Published in Liberty for America, May 2011
In a surprise move without precedent or advance warning, the Libertarian Party of Nevada State Committee disaffiliated its three County/Regional Committees, which cover Las Vegas, Reno, and the Capital District. Readers of this newspaper may recall that the Clark County, Nevada LP group is financially independent of their state party, files separately with the FEC, and raises more money than a large fraction of all LP State Par-ties.
A pair of audio tapes, said to be from the meeting, appear on Youtube at youtube.com/watch?v=O-3UnWQFRZ8 and
youtube.com/watch?v=bzggrxmqjRo .Readers unwilling to type these links may find them on IndependentPoliticalReport.com.
A draft transcript of the tapes appears on IPR.
The Clark County LP has already responded. Debra Dedmon, writing on IPR, reports: The Libertarian Party of Clark County is valid due to the bylaws violation. The remaining members have elected Angela McKinster Chair .
Here is a partial edited transcript. Each paragraph is a different speaker. Your editor was not at the LPNV State Committee meeting and can neither identify most of the voices nor vouch for the validity of the recordings of this public meeting:
Motion #1 I move that we have three Libertarian Party of Nevada membership levels. These levels would also main-tain national sustaining membership status as defined in (inaudible): level 1 $50 annually, level 2 $213.12 annually, and level 3 which would be $1776 annually.
(Person making motion is invited to speak and does not.)
This is Dave Colborne. Out of curiosity, are we actually al-lowed to do this? Our bylaws leave membership fees to the lo-cal affiliates presently.
I don‘t know. Irv do you want to address this?
Irv: I‘m not aware of any bylaws. It wouldn‘t change our by-laws so it wouldn‘t change our qualifications for membership according to our state bylaws.
This is descriptions of donor levels. We‘re not really changing our state bylaws. That‘s all it is, just establishing three different levels. We can come up with names later. Basic membership, just the fifty to force the uh (unintelligible), the next level equates to $17.76 per month, and the last level is the $1776 for hopefully new members, big bucks ( big deep pockets).
Colborne: So, just as a question, would this override the local membership program or would it be on top of the local mem-bership program? Answer: It just establishes three different names for the three different levels, that‘s all.
Colborne: Well the problem here is that and I hate quoting by-laws here but according to them any affiliated areas under article 3 section A all members of an affiliate party in Nevada are members of the LPN provided that the region has joined the local membership program, which basically requires forward-ing ten dollars to the executive committee for each member registered in the affiliate. I personally have no problem, the 1776 brigade and things like that, accepting membership levels beyond whatever the affiliates currently have. I just want to make sure that those who live in Clark County and Nye County where they don‘t have dues or have dues that are considerably lower than fifty dollars are still members of state. I just want to be sure that is cleared up.
I can answer that. Nothing we do as an executive committee changes our bylaws, and I‘m sure you‘re aware of that. Our Bylaws and our constitution do not create any kind of donor level or membership level. This just establishing a description rather than as establishment who is a member or not. Right we now we have membership as just as you quoted, that‘s what governs our body so I don‘t see this as a conflict. Nothing we do can change our bylaws. We have to do that at a state convention.
Colborne OK. Mostly I wanted to make sure that was clear to the entire body. I‘ve got no problem with raising some extra money and having some extra donation levels. That‘s fine.
[Editor: There is then a vote. The motion appears to pass unanimously. We then reach the next motion, under which all regional affiliates are disaffiliated, meaning that the dues levels just voted cover the entire state.]
I move to consolidate the Libertarian Party of Nevada by revoking the affiliate status of all Nevada county chapters including the Libertarian Party of Clark County, The Capi-tol Libertarian Party, and the Nye County Libertarian Par-ty thereby folding them into one organization until such time as membership levels (?) have reached (?) rechartering of county organizations.
Colborne: I was expecting Irv to speak in favor of his motion before chiming in.
Irv: I really don‘t have anything to say. This thing speaks for itself. I just think it‘s a good time for consolidation.. (short problem with background noise)
Colborne: Why are we doing this? I guess that would be my first question.
Chair: David, are you speaking for this or against this? I guess that could be my first question.
All right, I‘ll go ahead with this and I‘ll speak against it. As-suming we go though we this and assuming that you vote in favor of this, which I have a sneaking suspicion you probably will, you are talking about requiring all perspective candidates from (list of counties) to go down to Clark County to be even considered on their local ballots. I really think this is inappro-priate. I don‘t believe this will help grow the Libertarian Party of Nevada. I fail to see how this will increase activism, increase donations, or otherwise improve the functioning of our state especially since the largest most successful state parties in the country namely the Libertarian Parties of California and Texas have heavily relied on local and county affiliates and the Republicans and Democrats as much as you may dislike their ideologies win elections using local county and even precinct level organizations, so I think it‘s kind of unfortunate that we‘re talking about moving away from that direction.
This is Sandy Darby. I‘m not quite sure, my phone kind of went out. What do you mean moving to consolidate?
Motion is read again.
I would like to speak against that. In Nye County we‘re grow-ing pretty rapidly. I think that if we consolidate you‘ll ruin what we‘re starting here.
(Rowan?) I would like to comment,
Chair: You are not recognized. This is an executive committee meeting.
Joe, we also have two elected libertarian officials in our county.
We meet once a month. We had more people in our region than we‘ve ever had before. That‘s not going to happen if we consolidate.
OK thank you Sandy.
Colborne: I move to allow Rowan to speak for five minutes. Sandy Second
Transcriber: This is a motion to allow someone to speak in defense of her organization, on a motion to revoke (for cause) the affiliate status of the group. Observe that enough people vote against permitting a defense. An Aye vote is a vote to per-mit the defense.
Root Aye; Secretary Nay; Treasurer Aye; David Aye; Darby Aye; Roberts Nay; Hopkins Nay; The Chair votes: I vote no.
Rowan: You realize you‘re shutting out two counties and we have real members here. There‘s fifteen of us.
The Nays have it. This is a tie vote and in event of a tie the motion fails.
Voice: Bylaws Article 7B says you have to put your reasons in writing if you have cause to revoke affiliate status.
Chair: You‘re not an officer.
The vote on the disaffiliation motion was Silvestri – Chair; YES, Root – Vice Chair YES; Kris McKinster – Secretary YES, Michael McAuliffe – Treasurer YES; Irv Hopkins – At Large YES; Chris Roberts – Southern Region YES; Da-vid Colborne – Northern Region NO; Sandra Darby – Cen-tral Region NO
The next motion is to authorize spending of funds. I move to authorize the chair to use up any LPNV funds for certain functions: campaigns, fundraising, and annual convention.
Is there any discussion from any officer? Hearing none we move to a vote
Wayne Aye; Secretary No; Treasurer Aye; Colborne No; Darby No; Roberts Aye; Hopkins Aye; Chair I believe it passes — abstains. Passes 4-3.
There are two ways to lead people:
1. Force their hand through violence and/or fraud because you are a loser.
2. Inspire them to join you because you are a winner.
In my book, disaffiliating members, affiliates, or coalition partners is an application of force for social gain. To use a position of elected trust to do so is an egregious step over the line. I would very much like to know specifically who put the motion forward, who seconded, and what the roll call was so that I know who not to vote for in the future.
In 2000 a local candidate of minor prominence demanded that the local LP give him all our money and do NO work at all for Harry Browne, even collecting signatures! He threatened to have his buddies pack a meeting and get the elected party officials tossed out. We officials told him to stuff it and that was that. But one must wonder if that’s what Root would try in order to get everyone to focus all their money and energy on HIS presidential campaign… hmmmm….
Wayne is keynote speaker? A great time for a floor demonstration for autonomy for local LPs. Signs and chants like: “Don’t rip our parties out by the ROOT! — Hey Hey what do you say? Save our parties from Root Decay! — 1-2-3-4 Throw centralizers out the door. — Save local parties from autocrats!” etc.
Gosh Batman… is the Libertarian Party really as screwed up as they appear?
Yes Robin old chum… they make the Reform Party look like a well oiled, decentralized, major party ass kicking machine.
Gee Batman… you said ass.
Oops! You’re right, Robin. Well shit, what the hell’s wrong with me?
Batman… oh, never mind.
I think so too, it’s unfortunate because at least for me , I always defended him even though we werent exactly friends , now he has way more people against him then he did pre-may5th
My guess is that the brouhaha over Nevada’s actions on May 5th has been genuinely upsetting to Wayne and his future plans. Oh, well.
Wayne is alot of things , but stupid isnt one of them , so he must have thought about the repercussions…
heres a talking pont , Wayne made a tactical mistae getting involved with the LPNevada excom . He should have remained friendly with everyone and limited his involvement to being our keynote speaker at convention and obviously attending the convention
Oh, “she?” I didn’t know Wayne had any female followers (really–I’m not being a smart-alec. That’s an oddity I’ve observed for some time.)
There really is only one person sticking up for Wayen, I notice. the past week on IPR, and the comments are weak, IMO. Let’s discuss things, shall we? Forget the nonsensical and worthless talking points. How about honest back-and-forth discussion? I’ll be here for a while.
she cant discuss anything Jill because she doesnt know, all she knows is what she read here. shes a sad little outsider who just likes to ruffle feathers
smfsc @ 31: Can you explain, then, why the LP isn’t tracking a flood of converts due to Wayne’s activities? Seriously, it’s a valid question. Please don’t answer with one of Wayne’s talking points. We’ve heard them all over and over, thank you. How about some honest discussion?
sing sing a song
That why he been on invited to a lot of Shows, radios and etc. These soo called viewers are enough to keep him popular to keep going strong and going and going. You know how the ratings works.. Well Root works. If they were not interested they wouldn’t be watching and for Wayne to be all over the place, the people are interested. Of course you had to be told this as you were not able to figure that out yourself.
@ 26 calls the LP a “small club.” If so, the Root fans, being a subset of the LP, are an even smaller club.
As for Root’s “fans” outside the LP — what evidence is there that they exist?
Root has “viewers” — but those sound bite/channel flippers will watch whatever face comes across their screens.
So far, there’s no evidence of such a large Root following.
LOL. I highly doubt Root is a small club and far from being a cultist.
If you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. I am sure some of the people here fit right in.
Wonder what would happen if we all got together and do something different, like put Wayne Root out there …
No need to wonder. Root is already “out there.” He was already the VP nominee. He continues to be “out there.” We see the results.
The public views the LP as increasingly “right-wing.”
And the LP is not growing.
Don’t want to destroy the little club …
You’re a treasure chest of clichés, aren’t you?
Better a “little club” of libertarians, than an even smaller club of Root cultists.
sing , sing a song!
Wonder what would happen if we all got together and do something different, like put Wayne Root out there to be the big nominee. OH that right, don’t want to do that, might be afraid he might have a chance to get the libertarian party more notice than ever before. NOOOO of course not, we have to bring down Root because he already getting the Libertarian party notice. Don’t want to destroy the little club we have all quietly to ourselves.
no it was used to try and attract Nevada Libertarians to the Cali Conv and also tooting the new leadership …translation trying to identify every single WAR supporter in Northern NV.
I received one of the postcards. It appeared to be more about advertising the “new leadership” and “new web site” of the LPNV
Oh, I see.
So the money was used to advertise that Wayne Allyn Root is now part of the New Leadership of the LPNV.
Well, that’s money well spent.
you know what decision was long over due , my decision to stand up to Joe Silvestri , my dear old friend. This hurts me, but it had to be this way . he had to get rid of myself and Tim Hagan because we NEVER WOULD HAVE WENT ALONG WITH THIS AND HE KNEW IT.
In fact , its strange how long we remained friends as you can ask anyone , we fought at more business meetings than we didnt. more than a few times , because of howd Id voted he tell me” your out next year ” LOL
anyways i miss my friend , but this jack-ass he is now ate him. ask anyone and theyll tell you he was an entirely different animal some time ago . hell we often had less activity when he was county chair and he was an awesome county chair because he kept us going even when it was bleak until we looked good again . he never gave up , he never wanted to de-affiliate.
I got an email from the Keaton wondering if this was the same Joe Silvestri that used to call porc-fest —- fascist-fest?? i wonder the same thing he used to be so much more flamboyant and fun and loving and now he’s bordering on not saying anyting thatll offend the “mainstream”
Joe , if your reading this , the mainstream never accomplished anything. you were my mentor , you were the reason i ever came back to a 2nd meeting , you schooled me , the 1st book you ever gave me was Mary Ruwarts “healing our world” , you have gone an entirely differnent path than the one u used to follow and i miss you.
thats really funny because the bylaws dont say issue a press release it says provide reasons to the respective county board members , so IMO they are still in violation of the bylaws and until Kris McKinster holds an excom vote to send Clarks monies to the State his request is illegal and holds no authority
“To which I comment “…It needs to be run from one central location and have one coordinated message…” Yes, state central planning works really well. (8^))”
LOL! Good one.
The NVLP exec board has issued a press release explaining their reasoning. Here’s the substantive part:
The board members voting in favor of this change want to state that our primary reason for this change was to more effectively pursue Libertarian goals of identifying and electing qualified Libertarian candidates statewide by creating a single source of a unified, positive message of freedom and responsibility. When the LPNevada is compared to other LP state affiliates on a per-capita basis, we do well for the population base we have. But in raw numbers, we have few activists who are spread too thin across our organizational structure. Without adequate coordination, the voting public is getting mixed messages from different parts of the LPNevada as county affiliates often focus on issues of little importance to mainstream voters. Once the LPNevada has grown to a size to adequately support a multi-level structure, we hope then to be able to rebuild county affiliates.
“Based upon a review of the past decade’s lack of membership growth and current membership totals, the LPNevada ExCom believes the current system design of individual county organizations is both inefficient and counterproductive,” said Joseph P. Silvestri, LPNevada Chairman. “While Chairman of the Clark County affiliate, I saw firsthand the difficulties in maintaining an effective affiliate organization. This decision was long overdue.”
Silvestri continued, “While this decision was not taken lightly, there was strong consensus that this change was absolutely necessary. I am very pleased with the direction the LPNevada is now heading, which will also create uniform membership criteria statewide. I encourage other Libertarian Party leaders of small affiliates to consider reviewing their organizational structure and adopt positive changes like we did here in Nevada.”
George: “To which I comment “…It needs to be run from one central location and have one coordinated message…” Yes, state central planning works really well. (8^))”
The Libertarian Party isn’t a state, and there are fundamental differences between the two that shouldn’t need to be discussed. There are many organizations that do really well using that model. Others do poorly.
I’m not inclined to think this was a good move by the Nevada LP though.
Jake @ 16: ” I also find the comments from Mr. Root that suggest our party founders and dedicated activists have tried to sabotage our party to be extremely disrespectful…..We don’t need armchair quarterbacks riding in on their high horse insulting the people who are out there building the local organizations. ”
My sentiments exactly.
You’ll find this coordinated message available at the new LP Nevada web site at LPNevada.org. It’s certainly pretty.
I personally agree with those that Jake’s comment that far too many LPers focus on the national scene, where we have the smallest impact, instead of on local issues, which is where elections are actually won. If there’s a single state LP out there that’s reliably organized at the precinct level and it’s still not winning elections, we can then talk about how localization isn’t getting the job done. Until then, it’s just one more great idea that the LP hasn’t consistently pursued.
I also find the comments from Mr. Root that suggest our party founders and dedicated activists have tried to sabotage our party to be extremely disrespectful. They aren’t paid to do this. They have full-time jobs and families to support just like most everyone else. They should be thanked for volunteering their time.
I have been appointed to local office, ran for office as a Libertarian, managed several campaigns, went door-to-door, contributed a good amount of my own money to the party and candidates, ran hundreds of radio advertisements statewide, appeared on statewide television, etc.. Many people in the party have done a lot more than I have and while I may disagree with some of their tactics they are not the enemy. The enemy is not within this party.
We don’t need armchair quarterbacks riding in on their high horse insulting the people who are out there building the local organizations. We need people who are going to encourage them and build them up personally not people who are going to bring them down and say negative things about them.
Does anyone know what this coordinated message is?
Most major businesses focus on local control and franchise out operations because central planning does not work well for large organizations. I work in retail management and what sells in one part of the state or country may not sell in another and while we all have support from the national headquarters they can’t make day-to-day or short-term marketing plans for our local area.
Even the Democrats and Republicans organize precinct by precinct to win elections.
Also, local control and building county-by-county organizations is something the LP has NOT been doing therefore it cannot be the reason we have not been successful. If anything it is the focus on the national party and trying to find a magic solution that has stifled growth and expansion.
@11 Correct.
The core of the letter as supplied by Debra Dedmon — I drop below some words of personal digression not related to the LP — reads
“You have you taken this wrong. The Nevada LP is failing bad-ly. BADLY. It needs to be run from one central location and have one coordinated message. That‘s how all great companies and organizations are run. I‘m a small business CEO. And a very successful one. The LP is a very badly run small business. If we were a business, we‘d be run out of a crumbling building in a terrible neighborhood downtown and facing bankruptcy after hanging on for 40 sad declining years. That has to change. We need a beautiful new exterior. We need to change locations to a gleaming office building on the Strip. We need new leader-ship that knows how to win. We need new employees with fresh positive attitudes. It‘s either change, or go out of business. I choose to make a change.
We need to organize…we need discipline…we need leader-ship…we need a fresh new attitude…we need everyone rowing in the same direction…and we need people who are all repeat-ing the same message. 40 years of failure is enough. We are simply TRYING to change all that.
The people who have failed this party for 40 years are all talk, no walk. Or as they say in Texas– all hat, no cattle. They yak and yak…but take no action…attract no money…donate no money…elect no one. Wait, it actually gets worse…they don‘t just do nothing, they in many cases re-pel others from every joining our party with their extreme out of mainstream radical message and dysfunctional attitudes. They purposely want the LP to fail…so no one ever wins office, therefore the LP stays small, therefore they can be big fish in a small pond. That is dysfunctional thinking. That is disgraceful. That is what has killed freedom and liberty in this country. I hold them more responsible than Bush or Obama. Because the old guard of the LP allowed this to happen to us. They retarded progress…so they could remain big fish in a small pond…while progressives continued growing government bigger and bigger, and took more and more of our freedoms away.
That is the only thing last night was about…trying to shape the LP into a winning organization. If you want to come along, you are welcome. So are others. We are building a BIG TENT par-ty. But to build a big tent, you first have to change the culture of losing and dysfunction. Anyone that wants to enter the tent has to work hard, donate, find donations, expect to win, change their attitude, look professional, and follow the rules. All the things that make up great organizations that win and produce results- from Microsoft to Wynn Resorts to the Navy Seals.”
To which I comment “…It needs to be run from one central location and have one coordinated message…” Yes, state central planning works really well. (8^))
Thanks for the explanation, David, re: the postcards.
Do you mean his letter to Debra, George? I haven’t seen anything else.
I received one of the postcards. It appeared to be more about advertising the “new leadership” and “new web site” of the LPNV than the California Convention, which actually makes a fair amount of sense. Our outreach materials actually should stress our operations more than neighboring states.
I am rather curious about what the response rate was on the postcards, though.
Mr Root did make a statement of his reasoning. Some readers will disagree with it, but it is comprehensible English sentences.
Some readers may question whether a person with Mr Root’s points of view will be a positive influence on how our national party should advance.
About the advertising for the CA convention, LG–I was never able to find out if that happened or, if it did, what the advertising was about. I asked several people over about a 10 day period. Considering that I was on the CA Executive Committee at that time, it’s very strange that I couldn’t get an answer. I ended up thinking nothing had been sent out.
Sometimes silence is deafening!
I suppose there could be circumstances whereby a state LP would disaffiliate a county organization (capture by non-Libertarians for example) . But it should be incumbent on the state party to publicize the reasons (if just for the purpose of warning others what are grounds for disaffiliation.)
The State LPs should be chartering new county affiliates as that is the only way to achieve sustainable growth. If it doesn’t already have one, LNC should produce a county organizational manual. Election or re-election of state chairs should depend, in large part, on how well they have boosted county affiliates.
las vegas
I get confused. Clark County is Reno or Las Vegas?
we had over $7,000 a cpl months ago ,we footed almost the entire bill for the state conv. we spend like $1,000 on LP Mugs which were supposed to be handed out to Brigade members and anyone who registered early , both of which i did, the mugs were not available at convention and my questions about where can i get mine have gone ignored. the state has the mugs. then at the business meeting prior to the last 1 , the county held theirs first and the same tools that control the state had enuf votes at county( same people) to give County Chair Kris McKinster discretion to send our money at will for advertising to the state , at which point they vted to allow $1500 to advertise the Cali Conv….at which point i cancelled my Brigade membership. ** 1776 brigade membership is a program wherein you give $17.76 a month and your local county , state and National dues are paid. it is Jim Duensings brainchild**
I’m reasonably I took down what I thought I heard being said on the YouTube tapes, but names are the most challenging part. I finally compared with the posted list of LPNV officers, which made things a bit easier.
The LNC is being told that the affiliates only have a few hundred dollars, which the state party is reportedly demanding be handed over. The Clark County FEC report for the current month shows over $2900 in their Federal account, meaning they appear to have more money than the state party does. By report, they have declined to hand over their money to the state.
dont hold ur breatt , theres a mistake in the body, our 3 counties deaffiliated are Capital which includes Reno , Nye and Clark
I would urge any of the people who voted “Aye” on this motion to visit us here and explain the reasoning behind this confusing move.