Ray Walden IV has been named as the new chair of the Libertarian Party of Illinois following a meeting of the organization’s State Central Committee held earlier this week.
The party announced Walden’s selection in a social media post on June 23, congratulating him on the new role. The party first shared news of the meeting in an X post several days earlier, saying at the time that State Central Committee members would vote on party leadership and take up a bylaw amendment.
Walden had already been serving in an acting role since April, when the party held its state convention and certified the results of its earlier county conventions, seating its new committees. At the time, the party said Walden, who had just been elected vice chair, would act as chair until he was either promoted to the position or until another new chair was selected.
In addition to his vice chair role, Walden was serving as the party’s communications director. He is also a member of the State Central Committee representing Illinois’ 4th Congressional District and, according to LPedia, serves as an at-large representative to the Cook County Libertarian Central Committee.
Under Illinois election law, members of a State Central Committee meet “within 41 days after each quadrennial election of the full committee” to organize by electing a chair and electing any other officers they consider necessary. The body itself is made up of members chosen from the state’s congressional districts, with the party selecting those committee members through the county convention process ahead of its state convention.
The party has not yet shared additional details about the bylaw amendment taken up during the State Central Committee meeting.
The bylaws amendment involved the cleaning up and clarification of a particular bylaw in Article VII: Proper Representation and Removal.
This was something that that was an ongoing discussion since the expulsion of Jarrod Weishaar from the Libertarian Party of Illinois following his conviction of a crime relating to possession of child pornography in a special SCC meeting days before the Libertarian National Convention.
FORMER LANGUAGE:
A. All officers of the Party and members of the Central Committee are representatives of this Central Committee, the Libertarian Party of Illinois, the national
Libertarian Party and the cause of Liberty. As such, all are expected to maintain standards of action and appearance that reflect favorably on all of us.
D. Any person shall have their membership terminated when:
2. Members can be expelled for cause, such as action inconsistent with the mission of the Party. A call for expulsion must be brought to the State Chair by either 3/4ths of the members of the accused member’s county or 2/3rds of the Central Committee. Within 45 days of a call, the State Chair shall call a special meeting of the Central Committee to hear the case. So long as a quorum exists, the member may be expelled upon a 3/4ths vote. Members will be notified 15 days prior to expulsion vote.
AMENDMENTS:
To Section A: Removed “and members of the Central Committee” and added “and members” following “All officers”.
To Section D: Added “This includes, but is not limited to, zero tolerance for exploitative, sexual, and/or violent crimes committed during membership resulting in a criminal conviction.” after the first sentence.
FINAL LANGUAGE AS AMENDED – ARTICLE VII:
A. All officers and members of the Party are representatives of this Central Committee, the Libertarian Party of Illinois, the national Libertarian Party and the cause of Liberty. As such, all are expected to maintain standards of action and appearance that reflect favorably on all of us.
D. Any person shall have their membership terminated when:
2. Members can be expelled for cause, such as action inconsistent with the mission of the Party. This includes, but is not limited to, zero tolerance for exploitative, sexual, and/or violent crimes committed during membership resulting in a criminal conviction. A call for expulsion must be brought to the State Chair by either 3/4ths of the members of the accused member’s county or 2/3rds of the Central Committee. Within 45 days of a call, the State Chair shall call a special meeting of the Central Committee to hear the case. So long as a quorum exists, the member may be expelled upon a 3/4ths vote. Members will be notified 15 days prior to expulsion vote.
The amendments passed without objection.
This comes from my own recollection as a member of the State Central Committee and was in attendance that night.