A member of the Libertarian National Committee has decided to withdraw a $650,000 bequest that was originally intended for the organization. The decision came about due to concerns regarding the current state and effectiveness of the Libertarian Party and its leadership.
In a recent email shared on the Libertarian National Committee’s public business list, Region 6 representative Mark Tuniewicz announced his decision to retract a substantial bequest he had previously pledged to the Libertarian Party through the now “Legacy Libertarian” program.
The 23-year program, which encourages party members to include the Libertarian Party in their wills or charitable giving plans, was initially seeded by Tuniewicz with a low six-figure commitment in 2000. Over the years, Tuniewicz said that his deposit had grown to approximately $650,000, following the S&P 500 index’s performance.
Despite various leadership changes within the Party over the years, Tuniewicz maintained his original commitment, believing his financial support was dedicated to the organization’s overall mission. However, in his recent email, he expressed deep disappointment with the Libertarian National Committee, citing concerns about the organization’s long-term effectiveness as a liberty organization due to recent actions and a personal loss of trust in the party leadership.
“I gave this matter a great deal of thought, considering my long history (since 1994) of commitment to the Party’s goals and ideals. However, recent events have forced me to re-evaluate my confidence in the LNC, Inc’s ability to continue to work effectively for liberty,” Tuniewicz wrote in his email.
“Suffice to say, many of the Committee’s leaders (and, the Executive Committee’s) actions this term have eroded my trust in the organization’s ability to steward the Party’s future effectively going forward. From my perspective the national LP has been damaged/corrupted organizationally in a way from which it may never recover.”
As a result, Tuniewicz decided to rescind the bequest, directing it instead to the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and the Institute for Justice (IJ), organizations that he still believed to be highly successful and effective.
Tuniewicz’s decision to revoke his bequest is the latest development in an ongoing internal struggle between factions in the Libertarian Party vying to control the future of the organization. It comes just months before the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., and highlights a broader financial challenge to be faced by prospective members of the future Libertarian National Committee.
Tuniewciz informed the Libertarian National Committee that he has already instructed his attorneys to update his estate plans, and the revocation would take effect on the date of his email on January 1, 2024. He also stated that he will remain with the organization, even after the recission. Tuniewicz’s email has gone without response since it was published on the public list.
In addition to his entirely legitimate concerns, it probably hasn’t helped that the current officers and Mises PAC LNC members have treated Mr. Tuniewicz like dirt every time he’s advocated for anything resembling transparency, honesty, or fiscal prudence versus their continual scams and brain farts.
I was going to say that deleting a message from the server woudl be a violation of the LNC Policy Manual, but I realized if it ever was, I’m sure MiCauc has changed it since then so there shit is legit.
“…shared on the Libertarian National Committee’s public business list…”
Well, yes and no. Tuniewicz *sent* it to the public business list.
The list has two distribution schemes, (1) via email forwarding of single messages, and (2) via browser access to https://groups.google.com/a/lp.org/g/lnc-business
People using method (1) received the message, so it did get to the list. People using method (2) see (I just looked again) no sign of the message. People who did not realize that there are two ways to access the list, when for this message the ways disagreed, became confused.
The deletion from the business list, of an appropriate message from a member of the LNC, is at least dubious under party bylaws. It will certainly be a tad bit controversial.
Maybe he should spend part of his considerable resources on activism to improve the Libertarian Party, if necessary by helping elect different national officers. And maybe he is already doing that.