[Lnc-business] Fwd: Ending Oklahoma paid petition drive on January 18th (today)

Sun Jan 24 03:11:44 EST 2016

Wes,

Hah!  I'm sure I could lend a hand on some of our lovely beaches sometime!
Apologies for the slower-than-usual response.  I got a laugh out of your
email though.

All,

I want to echo what Mr. Bittner wrote.  I appreciate the information being
distributed and would really like to make sure that we have it in an
easily-accessible archive.  I could be mistaken, but it strikes me that the
majority of the information is in the heads of just a few people.

While I appreciate this is just how things have gone, it also sheds a
bright light on one of those many business/process flaws we suffer from.
We need data like this to be readily available for the LNC so that people
can make well-informed decisions. And I'll just go ahead and write it since
apparently it's an elephant around here, we also most definitely need to
have this data cataloged so that every - single - person on this board is
100% expendable.  I'm certainly including myself in that claim (and staff
too for what it's worth).  Nobody should be granted a role in this
organization simply because they're the only ones who know how something
works.  And since nobody else seems to have data on this topic and since
it's quite obviously a HUGE point of importance for the LNC, something has
to give.  In any other organization those people would be required to
distribute that information to the team or they themselves would be
terminated.  I would like to help lead that effort any way I can so that
this is not a one, or two, or five man show, but rather a full team.

I happen to hire and manage a lot of people both for the businesses I own
and for the ones I consult for.  I can't say for certain at this point
because I really haven't had a chance to analyze the numbers in any depth,
but it seems we could likely pay people much better for the job than we
originally did.  Having followed some of the emails much earlier in this
process, it seems that we were paying people "market rates" for the work
they were preparing to do (and have now done).

As a general business strategy I tend to pay my employees and contractors
well above "market rate".  In exchange for this I most certainly get the
best, brightest, and most hard-working people on my team (yay capitalism).
I am also able to put many more caveats on the workload.  I don't reward
being late.  I don't reward inaccuracy.  I don't reward repeat mistakes.  I
am paying for quality and so I demand it from people working for me.  In
this case that would focus on expediency and accuracy.

Again, I'm not saying for certain that this would be a good strategy as I
certainly don't know the market well, but it often strikes me that a common
Libertarian mentality is to pay "what the market can handle".  But let's
face it, the truth is that we're just being cheap.  Just plain cheap.  And
of course as a predictable consequence, we get exactly what we pay for.  In
this case a complete inability to predict the actual time and cost of
completing this task from the get-go with an almost 100% cost markup from
the original goal.  That's should be awfully troubling to anyone who
manages people.  These people have allegedly been doing ballot petition
drives for years and they're 100% off of their estimates?  That's pretty
bad.  Yes, I know you can rattle off a bunch of reasons as to why there
were more costs; I read the emails.  But then I will just say, "and so
quite clearly their inability to predict those obstacles to the tune of
*double* means maybe they're not the best afterall".

All I'm saying is that with actual numbers to examine, perhaps there is a
better, faster, more efficient and cost effective way to do this.  In fact,
that strategy might not just benefit the Libertarian Party, but might
actually endear us to highly competent and qualified petitioners from
around the country (and world) who hear we're a great enterprise to work
for/with.

I will be working to catalog as much info as I can into a Wiki and I hope I
can recruit some LNC members to help me with that.  I intend to strictly
moderate it so that it is limited to LNC members (for input anyways) and
will ensure it contains data, facts, and NOT opinions.

In all though, thank you so very much to Wes and Robert for having provided
information as we have gone along.  It's been very helpful and is very much
appreciated!

Thanks as always.
Kevin Ludlow
Region 7 Rep
512-773-3968

On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 10:40 AM, Brett Bittner <brett at brettbittner.com>
wrote:

> I have flip flops, and I may be able to make the sacrifice to petition
> during Spring Break at South Padre Island. It will be tough, as the snow in
> Indiana will be hard to leave, but somebody has to do it.
>
> Seriously, thank you, Wes! Your updates have made this process more
> visible to LNC members and those that read the list outside the LNC.
>
> Kevin, I appreciate your desire to get the nuts and bolts recorded to make
> future decisions regarding $100k expenditures with more data and less
> conjecture.
>
> Brett C. Bittner
>
> brett at brettbittner.com
> 404.492.6524
>
> "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much
> liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 11:31 AM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Kevin, there's a giant blizzard headed my way, and I'll be rushing home
>> to work from home soon, so I'm going to keep this short.
>>
>> 1. We contracted with one organization (the LP OK), which subcontracted
>> to 31 individuals and 2 organizations so far.
>>
>> 2.  We have 40,045 signatures in hand.
>>
>> 3. 24,712 valid are required. The best estimates I've heard for validity
>> are 67%, which comes to 26,830. But valid signatures is not a number that's
>> knowable with certainty, even with a theoretical unlimited resources. Our
>> validity checkers may make different judgements than the Oklahoma elections
>> officials in each county. We want plenty of extra signatures to be safe.
>> The LNC is not paying for more signatures, but volunteer and local efforts
>> continue.
>>
>> 4. My cost estimate so far is $101,077. I don't expect it go higher
>> hardly at all. We've stopped spending and paid for everything, but some
>> small bills might still roll in.
>>
>> Finally, I'm going to interrupt this winter in Alexandria, Virgina, and
>> the ice storm I endured while visiting Oklahoma, and bring back scenes from
>> my experience 12 years ago petitioning in Texas. South Padre Island, Texas,
>> that is. Spring Break. Click on the photo
>> <https://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/80107-signatures-two-hotties-and-mismanagement-of-the-insane-professional-lp-petitioners/>for
>> the full story of petitioning in Texas. See some of the same ole names in
>> the comments. Kevin, you better get your flip flops ready and your sun tan
>> lotion and book early for 2018 Spring Break because LP Texas is going to
>> have to petition again most likely, for the first time since 2004, and I
>> can't go to Padre anymore.
>>
>>
>> <https://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/80107-signatures-two-hotties-and-mismanagement-of-the-insane-professional-lp-petitioners/>
>>
>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>>
>> On 1/22/2016 1:55 AM, Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for having sent out this information, Wes.
>>
>> Now that the petition is ended (at least I think it is), do we have the
>> numbers yet?
>>
>> I would be very interested in the following data points:
>>
>> 1) How many different people we employed to collect signatures
>> 2) How many signatures we collected in total
>> 3) How many VALID signatures we collected
>> 4) What the total cost was for all of the signature collection
>>
>> And before anybody thinks there's some interest to twist it around, I'm
>> simply interested in archiving this data for the future so that we have
>> better records next time it comes up.  It seems to me that we do a lot of
>> guess work around here.  It also seems to me that in order to improve upon
>> that we really need to be more diligent with data.  As always, apologies if
>> I'm mistaken, but I certainly don't know of any available resource that
>> houses data like this.  I'd like to help improve that any which way I can.
>>
>> Kevin Ludlow
>> Region 7 Rep
>> 512-773-3968
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 12:11 PM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Roland. I just sent you an email separately with contacts in
>>> Oklahoma that can get you set up and productive quickly. Thank you again so
>>> much for helping out in such a big way.
>>>
>>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>>> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
>>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>>>
>>> On 1/19/2016 10:57 PM, Roland Riemers wrote:
>>>
>>> Wes,  my latest schedule plans seems to be to leave ND on this Thursday
>>> or Friday.  Instead of Tulsa, I decided on Oklahoma City instead, because I
>>> have a daughter and free housing there.  She lives in Moore, Oklahoma, and
>>> I have her and her husbands signatures already obligated.  Moore is in
>>> Cleveland County, and it looks like a lot of good open housing developments
>>> in that area, so I might just concentrate on house to house in Cleveland
>>> County and maybe some large sites during the day where I can set up a table
>>> and chair.  Weather looks good for this time period.
>>>
>>> Have anyway in Okahoma City area that would be willing to work with me a
>>> few days?
>>>
>>> I have the petitions all printed out, and also some voter registration
>>> forms for those not registered,  although not quit sure where they should
>>> be turned in to.
>>>
>>> While in Oklahoma, locals can reach me on my cell phone at 701-317-1803.
>>>
>>> I will drive one of my vans down, so if any volunteers, I can also
>>> provide transportation. Will also have my table and chairs and even my
>>> bullhorn and a few American Flags if needed.
>>>
>>> Roland Riemers, ND
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Wes Benedict <Wes.Benedict at lp.org> <Wes.Benedict at lp.org>
>>> *To:* lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> *Sent:* Monday, January 18, 2016 1:32 AM
>>> *Subject:* [Lnc-business] Fwd: Ending Oklahoma paid petition drive on
>>> January 18th (today)
>>>
>>> Roland, we'd still like your help to cover unexpected problems with
>>> validity. But we'll be finished with the paid portion of the drive today.
>>>
>>> If someone wants to contribute $1,500 directly to the LP Oklahoma, that
>>> could pay for an additional 1,000 signatures at the $1.50 rate. Contact me
>>> if you are interested in that (or Tina directly if you're in contact with
>>> her). You need to make sure it goes into their ballot access fund instead
>>> of their general fund to be sure it gets spent on signatures.
>>>
>>> Graph below (more signatures are on the way not yet reflected in that
>>> graph), and the "ending" announcement is below.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Forwarded Message --------
>>> Subject: Ending Oklahoma paid petition drive on January 18th (today)
>>> Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 02:22:57 -0500
>>> From: Wes Benedict <Wes.Benedict at lp.org>mailto:Wes.Benedict at lp.org
>>> <Wes.Benedict at lp.org>
>>> To: Tina Kelly <tina.kelly at cox.net>mailto:tina.kelly at cox.net
>>> <tina.kelly at cox.net>, Bill Redpath <william.redpath at lp.org>
>>> mailto:william.redpath at lp.org <william.redpath at lp.org>, Nicholas
>>> Sarwark <chair at lp.org>mailto:chair at lp.org <chair at lp.org>,
>>> travellingcircus at gmail.com, ken.moellman at lpky.org, oliverbhall at gmail.com,
>>> 'Richard Winger' <richardwinger at yahoo.com>mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com
>>> <richardwinger at yahoo.com>, 'Robert Kraus' <robert.kraus at lp.org>
>>> mailto:robert.kraus at lp.org <robert.kraus at lp.org>
>>>
>>>
>>> Due to strong progress, we are ending the paid petitioning in Oklahoma
>>> at the $1.50 rate at the end of the day on January 18, 2016 (that's means
>>> today if you are reading this the day it is sent).
>>>
>>> Petitioners will have four days to turn in their signatures to Tin Kelly
>>> (turn them in by January 22, 2016).
>>>
>>> My note below indicated we would end the $2.50 rate on January 17, and
>>> due to quantities projected, we are ending the $1.50 rate on January 18
>>> (just one day's worth).
>>>
>>> A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped with this drive. We
>>> still need a couple thousand signatures from volunteers in Oklahoma to make
>>> sure this drive is successful. If you are interested in collecting as a
>>> volunteer, please contact Tina Kelly.
>>>
>>>
>>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>>> *New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314*
>>> (202) 333-0008 ext. 232 <%28202%29%20333-0008%20ext.%20232>,
>>> <wes.benedict at lp.org>wes.benedict at lp.org
>>> facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
>>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>>>
>>> Wes Benedict wrote on 1/11/2016 6:57 PM:
>>>
>>> Attention petitioners, Libertarian National Committee, and Libertarian
>>> Party of Oklahoma: the deadline for paid petitioning in Oklahoma at $2.50
>>> per signature is January 17. We are almost out of money and have almost
>>> reached our targets.
>>>
>>> Thanks to a great effort by many petitioners, we are close to hitting
>>> our approximate target of around 38,000 signatures paid for by the
>>> Libertarian National Committee and Libertarian Party of Oklahoma. We will
>>> come close to reaching that target on January 17.
>>>
>>> Petitioners will have four days after January 17 to get their signatures
>>> turned in to Tina Kelly, the petition organizer in Oklahoma. You will not
>>> get paid $2.50 per signature for signatures collected after January 17.
>>>
>>> We may be short a a few hundred or a few thousand signatures. We may
>>> hire a few people to continue collecting signatures at $1.50 per signature
>>> after January 17 perhaps for several days.  If you are interested in
>>> collecting signatures for $1.50 after January 17 for a limited amount of
>>> time, please contact Tina Kelly and get approval for that in advance.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your great work on this petition drive.
>>>
>>> This email is approved for release to others, including the public.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ========================================================
>> Kevin Ludlow
>> 512-773-3968
>> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lnc-business mailing listLnc-business at hq.lp.orghttp://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
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-- 
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968
http://www.kevinludlow.com
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