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Meeting came to order. Commemorative statements on LNC member Donovan Pantke, who passed away unexpectedly, leaving a wife and three children behind. A GoFundMe was shared, which will be included at the end of this article:
Policy Manual changes were approved. These are moving things between the policy manual and the standing rules, if I followed correctly. Passed 12-0-2.
Moved to appoint Josh Hlavka as new Credentials Committee Chair. Harlos moved and spoke in favor. Ford moved the question. There was an objection. The motion failed. Harlos spoke in favor of the Credentials Committee creating its own policy manual. Malagon asked about factions working for him. Hlavka said he’d like anyone who will work with him. Vote: Haman, Hayes, Malagon, chair abstain; others yes for a 10-4 vote. There was a clear expectation that the Credentials Committee is going to be challenging in 2024.
Next meeting is November 12.
Chair reports staff worked very hard. The LNC raised $102,000 in September. We have lost much income through the Raiser’s Edge migration. Increase was due to many special projects. More are planned for the future. Revenue sharing through Unified Membership Plan has been fixed on the technical side. Some correction to membership rules is made to come into line with the bylaws. You get a membership when you have donated $25. If you are donating $5 a month, you only become a member after the fifth month.
CiviCRM has been difficult. It is not clear that the LNC can support CiviCRM for all 50 states. Apology that problems are not being solved, but there was not enough staff to do this. We have hired more staff to work on CiviCRM.
Ford: Why are financed better? McArdle: #1 priority is now fundraising; before it was fixing operations. Need to be more a political party, less an IT operation. The store was a lot of work, but is a cool project that leads to donations. Voter gravity is launched. State chairs are asked to approve; candidates will be approved by national if the state is slow to respond.
Harlos notes allowing people to pay a bit at a time leaves vast complications. Bylaws committee will recommend renewals should be a single payment of $25.
Ballot Access Update (Mr. Nanna): We meet semiweekly. North Dakota ongoing with 3000 sigatures. New Mexico we need 3500 signatures. We assume we will be running that drive ourselves. Arkansas has 14000 signatures, with volunteers perhaps paying more. Tennessee litigation waiting on cash transfer. Ohio…we are collecting signatures. Chase Oliver, passing through and will collect signatures and motivate volunteers. Greens likely not trying in Ohio, so no shared petitioning there.
Redpath: Tennessee: Attorney check is lost in the mail. More individual litigants are being recruited. RFK will run as an independent. No labels will be collecting. This is a lot of competition for petitioners. We should move as quickly as possible, notably in Ohio. Various Ohio issues are noted.
Ford: LP Maine is doing registration drives. We need boots on the ground. Need volunteers who will travel to neighboring states. Redpath is going to Maine this weekend.
Convention Oversight Committee update: Will meet every two weeks soon. Working on things that save money. Need to take nominations and fill the vacancy with an email ballot.
Moved to appoint Malagon as Convention Oversight Committee Chair. Passed without objection.
Agenda Amended. Move to appoint Redpath to the Ballot Access Committee vacancy. Passed without objection. Andy Jacobs had recommended someone else, who will be appointed to the Ballot Access Committee Advisory Committee.
Motion opposing censorship in American libraries including school libraries. Harlos objects to consideration of the motion. This is a motion. Objection to consideration means there will be no vote or debate on the motion on censorship. Objection to consideration passes 7-3-3.
Motion to approve draft DC Minutes. Passed without objection.
Affiliate support committee has vacancies. Agree on 48 hours for nominations, then an email vote.
Move the LNC trademark maintenance Power of Attorney to Fresh IP. Member requests cost. Chair declines to answer in open session. Harlos explains this happens every seven years, not during this term. Most fees go to the government, not to Fresh IP. Roll call vote
We advance to executive session for the civiCRM session (staff updates) and for legal issues. There were no objections.
They emerged from Executive Session. There is a motion to adjourn. They adjourned.
GoFundMe link for Donavan Pantke.
I agree with Thomas on the dues payments.
At my first national convention in 1998, I signed up to be a pledger at $5 a month; more than doubling the $25 annual dues (yes the dues have been the same since as early as 1992.)
The only real argument I think can be made is if there should be a minimum for monthly pledges to minimize transaction fees.
“Harlos notes allowing people to pay a bit at a time leaves vast complications. Bylaws committee will recommend renewals should be a single payment of $25.”
Back when I chose to be a “sustaining member,” for several years I pledged monthly in an amount that, even at its minimum (I raised it a couple of times) came annually to more than twice that single $25 payment).
The only “vast complication” I can think of, other than having a small bit of database code to determine whether someone who pledges monthly is a “sustaining member” at the moment, is whether the matter is settled by calendar year or trailing 12 months, and the bylaws specify the latter.
The only problems solved by the bylaws committee proposal as described would be that 1) sustaining membership numbers and 2) revenues are just too damn high and need to be brought down.
Given the current control of the LNC by a Republican PAC, I agree that those are indeed problems which should be addressed as proposed.
Josh Havaka = Joshua “Josh” Hlavka. Also chair of LP Florida. https://lpf.org/about/leadership/