[Lnc-business] Proposed

Tue Jul 9 02:34:36 EDT 2019

Dear All,

I want to directly address the questions Mr. Fishman raised and those
questions that have been raised in the discussion about Mr. Fishman's
proposal that I can answer.

I am no longer involved in day-to-day operations at the car dealership and
loan company, so am able to accept other full-time employment. If the LNC
were to approve a contract that was mutually agreeable, I would be
available for full-time efforts as long as necessary.

I agree that creating a salary that would be attached the Chair's position
would require the approval of the delegates at convention. There are good
arguments on both sides of that issue as an organization. This situation is
about filling in a temporary gap in our capabilities without delay while we
seek a candidate to fill the Development Director position and while we are
without a Press Secretary. I am willing to take on those extra duties, but
can't spend my work week on it without being paid for my time.

Some people have suggested that the position be commission only. I would
not be comfortable with that. There are advantages in fundraising to my
position in the organization that would create the potential for very large
commissions that would take away from the resources we need to spend on
party projects and operations. My preference would be an agreed on flat
hourly rate.

Some have suggested that I should do all of the necessary fundraising as a
volunteer. I would love to be independently wealthy and to be able to spend
all of my working hours on the position of National Chair, but that is not
the situation I am in at this point in my life. If the LNC chooses not to
move in this direction, I will find a different opportunity to spend the
bulk of my working week on, but I would like to spend that time on doing
what the Libertarian Party needs at this critical time.

Yours truly,
Nick

On Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 7:36 PM Daniel Fishman via Lnc-business <
lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

> One of my long range goals is a permanently paid chair for the LP. It was
> further down my agenda list, and I had presumed it would happen when we had
> greater financial stability. When the opportunity presented itself now
> though, I decided to try it out. And that means if it works we are talking
> about the same option for whomever the chair is (and we've never elected a
> chair to a 4th terms as far as I'm aware).
>
> Of course a permanently paid chair is a convention level decision, but one
> that can only be made if we can indeed afford it. Getting the financial
> legs to stand on is what you brought me here for.
>
> I'm a big believer in not being afraid to fail. In order to not fear
> failure you must have metrics that can tell you if you are failing. This is
> a pretty clear cut one. Any fundraising contractor will be expect to be
> raising enough to cover their costs within a few months. And that includes
> the Chair. If they can't, that's gets deemed a fail. We terminate the
> experiment, learn from our mistakes and proceed to the next attempt.
>
> To me this seems like a good roll of the dice, with relatively minimum risk
> to the LNC. Almost all of the risk is borne by the Chair. I am asking to
> put the Chair on the hot seat. Should any chair be contracted as a
> fundraiser for the LNC and fail, the ramifications would reverberate till
> the next convention. Should the chair succeed he benefits every future LNC
> chair and future LNC by establishing the precedent that (I hope) will lead
> the delegates to approving a permanently paid chair. I have essentially
> asked the chair to put his head on the chopping block.
>
> And it should be pointed out too Mr. Chair, that when I asked you if you
> would be amenable you suggested I bring the idea to the LNC first. I have
> done so, but you still have not actually indicated that you would indeed
> accept the contract. I'm assuming you have been seeking counsel of your
> own? Are you prepared to firmly commit to accepting a contract should one
> be offered?
>
> The chair is in a unique position to do things that will affect
> fundraising, such as media appearances, published articles. As such the
> unique position is one I think the LNC should try paying for to see if it
> increases our revenue.
>
> ---
> Daniel Fishman
> Executive Director
> The Libertarian Party
> Join Us <http://www.lp.org/join>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 3:45 PM Caryn Ann Harlos via Lnc-business <
> lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
>
> > It is already all of our jobs to fundraise.  Pay expenses? Certainly.
> > Salary?  No.
> >
> > I volunteer - expenses only.
> >
> > Seriously after the shitstorm last year for legitimate fundraising it’s
> all
> > of a sudden different because it’s Nick and with salary?  I was in danger
> > of (ridiculously) of bribing votes with t-shirts but this is okay?
> >
> > Is Nick re-running?  Would there be no using of a salaried position to
> > influence internal politics?
> >
> > I’ll say it right now, then every chair candidate must be given equal
> > opportunity.
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 12:20 PM John Phillips via Lnc-business <
> > lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
> >
> > > I think other people said that more recently than I, its been a few
> > months
> > > since I did 😂, tho I hinted at it.
> > >
> > > Well thought out as always.
> > >
> > >
> > > John Phillips
> > > Libertarian National Committee Region 6 Representative
> > > Cell 217-412-5973
> > >
> > > On Jul 6, 2019 12:59 PM, Joe Bishop-Henchman via Lnc-business <
> > > lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > I guess Mr. Fishman's honeymoon period is over!
> > >
> > > I'm willing to hear out our ED and not shoot it down immediately, but
> > > for my part I will need a lot more details when we consider it. If
> we're
> > > hiring a contractor, I want to know precisely what tasks the contractor
> > > will be doing on at least a quarterly basis if not a monthly or weekly
> > > basis, and how (and who) will be actively monitoring progress and
> > > adjusting based on the results.
> > >
> > > I will also need to review the information addressing whether this
> > > violates the Bylaws or common past understandings of the role of the
> > > Chair or LNC members.
> > >
> > > This contractor-who-knows-us approach would be preferable, in my view,
> > > to hiring a commission fundraiser who knows little about us and
> > > therefore will be ineffective at securing major donors willing to
> invest
> > > long-term with us. In-person telemarketing, which is effectively what
> > > that is, can be effective for raising money quickly, but only at
> > > enormous expense (as a percent of dollar raised), great risk of
> > > misrepresentation, and at the expense of a continuing relationship.
> > >
> > > Ideally we need to construct a fundraising department, essentially from
> > > scratch now. We have two main donor audiences - major donors and small
> > > dollar donors - and each of them needs attention as to their
> > > prospecting/qualification/opening doors, asking/closing, and
> > > stewardship/cultivation. That's essentially six completely different
> > > skills (2 audiences times 3 jobs each) and we can't have one person do
> > > all of it and expect them to do better than Lauren could. We also can't
> > > hire six people, so the answer is going to be a mix of LNC members, the
> > > ED, staff, and contractors.
> > >
> > > If we're going to get to a place where we are raising millions of
> > > dollars or more each year, building a fundraising department is an
> > > essential second step. (The first step is doing exciting things donors
> > > want to support, or at least proposing to focus on those things. On
> that
> > > part, I'd like to invite Apollo to the next Board meeting and tell us
> > > what he has up his sleeves.) If what Mr. Fishman proposes is a step in
> > > that direction, I'm more inclined to support it. If not, not.
> > >
> > > As Mr. Phillips I think noted, if we say no to everything and propose
> > > nothing we will quickly realize in a bad way how important fundraising
> > > is.
> > >
> > > JBH
> > >
> > > ------------
> > > Joe Bishop-Henchman
> > > LNC Member (At-Large)
> > > joe.bishop-henchman at lp.org
> > > www.facebook.com/groups/189510455174837
> > >
> > > On 2019-07-05 16:50, John Phillips via Lnc-business wrote:
> > > > Then lets get hiring.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> >
> > *  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/
> >
> > =========================================================================
> > Peaceful Commerce With All Nations * Non-interventionism * Re-Legalize
> All
> > Drugs * End Government Intrusion In The Bedroom * Repeal All Gun Laws *
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> >
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> > >*
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> >
>