[Lnc-business] The Libertarian Party has approx 8 "full-time"* staffers + approx 3 part-time

Wes Benedict wes.benedict at lp.org
Fri Aug 4 10:26:42 EDT 2017


Just updating the subject on this interesting discussion thread.

To clarify, briefly, there were only two full-time staffers located on 
site at LPHQ. Currently, we're at 3 full-time plus two-halves (not 
exactly split down the middle) located at LPHQ. The others work off-site.

When Robert's at the office by himself, answering the phone, door, and 
doing routine work gets a bit overwhelming. It doesn't happen too often.

Thanks,

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 8/4/2017 2:46 AM, Alicia Mattson wrote:
> With an LNC meeting approaching, I'm scanning my emails for loose 
> ends, and I meant to reply to this.
>
> <DH>I think that probably gave Robert the impression we(COC) wanted 
> him to sign it THEN.  I did want it signed ASAP after the vote was 
> completed as December in NOLA starts to get busy and things can 
> shift.  I think it resulted from my poor communication coupled with 
> that same "thing" that makes email such a lousy means of 
> deliberating.</DH>
>
> Even if you communicated imprecisely, and the impression was that the 
> COC wanted it signed immediately, the COC has only been delegated 
> authority over contracts for national conventions.  This was a 
> contract for an LNC meeting, and was not under the purview of the 
> COC.  Even if the COC did have such authority, the COC can be 
> overridden by the LNC, and the LNC had an ongoing email ballot on the 
> question at the time, so there's no grounds to argue that the COC's 
> opinion mattered.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 12:20 PM, Daniel Hayes 
> <danielehayes at icloud.com <mailto:danielehayes at icloud.com>> wrote:
>
>     Alicia,
>
>     I fully agree with your point of us not executing a contract until
>     after the vote is completed.  It's been a while but I do recall
>     having an "antacid" moment during this.
>     Nick had OKed for Robert to sign. I had some emails back and forth
>     with Sandy with Helms-Briscoe.  There was one in which she said
>     "she was standing by" and I wrote her back to make sure she went
>     ahead and finalized the contract TO be signed so that once the
>     vote was done we could sign it.   I had mentioned that we had
>     passed the minimum threshold and it was pretty much a done deal
>     and to get things ready to sign right away.
>
>     I think that probably gave Robert the impression we(COC) wanted
>     him to sign it THEN.  I did want it signed ASAP after the vote was
>     completed as December in NOLA starts to get busy and things can
>     shift.  I think it resulted from my poor communication coupled
>     with that same "thing" that makes email such a lousy means of
>     deliberating. That lack of instantaneous and contemporaneous
>     communication when one person is talking to another and the other
>     person "jumps in" somewhere in the middle and then loses some of
>     the context.
>
>     In any event as I said, I think it fell on my lack of clarity. In
>     this case it's all good though in the future we need to certainly
>     make sure to wait until a vote is completed before fully executing
>     a contract contingent on that vote.
>
>     On matters of larger sums it requires the chair's signature with
>     counsel's review if I am not mistaken so that protects us against
>     a larger ongoing potential faux pas.  That said, we do need to be
>     more careful.  I will be more diligent in the future.
>
>
>     Daniel Hayes
>     LNC At Large Member
>
>     Sent from my iPhone
>
>     On Jul 17, 2017, at 6:24 PM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com
>     <mailto:agmattson at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>>     I do need to point out that p. 8 of the New Orleans contract
>>     shows that we executed that contract on 4/27/17.
>>
>>     We approved the date/location for that meeting with email ballot
>>     2017-08, which began on 4/21/17 and ended on 5/1/17. That means
>>     the contract was signed 4 days prior to the end of the email
>>     ballot which authorized it.
>>
>>     That should not have happened.
>>
>>     We would have been up a creek had the votes shifted before the
>>     end of the email ballot, and the LNC ultimately did not approve
>>     the date/location motion.  We would have already been legally
>>     obligated.
>>
>>     What was the reason for the premature contract execution before
>>     it had been approved?
>>
>>     -Alicia
>>
>>
>>
>>     On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 2:51 PM, Wes Benedict
>>     <wes.benedict at lp.org <mailto: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
>>         <tel:%28202%29%20333-0008%20ext.%20232>, wes.benedict at lp.org
>>         <mailto:wes.benedict at lp.org>
>>         facebook.com/libertarians <http://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 <tel:%28805%29%20583-3308> Home
>>             (805) 404-8693 <tel:%28805%29%20404-8693> Mobile
>>             starrcpa at gmail.com <mailto:starrcpa at gmail.com>
>>
>>             -----Original Message-----
>>             From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org
>>             <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 <mailto: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
>>                 <mailto: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
>>                     <mailto: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
>>                     <mailto: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
>>                         <mailto:RealReform at earthlink.net>
>>                           (415) 625-FREE
>>
>>
>>                         _______________________________________________
>>                         Lnc-business mailing list
>>                         Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>                         <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>                         http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>                         <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>                     _______________________________________________
>>                     Lnc-business mailing list
>>                     Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>                     <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>                     http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>                     <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>
>>                 _______________________________________________
>>                 Lnc-business mailing list
>>                 Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>                 http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>                 <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>
>>             _______________________________________________
>>             Lnc-business mailing list
>>             Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>             http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>             <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>
>>             _______________________________________________
>>             Lnc-business mailing list
>>             Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>             http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>             <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         Lnc-business mailing list
>>         Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>         http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>         <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>>
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Lnc-business mailing list
>>     Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>>     http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>     <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Lnc-business mailing list
>     Lnc-business at hq.lp.org <mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
>     http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>     <http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20170804/524f04e9/attachment-0002.html>


More information about the Lnc-business mailing list