[Lnc-business] Oklahoma Resolution (and I concur entirely)

[Caryn Ann Harlos]

Resolution 20-1



Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a situation interrupting the
ability of organizations and individuals to conduct business as usual;

Whereas many states have laws requiring political parties to submit the
names of their candidates for office and/or Electors for the offices of
President and Vice-President of the United States at a date before which it
would be practical to hold an in-person nominating convention;

Whereas it is a fundamental right of a body to deliberate on matters that
affect the body as a whole;

Whereas The Libertarian Party Bylaws require a Regular Convention every two
years, at a time and place selected by the National Committee, to be held
sometime during the period of July of an odd-numbered year through August
of an even-numbered year, and all business is required to be conducted at
Regular Conventions and shall be conducted at Regular Conventions only;

Whereas the Chair of the Libertarian Party ruled that “place” in the Bylaws
can mean a virtual convention in a situation where it is impossible for the
vast majority of the selected delegates in the party to travel to a
physical location, and was subsequently overruled by the members of the
Libertarian National Committee convened in a meeting on May 9, 2020;

Whereas the Bylaws of the Libertarian Party do not specifically allow a
Regular Convention to be held online;

Whereas an online forum to be used for the purposes of conducting a Regular
Convention should allow each participant, accessed through his or her own
computer or other device, the ability to view the current list of all
participants—with an indication of which member has the floor or which
members are seeking recognition by the chair—and can seek recognition,
submit motions in writing, view the text of pending motions, vote, and view
the results of a vote;

Whereas previous attempts to hold online meetings which would simulate an
online convention have not adequately allowed participants the ability to
view the current list of all participants, have not adequately indicated
which member has the floor or which members are seeking recognition by the
chair, have not adequately shown how motions may be submitted in writing
nor how current or pending motions are to be viewed;

Whereas the sanctity of the secret ballot must be preserved as well as the
transparency of the results upheld;

Whereas Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, being the governing document
in the absence of specific Bylaws or Special Rules of Order state that
action taken by officers, committees, delegates, or subordinate bodies in
excess of their instructions or authority must be ratified by the body
during a subsequent in-person meeting to carry out decisions made at an
electronic meeting of a body for which such meetings are not authorized;

Whereas the Libertarian National Committee decided to hold a bifurcated
Regular Convention to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President
of the United States in an online “first sitting” on Friday, May 22, 2020,
with an in-person “second sitting” to be held July 8 – 12, 2020, in
Orlando, Florida, for all other remaining convention business;

Whereas the Chair has shown a lack of impartiality as well as intent to
carry out all of the business of the Libertarian Party in the form of a
Regular Convention online; and

Whereas a Bylaws-mandated standing Judicial Committee was not properly
elected at the previous Regular Convention and therefore cannot be called
for review; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the Oklahoma Libertarian Party:

   1. recognizes the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves
   during this COVID-19 pandemic;
   2. acknowledges a potential need to conduct business remotely in
   extraordinary times;
   3. rejects the authority asserted by the Libertarian National Committee
   to hold a bifurcated convention in which a “sitting” is held online, and
   calls this event by its true function: a caucus;
   4. acquiesces to a limited online caucus for the specific purpose of
   nominating candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of
   the United States, respectively;
   5. recognizes that, while the intent is that the result of this vote
   will be ratified at a later in-person convention, this vote will be
   non-binding, per our party’s rules and historical precedent;
   6. retains the Libertarian National Committee’s decision to overrule the
   Chair, declaring that a “place” as defined by the Bylaws of the Libertarian
   Party cannot mean a virtual convention;
   7. censures the Chair of the Libertarian Party, and urges the
   Libertarian National Committee to join us in so doing, for failing to
   maintain the impartiality required of his office, acting outside his scope
   of duties by circumventing the decision of the Libertarian National
   Committee to hold an in-person convention, attempting to influence outcomes
   and opinions, and subverting the will of the members of the Libertarian
   Party;
   8. affirms that the rights of members to debate and make motions cannot
   be suppressed and are paramount to order and transparency;
   9. remains obstinate in adhering to the Bylaws of the Libertarian Party;
   10. declares any business conducted during the online caucus to be out
   of order;
   11. holds that any attempt to make impossible or unnecessary an
   in-person convention of the delegates of the Libertarian Party at a Regular
   Convention, as required by the Bylaws, to be subversive and the meeting in
   which such attempt is made to be in violation of the Bylaws and therefore
   illegal;
   12. deems any decisions made in an illegal meeting to be null and void,
   unless subsequently ratified by the delegates at an in-person convention;
   13. plans to convene its State Convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June
   27-28, 2020; and
   14. pledges to nominate its own candidates for the offices of President
   and Vice President of the United States, and for those names to be
   submitted to the Oklahoma Secretary of the Election Board as required by
   Oklahoma state law, if the online caucus moves to conduct any business
   outside of the limited purpose as specified herein.



This resolution shall be ratified by at least a two-thirds (⅔) vote of the
State Executive Committee.

We, the undersigned, being officers and delegates of the Oklahoma
Libertarian Party consent and agree that the following resolution was made
on May 13, 2020, at 10:38pm during a Special Meeting hosted on Zoom.

Chad Williams, Chair

Kevin Hobbie, Vice Chair

Cherise Norton, Secretary

David Greer, Interim Treasurer

Erin Adams, North Central Regional Chair

Victoria Whitfield, Southeast Regional Chair

Todd Hagopian, Northeast Regional Chair

Richard Prawdzienski, Central Regional Chair

Rex Lawhorn, Delegate

Drew Cook, Delegate

Kalon Wiggins, Delegate

Kaleb England, Delegate

Frank Robinson, Delegate

Jay Norton, Delegate


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