[Lnc-business] Fwd: Items for your consideration for LNC meeting and in general

Thu Mar 7 20:29:15 EST 2019

Forwarded as requested

JBH

------------
Joe Bishop-Henchman
LNC Member (At-Large)
joe.bishop-henchman at lp.org
www.facebook.com/groups/189510455174837

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Items for your consideration for LNC meeting and in general
Date: 2019-03-07 17:26
 From: LNC Contact Form <info at lp.org>
To: chair at lp.org, alex.merced at lp.org, treasurer at lp.org, 
secretary at lp.org, joe.bishop-henchman at lp.org, sam.goldstein at lp.org, 
alicia.mattson at lp.org, william.redpath at lp.org, joshua.smith at lp.org, 
richard.longstreth at lp.org, steven.nekhaila at lp.org, 
victoria.paige.lee at lp.org, elizabeth.vanhorn at lp.org, 
dustin.nanna at lp.org, jeffrey.hewitt at lp.org, kenneth.olsen at lp.org, 
james.lark at lp.org, susan.hogarth at lp.org, john.phillips at lp.org, 
phillip.anderson at lp.org, whitney.bilyeu at lp.org, erin.adams at lp.org, 
justin.odonnell at lp.org, jeff.lyons at lp.org
Reply-To: travellingcircus at gmail.com

  Items for your consideration for LNC meeting and in general

  		 CONTACT LNC MEMBERS:

  		 Choose one or more LNC members to contact

  		 SELECT ONE OR MORE LNC MEMBERS TO CONTACT

	* Nicholas Sarwark, Chair
	* Alex Merced, Vice Chair
	* Tim Hagan, Treasurer
	* Caryn Ann Harlos, Secretary
	* Joe Bishop-Henchman, At-Large Representative
	* Sam Goldstein, At-Large Representative
	* Alicia Mattson, At-Large Representative
	* William Redpath, At-Large Representative
	* Joshua Smith, At-Large Representative
	* Richard Longstreth, Region 1 Representative
	* Steven Nekhaila, Region 2 Representative
	* Victoria Paige Lee, Region 2 Alternate
	* Elizabeth Van Horn, Region 3 Representative
	* Dustin Nanna, Region 3 Alternate
	* Jeffrey Hewitt, Region 4 Representative
	* Kenneth Brent Olsen, Region 4 Alternate
	* Jim Lark, Region 5 Representative
	* Susan Hogarth, Region 5 Alternate
	* John Phillips, Region 6 Representative
	* Phillip Anderson, Region 6 Alternate
	* Whitney Bilyeu, Region 7 Representative
	* Erin Adams, Region 7 Alternate
	* Justin O'Donnell, Region 8 Representative
	* Jeff Lyons, Region 8 Alternate

  		Your Information

  		 SUBJECT

  		 Items for your consideration for LNC meeting and in general

  		 AFFILIATE

  		 Alabama

  		 NAME

  		 Paul Frankel

  		 EMAIL

  		 travellingcircus at gmail.com

  		 PHONE

  		 (205) 534-1622

  		 STATE

  		 Alabama

  		 ADDRESS

  United States
Map It [1]

  		 MESSAGE

  Hello LNC Members. Someone please share with LNC list so non-LNC
members who follow the list may see. A few items for your upcoming
meeting and in general.

1) Supplemental to ballot access report – See letter from Michael
Pakko in the report. They have done full party ballot access in 2018,
2016, 2014 and 2012. Two of those four times was without LNC funding.
They have come closer to the 3% needed each time, with 2.9% in 2018.
They have run in the neighborhood of 30 candidates, had up to a hundred
people at a time if not more at state conventions, routinely got 20-30%
in statewide and federal races (since many of those are two-way in
Arkansas). In 2018 they set two new records for statewide positions for
all states in all years for LP races for those offices, including State
Treasurer.

Updating Dr. Pakko’s letter they are currently at $21,536 towards
ballot access. The estimated cost is now $35,000 with $5,000 towards
defeating the unconstitutional new ballot access law which almost
triples the signatures and moves the petition deadline back to this
year. Both of these things have already been thrown out in court as
unconstitutional in 1977, 1996 and 2006. Arkansas is requesting some
token participation from LNC in its drive to help motivate Arkansas
Libertarians to participate fully as donors and volunteers in the
petition drive. They have a commission fundraiser also working to raise
the money but feel that an allocation from LNC would help make the state
party members feel they have national support. The petition drive needs
to take place within 90 days from when it starts, so to avoid times when
weather is too hot or too cold, colleges not in session etc., they would
like to start in late March. The only other suitable timeframe would be
this fall.

2) We had not seen it in time for Ballot Access Report, but I noticed in
Region 6 Report that ND has a commission fundraiser and is 15k towards
the 25k they estimate they will need to complete their ballot drive. FYI
since I know not everyone always reads all the region reports. I did not
see them asking LNC for anything.

3) I am in the process of helping form a new organization, Free The
Votes, which will work on issues such as ballot access reform lobbying
as well as lobbying to get rid of straight party ticket voting in the
few states which still have it such as here in Alabama. Not asking for
any action at this time but hope to partner with LNC and state LPs on
future efforts. 8 states still have straight ticket voting and 2 have
bills to get rid of it right now (UT and OK). I’m looking for a
legislative sponsor for that and ballot access reform in Alabama. We
have a likely sponsor for the latter in Alabama who has sponsored our
legislation in the past. More states got rid of straight ticket in the
past 10-15 years than still have it.

4) FYI on Alabama we are suing the state over the voter list cost right
now and would like to sue over number of signatures next. Favorable
precedents on the prior from multiple states and up to Supreme Court
going back 50 years, and on the latter from Michigan and Georgia
recently. Our prior lawsuit over number of signatures lost due to most
of our evidence being excluded due to attorney error on our side. The MI
and GA precedents are more recent. We will also be lobbying, and working
on local petition drives some of which have already started, as well as
a statewide effort which will be doomed to failure if the lobbying and
legal efforts don’t provide relief...but we think it will boost those
efforts to start it. Should none of that work we’ll be back to the
independent presidential ballot drive after the national convention just
like in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

5) https://imgur.com/a/YsovX has a nice selection of charts and graphs
which some of you may find useful for various things, including
demonstrating many different ways in which the party continues to grow.

6) Before I forget Kudos to staff (Jess especially) for organizing
shutdown park cleanup and social media efforts. Looking forward to Keith
Thompson getting settled in as the new social media volunteers manager.

7) I hope you decide against the reconsideration of the resolution
against the border wall. I understand but disagree with the point that
it’s something the party should not focus on, but if you are taking
time to reconsider it, you are focusing on it. Some of the people
watching will not have read the email list so as far as they will see
you are spending time on it just to vote it down – which would send
way the wrong message. But if you are going to spend time on it I hope
you restore the original language about open borders which was in the
Louisiana and Alabama resolutions. It’s fully in line with the
statement of principles and party statements over the years including
this term, and there’s nothing in the current platform plank which
mandates anything that is not open borders. The language can be
reasonably interpreted as protecting against armed invasions but in the
normal course of things, as Gary Johnson once said in a media interview,
allowing trucks to pass each other at 70 MPH headed in opposite
directions across the US-Mexico border.

8) I’ve set up our usual thread for liveblogging your upcoming meeting
at
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2019/03/thread-for-lnc-meeting-liveblogging/
but have not yet seen a link to the livestream. I don’t know if I will
be available to help liveblog this weekend but it’s open forum for
anyone who wants to participate whether I am there or not. Please email
wredlich at gmail.com for a site log-in if you or anyone reading (if this
gets posted to the list) want to be able to see comments in real time,
due to site technical issues.

9) IPR is looking for new team members.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/join-ipr-team/

10) Please consider plugging monthly pledges as much or more than yearly
and lifetime memberships. There are many organizations which have come
up with creative ways to get more people involved with those. It
provides for a more reliable income stream (3-5 years opt out vs 1 year)
and is less psychologically painful for equal amounts of money.

11) I’m not sure if the form at
https://www.lp.org/libertarian-national-committee/ under “contact LNC
members” actually works. I used it one other time and got zero replies
so I am not sure if it went thru. I’m sending this via this form first
so please let me know if you get it. If I don’t hear anything by
tonight or tomorrow morning I will resend as a regular CC

12) Sorry this got too long. I have other stuff to include but figured
I’ll stop as it’s already too long for most of you.

Paul Frankel (Paulie)
Birmingport, Alabama
205-534-1622

  		 EMAIL CONFIRMATION

	* I want to receive email communication from the Libertarian Party.

Links:
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[1] http://maps.google.com/maps?q=United+States