The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire will discuss several proposed bylaws changes at its next state convention, including one proposal that would authorize the Executive Committee to remove members it deems harmful to the state party.
The Bylaws and Rules Committee, established at the most recent LPNH State Convention in 2022, put forward a set of proposals intended to go before delegates. These proposals range from consolidating certain standing committees to clarifying the delegate selection process and empowering the LPNH leadership to terminate individual membership. All recommendations have the unanimous support of the Committee.
One proposal detailed in the report and set to go before delegates would “provide a process for removing members who are directly harming or trying to harm the [Libertarian Party of New Hampshire].”
The language acknowledges that the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has “rarely terminated” an individual’s membership with the party. It did, however, call for more “straightforward guidelines” for doing so should the party feel that removing a member is needed. “The intent is not to make it easier but to provide clearer guidelines for doing so should it become necessary,” the language reads.
The Committee additionally polled individual members within the report for their initial opinions on the proposed changes. Their findings state that eight members either approved or strongly approved the proposed amendment giving the Executive Committee the ability to remove members versus two who either disapproved or strongly disapproved.
The proposal also outlines specific instances which could call someone’s membership with the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire into question. These include either the destruction or theft of party assets, calls for or the initiation of physical violence, or attempts to subvert the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, including establishing a competing Libertarian Party or fielding other Libertarian candidates against those endorsed by either the Libertarian National Committee or the state affiliate.
If an individual’s membership were called into question by the Executive Committee, the party would conduct a hearing to allow the individual to make a case against expulsion. At such a hearing, the burden of persuasion will “rest upon the appellant.” Following this process, the Executive Committee will hold a vote. If the vote is unanimous, the party will remove the offending member. However, the individual retains the right to rejoin the party at the end of the following year’s annual state convention.
Such language, if successfully adopted by the delegates, would empower the LPNH Executive Committee to remove members such as Kelly Halldorson, who ran for governor as a Libertarian earlier this year in a race that also included Libertarian candidate Karlyn Borysenko. In addition, several other Libertarians ran for office in New Hampshire this past midterm election unconnected to the New Hampshire state affiliate, including former LNC Chair Nicholas Sarwark, whose campaign was the subject of a previous article.
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s state convention is scheduled for January next year. Readers can access convention documents at this link.
So are we, Tony.
The Libertarian Party is an absolute Mess. I’m so glad I snapped out of it and left the cult years ago.
An analysis of alternatives for New Hampshire Libertarians appears on our companion site Third Party Watch (ThirdPartyWatch.com).
Not sure whether the state central committee should be empowered to terminate or reject qualifying memberships, but if they are, it does make sense to have clear guidelines.
I have presented (below) two perspectives on the practical meaning of the expulsion proposal. I do not know which is valid.
As an aside, if you expel someone, it would be proper to refund to them at least the pro rata share of their dues.
Stalinism has arrived in NH. It’s quite hypocritical for this being a topic of discussion considering that both the LPNH Communications team directly through their Twitter account, and the Senate candidate on his own admitted that they would have scrapped their (ballot access) campaign and endorsed the favored “liberty Republican” candidate had he won the primary. Also considering the Gubernatorial (ballot access) candidate was just a paper candidate, that would have left no one running for ballot access except for Halldorson.
NH Libertarians deserve better strategy and leadership than what is evidenced in this proposal.
LPNH membership is meaningless in terms of any ballot access or election law matters in New Hampshire. It’s just some private club with a twitter account.
Losers need scapegoats to distract from their own failures.
I suppose, theoretically, that should the LPNH ever fail to achieve ballot access while they still have some funds available, the executive committee could be accused of attempting to subvert party ballot access by withholding funds.
It could also cause the expulsion of George Phillies because of 2008, if he ever attempted to join the LPNH, and maybe Darryl Perry because of his 2016 Presidential write in campaign. I don’t know that Perry got any votes in NH but, that doesn’t appear to make a difference. He was still competing against the national party candidate. The intent might have been to require a “Libertarian” label on the ballot, but the language is sloppy.
Having said that, the actual grounds for expulsion are not unreasonable, though ‘endorsed by the LNC’ mostly does not match what the LNC has traditionally done. The question, however, is how the rules will be applied.
Vee haff a liddul list. Dey neffer vill be missed.