s the truth. Then
>> we
>> >> compute the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right,
>> if
>> >> this law we guess is right, to see what it would imply and then we
>> compare
>> >> the computation results to nature or we say compare to experiment or
>> >> experience, compare it directly with observations to see if it works.
>> If it
>> >> disagrees with experiment, it’s WRONG. In that simple statement is the
>> key
>> >> to science. It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess
>> is, it
>> >> doesn’t matter how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name
>> is.
>> >> If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there is to
>> it.” --
>> >> Richard Feynman (https://tinyurl.com/lozjjps)
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> 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
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
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