Posted in the May June Liberty for America 2012
New York Kidnapped by Capozzi
By George Phillies
The New York Libertarian Party had seemingly promised to join a Region with New England. It did not do so.
Readers puzzled by the attachment of New York to the LNC Region including Nevada should note that the trans-location had the end result of returning Brett Pojunis to the LNC. Pojunis was defeated for At-Large. Why did the New Yorkers do this? Was it a sudden tiff with New England?
No, the actual reason was the activity of delegation chair (and, as Chuck Moulton seems in our opinion to have demonstrated, Gang of Ten member) Audrey Capozzi. Contrary to the promises of the New York State Party, Capozzi moved New York out of Region 5 and moved it across country, thus saving LNC positions for two (counting her) Gang of Ten members. Response of the New York Party to her actions was extremely pointed. I quote an email I was forwarded from the New York State Chair:
Audrey– I called you twice yesterday and you did not return my calls. New York should not leave Region 5. I promised many people that we would not turn our backs on our friends in Region 5. I convinced other state chairs to stay (or to re-join us). Please sign the agreement Jim Lark has right away on behalf of New York. You and I agreed that we would welcome Nevada into Region 5 (in place of Oregon) if it wanted, not that we would abandon our region. I do not want to be part of another region and you do not have the authority to place New York in another region. This decision is NOT up to the Nevadan members whom we are accommodating by letting them be part of our delegation. They do not have the right to vote on this. The vote yesterday was a nullity. This is up to the New York State officers. Please get together with Chris P. and call me right away. It is up to three of us, not people we are accommodating. Please call me ASAP. Mark Axinn
It remains to be seen if New York will undertake significant corrective action about this situation.
–George Phillies is a long-time Libertarian. He is the author of many books and publishes a monthly newsletter called Liberty for America. He is a frequent commenter here at IPR.
Freud slipped, fell, landed on…
When did Freud’s slip show?
Scott did Freud really did where a slip?
“paulie // Jun 16, 2012 at 11:23 pm
I think Arkansas may have went with y’all because JJM accidentally said he wants to represent “Texas” rather than “libertarians” in his speech which he later corrected on email.”
********************************
Freudian slip?
I think Arkansas may have went with y’all because JJM accidentally said he wants to represent “Texas” rather than “libertarians” in his speech which he later corrected on email.
I’ll just add that I am also an LNC regional representative, along with Brett, for this new double region which consists of AR, CA, NV, NM, and NY. I participated in the regional teleconference we held on May 24th, and I’m very encouraged that our states are going to work together and help each other grow and spread the libertarian message.
@19 There are far more subscribers than 7. Or 70.
“Reading the whole issue of Liberty for America (not just this article), I’m honored that my long-winded submission to the judicial committee regarding the floor fees is getting a wider audience than just 7 people.”
I wouldn’t be so sure you’ve crossed that threshold yet, Chuck, I don’t think LfA gets all that much traffic, Mr. Phillies’ persistence notwithstanding.
@17 For those who are interested: A=A. For everyone else, A does not exist.
@16 All issues are only of interest to the people who are interested in them.
Is this issue of any relevance to anyone not interested with the internal politics of the Libertarian Party?
Mark Axxin @ 10: I’ve seen your request to get past the convention and on with the business of getting Johnson/Gray elected. I can assure you that I’ve done what I can to work toward that goal, and certainly plan to continue. However, you admit you weren’t at the convention. Well, I was, and although the general outcome was good in my view, there were a lot of unanswered questions, hurt feelings, angry people and, in short, unresolved issues. This situation is a good example. The information offered here by you and Mr. Pojunis are helpful updates and explanations. I think this type of discussion is quite helpful toward getting the party back on track, which I assume is the goal of all of us.
Jill Pyeatt wrote (@13):
Feel free to post it, in whole or in part.
Chuck @ 3, there were several articles from Liberty for America I’d like to post, with a day or so in between. Your arguments against the floor fee were very good, and I’d like to post them with your permission. I probably would post a little, with a link to the bulk of the article because it’s so long.
Thanks, Chuck, for your explanation. I appreciate it very much.
@6 George – you just proved my point.
I think I have to fill in some gaps on what is no longer an issue for any of us in NY.
1. The prior region formation had Massachusetts, VT and NH with a much larger state, Florida. When FL decided to re-allign itself, I feared that three of the New England states would be abandoned and starting writing to the Chairs (Rich Tomasso and Dave Blau) of two of them to suggest they Region 5. (I was not sure of who the VT Chair was at the time, but in any event as I know my good friend Bonnie Scott would likely act in concert with NH, I felt that communicating with Rich was a means of inviting both NH and VT back to Region 5.)
I acted out of two motives: (1) I did not want to see those states abandoned, especially as I considered Dave Blau to be an asset to the former LNC and wanted him to have an opportunity to return if he wanted, and (2) it made sense for all of the NE states to be together.
2. I also spoke to George and others before the LV Convention with the same consistent message: All of the NE states are welcome to join Region 5; please come home. George properly listened to me and indicated that it was a decision of his state’s committee.
3. Audrey and I discussed several times associating with Nevada, especially as it appears to be made up of lots of ex-New Yorkers. Its Chair grew up on Long Island and is here regularly, Brett is from Rochester and has business in NYC regularly and Wayne will always be a New Yorker (having grown up and gone to my alma mater with Barry Obama in New York).
4. I did not support leaving Region 5 and urged my delegation chair not to do it for many reasons: (1) I thought that New York’s inclusion in Region 5 was essential to keep it as a double region (I was mistaken). (2) I felt it hypocritical to abandon states I just worked with towards bringing back into the region. (3) Unlike some members of Region 5, I was quite happy with my representative (Dan Karlan) who was responsive to my state’s interests and whom I respect and admire. (4) I did not wish to undermine the efforts of my good friend Jim Lark who worked so hard to preserve the double region.
5. But I was not in Las Vegas and my emails notwithstanding, the delegation chose to join a different region. Since then, I have been delighted at the results. Brett Pojunis has already proved to be a terrific representative for my state, voting on two key matters as I wanted him to do so, arranging for a telephone conference of all the state chairs and region reps in our new Region 4, and (as noted in his comment above) already organizing a highly successful event with hundreds of people in my home town of 8,000,000 people. He is willing to travel regularly to and throughout New York. What more could I want?
6. I do not know what the future holds. NY is now the fourth largest state in the LP universe and may or may not choose to re-allign itself again in Columbus. But for now, we have excellent representation on the LNC, and so do the six New England states and NJ, which are cohesively together as Region 5N. So what’s the problem? It all worked out well in the end as I got what I wanted (NE together again, Dave Blau on LNC, most importantly no NE states abandoned) and New York is trying something new by associating with our friends in the West.
7. A final word on the Gang of Ten: WTF????? I am as hard-core libertarian from the libertarian wing of the Libertarian Party as one can be (I voted for Mary Ruwart six times in Denver and supported Lee Wrights for President this year), and I’m not complaining. To the contrary, I am delighted how well it all turned out, especially as I was advocating an entirely different result.
Now as I noted on the other thread, perhaps we can close the book on the Las Vegas Convention and devote some energy to getting the Gary Johnson/Jim Gray ticket some traction. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need to get 25,000 signatures in six weeks this summer, support candidates in 27 Congressional districts, raise money, develop chapters, hold grass roots rallies and other useful activities. If anyone wants to come to New York and help, as Dr. Phillies did so well when he was our keynote speaker two years ago, we welcome the assistance.
I was very involved with region formation for region 5. I think the story here isn’t so much that the region is not geographically contiguous as that the delegation chair did not follow the directions of the state chair. It led to some tense moments, but seemed to work out for most in the end.
Under the bylaws the delegation chair has all the powers for region formation. The overriding lesson is if you’re a state chair and you want to be in a certain region, you should show up to the national convention yourself and be the delegation chair.
There is no requirement that regions be geographically contiguous. The assumption seems to be that states near each other will have similar interests, but the reality is that isn’t necessarily true.
For example, back when we had UMP the non-UMP states (including PA) considered forming a region with other non-UMP states to have a strong voice for non-UMP issues (very different needs as far as database, money flow, etc. from national HQ). Similarly it might make sense for states with particularly good or particularly bad ballot access to join together. Or it might make sense for radical states to join together. Or states with executive directors. Etc.
Could someone explain to an outsider what is the point of regions that include such geographically disparate states? For most of us a region refers to some sort of geographically-related grouping. What can NY do to build a region with NV and NM that it could not do to build a region with PA and NJ? What makes the proposed grouping a “great region” and what benefit does the LP nationally get from regions that do not share typical geographic concerns?
@5 That’s certainly not true, Eric. The entire negotiation then was negotiated well in advance, with plenty of time for state committees to have agreed (or, in some cases, to have not agreed).
The headline four years ago could have easily read; Massachusetts in same region as Oregon? The details and argument, of course, would be different according to George.
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Reading the whole issue of Liberty for America (not just this article), I’m honored that my long-winded submission to the judicial committee regarding the floor fees is getting a wider audience than just 7 people.
This is the first time that I have ever posted on this website. I deemed it appropriate to do so on this topic.
Audrey had very little to do with this decision and I will happily take full responsibility. Prior to the convention I put together a list of activities I envisioned a Region should do to be successful.
During the convention I asked NY to have a state meeting along with NM and NV. At this meeting I made a case for why this would be a great Region. I will look for the total votes and put the individual names of those who voted for this Region in this post. I believe the total was 11 for and 1 against. Of the voting members there were 2 from NV who voted. Their votes would not have changed the end result.
Thus far we have had our first Region call and next month we start really working together. I had our first event that I invited Libertarian members to in New York City last week. I hosted an event for NIBA (National Investment Bankers Association) and in attendance were 7 Libertarian Party members as well as Mark Axinn. I encourage anyone who is interested to speak with Mr. Axinn about this as well as our tentative game plan to grow our Region.
I do NOT however, want anyone to think Audrey had anything to do with this. This Region makes a lot of sense, I am willing to speak with anyone who feels otherwise… I rarely check out this website so if I do not reply right away please send me an email, [email protected].
Lastly, Mr. Phillies, it is Brett H. Pojunis… I prefer my middle initial.
If this is true it surprises me that LP leaders fight to retain control of the power they have when in reality, they have no power at all.
Let the grassroots and activists decide. Libertarians are naturally individualist, and don’t like to live our lives under rulers. Perhaps people would respect them more if they just did there jobs without having to try and cheat the system to retain leadership positions.