[Lnc-business] P.S. – Re: Membership List for South Carolina

[Ken Moellman]

I'm actually on the database list, and have been for years. It's dormant.

The IT Committee is working on a larger database/contact project, which
would do the job of maintaining voter lists and other contact information
better than Raiser's Edge, which is primarily a fundraising tool.  However,
that project is likely a long way off from being completed.  I'm not
involved in that one very heavily, other than to provide the schema of what
I have built in KY for the same purpose.

I do agree that there should be simple rules on how the data is to be used
and protected.

ken

On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 9:18 AM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> To clarify, by "our party, not theirs!" in the message below I meant the
> LP and not the Republicans or Democrats.
>
> Love & Liberty,
>
>                                    ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                         RealReform at earthlink.net
>                                 (415) 625-FREE
>                                   @StarchildSF
>
>
> On Jun 5, 2017, at 5:14 AM, Starchild wrote:
>
> James and Stewart,
>
> I see I wrote my original response somewhat hastily; I meant to ask, "Has
> Travis McCurry asked the national office to copy *him* on membership
> updates for South Carolina when they get sent out?"
>
> Anyway, reading your further correspondence, both of you make points here
> that seem reasonable to me. In general I am very strongly in favor of
> transparency and giving our members access to information, but I am mindful
> that how we handle the personal data entrusted to us by our members falls
> under a special category of information-handling, because while we should
> uphold transparency on an institutional level, as libertarians we also
> believe in the individual right to privacy. The report that a (former, I
> hope?) county chair in South Carolina recently gave LP membership
> information to the Trump campaign is troubling. The national party's
> data-sharing policy as detailed below shows that this could have included
> significant personal data which I strongly suspect most individuals on that
> list probably did *not* want the Trump campaign to have. In such a
> context, it makes perfect sense to me that South Carolina LP chair Stewart
> Flood would be cautious lest something similar happen again.
>
> On the other hand, I'm in complete sympathy when activist James Brandmair
> says, "I just want to reach out to other Libertarians in my area and it
> really shouldn't be this difficult to get a list.". I agree it should not,
> and it seems desirable to me that there be clear procedures allowing
> grassroots activists like him who meet whatever reasonable requirements
> their state parties choose to establish to safeguard member data, to access
> that information for legitimate party-building purposes (our party, not
> theirs!). Such procedures might conceivably include provisions such as:
>
> • requiring member data recipients to sign a statement that they will only
> use the information for certain specified purposes
>
> • allowing a majority of state central committee or executive committee
> members to veto a membership data request if they suspect it might be
> misused (I'm mindful of the Florida LP's situation in which a handful of
> party members have been widely accused of being associated with fascists or
> white supremacists – see e.g. http://independentpoliticalreport.
> com/2017/04/update-on-augustus-invictus-criminal-
> allegations-and-retraction-of-censure-from-florida-lp-
> possible-disaffiliation-by-lnc-floated/)
>
> • including a "dummy" listing with each batch of membership data so that
> anyone using the list inappropriately can be identified (perhaps this
> practice is already being followed in South Carolina and is how the county
> chair who shared data with the Trump campaign was exposed?)
>
> However, *I do not think it would be appropriate for the Libertarian
> National Committee to dictate to state affiliates what their data-sharing
> procedures ought to be*. Who can access under what conditions the
> information passed along to them by the national party should be up to each
> affiliate. The language in the LNC Policy Manual about affiliate relations
> pointed to by Alicia Mattson already conveys too much of a tone of the LNC
> laying down policy to state LP leaders:
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Section 3.03 AFFILIATE RELATIONS
>
> 1) Affiliate Relationships
> Special agreements with states require the approval of the LNC.
>
> 2) Data Sharing with Affiliates
> LPHQ will provide all officially recognized state-level affiliates with a
> list of Constituents
> residing in the area covered by that affiliate, within the first 5
> business days of the month to
> the affiliate chair, or his designee.
>
> Such list shall include the following data elements (where available and
> applicable):
> • A unique ID
> • First, Middle and Last Name
> • Postal mailing address
> • Home and work phone and email address
> • County of residency, if that information can be obtained via commonly
> available
> sources within reasonable cost
> • Join and Expiration Dates
> • Donation classification level (basic, life, etc)
> • Existence of signed certification
> • Sustaining membership status
> • Other data elements, at the discretion of LPHQ
>
> The affiliate chair may request that additional people receive copies of
> the
> constituent list.
>
> LPHQ will establish and publish formal procedures for state chairs to
> follow in this regard.
>
> The LPHQ will endeavor to provide the list in the file format requested
> (PDF, Excel, CSV,
> etc), but is under no obligation to do so, as it cannot guarantee that all
> file formats will always
> be available.
>
> Should the LPHQ desire to change the quantity or order of the data
> elements, it will provide
> one month's notice of such change.
>
> The LPHQ makes no further guarantees regarding the format, method of
> delivery or structure
> of the data.
>
> All official communications regarding the database export format will be
> made via the state
> chairs e-mail list and a moderated database announce e-mail list to be
> administered by the
> LNC and that it is the responsibility of the affiliate chair to make sure
> the appropriate database
> contacts are on the database announce e-mail list.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am of a mind to make a motion to revise this section. Besides the
> overall tone, a few of the specific problems I see with the current
> language:
>
> • It dictates which state-level LP officials get access [the chair or
> "his" (sic) designee], rather than letting each affiliate tell the LNC to
> whom access should be granted,according to that state LP's own policies on
> the matter
>
> • It mentions a "database announce e-mail list", but provides no
> information about it such as which database contacts are on it from which
> states, or how to subscribe or view the list
>
> • It includes a phrase "is under no obligation to do so" which seems
> off-putting; simply stating that the national party will endeavor to
> provide lists in the file formats requested is sufficient
>
> • It states that official communications will be made via the "state
> chairs e-mail list", a list which has so far been kept secret and to which
> neither LNC members nor state level activists necessarily have access
>
> James and Stewart, if you or any of your South Carolina LP colleagues, or
> anyone else reading, have any suggested input on how the LNC's affiliate
> data-sharing policy listed above ought to be revised, please let me know.
>
> On a practical level, I hope the two of you can get along and work
> something out to your mutual satisfaction. While James may be new to the
> party, enthusiastic new LP members who jump in and get involved in helping
> us organize and grow are like manna from heaven, and I expect the South
> Carolina chair, who is a long-time dedicated activist, wants to encourage
> this in his state as much as any of us. And of course every new Libertarian
> who shares our values will understand the importance of having precautions
> so that the personal data of members like yourselves isn't misused.
>
> Love & Liberty,
>
>                                     ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                          RealReform at earthlink.net
>                                  (415) 625-FREE
>                                    @StarchildSF
>
> P.S. – If the information provided by the South Carolina chair is correct,
> the LNC's Policy Manual provision that *"LPHQ will provide all officially
> recognized state-level affiliates with a list of Constituents residing in
> the area covered by that affiliate, within the first 5 business days of the
> month to the affiliate chair, or his designee"* is not being consistently
> followed. I would ask that staff look into the matter and let us all know
> what you find.
>
>
> On Jun 4, 2017, at 6:45 PM, James Brandmair wrote:
>
> Tell him this, "I have been going through the Libertarian Leadership
> Academy and it recommends that I reach out to other Libertarians. From what
> I can tell there is very little activity and no one is actively recruiting
> candidates and new activists. I didn't join the LP to sit around in
> meetings talking, I joined to actually help elect Libertarians to public
> office. I just want to reach out to other Libertarians in my area and it
> really shouldn't be this difficult to get a list."
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 9:36 PM Stewart Flood <sff at ivo.net> wrote:
>
>> Starchild,
>>
>> Thank you for copying me in your response.
>>
>> Mr Brandmair is giving you incomplete and inaccurate information
>> regarding our conversation yesterday.  We have missed getting data dumps a
>> number of months over the past year, and do not receive them every month or
>> on a specific day of the month.  We also stopped getting contact emails a
>> number of months back, but were informed there was a problem that was being
>> corrected.  We did start receiving them again recently, but they have
>> started getting marked as spam.  I’m not sure which list the party’s server
>> is on, but someone has flagged it as spam.  Hopefully they are already
>> aware of this and dealing with it.
>>
>> When Mr Brandmair asked me about data after yesterday’s meeting, it was
>> at the end of a very stressful and LONG meeting and I did not want to waste
>> time elaborating at that moment why I said the format of the data could be
>> confusing.
>>
>> Mr Brandmair and his associate are very new to the party.  We had a
>> recent case of a county chair asking the party secretary for membership
>> data and then turning around and giving it to the Trump campaign.  We do
>> not just indiscreetly give out data now, and I was not going to try to
>> explain to him at that moment all the reasons why I was not going to just
>> hand him our data.  He is not the chair of his county party.
>>
>>
>> Stewart
>> sff at ivo.net
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 4, 2017, at 8:03 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> James,
>>
>> Thank you for sharing your concern, and Arvin for bringing it to our
>> attention. Has Travis McCurry asked the national office to copy you on
>> membership updates for South Carolina when they get sent out? It's my
>> understanding that any elected state LP leader is can receive the data from
>> national for their state if they ask for it, at which point you could
>> presumably get from him the lists of members in your counties, if your
>> chair refuses to provide it for some reason. But I'd like to hear Stewart's
>> response, and what issues(s) he may have regarding the formatting of the
>> list. Not wanting to share membership data with county leaders doesn't
>> sound in keeping with what if I recall correctly has been his usual support
>> for transparency.
>>
>> Love & Liberty,
>>
>>                                     ((( starchild )))
>> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>>                          RealReform at earthlink.net
>>                                 (415) 625-FREE
>>                                   @StarchildSF
>>
>>
>> On Jun 4, 2017, at 11:47 AM, Arvin Vohra wrote:
>>
>> Hi all - can someone help with this, if doing so is within our purview?
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: James Brandmair <jamesbrandmair at gmail.com>
>> Date: Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 2:45 PM
>> Subject: Membership List for South Carolina
>> To: "vicechair at lp.org" <vicechair at lp.org>
>>
>>
>> Arvin,
>>
>> Harper Sharp and I have been dissatisfied with the LP in our state so we
>> took it upon ourselves to start being the change we wanted to see. Over the
>> last month and a half we have come to find out that the state party is
>> incompetent and unmotivated. Furthermore we have concluded that the main
>> reason for that is Stewart Flood, our state chair. There's been many
>> instances of him holding the party back for reasons that can only appear as
>> him trying to maintain control over it. The biggest issue being that he
>> isn't fulfilling his duty in membership recruitment by utilizing and
>> distributing the membership list he receives from national. He's made a
>> number of excuses saying that National doesn't send him the list, to when
>> he does get the membership list the formatting is confusing. His vice
>> chair, Travis McCurry, isn't even aware when he gets membership list at
>> times, and he wants to grow the party just as much as we do. Furthermore,
>> our county chairmen are not getting the membership list from Stewart Flood
>> so they can actively recruit in their respective areas. To get to the point
>> of all this, is that we are hoping you can help us get the membership list
>> for our state, South Carolina; or at least Lexington and Richland county,
>> so that we can get out there in the field and start communicating with
>> people to get them more involved in the liberty movement.
>>
>> Thanks for all you do,
>>
>> James Brandmair & Harper Sharp
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Arvin Vohra
>>
>> www.VoteVohra.com <http://www.votevohra.com/>
>> VoteVohra at gmail.com
>> (301) 320-3634
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>>
>>
>>
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