[Lnc-business] Bylaws, and members, and alternates! Oh, my!

[Richard Longstreth]

Thank you for this. I found it to be a great read. We need to be sure to
get this to the Bylaws committee again for the 2020 convention as something
for their consideration.

Richard

On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:32 AM Caryn Ann Harlos via Lnc-business <
lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

> I agree with you and would today vote differently.
>
> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 2:15 AM Alicia Mattson via Lnc-business <
> lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
>
> > As a follow-up to a prior discussion about whether LNC regional
> alternates
> > are “members” of the national committee, I’ve composed this longer essay
> > about the messy implications.
> >
> > RONR p. 3 explains that, “A member of an assembly, in the parliamentary
> > sense, as mentioned above, is a person entitled to full participation in
> > its proceedings, that is, as explained in 3 and 4, the right to attend
> > meetings, to make motions, to speak in debate, and to vote.  No member
> can
> > be individually deprived of these basic rights of membership—or of any
> > basic rights concomitant to them, such as the right to make nominations
> or
> > to give previous notice of a motion—except through disciplinary
> > proceedings.”
> >
> > Bylaws Article 7.2.c provides for the regional alternate position, but in
> > the rest of the bylaws, the only role assigned to them is in the context
> of
> > email ballots.
> >
> > Bylaws Article 13 :
> > “The chair or secretary shall send out electronic mail ballots on any
> > question submitted by the chair or cosponsored by at least 1/5 of the
> > members of the board or committee.  The period for voting on a question
> > shall remain open for seven days, unless all members have cast votes, or
> > have stated an intention to abstain or be absent during the voting
> period,
> > by electronic mail to the entire board or committee.  Votes from
> alternates
> > will be counted, in accordance with previously defined ranked order, in
> the
> > absence of the corresponding committee member(s).”
> >
> > Article 13 of the bylaws makes it clear that regional alternates do not
> > have full voting rights as do regional representatives, since their email
> > ballot votes aren’t counted if the regional representative votes.
> Article
> > 13 doesn't see an alternate as a “member” under the RONR p. 3 definition.
> > The final sentence of that Article 13 makes a specific distinction
> between
> > the alternate(s) and the “corresponding committee member(s).”
> >
> > The LNC has generally not perceived regional alternates to be “members”
> of
> > the LNC.
> >
> > Article 13 above says that “members” can cosponsor email ballots, but in
> > all the years I’ve been involved, the LNC has never allowed alternates to
> > do that.
> >
> > We have never included alternates in quorum calculations, though Bylaws
> > Article 7.10 says, “A majority of the membership of the National
> Committee
> > shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at all
> meetings.”
> >
> > We have never declared alternate seats vacant under Bylaws Article 7.6,
> “A
> > National Committee member who fails to attend two consecutive regular
> > sessions of the National Committee shall be deemed to have vacated his or
> > her seat.”
> >
> > The chair asks the LNC for consent to allow a regional alternate to speak
> > in debate during our in-person meetings.  The RONR p. 263 footnote says
> > this is required for “nonmembers”, but p. 3 says “members” have the
> > automatic right to speak in debate.
> >
> > There are other parts of the bylaws that would be interpreted differently
> > if alternates are considered “members”, though they’re in provisions that
> > don’t often come into play.
> >
> > Then there’s Bylaws Article 9.2, which says, “The non-officer members of
> > the National Committee shall appoint a standing Audit Committee of three
> > members with power to select the independent auditor.  One member shall
> be
> > a non-officer member of the National Committee and the other two shall
> not
> > be members of the National Committee.”
> >
> > As noted above, in many ways the LNC does not consider alternates to be
> > members.  But in September, a regional alternate was nominated for the
> > “member of the National Committee” seat on the Audit Committee.  I
> raised a
> > point of order and argued that I didn’t believe a regional alternate was
> > eligible because the bylaw specifies “member”.  The chair ruled that a
> > regional alternate is eligible.  I appealed the ruling, but I was the
> only
> > person who voted no, and the ruling was sustained with a vote of 13-1.
> >
> > The chair’s ruling (and presumably the LNC's vote) was based on Bylaws
> > Article 7.2, which says, “The National Committee shall be composed of the
> > following members:…” and it proceeds to list officers, at-large, and
> define
> > regions including the regional reps and the regional alternates.  When
> that
> > phrase is observed in a proverbial vacuum, there’s not much to argue
> > about…but it is not consistent with how the LNC has handled all those
> other
> > things I mentioned.
> >
> > The chair recently responded to an inquiry as to whether alternates
> > automatically vacate their seats under Bylaws Article 7.6 if they miss
> two
> > consecutive in-person meetings.  His response was consistent with this
> > LNC’s vote to sustain his September ruling on how to apply Article 7.2
> when
> > it came to the Audit Committee.
> >
> > But now hopefully you see how problematic that is.  If we interpret
> Article
> > 7.2 that way, it causes a number of side effects that we’ve never
> accepted
> > before.
> >
> > The reality is that our bylaw language has a consistency problem, and it
> > needs to be fixed.  Over time, as I’ve realized the implications, I’ve
> come
> > to the conclusion that it is Article 7.2 which is out of kilter with the
> > bulk of the bylaws, and it just shouldn’t use the term “members” so as to
> > create those cascading side effects.
> >
> > In 2018, there was a bylaw amendment proposed to fix this, but we never
> got
> > to that proposal.  Hopefully in 2020, we’ll get a vote on a fix.
> >
> > At the same time we should probably decide in Bylaw Article 8.1 whether
> > regional alternates are also precluded from serving on the Judicial
> > Committee or only “members”, and in Article 11.2 whether the limit of
> five
> > “members of the current National Committee” serving on the Bylaws and
> Rules
> > Committee is meant to also count alternates.
> >
> > I didn’t have this lecture prepared to successfully off-the-cuff-argue
> the
> > point in September, but hopefully now you appreciate why I argued it at
> > all, and that I wasn't just being a cranky-pants contrarian.  I realize
> > that the point doesn't just leap out at you at first glance, but rather
> > takes a bit to wrap your head around it.
> >
> > -Alicia
> >
> --
>
> *  In Liberty,*
>
> *Libertarian Party and Libertarian National Committee Secretary *-
> Caryn.Ann.
> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org> or Secretary at LP.org.
> *Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee* - LPedia at LP.org
> Call me at 561.523.2250 and follow my public figure page at
> facebook.com/pinkflameofliberty/
>
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-- 
Richard Longstreth
Region 1 Representative (AK, AZ, CO, HI, KS, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY)
Libertarian National Committee
richard.longstreth at lp.org
931.538.9300