A previously unpublished minority report by Ben Weir, secretary of the Libertarian National Committee’s 2025 Special Investigatory Committee, has been released, challenging the fairness of its investigation of former Chair Angela McArdle.
The report, dated June 13, 2025, was published Monday by LNC News, an independent website covering national Libertarian Party business. Its release comes days after the national committee filed a lawsuit against McArdle and her domestic partner, Austin Padgett, over financial arrangements examined during the investigation. The lawsuit seeks more than $250,000 in damages, with total relief specified as no more than $1 million.
“While I acknowledge that any officer of the Libertarian National Committee should be held to high standards of transparency and fiduciary responsibility, it is my opinion that the SIC report was constructed under conditions that render its findings unreliable, its process untrustworthy, and its recommendations inappropriate,” Weir, whose term on the Libertarian National Committee has since ended, wrote. “The investigation was not conducted in a neutral and fact-seeking manner, but rather driven by political motivations, internal factionalism, and preconceived conclusions.”
In his dissent, Weir accused then-LNC Treasurer Bill Redpath, another SIC member, of helping steer the investigation toward findings meant to discredit McArdle. He argued the committee almost exclusively interviewed people critical of the former chair or directly involved in the complaints against her and allowed individuals who were not investigatory committee members to participate in its private discussions. Weir also objected to the SIC treating McArdle and Padgett’s refusal to participate in the investigation as evidence against them.
A major part of the original investigation concerned Freedom Calls LLC, a fundraising company owned by Padgett that received approximately $49,600 from the LNC between February 2024 and January 2025. The SIC found in its 94-page report that Freedom Calls raised no more than $2,468.57 in donations and that McArdle had improperly concealed Padgett’s ownership of the company when pressed for confirmation.
Weir acknowledged the low return on investment but challenged the committee’s decision to treat the arrangement as evidence of misconduct when other party fundraisers had performed poorly. He questioned whether adequate due diligence had been performed and raised the possibility that McArdle acted dishonestly, but said the SIC never established her intentions. He also challenged the committee’s treatment of an irregular tax form submitted by Freedom Calls, arguing that the mistakes on the document did not necessarily establish an intent to deceive.
Weir similarly questioned the committee’s findings involving Swing Vote Strategist, another company controlled by Padgett that received payments from the Kennedy Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee originally established between Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign and the LNC that later expanded to include several state affiliates and other political parties.
The SIC found that the Kennedy Victory Fund paid Swing Vote Strategist $32,000 for work performed by McArdle; however, Weir contended that payments to her personally did not begin until after her January 2025 resignation as chair. “The report implies a conflict because SVS later paid her… but fails to prove that the relationship existed during her tenure in a way that required disclosure under LNC policy,” Weir wrote.
He also questioned why other potential conflicts were never investigated, alleging that Redpath received payments from the Kennedy Victory Fund and should have recused himself from the investigation.
Weir also disputed the investigatory committee’s criticism of McArdle for using her title as party chair to promote the Rescue the Republic rally, a September 2024 event in Washington, D.C., focused on opposition to war and government censorship. He argued that national chairs have traditionally exercised discretion in promoting causes and events they deem consistent with the party’s principles.
Despite his objections to the committee’s findings, Weir supported measures to prevent McArdle from continuing to represent herself as national chair following her resignation. He was also critical of litigation, warning at the time that spending party funds on a lawsuit would be financially irresponsible and unlikely to produce a favorable result. The SIC held a similar stance on the impact of party-funded litigation, but it left open the possibility of raising private funds for such a move.
“If further inquiry is necessary, it must be done by neutral, independent investigators without a political axe to grind,” Weir added. “The integrity of our party depends not just on rooting out misconduct… but on doing so in a way that is fair, principled, and transparent.”
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