[Lnc-business] Transparency and the budget

[Wes Benedict]

Caryn Ann, I don't mind if you do it successfully.  I'm not saying it 
can't be done.

So, I hereby challenge you to do it, if you can do it without my help 
(meaning don't ask me what goes in what category).


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 12/2/2016 5:11 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
> Wes I'm not the best person to make that challenge to.  I'm a 
> paralegal.  My entire work day requires me to keep track of every six 
> minute block by L and A codes.  I have done it for twenty years.  It 
> does require setting guidelines for what things get calculated as and 
> tolerance levels on level of granularity.
>
>
> -- 
> *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/>
>
>
> On Friday, December 2, 2016, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org 
> <mailto:wes.benedict at lp.org>> wrote:
>
>     An interesting experiment would be for each LNC member to track
>     its hours for one month according to the Functional Allocation of
>     Expenses procedures requested. It would give you some hands on
>     experience in dealing with the reality that we switch categories
>     often every few minutes, like from:
>
>     40 - Admin (this conversation)
>
>     88 - Outreach (LNC photos on the website)
>
>     80 - Media or 85 - Member Communications (delivering the message
>     the LNC wants)
>
>     85 - Member Communication (recording the termination of the
>     membership of person who disapproves of LNC buying meat)
>
>     40 Admin? or 55 Branding? or 70 - Ballot Access?  - approving
>     staff getting a poster about ballot access printed.
>
>     I literally switch tasks every few minutes. Trying to track this
>     in detail is very tough.
>
>     I really would like to see the LNC track themselves for a month.
>     You'll find out how hard this is after one hour.
>
>
>     Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>     Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>     1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
>     (202) 333-0008 ext. 232 <tel:%28202%29%20333-0008>,wes.benedict at lp.org
>     facebook.com/libertarians <http://facebook.com/libertarians>  @LPNational
>     Join the Libertarian Party at:http://lp.org/membership
>
>     On 12/2/2016 3:21 PM, Joshua Katz wrote:
>>     I pointed out earlier the concern I am expressing here, but I did
>>     it briefly and without much explanation, because I wanted to know
>>     if, in fact, I have misunderstood, if I was making a big mistake,
>>     and if my concerns were unfounded.  All of that remains perfectly
>>     possible, but the fact that I have not received an explanation
>>     making those points suggests to me that perhaps I am onto
>>     something important.
>>
>>     80% of the proposed budget is accounted for by administration and
>>     compensation.  A member seeing that might be excused for
>>     believing that the national party simply consumes 80 cents of
>>     each dollar received.  This would be a mistake, but it would be
>>     an understandable mistake - and one we can easily prevent.
>>
>>     This member would be mistaken because compensation is not
>>     consumption.  Staff does a lot of things.  Staff work is a very
>>     large proportion of what the national party does.  When we see an
>>     affiliate support line with a rather small number on it, it
>>     conceals the fact that staff spends a good amount of time
>>     supporting affiliates.  Since staff time is split between
>>     different functions, we have a timesheet policy allowing staff
>>     time to be billed to different lines.
>>
>>     So this brings us to, perhaps, a bigger problem:  even knowing
>>     this, the member reading this budget has no idea how much of
>>     staff time is spent on what projects.  Perhaps most importantly,
>>     neither does the LNC.  Certainly the LNC is not giving direction
>>     as to how staff time should be spent.  We have, essentially,
>>     created a black box into which we place 50% of the annual budget.
>>
>>     A budget that breaks down staff time the way it is to be billed,
>>     and that funds staff time from line items, also allows members,
>>     at a glance, to see what priorities the national party has, and
>>     to know easily and quickly what staff is doing.  Most
>>     importantly, it assures members that these priorities are being
>>     set by those they elect to make such decisions, not being left to
>>     the ED, or to chance, or to "whatever is most pressing at the
>>     moment."  I have said before that my most pressing
>>
>>     After all, functional and operational transparency require not
>>     only that members see and hear us talking, but that we are
>>     talking about the things that members need to know.  If we make
>>     ourselves open, but exercise no control over fully half the
>>     budget, we are not transparent.
>>
>>     This is not at all hard to fix.  We know the proposed total
>>     compensation.  We may modify it at our meeting.  A portion of
>>     that, perhaps 20%, should be left in the compensation black-box. 
>>     The LNC can decide what we'd like to prioritize by setting
>>     percentages to various functional lines. The remaining
>>     compensation multiplied by the percentage gives the amount to be
>>     moved from compensation to the appropriate line item.
>>
>>     Maintaining is also easy.  Simply fund compensation from the
>>     various lines, in accordance with the timesheets received.  The
>>     Treasurer can, in turn, keep an eye on the lines, and see if some
>>     lines are over or under funded.  If so, the board can decide how
>>     to react - by amending the budget, or by instructing staff to
>>     respect the priorities set.
>>
>>     I am not known as a transparency champion.  In large part, I have
>>     a different notion of transparency from many of my colleagues. 
>>     The above shows the sort of transparency I worry about.  I hope,
>>     though, that my colleagues who are known as transparency
>>     champions will join me on this issue, and join me in requesting
>>     that we not place 50% of our annual expenditure in a black-box
>>     line item such that members cannot use the budget to determine
>>     what it is that we do, and we cannot use the budget to govern the
>>     organization.
>>
>>     For my part, I am disinclined to vote for a budget that
>>     black-boxes 50%, and that charges 80% to administration.
>>
>>     Joshua A. Katz
>>
>>
>>
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