Excerpted from a post at Kn@ppster:
Last weekend, LPF’s executive committee voted, with only one “no” vote from Paul Stanton, to surrender to Augustus Invictus, the leader of an authoritarian nationalist hostile takeover attempt of LPF, agreeing to “mediation” of his manufactured complaints in lieu of seeing if he was serious in his threats of frivolous/malicious litigation.
This hostile takeover attempt is now in its third year. It’s time to bring it to an end, and the first step in doing so is to replace each and every executive committee member who betrayed his or her fiduciary duty to the party and threw its members under the bus with this appeasement of the party’s enemies.
If that doesn’t happen, it will be time to ask the Libertarian National Committee to disaffiliate LPF and create a libertarian political party to replace what is fast becoming a front organization for fascist opportunists.
Disaffiliation would, of course, be a direct route to fixing the bylaws/Constitution situation. But it’s far from the best route.
It doesn’t take an attorney to see that a libel suit by a public person is likely to be frivolous, and doubly so in this case since the original press release was entirely accurate. However, IPR’s owner Warren Redlich is an attorney and I need to tal kt ohim about an upcoming article anyway so I will ask him.
That’s the equivalent of wearing a kick me sign on your back to school. If that’s your attitude you will literally roll over for anyone who threatens to sue you, no matter how ridiculous their lawsuit would be.
Not surprising, since you have defended him in past threads as well.
Exactly.
Calm discussion of Invictus? Absolutely.
Diplomacy with Invictus? When someone is waging war on you, diplomacy is only appropriate when the enemy sues for peace, not when he threatens a new offensive.
The maximum possible costs of defense from Invictus’s threat of frivolous litigation to LPF are by definition less than the cost of an Invictus takeover of LPF.
It is very well and good to urge others to discount frivolous defamation lawsuit threats. Only those responsible can decide what is frivolous and what is not. I fail to see any people that claim to be attorneys in the various comment threads here at IPR that state that the reported Invictus lawsuit threat is frivolous.
During the run up to the LP of Florida primary for US Senate many folks cried far and wide that SOMEBODY should run against Augstus Invicictus. Eventually Paul Stanton was willing and able to qualify.
There is no guarantee that the reported defamation lawsuit by Invictus will find a willing defender (at little to no cost).
Avoiding expensive legal processes is a wise move for any organization. I presume the Libertarian Party of Florida does not have thousands of dollars on hand to waste on pursuing a legal defense.
While I am certain it will not earn me any brownie points in certain political corners to advocate for calm discussion and diplomacy when it comes to Augustus Invictus I do so advocate.
“One possibility that came up, and I don’t know if any LNC member would be wiling to introduce this, would be a resolution not condemning Florida or mentioning Invictus directly, but rather urging all state parties to resist and not bend over for frivolous defamation lawsuit threats.”
Yes, that would be nice, but only in a very … specific … way.
I like the idea of urging all state parties to resist and not bend over for frivolous defamation lawsuit threats. You should probably write some LNC members about that. Offering to have LNC pay for defense would probably kill it though, even though you are correct that it is legitimate and the threats 99 times out of 100 are empty. LNC is very cautious about unknown liabilities and being on the hook for unknown and unpredictable amounts of money. With ballot access lawsuits, specific expenditures for specific cases are voted on separately each time.
One possibility that came up, and I don’t know if any LNC member would be wiling to introduce this, would be a resolution not condemning Florida or mentioning Invictus directly, but rather urging all state parties to resist and not bend over for frivolous defamation lawsuit threats. Maybe even offering that the LNC would help defend such cases, should any moron reach the unlikely step of actually filling one. That seems as legitimate a use of national funds, as are ballot access or debate-inclusion lawsuits. Particularly since 99 times out of 100 it’s just an empty threat and we lose nothing by calling the bluff.
I hope video will be available afterwards.
WOW George , what a awesome session .Damnit ,I wish I could attend.
However, the LNC could pass a resolution indicating what might happen if the LPF were not to heal itself. That would be pressure.
Before people push to do this, they really need to count noses and see that their motion, whatever it is, passes by a substantial margin. If the motion fails, Florida is given a nudge in the wrong direction.
The LSLA National convention http://libertarianleaders.org/index.php/Conference in Manchester NH, on May 28 had already scheduled a session “Physically Removed, So To Speak: Making the LP Inhospitable to the Alt-Right and Other Nazis” which turns out to even more relevant than we had expected.
Good luck to Florida if they do try to kick him out! I hope they have better luck than CA did in 2009.
Same here.
If the LPF cannot manage to do the right thing by disassociating from AI and other fascists, then I will do whatever I can to help push for disaffiliation.
LG,
That makes sense.
it’s not my doing or idea ( although Ill back my team on this one ) and will likely fail BUT players involved (from FLA also) feel like it will apply more pressure just in time for their state convention. Im just passing along the word 🙂
LG,
“Nevada will be asking for de-affiliation at the next LNC meeting.”
That’s premature.
The next LNC meeting is April 15-16.
The LPF’s state convention is May 5-7.
If LPF proves at the state convention that it cannot or will not save itself from being overrun by the nationalist hijackers, then by all means it should be disaffiliated so as to insulate the rest of the LP from the infection. But give it that last chance.
HELLO MCFLY??? (liz) —there’s a fascist in your house man ! and just let it go is your response. Ill tell ya whats good about what happened and its the same benefit the exodus of Libs to Trump gave us : we get to know exactly how fast some folks break weak and cut and run. Good to know. Wouldnt want to stand next to any one of y’all when facing a real enemy and not some piss ant racist.
Nevada will be asking for de-affiliation at the next LNC meeting.
Utterly and completely shameful. I fully support disaffiliating the Florida party unless and until their catering to Fascists is overturned.
8:40 PM (4 hours ago)
to iprtwo, Paul, Adrian, victoria.rice.., Alexandria
Hi Alexandria, thanks for writing. I’ve just read Mr. Ramsey’s lengthy work of fiction referenced in your note below. I can assure everyone that the parts concerning myself were horribly botched in just about every possible respect so I assume the rest of it is BS also. I’m not sure exactly when I can write another followup article myself (doing a few other things this weekend) but I’ve copied my fellow IPR writers. If one of them want to jump on it I can be reached by phone at 205-534-1622 if they want correction of Reich Wing Ryan Ramsey’s errors about me specifically. Naturally tho, I am the smallest piece of that story, so I am copying Mr. Stanton, Mr. Wyllie and Ms. Rice in case they want to provide any quotes in case one of our writers does a story (or for me to use when I get a chance to write it up). Sorry to hear that Ms. Rice has been outed but obviously that was not my decision and I respected her privacy in that regard as long as everyone else did.
Regards,
Paul Frankel
On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 6:00 PM, Alexandria Brown wrote:
And regarding Oregon tangent above our earlier info turned out to be wrong; the new SOS reaffirmed the existing precedent and continues to recognize the Hedbor/Wagner group, not the Epstein/Burke Group. See http://sos.oregon.gov/Documents/libertarian-party-oregon-leadership-memo.pdf and executive summary at https://www.oregon.gov/newsroom/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?newsid=1974
BTW I hope that 88 in your email is your year of birth or something else besides 14/88…
No way. There is no way that fascists gaining a foothold in the LP is something to let go.
He does.
So any time someone threatens you with a frivolous lawsuit you will fulfill whatever crazy demands they make? Thanks for letting everyone know.
No.
Who are you talking to? For example I am not in Florida, but any state affiliate of my national party making itself hospitable to fascism concerns me. The author, Thomas Knapp, has said he does plan to show up as a delegate since he is in Florida.
It’s not a hit piece but a true statement of facts and in no way shitty. As for bringing negative attention the LPF did that with its boneheaded retraction.
Who do you mean by “you”?
Was Matt Hasty involved?
I am not a fan of many of Invictus’ ideas either, but damn man let it go. The press release stated he advocates for “state-sponsored murder”, that in itself is enough to issue a retraction. It’s not a true statement, even if he did say something on his website about a eugenics program – that is not the same thing as state-sponsored murder. The LPF EC didn’t want to risk emptying out the treasury over this stupid bullshit. Get over it. Show up as a delegate to the convention and help elect new people if you think the EC made a mistake and stop bringing more negative attention by publishing these shitty hit pieces.
Lol, what EC position are you running for again? Usually those complaining need to get out of the way of those actual doing something.
“Finally, the LPF would like to note that Mr. Invictus has always been a member in good standing, is a past Chair of the Libertarian Party of Orange County, a sponsor of the 2016 and 2017 LPF State Conventions, as well as a dedicated volunteer on the Legislative Review Committee.”
me_ fucking vomit. member in good standing?? LPF you have truly lost your way. We need to amputate them if good men dont take it back next month
Those who think this is over need to google “the Streisand Effect.” Because this effectively guarantees his name will forever be tied to eugenics advocacy. And his YouTube channel means it’ll also be tied to racism.
New Republican SOS. However, I am also heard a contradicting rumor now, that the announcement will be that they are not making a change. Not sure why they would bother to announce that but we’ll see. We should know by 3 or 4 pm west coast time.
Why did something happen in Oregon?
Oregon press release from SOS is due to be out at 3 PM West Coast time but we are reasonably sure we know what it will say.
As Paul Stanton says in LPF FB discussion….
And it’s official…as expected, LPF caved and rolled over for the fascist:
It takes someone with the willingness and resources (time and/or money) to do it. If someone like that can be found, they could certainly petition to become the new LP affiliate. I’m not sure it would go anywhere but they could try. I don’t think the LP wants to pay to create a balloted party from scratch when there already is one, especially if no one is stepping forward on the ground to make it happen.
Paulie: I’m not so sure I’m getting my wish. Seems to me LNC should start from scratch with Oregon. Ballot access is big, but sometimes best to start anew and have a better organization get its own ballot access. Sure you lose the Libertarian name to a group with ballot access with it, but it is not an insurmountable problem.
“Rogue individuals totally disregarding bylaws and rules of party”
That describes both organization. The different is that the real LPO did so to turn LPO back into an effective libertarian political party while the Burke/Starr impostor organization did so to keep it moribund.
It will be a sad day if the Oregon SoS and/or the LNC recognize the fraudulent Burke scam as a new affiliate in preference to the real LPO.
” while the looong ongoing issue in Oregon has been troubling and divisive and all that…the human beings involved on both sides are nowhere near the same animal as Evictus …”
Good point, Ms. LG.
Somehow, I doubt they are done fighting.
RIP LPO 🙁 you put up a great fight ….
ROFLMAO , while the looong ongoing issue in Oregon has been troubling and divisive and all that…the human beings involved on both sides are nowhere near the same animal as Evictus …Your not taking our party racist , all aggression on board , we’re gonna fight.
Evan,
You may get your wish. It looks like Oregon SOS is switching ballot access to the Burke/Epstein faction today, which means that an LNC motion to switch which group is listed at LP.org, receives LPHQ data dumps, etc will likely be voted on in Pittsburgh next weekend.
LNC should disaffiliate Oregon too. Rogue individuals totally disregarding bylaws and rules of party to keep their small group in power so they can send middle finger pictures to people. However, to many in LP this is okay because they are part of their tribe. The hypocrisy in the alleged party of principle is sickening.