[Lnc-business] Candidate contracts - legal advice?

Sat Oct 22 18:49:20 EDT 2016

I think we are on the same page Joshua.

I see a contract with the voter fraught with issues.

On Saturday, October 22, 2016, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Why else would who sign it?  Why else would the voter sign it?  Dunno.  If
> the $10k is to be paid to them, that seems like a reason.  Why else would
> the candidate sign it?  Well, I have trouble believing that the candidate
> is interested in risking money to get one voter's support.
>
> If we add to the facts that the voter is agreeing to support the
> candidate, then I agree there's consideration, at least on the contract's
> own terms.  Actually demanding the performance from the voter would almost
> certainly be illegal, but if treated as a bilateral contract the legal
> portion might still be enforceable.
>
> Of the two options, the LNC option probably makes more sense, assuming the
> LNC promises to do something - it could be as small as promising not to
> attack the candidate.  I'd need more details before knowing if I'd agree
> with it or not.  I would oppose the example given - regardless of what I'd
> do, I am not interested in binding a candidate not to, for instance,
> increase sales tax by .01% in a deal that also eliminates the NSA, or
> something like that.
>
> Joshua A. Katz
> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
>
> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
> carynannharlos at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','carynannharlos at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>> Why else would they sign it?  I believe that was implicit in Arvin's
>> scenario.
>>
>>
>> On Saturday, October 22, 2016, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','planning4liberty at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>>
>>> Where does the hypo say the voter promises support?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Joshua A. Katz
>>> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 4:01 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
>>> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I believe the contact may be against public election policy if with the
>>>> voter, but there is consideration.  The voter promises support IF the
>>>> candidate follows the pledge.  Clear consideration.  But I think this would
>>>> violate some election law, it just doesn't pass the gut test.
>>>>
>>>> Now as between the candidate and the LNC, I think that might be a
>>>> different matter.
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Joshua Katz <
>>>> planning4liberty at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I believe the contract is unenforceable for want of consideration.
>>>>> The voter does not have their future actions constrained in any way, and so
>>>>> suffers no detriment.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Joshua A. Katz
>>>>> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 11:41 AM, Arvin Vohra <votevohra at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A few years ago, we started doing candidate pledges. We basically
>>>>>> based them off the Norquist tax pledge, but made them about cutting
>>>>>> government instead not just not growing it. Some include sponsoring
>>>>>> legislation to cut spending to 1998 levels to eliminate the income tax,
>>>>>> sponsoring legislation to cut military spending by 60 percent, sponsoring
>>>>>> legislation to repeal the Patriot act, etc. The pledges are obviously
>>>>>> voluntary.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I've been considering advancing this from a pledge to a (voluntary)
>>>>>> contract. There are two versions I have considered so far:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1. The contract would be signed by the candidate, with any voter able
>>>>>> to act as a cosigner. The voter would download a signed pdf, sign it, and
>>>>>> that would put the contract into effect.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2. The contract would be between the candidate and the LNC.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Unlike the pledge, the contract would have clear, defined, monetary
>>>>>> penalties. As in: "The candidate will oppose any tax increase for any
>>>>>> purpose, unless it is accompanied by a larger simultaneous tax decrease, or
>>>>>> will pay $10,000." Or something along those lines.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looking for legal and other input.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Arvin
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Arvin Vohra
>>>>>>
>>>>>> www.VoteVohra.com
>>>>>> VoteVohra at gmail.com
>>>>>> (301) 320-3634
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> 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
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *In Liberty,*
>>>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>>>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>>>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>>>> Harlos at LP.org
>>>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>>>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>>>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>>>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> *In Liberty,*
>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>> Harlos at LP.org <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org');>
>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
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