Michigan – As the Libertarian Party of Michigan (LPM) April 1st Conventions become imminent, new developments continue to unfold. Among them are the outcome of a survey of Special Convention petitioners, a Judicial Committee ruling regarding Tim Yow’s Chairmanship, additions to the LPM leadership letter, and the scheduled appearance of a Mises Caucus endorsed Presidential candidate at the Lansing Convention. Previous articles in Independent Political Report and Third Party Watch have chronicled Michigan’s ongoing leadership controversy.
New Development: Original Special Convention Petitioners Forgo Event
After the January 31st elected LEC** meeting, at which members determined the Judicial Committee reset was illegal, this author began polling members who had previously petitioned for a special convention (on behalf of the elected LPM). Most replied to a survey that was emailed to them. A few missed or ignored the email. In the weeks that followed, the author was able to get responses from the remaining signers.
Poll Results reveal New Developments
The two original petitions were submitted simultaneously. One called for holding the special convention to fill vacancies, and the other called for a no-confidence vote against Judicial-Committee-installed* Chair Andrew Chadderdon. Allies of Chadderdon later circulated a separate petition calling for the formation of a committee to investigate alleged violations of policy or agreements by some LPM members. The elected LPM didn’t poll the last group whose contact information wasn’t readily available. The two substantive questions were: “Are you planning on attending the Regular Convention in Lansing,” and “Are you planning on attending the Special Convention in Wixom.”
The answer to the first question was unanimous. None of the 46 LPM members initially calling for a Special Convention will be in attendance at it. The elected LEC acknowledged the petition that 39 Chadderdon supporters signed later by forming a committee to investigate alleged violations. Delegates may also move to form committees from the floor.
Regular Convention Favored by Most Special Convention Petitioners
Sixty Seven Percent of the original petitioners responded that they intended to attend the Regular Convention in Lansing. Others expressed a desire to attend but returned comments including: “I will be on vacation, or I would be attending the Lansing convention;” “I regret I won’t be able to attend the Lansing convention as I will be out of the country that day;” and “Can’t attend because it is during Spring Break and I will not be around;”
A total of 74 people registered in advance for the Regular Convention in Lansing. Several more have indicated their intent to register in person.
Mises Caucus-Endorsed Candidate to Attend Regular Convention
Presidential Candidate Jacob Hornberger will be attending the Regular Convention in Lansing. The Mises Caucus endorsed Hornberger for the Libertarian Party Presidential nomination in 2020. He will have the microphone at the close of business in the late afternoon, close to 4:00 PM. Members of the elected LEC previously reached out to other known candidates, but no others confirmed attendance.
Hornberger is the founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation. He is also the author of several books.
List of LP Notables Endorsing the Elected LEC & Lansing Convention Grows
Since Independent Political Report published “MI Longtime Activists Support Libertarian State Committee,” a few other highly prominent Libertarian leaders joined the list. This includes 1994 US Senate candidate Jon Coon whose extremely visible campaign earned him 4.2% of the statewide vote. That year his campaign organized a gun rally at the Michigan Capitol that attracted 10,000 activists. That rally was the formative moment of Brass Roots. That organization successfully lobbied for the “shall issue” Concealed Pistol License policy that continues to enable Michigan gun owners to legally carry concealed firearms. Coon was also LPM Vice Chair from 1993 to 1994. As a State Rep. Candidate in 1996, he lost to the Democrat but tied with the Republican. Coon will be attending the Lansing convention with his wife Renae.
Others include former (1999-2000) Michigan Chair Stacy Van Oost, who lead a successful statewide ballot access effort, and Leonard Schwartz, who collected the most signatures in that effort. Schwartz also ran for Michigan Supreme Court (2004) and US Senate (2006).
Judicial Committee Rejects Tim Yow Appeal, Hints at Purge
As this author reported in the Third Party Watch article, “February Surprise Breaks the Ice at Installed LEC’s Autocratic Meeting in MI,” resigned Chairperson Tim Yow claimed that the LPM Judicial Committee (JC) ruling made him Chair since they reverted the July 9th officer election. At that Convention, Andrew Chadderdon insisted that he was only serving as Chair in Yow’s absence and that Yow was Chair until the Convention accepted his resignation.
On March 39th, The JC published a ruling . In an email to members, the Judicial Committee Chairman, Connor Nepomuceno, wrote,
“The Judicial Committee considered Mr. Yow’s appeal but have chosen to reject it. It is plain to see that Mr. Yow’s appeal was not only poorly supported, but that it was made in bad faith. Considering further that his resignation is the primary catalyst of the drama and controversy of the last year, we have elected to recommend that either the Executive Committee or the regular convention body motion to revoke Mr. Yow’s lifetime membership.”
This is the first time in the history of the Libertarian Party of Michigan that any officer recommended punitive action against a member for bringing an appeal to the JC. If the LPM revoked Mr. Yow’s lifetime membership, it would be the first time the Party revoked a membership and could set a precedent for the removal of any members who lack majority support. It would need to happen after an amendment to the Bylaws since they read,
“VIII. MEMBERSHIP. Membership shall be granted to any person who affirms the Statement of Principles and whose LPM dues are current.”
There are no other qualifications required for membership.
No New Developments on Platform Reversion
One thing has not changed in the past month. The aforementioned Third Party Watch article mentioned that the JC ruling and reset not only led to the changing of officer listings on the MichiganLP.org website but that the platform was also reverted to the 2021 version. This unexplained action appears to be deliberate since the JC-installed LEC continues to post the 2021 platform while the elected LEC posts the 2022 version.
Hopeful Developments for Unity
A couple of developments in the past month have given some Michigan Libertarians cause to feel hopeful.
On March 23rd Ryan Brennan, an active supporter of the installed LEC, organized a self-defense rights rally by the Michigan Capitol called, “March to Defend Lives.” Michigan Libertarians from both camps came together to participate in, or support the event.
He also appeared on a radio show on which this author is a panelist.
In early March, the Elected LEC’s acting Chair, Mike Saliba, sent a letter to JC-Installed Chair Andrew Chadderdon proposing a pathway to unity. In the letter Saliba writes,
I would like to invite you and your followers to come to participate in the regular convention being held on April 1st, at the Hilton Garden Inn, in Lansing. This is a regular convention, completely in accordance with our bylaws. We will be electing a completely new LEC, giving everyone involved a chance to start over with a fresh slate.
The entire letter is posted here.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan Conventions will be at:
Regular: Hilton Garden Inn at 633 North Canal Road in Lansing, Michigan. Business starts at 9:00 AM.
Special: Wixom VFW Post 2269 (2652 LOON LAKE RD, WIXOM, Michigan, 48393, United States)
* For the sake of brevity, the terms “Elected Chair” and “Elected LEC” will respectively mean the state Chair elected at the July 9th 2022 Convention of the Libertarian Party of Michigan, and the Libertarian Executive Committee formed as a result of vacancies filled at that convention. It will also apply to offices filled by caucuses or elected officers from July 9th up to December 19th, and District Representatives filling vacancies on the elected LEC after January 30th 2023.
** For the sake of brevity, the terms “Installed Chair” and “Installed LEC” will respectively mean the state Chair and Libertarian Executive Committee installed by the LPM Judicial Committee on December 19th as an action they justified in their ruling on an appeal filled by Wayne County affiliate Chair Andrew Chadderdon
Mr. Winger is completely correct, as usual. Personally, I would think it an incredibly ugly event for the LP to lose ballot access in Michigan, while the Natural Law Party, which for all intents and purposes has not existed since 2002, would continue to retain it.
I would hope the non-mises LP would choose not to cut the baby in-half and if this is not resolved in time to submit nominations for the 2024 election cycle that they not select anyone for statewide office. Last I spoke with Mr. Saliba this does not seem to match his intentions. Saliba included trying to get the largest number of candidates ever, and threatening to not place the LP presidential nominee on the ballot if the Party where not to seat his delegates to the DC convention, particularly if that nominee were to be Dave Smith.
Under Michigan state law all parties with automatic ballot access, but without primary status, which currently includes: Libertarian Party, Green Party, Working Class Party, U.S. Taxpayers Party & the Natural Law Party, select their nominees for state wide office at a state convention on or before the date of the primary, and candidates’ whose districts cross county lines be selected as district caucuses submitted in person to the Secretary of State’s office on the same sheet the day before the end of the first day of business after the state convention. To my knowledge all of these parties have always held such caucuses in conjunction with their state convention. The same law requires such parties to select nominees for Township offices (all Township offices in Michigan are partisan by state law) be selected by Township Caucus and submitted to the Township Clerk by the end of business day after the caucus concludes, and similarly any office, whether county, stature or federal, whose jurisdiction lies entirely within a single counties’ boundaries, be submitted by county/district caucuses that must be held on the same day an submitted together as one slate to the county clerk by the end of the next business day after such caucuses occur. Traditionally the LPM has hosted all those caucuses at the location of the state convention, or, more commonly, at the county convention and then vote to recess the caucus to resume at the location of the state convention on the date their of (allowing them more time to recruit more candidates while also allowing the participation of candidate(s) and their supporters who are unable to travel to another part of the state). However, over the last few elections cycle we have learned that it is not necessary for such caucuses to submit their paperwork in any relation to when the state convention is held as several townships have held caucuses and nominated candidates between the conclusion of the state convention and the date of the primary, and those candidates have all been granted ballot access. (Often the Party needs to help such local clerks on how to proceed as so few actually no what to do with such nomination paperwork since it is fairly rare for parties without primary status to nominate candidates in most districts). I believe there would be no issue with the Saliba led faction choosing to only nominate such local candidates in 2024. It may even be beneficial to finally test the theory that if the Party focuses solely on local races, we’d have a better chance at winning.
Shawn, when Hornberger accepted the invitation of Mr. Saliba, he was not aware of the controversy nor the separate conventions. Mr. Hornberger ended up attending both conventions, as I would expect to be the case of anyone in his position seeking the support of the largest number of individuals regardless of any other consideration.
Your assertation was correct, however. Many of Hornberger’s statements appeared to be received with shock by the MC associated Libertarians in Wixom, including his assortations about open borders, his insistence that the best path forward for the LP was by concentrating on reaching residents of poor black neighborhoods, and that the LP was not the Ron Paul Revolution, and that attempting to re-create it, or reach Republican Ron Paul voters was a lost cause.
George, That is correct. As the only elected delegate who was seated as a delegate and attended a portion of both conventions, I can assure you that ~40 vote in favor of retaining Mr. Chadderdon while ~2 voted against. Similarly, the Lansing convention passed a resolution that indicated that while removing Chadderdon was no longer necessary, we would have voted to do so if given the opportunity, with ~70 in favor and ~4 against.
On a related note a majority of those present at the Wixom special convention, but not the 2/3 necessary, voted in favor of suspending the rules to consider a resolution indicating that they didn’t approve of the actions of the Lansing Assembly, but that for the sake of unity would recognize that assembly and agree to abide by its decisions. The Lansing Assembly considered a similar resolution recognizing the actions of the Wixom assembly and agreeing to abide by it, it too did not reach the 2/3 necessary by the LPM bylaws to pass resolutions but may have made a majority (voice vote ruled to not have made 2/3 threshold by the convention chair).
We are led to understand that the Convention organized by the LNC-associated group voted by a substantial margin to retain Mr. Chadderdon as their chair.
Are they being videocasted?
Are any IRP folks available to live blog either convention(s)?
To be fair to Mr. Horberger, I don’t think the MC has endorsed his 2024 nomination.
He has been very vocal on immigration liberalization (as he always has been), whereas the MC is 180 degrees the other way on the topic.
I suspect the MC 2020 endorsement was merely that he was the most distanced from the existing leadership of the LP at the time, and that no actual MC member was seeking the presidential nomination that year. His occasionally combative style in pursuing the nomination (which pissed off many Browne supporters in 2000) may have convinced the MC leadership that he was more like them.
It’s quite clear that whatever association with the MC Hornberger has, it certainly has not caused him to compromise on his long held policy positions.
If peace cannot be made between the two factions, the party will go off the ballot, because the Michigan Secretary of State’s office has a long history of refusing to adjudicate factional fights. The Secretary of State will instead refuse to list any party nominees on the ballot in 2024 if the breach cannot be healed. This is what kept the Reform Party off the ballot for president in 2000 (Michigan is the only state in which Pat Buchanan wasn’t on the ballot). This is what kept the American Party off the ballot in Michigan after 1972.
This all makes me think about the Old Testament story of the two women who appealed to King Solomon. Both claimed to be the mother of a particular baby. The King ordered the baby cut in half.
It is always easy to subscribe ill intensions upon people we disagree with. I have tried very hard to not take a side in this, though it is clear that the few friends I have left in the Party are in the Lansing group (what Scotty calls teh elected LEC, and I call the .net party since their new website ends with .net like they are a 1990s telcom provider) I believe both of them believe they are doing what is right for the Party.
I highly recommend that attendees at both conventions attempt to pass a resolution indicating that they think the other group are assholes, but they are going to recognize the other convention and abide by its result in hopes of ensuring that the State isn’t the one who decides who is the Party. Such a resolution would take a 2/3 vote of the delegates voting. If such a resolution fails, I would recommend voting to adjourn the convention without further action taken, which would require a simple majority of those voting.