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

[Francis Wendt]

you are destroying the party. Stop!

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FRANCIS WENDT
LNC Region 1 Alternate
  406.595.5111

On 2020-05-13 23:40, Caryn Ann Harlos via Lnc-business wrote:
> 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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