[Lnc-business] Addressing some false statements

[Nicholas Sarwark]

Dear Ms. Sexton,

As I said in the first sitting of the national convention, I am not willing
to serve as presiding officer of the second sitting. The amount of personal
obstructionism associated with the first sitting is the primary reason, Mr.
Merced will hopefully receive less of that.

Yours truly,
Nick


On Sat, Jun 6, 2020 at 1:53 PM Victoria Paige Lee via Lnc-business <
lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

> 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
>
>