LPNH Chair Accused of Damaging Party Brand, Suspended From Leadership

New Hampshire Libertarians suspended their state chair late last week following an altercation regarding professionalism and control of the party’s official social media presence that some members deemed damaging to the state party’s brand. The suspension, approved by the Executive Committee on May 4, was announced the following day in a press release sent out to members.

Nelson served as Chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire since the 2022 state convention in late January. He was elected with no serious opposition (former LNC Chair Nick Sarwark attempted to run, but the convention body did not accept his nomination), succeeding the previous chair, Nolan Pellitier, who took over following a 2021 schism that ultimately led to intervention by the Libertarian National Committee.

In March, not long into his term, Nelson raised eyebrows after he called for a special convention focused solely on selecting a new party chair. “It is my belief that being the only candidate running for chair at this year’s convention was a disservice to the membership of this party, he stated at the time. “While I believe that many voted for me because they believed in the vision I laid out during my run and at convention, I also believe that many more voted for me because there was no other option (besides NOTA) and they do not feel that their preference for the direction of the party is being fulfilled.”

The party canceled the special convention a day later, and Nelson continued to serve. Some members referred to the weekend’s events as an internal “coup,” and made claims it related to control of the LPNH Twitter account.

However, in a formal press release on Friday evening, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire stated that the Executive Committee chose to suspend Nelson from the position after a series of actions from him that they regarded as “at odds” with the Libertarian Party.

“Yesterday, May 4, at a meeting of the LPNH Executive Committee, the difficult decision was made to suspend the Chair of the LPNH, Conrad Nelson,” it read. “The Chair made the statement that he did not consider himself bound by and would not follow, two recent decisions passed by vote of the LPNH Executive Committee, and has acted accordingly. This is an untenable situation for any organization, and is completely at odds with everything that the Libertarian Party represents.”

A document sent to the Executive and Judicial Committees of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire that same Friday afternoon added additional context to what the Executive Committee meant, reading that members felt Nelson displayed “poor communication and leadership skills that have damaged the organization’s brand and its effectiveness.” Included with the petition were the signatures of 24 credentialed delegates from the most recent convention, which they stated represented 40% of the approximately 60 delegates in attendance that afternoon.

“Conrad has displayed poor communication and leadership skills that have damaged the organization’s brand and its effectiveness,” they wrote. “Further, there is proven inability to build consensus, with continuous ego driven appeals to authority being his modus operandi and a track record of disregarding and/or removing of longstanding committee members due to personality conflicts.”

The signatories, which included Jeremy Kauffmann, Zephan Wood, Robley Hall, Nolan Pelletier, Sean Brennan, and Bill Barger, listed several examples of what they meant. Chief among them was how he handled the party’s Twitter account, which they argued: “damaged the state party’s brand and hobbled its strategic vision,” allegations that Nelson leaked private conversations to Karlyn Borysenko, who then broke them as news to her following, and that he alienated fellow members of the Executive Committee to such a degree that meetings were no longer taking place.

“The undersigned no longer wish to invest their resources in the party under his leadership. I, along with the undersigned credentialed delegates to the 2023 LPNH convention, respectfully request that you recall Conrad from his position as Chair of the Executive Committee of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party,” they finished.

Karlyn Borysenko, one of two gubernatorial candidates who appeared on the ballot under the Libertarian line last November and the one endorsed by the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, chastised the actions of the Executive Committee in addition to sharing screenshots of a conversation that she claimed was between Executive Committee members to her followers, validating one of the points made by Nelson’s critics.

Borysenko, who has since denounced her affiliation with the New Hampshire state affiliate due to recent events within the party, claims the internal conflict originated from LPNH liking Tweets critical of PorcFest, a popular annual gathering for Libertarians in northern New Hampshire.

PorcFest has attracted controversy after it became known that it would allow drag performers to host story time hours in the vicinity. Numerous Libertarians clashed over how to respond, with some holding opinions against PorcFest even welcoming such activities and others arguing that individuals are free to make their own choice. According to Borysenko, the party was encouraging people not to attend PorcFest, prompting Nelson to limit Twitter access to Erik Sawyer of the Communications Committee.

“Since the EC of the LPNH seems disinclined to tell people the truth, here is what happened: The official party Twitter account liked anti-Porcfest tweets from people who were saying they wouldn’t attend the event and were encouraging other people not to attend to,” Borysenko tweeted. “Conrad then took their access to the Twitter account away. Then Erik – the person running the Twitter account who liked the anti-porcfest tweets – called Conrad a f******.”

“The EC, in their infinite wisdom, decided to side with Erik because apparently, the EC is completely fine with the official party account being used to shit on Porcfest. They removed Conrad to make sure that Erik could continue to utilize the Twitter account to do whatever he wants without any sort of rules or guidelines, which they have been saying they’re going to implement for two years but never do.”

However, Borysenko’s words have resulted in her receiving pushback. Some individuals on social media have retorted to ad hominems, whereas others question her commitment to libertarianism entirely. Erik Sawyer, who Borysenko states is now primarily running the Twitter account, responded on Twitter, saying that he loves PorcFest and did not “rally” against it.

“To be clear, I never used the LPNH account to ‘rally’ against PF. My family and I love PF and look forward to it every year,” Sawyer wrote. “Someone floated the idea of having a [Drag Queen Story Hour] at PF. I simply liked a comment from one person voicing their concern about it. The idea was widely rejected.”

Conrad Nelson continues to be listed as the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire Chair on the official website. If he chooses, he can appeal his suspension with the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire Judicial Committee.

Editorial note: Independent Political Report has reached out to the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire for more information regarding the two recently voted-upon decisions that Nelson refused to follow and will update the article with more information when it becomes available.