Late last week, Libertarian Party of New Hampshire Chair Conrad Nelson announced a special convention to select a new chair, citing his belief that being the only candidate to run for the position at the party’s most recent convention was a “disservice.” However, over the weekend, the meeting was canceled by LPNH leadership with no immediate public explanation.
“At my urging, the executive committee of LPNH has approved a motion to hold a business convention for the purpose of holding a vote for the position of Chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire,” the original statement by Nelson stated. “It is my belief that being the only candidate running for [C]hair at this year’s convention was a disservice to the membership of this party.”
While Nelson was successful at the most recent Libertarian Party of New Hampshire state convention, it’s important to note that he was not the only candidate to attempt to run for the position of Chair. Former LNC Chair Nicholas Sarwark was an attempted candidate; however, the convention body refused to accept his nomination. Nevertheless, both he and NOTA still received a single vote against Nelson.
News of the special convention was initially shared on the official Facebook account of LPNH, as well as sent out to members on the internal mailing list that same morning. Within 12 hours, however, the event page titled “Special Convention for Chair Election” was canceled by Nelson. LPNH made no explanation or other statement until three days later when it stated that “[d]ue to overwhelming response, the Executive Committee took a vote and unanimously approved canceling the previously announced business convention in April.”
No further context has been provided.
Some members of LPNH were confused by the statement and took to social media. For example, Justin O’Donnell, former LNC Region 8 Representative and the party’s 2020 nominee for US Senate, remarked, “there is no public notice of that solution anywhere.”
there is no public notice of that solution anywhere, I checked the website, the facebook page, and the twitter. Nothing. Signal groups that have a small percentage of total membership in them is not communication.
— Justin O'Donnell (@ODonnell4NH) March 19, 2023
“I checked the website, the facebook page, and the twitter. Nothing,” O’Donnell wrote. “Signal groups that have a small percentage of total membership in them is not communication.”
Dr. Karlyn Borysenko, the party’s endorsed 2022 gubernatorial nominee, had stronger words on the situation, providing insight on her Twitter account on what is allegedly happening within the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. In a lengthy statement, Borysenko wrote that LPNH canceled the special election following an “internal coup” where a compromise was made that limited the authority of the current chair. Per Borysenko, a significant portion of this friction relates to the role of the Twitter account and its relevance to those in the party who values its bold messaging approach.
“The special convention to re-elect the Chair after the internal coup was called off. Instead, a “compromise” was reached in which the Chair is allowed to stay the Chair but can’t actually exercise the authority he rightfully has to control the communications committee,” she wrote. “However, he is apparently being overruled by members who feel that the LPNH should do nothing but tweet all day, every day. In fact, they are on record as saying that the LPNH Twitter is the only thing that matters not only in New Hampshire, but in the entire Libertarian party.”
Borysenko also called out certain members of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, who she regards as driving women away from the party.
“[T]he men in the LPNH are mostly congregating around an outside caucus that is not officially affiliated with the party and are systematically removing the women from their groups,” she added, “either by driving them away because the women felt so uncomfortable staying or just actually removing them, and are blaming the women for this by saying they ‘poisoned the well.'”
An update on what is going on with the @LPNH:
The special convention to re-elect the Chair after the internal coup was called off. Instead, a "compromise" was reached in which the Chair is allowed to stay the Chair but can't actually exercise the authority he rightfully has to… https://t.co/xDOwBgAqyW
— Karlyn Borysenko (@DrKarlynB) March 22, 2023
Neither the LPNH Chair Conrad Nelson nor the LPNH Communications Director returned a request for comment from Independent Political Report regarding the convention cancelation or Dr. Borysenko’s original statements. The article will be updated if such a comment is received.
The next annual convention of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire will occur in the first quarter of 2024 under the party’s bylaws.
To sum up my long post, this feels like 2 groups I don’t agree with a lot on how they’re conducting business each pointing out the valid flaws in the other.
Per an email reportedly from Sean Dempsey to Jeff Douglas and Michael Heise: resigned from organizing the Mises Caucus in New Hampshire, says the caucus is now toxic, does not see any further purpose to the caucus after Reno as everything it is pushing is not differentiated from what the LP as an entity should be doing, and stated based on conversations with 19 people afterward, none of them thought the Mises Caucus had any future in the state following Douglas’s actions.
Per a screenshot from Douglas writing at the Discord Mises Caucus organizers group (again reportedly), says he’s done with NH and the whole organization needs a complete reboot, took credit for removing Sarwark and Company and this is the thanks they get, when he saw Justin O’Donnell sharing his Tweets from the group he decided to shut the group down, that people in LPNH seem more concerned with recruiting for the Free State Project instead of being a serious political party, then goes into the conspiracy theories peddled at the Twitter account that have affected people’s jobs and lives and the people controlling the Twitter feed there don’t give a f#ck.
Heise in reportedly a post at the same group says he’s been badmouthed by some of these people privately (YOU’RE IN POLITICS DUDE!), states the old leadership team have not been performing well as far as membership and engagement because everything runs through their Twitter account. Verbatim quote:
“They stole our NHMC Twitter account and made ot Free State Based because I asked Nolan (the previous chair) to remove Reed [Coverdale] from Twitter but leave him on Comms so that he can technically still make tweets. This way I get to run cover and they get to continue on.”
He continues an anti-Semitic tweet was the cause of this, and then says there’s not been a functional Mises Caucus in the state for months.
Justin O’Donnell at his Twitter feed shared an email 2 days ago reportedly being sent out by the Mises Caucus:
“Are you willing to attend the 2024 New Hampshire State LP Convention (exact date TBD)?
***VERY IMPORTANT-Turnout for this is our single most important short-term goal. Please block your calendar, request off from work, etc., for this day.***
I’m quite certain the name “Free Democrats” would run afoul of election laws in many states.
Maybe the Libertarians that are not in Mises should create a party called the Free Democrats. That party exists in Germany, is a classical liberal party, and usually gets around 5% nationwide. I believe in Pennsylvania they have the Keystone Party. Don’t think that would work nationwide but if your being purged by the Mises group maybe think outside of box and become the Free Democrats.
Went through the thread at the link.
While agreeing the source has her own issues, I doubt she took the time to invent all the screenshots at the link of the conversation that went on. Reading Jeff Douglas’ posts in the screenshots, it seems to me that Mises Caucus leadership observed they were starting to be harmed in their goals and motivations by this state’s Twitter account and sought to impose their authority on them, which fits with how the LNC has run things nationally the past 10 months and makes me laugh that this group seriously believes in the concept of “decentralized revolution”. “WE WANT REVOLUTION…on our terms and our terms alone!”
(Watching Andor right now which takes place in the Star Wars Universe and dear God there’s so much in that show that can apply of the rebels are the Libertarians and the Empire is the two-party duopoly. There’s a political idealist rebel early on in the show. They even have the intra-Libertarian squabbling of the rebels don’t agree with one another on the end state or the plans to achieve it right.)
It’s kind of nice to realize that yes, Twitter accounts like the LPNH one post-2021 were incredibly harmful to everyone else in the country, 2 years later. Most people I talk to don’t know what a Libertarian is, so they’re incredibly taken by the first thing they read about it. It’s eyerolling that their imposition of “stop, you’re hurting us” comes down to what I can see written by Mr. Douglas these 2 things:
-a tweet to the Forward Party saying “we don’t need any more 3rd parties losing elections…we got this covered”
-a tweet that Michael Heise had a meeting set up with Jon Mackey, the owner of Whole Foods, and a “6 million” tweet happened and the meeting was cancelled
Well next year’s State Convention should be fun.
So, the MC national leadership is unhappy with at least a couple of the NH tweets. And it’s good to see confirmation from the MC that they did, in fact, flood the PA convention with out of state people. That makes me wonder if they can hold it.
Very strange and sad situation.
She has now clarified what she had reported. According to her, and quoting from a much longer statement
https://redpilldiaries.substack.com/p/the-mises-caucus-contacted-my-mother from Karlyn Borysenko
Here’s the TLDR timeline:
In perhaps-related news, Karlyn Borysenko has reported on Facebook that the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus administration has removed all New Hampshire members from a social media group controlled by the Mises Caucus.
I’m glad I’m a member of the party in a sane state.
Only if because she’s their most recent convention-endorsed gubernatorial nominee. IPR News contacted Chair Nelson and the LPNH Communications Director to clarify what was happening and address the internal accusations, and neither responded.
Editor’s note: “Alleged” has been added to the title for clarity.
The whole situation is odd, but is Karlyn Borysenko a reliable source? “Internal coup” is one of those phrases that invites skepticism in the absence of more evidence than simply a canceled election.