[Lnc-business] The Libertarian Party only has 2 full-time staffers?!
Ken Moellman
lpky at mu-net.org
Thu Jul 13 18:20:19 EDT 2017
But the Nat office is in VA now, not DC. So.... :)
On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 5:57 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Speaking as someone who doesn't find this information particularly
> helpful, I am content to leave the priority of projects in the ED's
> discretion, but must note that, to my understanding (I won't be an attorney
> for another few years), DC law provides that directors have access to such
> information. That doesn't mean staff needs to drop everything and provide
> it right away, but I do think getting something out should be done. It
> doesn't need to be a spreadsheet; I think invoices would be fine. Thank
> you for what you have provided.
>
> I would, for the record, not support any motion telling staff to
> prioritize a records project, nor would I support a motion directing staff
> to set aside what they think is a reasonable NDA requirement (which, if
> memory serves, is permitted under DC law as a prerequisites to directors
> receiving documents).
>
> I would just ask that Starchild receive the information, in whatever form
> is easiest to get out, in a reasonable time frame.
>
> Joshua A. Katz
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 4:51 PM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:
>
>> Starchild,
>>
>> If I thought this information would be useful for an upcoming decision,
>> I'd make sure we bumped other things back and moved this forward.
>>
>> Robert has kept a spreadsheet detailing the LNC meeting costs. It's
>> significantly out of date and will take time to update.
>>
>> If I get a sense from a significant number on the LNC that it is
>> important enough for us to stop other work and get that spreadsheet
>> updated, we could certainly do that.
>>
>> Or, if the LNC would be satisfied to get a list of meetings from the past
>> just to get a sense of the costs, Robert has provided that and it's
>> attached.
>>
>> I don't personally see much coming from providing that information
>> urgently, but again, we could certainly get it done if it was a top
>> priority.
>>
>> In general, staff has usually included in our suggestions and research
>> low-cost options like Oklahoma and Alexandria, and the LNC has chosen
>> places that were not the lowest cost options staff has provided. I point
>> that out, because I want to make it clear that, if the costs of LNC
>> meetings is your concern, I don't want our membership or the LNC to think
>> that staff requires expensive meetings. We go with the flow of the LNC. Of
>> the 5 to 10 times I've suggested a specific location for an LNC meeting, I
>> don't think the LNC has taken my suggestion. I don't mind. I've thought
>> most of the places we've had meetings were reasonably decided.
>>
>> I think Robert has shown many of the contracts to you in person when
>> you've visited LPHQ.
>>
>> I believe Robert has offered to email all the contracts to you if you
>> sign the standard Non-Disclosure Agreement. I believe you have so far
>> chosen not to sign the non-disclosure agreement for certain reasons that
>> you're in a better situation to explain than me. It's not a big deal to me
>> personally, just has been our practice related to contracts.
>>
>> I don't think there's anything especially interesting or "secret" in any
>> of the contracts we've had with hotels to have LNC meetings. Payments to
>> hotels can be found in detail on the FEC website.
>>
>> I think sometimes vendors offer "discounts" and sometimes put in their
>> contracts terms requesting confidentiality, but I'm not going to go through
>> and dig up a bunch of contracts to see for myself unless I get a sense from
>> the LNC that that is what they want staff to spend time on.
>>
>> If the LNC could pass a motion requesting staff to provide all the LNC
>> meeting contracts to Starchild and other LNC members without requiring an
>> NDA, I'd feel more comfortable stopping other work and doing that, and not
>> requiring an NDA.
>>
>> We did not find the word "Confidential" in the upcoming LNC meeting in
>> Kansas City and New Orleans. Those contract are attached.
>>
>>
>> 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 7/13/2017 10:03 AM, Aaron Starr wrote:
>>
>>> "Do you agree with Alicia and I that the LNC should be provided with
>>> data on
>>> our meeting costs as I've been requesting? Going forward, I would like to
>>> see those costs disclosed upfront, before a meeting site is selected,
>>> and I
>>> would also like to see the our past costs for each meeting this term,
>>> within
>>> some reasonable frame of time."
>>>
>>> While I am not personally fixated on the costs of meetings, I do believe
>>> that it is perfectly reasonable for a member of this committee to request
>>> past data on our meeting costs and copies of contracts. That information
>>> was
>>> requested on June 6 and should have been provided by now.
>>>
>>>
>>> Aaron Starr
>>> (805) 583-3308 Home
>>> (805) 404-8693 Mobile
>>> starrcpa at gmail.com
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of
>>> Starchild
>>> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2017 1:22 AM
>>> To: Nick Sarwark
>>> Cc: Libertarian National Committee list
>>> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] The Libertarian Party only has 2 full-time
>>> staffers?!
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks Nick. So I guess the question remains, who is answering
>>> the
>>> phones and handling routine office tasks? Austin Petersen says that
>>> during
>>> his time in the office, he developed a strong intern program. If so, I'm
>>> wondering what happened to that program. Do we have any written records
>>> of
>>> it, and if so, can those records be sent to the LNC?
>>>
>>> My understanding - correct me if I'm wrong - is that we don't
>>> currently have any interns, but if we have names and contact info of past
>>> interns, I'd volunteer to call them and ask about their experience
>>> working
>>> as interns for the LP. That could help us rebuild a program and start
>>> getting more bodies in the office getting stuff done, including routine
>>> tasks.
>>>
>>> Do you agree with Alicia and I that the LNC should be provided
>>> with
>>> data on our meeting costs as I've been requesting? Going forward, I would
>>> like to see those costs disclosed upfront, before a meeting site is
>>> selected, and I would also like to see the our past costs for each
>>> meeting
>>> this term, within some reasonable frame of time. Do you have any
>>> objection
>>> to this, and if not, what time frames seem reasonable to you?
>>>
>>> Love & Liberty,
>>>
>>> ((( starchild ))) At-Large
>>> Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>>> RealReform at earthlink.net
>>> (415) 625-FREE
>>> @StarchildSF
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jul 12, 2017, at 9:08 PM, Nicholas Sarwark 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
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> 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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>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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