The Libertarian National Committee voted down two motions on Sunday that sought to censure members of the organization, with one targeting LNC Chair Steven Nekhaila and the other Region 1 Alternate Austin Martin. Both motions failed with multiple abstentions.
The separate motions were noticed last month on the LNC’s public Business List for the September 7 Special Meeting. Nekhaila’s motion targeted Martin for remarks he made on social media regarding an earlier Special Investigatory Committee report and alleged violations of both the party’s ethics policies and Martin’s fiduciary duties, while a motion by Region 1 Representative Andrew Chadderdon accused Nekhaila of suppressing internal discussion about the party’s legal strategy and mishandling communications related to pending litigation.
Prior to the meeting, At-large Representative Sam Bohler made an unsuccessfully plea to amend the agenda to remove both censure items, warning that continued infighting was harming the LNC and the Libertarian Party itself. In a thread posted Sunday morning to the public Business List, Bohler called the motions “premature” and urged members to instead use what time they had to focus on more substantive party business.
“I plead that you join me in refusing to enable this self-destructive behavior this board seems unable to escape,” Bohler wrote. “It really is a waste of our time. I initially planned to give this as a public comment at the start of the meeting, but even those two minutes would be more time than these issues deserve.”
During the meeting, LNC Treasurer Bill Redpath attempted to adjourn in order to also prevent action on the censure motions. According to details liveblogged by Third Party Watch, Redpath’s effort failed with a 5–8–1 vote. Bohler later moved to postpone Nekhaila’s motion against Martin indefinitely, but that motion also failed 3–9–2.
Despite several efforts to avoid addressing them, both motions were ultimately debated and brought to a vote. The motion to censure Martin failed 2–6–6, with six members abstaining, arguing the resolution lacked due diligence. The motion to censure Nekhaila followed a similar pattern, failing 2–6–6 after a similarly lengthy discussion. The whole meeting ran for nearly five hours.
Following adjournment, Nekhaila reportedly offered a gesture of goodwill and told Martin that he hopes to work with him on Operation Overwatch, an initiative adopted the same evening that aims to replace volunteer field work with paid organizing and operational support. The program, proposed by Martin, was approved unanimously with a $10,000 total budget cap and is expected to primarily self-fund its operations.
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