Manchester, NH – The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s annual convention was held at Backyard Brewery in Manchester on Saturday, January 28, 2023. The convention voted to exclude its Former National Chairman Nicholas Sarwark from participating in the organization’s business by a vote of 44-11.
Nicholas Sarwark is a Manchester-based attorney and Executive Director of the Libertarian Policy Institute, a 501(c)(4) non-profit dedicated to advancing libertarian policies that make people’s lives better through recruiting, training, and amplifying candidates and activists.
Sarwark served from 2014-2020 as Chair of the Libertarian National Committee during the two most successful Presidential elections in Libertarian Party history. He was also awarded “Candidate of the Year” at the 2021 Libertarian Party of New Hampshire convention for his 2020 campaign for Hillsborough County Attorney, which garnered the highest vote percentage of any New Hampshire Libertarian candidate that year.
A Bylaws Proposal was approved to establish a procedure for terminating party membership for anyone who runs as “Libertarian” in a race that has an LPNH endorsed candidate or for anyone who provides them significant support.
In January 2022, the LPNH convention body nominated two candidates who would become their worst-performing statewide candidates for public office since 1980. Senate nominee Jeremy Kauffman and Governor nominee Karlyn Borysenko had already received significant negative press attention prior to their nominations for their extreme firebrand rhetoric.
Kelly Halldorson launched an independent campaign for nomination by petition in protest of Borysenko’s despicable comments, such as Borysenko’s assertion that “Everyone who died in the Holocaust chose to die in the Holocaust before they were ever born because they collective[ly] wanted to understand the experience of ultimate oppression.”
Borysenko tweeted, “That’s why Hitler went to Heaven.” and her account was eventually banned for violation of Twitter’s terms of service.
“After the 2022 LPNH state convention nominated candidates who I thought would be detrimental to the party’s image and who hold views that Kelly and I believe are incompatible and antithetical to libertarian values, I assisted Kelly Halldorson’s campaign for Governor so that we could make sure there was a candidate in the race who represents the values of Libertarian voters, not just one caucus of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire that is obsessed with online trolling.” Sarwark says.
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire is not recognized by the state as a major party and therefore is not eligible to hold primary elections. Instead, voters must nominate other candidates through the petition process. These candidates must run as independents using the Libertarian political affiliation, and they must achieve more than 4% of the vote in either the Governor or US Senate election for their organization to become formally recognized. Otherwise, the LPNH endorsement is nothing more than a statement of support.
That is how two Libertarian Candidates for governor were nominated in 2022.
When it comes to vote-splitting, Kelly Halldorson received nearly twice as many votes in November as Karlyn Borysenko. The bylaws proposal was sponsored by Borysenko and targets eliminating the membership of Halldorson, the more successful of two Libertarian governor candidates, as well as Sarwark.
Borysenko commented on her proposal: “Perhaps the most impactful outcome of my being the @LPNH candidate for Governor last year is that it enticed Nick Sarwark to retaliate, which will result in his expulsion from the party. I’d say that’s a pretty great legacy. It’s coming, Nicky. Nothing you can do will stop it.”
After defeating Republican incumbent John Coughlin’s attempt to secure the open Democratic primary nomination in September, Sarwark went on to earn over 45% of the general election vote, again the highest percentage of any Libertarian candidate in New Hampshire and one of the best showings for all Libertarian candidates nationwide in the 2022 election cycle.
“The results on election day speak for themselves,” Sarwark says. “I hoped that this convention would be an opportunity for fair debate about how to move forward with positive solutions, but their refusal to allow my participation shows that they can’t handle that conversation.”
“Their strategy has been an objective failure in earning votes, raising funds, and attracting members. Continuing down this path will ruin any chance the organization had to achieve recognized political party status in 2024.
“Any Libertarian Presidential candidate who would emulate or associate with Kauffman and Borysenko would risk a similar low point nationwide, sink ballot access chances in other states and jeopardize the legitimacy of the Libertarian Party as a national political party.”
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Contact: info@libertarianpolicy.org
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References:
LPNH Bylaws Proposal L:
“Membership Termination:
- The membership of any member of the state party may be terminated by a unanimous vote of the Executive Committee for cause.
- Cause, for the purpose of this section, shall be limited to:
- Repeated calls for, or the initiation of, physical violence,
- Theft or destruction of party assets,
- Misuse of party assets creating a legal liability for the party,
- Establishment of a competing “Libertarian Party of New Hampshire”, or
- Attempting to subvert State Party ballot access, including, but not limited to, running for public office as a “Libertarian” party/political organization candidate, competing against a State Party or National Libertarian Party-endorsed candidate in the general election.
The Executive Committee shall notify the Member in writing, via mail and electronic means if possible, a notice of potential termination of membership as soon as possible, and at least 10 days before the scheduled vote. The member shall have the right to speak on their own behalf before the Executive Committee vote.
SOURCE:
https://www.newsweek.com/prageru-karlyn-borysenko-holocaust-hitler-heaven-1656788
What, Dmitri, you lost another one?
While temporarily going backwards, in the big picture this is actually progress.
I (and my father) formed the LPNH along with 30 other state parties in 1970.
These were placeholders until Nolan could make up his mind on whether he wanted to found a neo-Liberal party or a Libertarian-direction one.
As soon as things got cooking, Roger Stone (allegedly) organized a call to every NH home that Libertarians were communists in the pay of the USSR.
The few people Nolan brought in started purging each other.
Over half turned out to be working for the government, plus several from various crazed religious and Rothbardian ‘Mises’ groups who claimed Ayn Rand was a Commie Jewess up to no good.
They clearly had their counter-libertarian playbook ready before we even got rolling.
Nolan said a GOP operative later confessed to him the GOP staged the whole thing– coordinated by the nuts that ran the Union Leader paper, working with a group that is now the Democratic Socialists of America, then in the pay of Red China.
Nolan asked me what should be done, me being a teen Libertarian genius and all.
I was in Switzerland at the time, speaking to groups on getting Swiss women the Vote, since my grandmother had been a leader of Women’s Suffrage back in day.
Collect calls were like $40 a minute. Thank you, socialist phone monopolies.
“Swear them to the Pledge. Hand them literature and send them onwards to advocate, mon ami, ” I said. “And stop calling me collect.”
He asked: “How does the Pledge go again?”
Later Stone repented, joined the LP Florida, and I understand did some nice work.
1971 LPNH. Good times.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2023/02/former-national-libertarian-chair-banned-from-participation-at-nh-state-convention/
The echo chamber has spoken. All of their messaging points to their deluded belief that they are succeeding, but at the end of everything, I am sure Nick will be much better off not being associated with that particular group.
“No union with purgers!” – Mises Caucus
She was reinstated.
If she was banned from Twitter then how are you able to pull up her tweet?
Wow! If this is a deliberate attempt to destroy the Libertarian Party I really have to tip my hat to the perpetrators. If not, are they really this stupid? Minor party history is filled with splits and splits from splits and then even more splits. Libertarians have a large enough challenge trying to take on the Demorepublicrats on an uneven playing field. We do not need this sort of division and spitefulness.
First I heard of Karlyn Borysenko.
But her views are typical Eastern mysticism reincarnation beliefs, filtered through a Western New Age understanding. Eternal souls incarnate into physical bodies for the experience and lessons learned. For eternal souls, a brief life and death on Earth is as trivial as playing a video game or attending an amusement park.
It all sounds woo-woo but inoffensive, until you apply its logical conclusions to certain real life events.
I searched and found more on Borysenko’s views: https://www.newsweek.com/prageru-karlyn-borysenko-holocaust-hitler-heaven-1656788
I have confirmed that the expulsion bylaws is being applied retroactively. I have a list of other people who could be accused of the same deed. It is a long list.