[Lnc-business] LP Store merchandise / Libertarian yellow pages

Starchild sfdreamer at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 13 04:40:08 EDT 2017 

Ken,

	I've also previously suggested adding more merchandise to the LP Store, and provided some fashion examples and ideas. I agree it's not necessarily the highest priority, but I do think it's something that could bring in more money and increase our visibility. Did you have any specific merchandise in mind? Please share. It seems to me we've barely scratched the surface of what could be done in terms of offering various products (and potentially services as well). 

	On a slightly different but somewhat related topic, another idea that's been discussed by LNC members before (and I believe the party had, at one point) is hosting a Libertarian "yellow pages" type directory on our site. Offering such listings free to LP sustaining members would be a nice membership incentive and a way to build community while giving members more options to direct their consumer dollars toward fellow Libertarians.

Love & Liberty,

                                  ((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                        RealReform at earthlink.net
                                (415) 625-FREE
                                  @StarchildSF


On Jul 12, 2017, at 10:31 PM, Ken Moellman wrote:

> I mostly want to say that working with the staff is both enjoyable and productive. I know some people question why we have these folks on staff, but I want to say they do a great job.  They even put up with me. :) 
> 
> Really, I think it's a question of priorities.  Robert essentially said as much.  
> 
> I recently asked about adding merchandise to the LP Store.  Wes informed me that he was really busy and he might be able to get to it in a month or so.  That's fine, because LP Store merchandise is probably not at the top of his priority list.
> 
> And so I do think this is simply a matter of priority. I know I end up having to push things, repeatedly.  Heck, I've had "learn perl" on my to-do list for about 2 decades.  I still haven't got to that yet.  I have about 300 tabs open in Firefox (seriously) because those are all the things I need to get back to at some point.  Prioritization is the cause.  It was more important to roll out services and work on Ohio's ballot access, for instance, so other things get pushed.
> 
> I do think it's probably more important to keep raising more money for the party, but I also see the necessity to have a handle on expenses.  Somewhere, there's a balance here.  I don't think it will take 2 decades to get this information, but it probably is a good idea to explore ways to do the accounting in a more efficient manner.  If we make tasks more efficient, then staff will have more time for other tasks.
> 
> And speaking of efficiency - I have to give a huge shout-out to Andy Burns for helping LPKY re-launch the state party's website on the LP National hosting platform.  If you have a moment, check out https://www.lpky.org/ and see what you think.  I would encourage other states to follow the same path, because it will make them more efficient as well.  I'd also be remiss if I didn't plug the new email hosting LP National now offers to state parties.  Leveraging economies of scale, we become more efficient and spend less time on back-office busy-work.
> 
> ken
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 1:08 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
> Starchild,
> 
> At present, the LNC has Wes Benedict, Eric Dixon, and Robert Kraus
> full-time and based out of the Alexandria office. My understanding is
> that Nick Dunbar and Mat Thexton are also based out of that office,
> though not full-time.  We also have a number of contractors working
> remotely, including Andy Burns, Lauren Daugherty, Jess Mears, Denise
> Luckey, Bob Johnston, and Elizabeth Brierly.
> 
> Wes and I are in the midst of interviewing candidates for Press
> Secretary, which is anticipated to be full-time, and will be moving on
> to interviewing candidates for a Candidate Support Specialist shortly.
> 
> Yours in liberty,
> Nick
> 
> On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 8:05 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > Thank you, Alicia. Coupled with the Convention Oversight Committee
> > experience you mention, this does raise questions. But beyond the issue of
> > getting the requested information, I was honestly shocked to hear that only
> > Wes and Robert are usually in the office full time. If their time is
> > valuable enough to justify what we're paying them, surely we should not be
> > having them routinely spend that time on tasks that lower-paid staffers, or
> > volunteers, could be handling.
> >
> > I would like to hear what Nick Sarwark as chair thinks about both the data
> > request compliance and how staff hours are apparently being allocated.
> >
> > Love & Liberty,
> >
> >                                     ((( starchild )))
> > At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
> >                           RealReform at earthlink.net
> >                                  (415) 625-FREE
> >                                     @StarchildSF
> >
> >
> > On Jun 7, 2017, at 3:02 PM, Alicia Mattson wrote:
> >
> > Starchild,
> >
> > I have a lot of disagreements with your other ideas about how we should find
> > meeting locations and what arrangements are workable.
> >
> > However, I do agree with you that it should not take so long to provide the
> > LNC with basic data about the routine costs of our meetings, and provide
> > copies of the meeting space contracts showing which of those expenses are
> > required performance.  You've been asking for some time, and it's not that
> > large of a data request.
> >
> > Recently, the Convention Oversight Committee was not in agreement about
> > whether to again use an outside professional to assist with the 2020 site
> > search, or whether to do it in-house with Robert Kraus as the point person.
> > When the issue of asking a staff member to take on such a time-consuming job
> > was discussed, the COC was told that when Wes tells the LNC that staff is
> > overloaded, that characterization does not necessarily include Robert Kraus,
> > and he was willing and able to add such a large project to his plate.  If
> > that's the case, then I don't see why there isn't time to fulfill this data
> > request of yours in a more timely manner.
> >
> > -Alicia
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 4:34 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Maybe I just haven't been paying attention. That's what LP operations
> >> manager Robert Kraus suggested when I spoke with him today and expressed
> >> surprise at his statement that he and Wes Benedict are the only paid staff
> >> working full time at our office. He said that if I'd read the report Wes
> >> presented at the last LNC meeting, I would have been aware of the situation.
> >>
> >> Robert told me this by way of explaining why he has not yet sent the LNC
> >> the details of how much we are paying for hotel meeting space, food and
> >> beverage obligations, staff airline flights, shipping costs, etc., in
> >> connection with LNC meetings. At the last LNC meeting in Pittsburgh in
> >> April, he told me in response to my asking him for this information that he
> >> would send it within a week or so. When I spoke with him today, he said that
> >> if I wanted him to stop what he was doing and send the information now, he
> >> would have to stop working on updating donor information to help us raise
> >> money, because he was the only person in the office right now. When I asked
> >> whether he could get us the meeting information prior to the next LNC
> >> meeting on August 19 (over 2 months from now, and 4 months from when he
> >> originally said he'd provide it), his response was "possibly".
> >>
> >> We have 11 people listed on our staff page (https://www.lp.org/staff/),
> >> not even counting individuals like our legal counsel and our FEC consultant
> >> who are kind of "on call", and although political director Carla Howell's
> >> contract wasn't renewed, the chair recently proposed adding an additional
> >> lower-level staffer. With that many folks on the roster, I don't understand
> >> why the two highest-paid individuals on staff are the only ones who are
> >> being paid full-time salaries and asked to staff the office largely by
> >> themselves. If this is true, it means that our highest-paid staffers are
> >> likely spending a significant part of their time doing routine office tasks
> >> like answering phone calls which could be handled by lower-paid staffers or
> >> even by volunteers.
> >>
> >> Robert did say he agreed with me that staff should not be asked to monitor
> >> or be involved in the party's social media outreach, which would potentially
> >> take a lot of their time away from other tasks. I also suggested that
> >> volunteers, instead of staff, could be the ones to research LNC meeting
> >> locations and present options to the LNC. Local activists in the cities
> >> where we're considering holding meetings would be the logical people to do
> >> this. If we don't have any local activists in a particular area able to help
> >> us find free or low-cost meeting venues there and help with details such as
> >> coordinating local transportation and folks able to host out-of-town
> >> visitors, it would beg the question of why we are meeting in that location
> >> instead of somewhere there is an active local Libertarian organization that
> >> can support us and which we in turn can support by seeking to arrange to
> >> have visiting LNC members make press appearances, attend local campaign
> >> events, do fundraising, etc., while in town.
> >>
> >> But if what Robert says is correct, it seems to me that we are not running
> >> our office efficiently. It also seems to me that LNC members being made to
> >> wait months and months after an LNC meeting to see what the actual expenses
> >> were for that meeting is unreasonable. Actually, we should be seeing such
> >> expenses listed before each meeting, since expenses like hotel meeting space
> >> fees, food and beverage obligations, staff airline flights, and shipping
> >> costs are in most cases known in advance. And we should be seeing estimates
> >> of these costs prior to even making a decision on where to meet, since such
> >> costs ought to factor into our decisions.
> >>
> >> Love & Liberty,
> >>
> >>                                      ((( starchild )))
> >> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
> >>                           RealReform at earthlink.net
> >>                                   (415) 625-FREE
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
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