[Lnc-business] Addressing some false statements

[Victoria Paige Lee]

Mr. Sarwark, 
I appreciate you breaking all of this down from your perspective. However, I do have one more question that the answer might of gotten lost in the length of the message. 
I see where you said you would participate as a NH delegate in Orlando. Will you be chairing the Orlando portion of the convention or will Mr. Merced be doing that? 

V. Paige Sexton BSN,RN 
Region 2 Alternate 
Libertarian National Committee 
901-390-0578

> On Jun 6, 2020, at 12:38, Nicholas Sarwark via Lnc-business <lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
> 
> 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