[Lnc-business] Addressing some false statements

[Nicholas Sarwark]

Dear All,

There are a number of false statements circulating on social media and
among members of this board. While this email will be of no help to those
LNC members who have said I am dishonest and acting in bad faith, it may be
of some use to people who have not yet sunk that low.

Let's begin with ones from an email that an internal caucus sent to all of
their members:

“I’m sure most of you know that current LNC Chair Nick Sarwark tried to
kill the in-person Orlando convention during the online presidential
nomination proceedings over Memorial Day weekend.”

False. I successfully presided over my third convention as Chair, working
through obstruction and delay to get through the nomination of President
and Vice President. When that work was over, I took the opportunity to let
the body know that I would not preside over the second sitting, and that if
they wanted to select a replacement, they could do so. Since that was a
statement on the issue of whether to adjourn immediately or take up the
election of Chair, I passed the gavel to Mr. Merced. Even had the Chair
election been taken up, it would not have cancelled a second sitting.

“What you may not know is that he has since said that he refuses to take
part in an in-person convention and refused to sign the contract with the
host hotel.”

First, I will attend the second sitting of the convention in Orlando and
will participate as a delegate from New Hampshire. The rest of my family
will not be coming to Orlando because our country is still in the midst of
an infectious pandemic and our family has chosen to minimize the exposure
of ourselves and others to air travel and large meetings.

Second, I refused to sign a contract with a $105K liquidated damages
provision because it presented a great risk to the Libertarian Party. Once
a contract that removed that provision, reduced the room rate by another
$20 per night for our members, and lowered the required hotel rooms (though
keeping a larger block available), I tried to move quickly to execute it.

The four LNC members of the Convention Oversight Committee then attempted
to put in provisions damaging to the Libertarian Party, in breach of their
fiduciary duties and over the objection of the two people who have to
approve a contract of that size under the policy manual, myself and Mr.
Hall.  The provisions they urgently decided had to be in the contract were
both ones that would cause a seven-day delay in the event of an emergency
that required cancellation, because it would require approval of the whole
LNC, which is not possible in a period shorter than an email vote or
electronic meeting. There is no argument that these provisions put the
Libertarian Party in a better position, they were designed to increase the
risk of cancellation.

“He also removed Dan Hayes, chair of the Convention Oversight Committee,
from that committee for not sharing Sarwark’s views on an in-person
convention.”

Mr. Hayes was removed based on a number of factors, some of which were in
my email announcing his removal. He has been personally abusive to
colleagues and members of the Libertarian Party staff, which combined with
his negotiating against the best interest of the Libertarian Party and
taking weeks to finish a contract that should have been ready to sign at
the first sitting showed that he is less effective in the role than Ms.
Ryan, who successfully produced the Orlando convention without screaming or
yelling at the rest of the members of her committee.

“But in the meantime, Sarwark added a clause to the contract that would
allow him to cancel the convention unilaterally, and then instructed a
staff member to sign that contract, resulting in two different contracts
being sent back to the hotel.”

There was no clause added by myself or at my direction to the contract
approved by our Special Counsel, approved by myself, and approved by the
hotel. The contract transmitted by the Secretary had four clauses added to
it the day before the contract was due by the four LNC members of the
Convention Oversight Committee, clauses that were not ever present in any
of the versions of the contract they had insisted was “ready to sign.”
Going from having a vote to force someone to sign a contract with excessive
risk to trying desperately to stop me from signing a much improved contract
without a poison pill is tough to do in less than 24 hours, but Mr.
Goldstein, Ms. Mattson, Ms. Adams, and Ms. Bilyeu moved very quickly.

To clear up a legal misunderstanding, getting the $105K liquidated damages
clause removed does not make cancellation free of risk or cost to the
Libertarian Party. It means that the hotel would have to show what their
actual damages are in the case of a cancellation. If a hurricane hits, it's
better for us to be on the hook for the actual cost of cancellation, not a
$105,000. Reducing the risk for the party is the fiduciary duty we all have
to the party, which is why it was so confusing to me to see two other
officers of this board try to increase the risk to the party by signing a
contract that increased the risk to the party.

“There is now a motion from Harlos before the LNC, with six co-sponsors, to
suspend Sarwark so we can go ahead with the planned convention without
further roadblocks.”

Let me state clearly that the changes I made to the Convention Oversight
Committee membership are to make that committee work more efficiently to
make this convention a success. Mr. Rosen called me on the day the contract
was executed to reiterate his commitment to having this exceed even our
highest expectations, a sentiment I reciprocated in our conversation. It's
no secret that I think a mass in-person gathering during a pandemic is
stupid. But as long as I'm Chair, if the delegates decide to do something
stupid, it's my duty to help them do the stupid thing as efficiently and
with as little damage as possible.

My last point, which I will place in all capital letters just to make sure
nobody misses this truth:

I DID NOT INTEND TO CANCEL THE CONTRACT WHEN NEGOTIATING IT, WHEN EXECUTING
IT, OR AT ANY POINT PRIOR TO THE SECOND SITTING IN ORLANDO.

I've been exceedingly disappointed at the number of people on this LNC who
have my email and phone number, who know how to ask a question, who chose
and continue to choose to believe lies about my actions and intentions and
can't summon the human decency to ask me directly. My disappointment with
the behavior on this LNC will be channeled as a delegate, as it was in 2012.

Yours in liberty,
Nick