<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Wes,<br><br></div>Thank you for this update. <br><br></div>I would like to make a request of the LNC body. Is there a member that could, in a short paragraph or less, explain why we should be focusing so many efforts on Oklahoma? As the Region-7 rep I find myself in an interesting position with this issue. On the one hand I am biased to see Oklahoma get additional resources, but on the other hand I am a practical business person who sees numerous flaws with pouring money into this.<br><br></div>Do we want ballot access across the country? Of course! This doesn't even need to be discussed. But at what cost are we willing to attain that goal?<br><br></div>What is the actual downside of us losing Oklahoma ballot access? I don't fully understand the loss would affects others running in the state, but even if it entirely prevented their own candidacy, how much do we lose with that? This isn't meant to be antagonistic, but rather something the LNC should be tasked with carefully analyzing. There was a lot of conversation that it hurts our brand in Oklahoma (a similar argument was used in Oregon). No doubt this is true, but in Oklahoma specifically, by how much does it hurt us? Do we raise an exorbitant amount of money in OK each year that we might not see in 2016 if we cut our losses? <br><br></div>I will refer back to a point I've made before. Would any of you personally spend tends of thousands of dollars of your own money on this cause? I remain extremely frustrated we couldn't even get our own body to commit to $50 / month as top representatives of the Libertarian Party and yet here we are cavalierly about to discuss whether to spend $10s of thousands of additional dollars on a cause which by all accounts we simply may not succeed in. I feel very strongly this is the kind of difficult decision the LNC **should** have to make and it strikes me that we haven't really analyzed the cost/benefits of it. Rather we relying upon the notion of: "we believe in ourselves so let's pour more money into this." ...a la every government pep-talk ever.<br><br></div>I will also concede that I fully appreciate and understand the position the party (specifically the Chair) is in for having raised certain monies specifically tied to us making this effort. I do get that. But I'm merely wanting us to consider how much more useful that money could possibly be in other areas. Are we not a political party? Could we not politick donors into understanding WHY the money they donated was ultimately moved to a different state cause? Since everyone is a philosopher here, there is very basic Aristotelian logic at play here regarding donation distribution. In the famed question, "There is a surplus of flutes, to whom do they go?", they go to the flutists as those are the only people who can use them. My point being that there is simply no sense in us pouring money into a cause we cannot win when that money could be given to states/people who can actually improve the overall results of our Party - rather than MAYBE catch us up to the status quo.<br><br></div>So to conclude, I am in no way saying we SHOULD cut our losses. But I would really like somebody to quantify for me specifically what we lose (objectively) if we don't chase this goal. Or for that matter if we chase it and fail. I am asking that because I believe the "goal" right now is far too broad; of course we all want ballot access. I want to know if what we would lose is tolerable to the body. That question seems far more relevant in the decision process.<br><br></div><div>Please feel free to email/call/text me any time of day at 512-773-3968 with any questions / comments.<br></div><div><br></div>Thank you much for your time.<br></div>Kevin Ludlow<br></div>Region 7 <br>512-773-3968<br><div><div><div><div><br><br></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:47 PM, Wes Benedict <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u>I went to Oklahoma for two reasons:
first, to help with the
petition drive, but second, to get a closer look so I could decide
if I thought
we should just shut it down. We are spending about $2,500 a week
there, and
we're about to double that rate, so if we are going to cut our
losses and end
it, the sooner the better.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My bottom line report to the LNC executive
committee is that
I'm confident we can ramp up our signature collection rate enough
to finish the
drive before the March 1 deadline, but we are going to have to
exceed the
$65,000 budget for Oklahoma by $15,000 to $25,000 to finish the
drive.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I'm recommending we try to finish the drive,
but it wouldn't
be so unreasonable to end it now if that's what you decide to do.
Things have
gone worse than we had originally planned. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We initially hoped that we could do this drive
for $2 per
signature and that we could finish it by early fall. Recent
petition drives in
places like Arkansas have gone well, and with stories of
petitioners fighting
over turf and demanding the opportunity to work for us in some
places, it
seemed like we might actually be exceeding the market rate for
signatures in
some cases.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But things have been harder than expected in
Oklahoma.<span> </span>On October 27,
we raised the rate in Oklahoma
from $2 to $2.50 per signature, and even at that higher rate,
finding enough
people to work has been a challenge. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before we started the Oklahoma drive, stalwart
libertarian
petitioner Andy Jacobs warned us that petition drives for
initiatives in other
states in the fall would be competing with us for workers and
would drive up
our costs, so we needed to get it done over the summer.
Unfortunately, we
didn't start until the end of the summer.<span>
</span>And while Andy did good work for us in Oklahoma for several
weeks, he,
as well as other petitioners, have indeed left Oklahoma for the
higher paying
non-Libertarian Party Petition work in other states that he warned
us about.
Although Andy is out of Oklahoma now, he does continue to stay
interested in
our progress and has been generous with suggestions for
improvement. I'm sure
he'd be happy to share his thoughts on our Oklahoma effort with
any of you
directly if you reach out to him. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One suggestion from Andy is that we should pay
more to
entice petitioners back and possibly even pay $5 per signature for
door to door
petitioning. Our petitioners have had hard times finding good
locations with
lots of the kind of foot traffic that makes for productive
petitioning. Door-to-door
petitioning can give very high validity signatures, so the
$5/signature rate
for 100% validity is not so far off from $2.50 per signature for
around 65% validity.
<span> </span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In hind sight, I wish we had started this drive
earlier. But
I don't think right now we need to offer a higher pay rate (not
that we could
afford it, anyway). Instead, we need to focus on recruiting more
petitioners,
and we are already seeing success from that. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Projections I've sent to Bill Redpath and Nick
Sarwark show
that with the new workers we've already recruited, we will likely
finish the
drive on time. But we also have several more petitioners saying
they will
probably be here soon to help, and if just a couple of those pan
out, we could
finish in January. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've heard lots of complaints from petitioners
that it's
been very hard to find good locations in Oklahoma to collect
signatures.
Petitioners have told us the grocery stores won't let them
petition, public
places like universities and festival grounds have been hostile,
and the
Oklahoma Driver's licensing places are too numerous to have
significant people
at any single location. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My uncle lives in Oklahoma City. I visited him
Saturday
night briefly and was surprised when he told me he had seen
petitioners lately
at the grocery and post office and he assumed they were ours. I
asked him
exactly which locations because I wondered about the conflicting
reports. He
specified by name the Crest grocery, Buy For Less grocery, and
post office near
his home. I had hoped to find time to visit those stores myself to
ask why they
might be letting petitioners for other efforts work there but not
libertarians
(assuming that was the case).<span> </span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I didn't find time for that, but LPOK vice
chair Tina Kelly
has since told me that even she had been personally told by those
chains she
couldn't petition there, only to find out later that one of the
petitioners she
recruited somehow did get permission at a location of both chains.
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think some of our stalwart petitioners like
Andy are used
to finding locations where they occasionally hit the jackpot and
collect over
500 signatures on a single day. That makes up for the more common
slow days.
Petitioners who come from out of town usually have transportation
and motel
expenses they pay out of pocket. Locals don't have the travel
overhead and we
are getting a few locals working. They may be slower than someone
like Andy,
but they can go slower and still make the economics work. Locals
can spend more
time asking for permission at more places and can afford to get
chased away
from more locations. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I personally saw the entire batch of petition
forms. That
was reassuring. In fact I pulled an all-nighter Monday and scanned
all 2,000
sheets in case we need help remotely with validation, and because
while often
hearing anecdotes of certain petitioners routinely getting better
validity than
others, I wanted the opportunity to see for myself. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">LP vice chair Tina Kelly has been indispensable
to this
drive. Petitioners turn in signatures to her, she gives us the
counts, we wire
funds, she writes checks, and pays the petitioners. She also
visits with the
elections authorities to find out important rules and procedures
for our
petition drive. She has worked to get cooperation from a couple
single-issue
groups doing ballot initiatives. Although results from those
cooperation
efforts have been lower than hoped, we’ve gotten a couple thousand
signatures
from the cooperation.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tina's son recently put the Oklahoma registered
voter
database online in a searchable format to assist with validity
checking. That will
be hugely helpful. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Tina has done lots of work, it's hard for
one person
to do all that she does plus respond to all the complaints from
current
petitioners and inquiries from prospective petitioners, not to
mention
answering frequent questions about progress from Bill Redpath and
me. We
recently decided to have Paul Frankel help with some of the local
management
assistance. I had gone to Oklahoma with the expectation that I
might recommend
removing Paul to save money, but right now I think we should keep
him at least for
a month to make sure new petitioners have someone they can reach
quickly any
time of day. Later we can reevaluate the cost of having him there.
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u>Tina invited me and the LPOK
officers and activists to a
nice restaurant Tuesday night. I asked who would be a candidate if
we got
ballot access. Out of about ten people, at least 3 indicated
interest,
including one who was against attempting this daunting petition
drive originally
(because it’s so much work), but would run if we made it. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I told the prospect who might be interested in
US Senate I'd
give $200 towards the $1,000 filing fee if he runs in 2016, and
someone else
quickly offered another $200. I think we’ll get several people to
run for
office in addition to having our candidate for President on the
ballot if we
get ballot access.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(My plane, where I'm writing most of this note,
just landed in DC. Final thoughts below from the office.)<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m not counting on legal help to make a
difference in time
for us. However, if our counsel or the Oklahoma ACLU is successful
in time, of
course that might make things easier. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m also mindful of keeping alive the dream for
50 state
ballot access, and the negative impact giving up in Oklahoma now
might have.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A Libertarian from Austin, Texas, Michael
Chastain, donated
$4,000 last week to help the Oklahoma petition drive. That’s in
addition to the five thousand or so we raised online recently: <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/serious-help-needed-for-oklahoma-petition-drive" target="_blank">http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/serious-help-needed-for-oklahoma-petition-drive</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I rushed out to Oklahoma Saturday partly so I
could be back
in the office Wednesday to meet Mr. Chastain in person (he was
visiting the
D.C. area and was interested in visiting the headquarters
today--Wednesday).<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll have more good news about support from Mr.
Chastain soon. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The LNC-EC is schedule to meet Monday
12/7/2015, to decide
whether or not to continue the LPOK drive. I’m sending this info
to all of you know in case
you’d like more information before that meeting.<u></u><u></u><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">cc'ing Richard Winger.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
</font></span></p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div>-- <br>
Wes Benedict, Executive Director<br>
<small><small>Libertarian National Committee, Inc.<br>
<b>New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314</b><br>
<a href="tel:%28202%29%20333-0008%20ext.%20232" value="+12023330008" target="_blank">(202) 333-0008 ext. 232</a>, <a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a><br>
<a href="http://facebook.com/libertarians" target="_blank">facebook.com/libertarians</a> @LPNational<br>
Join the Libertarian Party at: <a href="http://lp.org/membership" target="_blank">http://lp.org/membership</a></small></small><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>========================================================<br>Kevin Ludlow<br>512-773-3968<br></div><div><a href="http://www.kevinludlow.com" target="_blank">http://www.kevinludlow.com</a><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div>
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