Former Galactic Emperor and former national LP judicial committee member (as well as CA LP judicial committee member and campaign manager of Badnarik for Congress 2006), Allen Hacker, current Chief Justice of the Galactic Tribunal, today issued an opinion upholding the ruling of the World Court of Planet Earth on the long standing controversy between factions of Oregon Libertarians.
In a truly Solomonic ruling, the court has decreed that all Oregon Libertarians should be sawed in half, with each half assigned to one of the two factions claiming to represent the party leadership. This ruling represents the penultimate step in the appeals process. No higher court remains for this case, which has dragged on for decades, to be appealed to. The court’s decision, which can not be appealed, will be carried out next April 1st.
One question that I’m not sure was addressed: If they actually did saw the members of both factions in half, would we have to make a ByLaw change at the national convention to allow half-votes?
Inquiring minds want to know!
WTF?
Once in a great while, even Paulie can be funny.
Bruce,
Didn’t that happen already?
Richard Burke wrote, “I actually find Mr. Wagner’s theory amusing because I have personally managed two Libertarian races, one for governor and the other for the State House, which were seen as spoiler races against Republican candidates.”
He doesn’t mention managing another LPO gubernatorial race for Dan VanderPloeg, who wrote at length about Burke’s infamous attempt to sell him out to the R candidate back in the 90s. Or Burke’s later attempt to scuttle our congressional nomination in favor of another R. He’s been pulling this crap for decades.
He also claims “no authoritative body” has recognized the reformed LPO. I guess that means the LNC judicial committee and the entire body of registered Oregon Libertarian voters have no authority.
In a recent mediation session, we defendants offered to poll all 16,000 again and to yield LPO control to the plaintiffs, if their bylaws won over ours. They could have assisted in producing and mailing the ballots and counting the votes. They weren’t interested.
In conclusion, I thank the Galactic Tribunal for their wise ruling. I look forward to their edict’s prompt execution, as I’m sure the reformed LPO will wind up with all the brains and the Reeves gang all the asses.
Tru dat!
If you are serious about politics and haven’t read Alinsky, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Ziglar, and Carnegie, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your party.
Dave Terry: “The fact that you have been lying to yourself so long that you have come to believe your own B.S.”
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You must be angry, particularly since it’s dawning on you (maybe, finally) that you’ve wasted too many years following Burke like a Pied Piper as he led you and too many others to his idea of an LPO utopia. You stupid fool. Retrace your steps and you’ll see lots and lots of rubble and bodies, and no positive result in sight. You stupid fool.
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Bob Tiernan
Berk: “I’ve not seen any dispute of the facts as I laid them out, and your post doesn’t dispute any of them either”
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‘Cause he did that elsewhere. Wes W. doesn’t have to repeat everything everytime he sends in a comment. The fact that I will now call you a born liar doesn’t mean I need to cite examples, I’ve been citing examples of your lying since 1993.
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Bob Tiernan
it should be ponted out that both the World Court and the Galactic Tribunal did give both sides a chance to withdraw their claims as an alternative to carrying out the decree, but neither side chose to do so.
Richard, if you think the Oregon sos isn’t doing their job, why haven’t you sued them?
Exactly.
I have been called many things by that group where they think it is a perjorative but it is not( anarchist, egalitarian, “Alinsky-ite” )
From their perspective I am evil because they are constitutionalists with republican political leanings and very real financial entanglements with the republican party.
They also see politics as a lever of control for their personal advancement and the power to control other people they regard as their inferiors (hence all the talk of dues and pledges and who signed what where and why those darn registered libertarians should not have been made members) .. and the hypocrisy that comes with those systems of control.
Now to solve these problems elsewhere.
It’s sad that ignorant (in the non-perjorative sense) people use Alinsky’s name as a perjorative themselves. Here’s a book review from the National Review from a few years back that paints a little more complete picture. Many of Alinsky’s actions and opinions expressed here would be quite welcome among Libertarian circles. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/243654/saul-alinsky-complicated-rebel-ronald-radosh#!
All this argument is pointless. As the article above notes, clearly and in black and white, the galactic tribunal has spoken. It’s time to accept their decision and move on.
Dave and Richard, you’re clearly talking about a different letter. This is the one I’m talking about:
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/03/oregon-secretary-of-state-responds-to-tyler-smiths-letter-insisting-reeves-group-is-the-correct-lpo/
JP: “The SOS administered a sound spanking to the Reeves group.”
LOL! If the SOS did anything, she said that she will hold her breath until she turns blue!
Clearly, the SOS needs “a sound spanking”..
JP: “I can’t believe anyone could read the letter and feel that way.
I agree, so HOW could you interpret the SOS’s letter, the way you did?
Burke, et al: I never was a Star Trek fan. I prefer non-fiction.
WW: I dispute the facts .. and have disputed them… therefor they are not undisputed. That makes Burke a liar for continually claiming they are undisputed.
You can “dispute” the claim that the earth is an orb and revolves around the sun. Technically, you would NOT be a liar, only an idiot! The facts in this case are clear. The fact that you have been lying to yourself so long that you have come to believe your own B.S.
WW: “Didn’t James Kirk regularly violate the prime directive in order to create equity and justice?
Possibly, but he NEVER violated the prime directive to advance the “egalitarian directive”; whereas free man are not equal and equal men are not FREE!
We will deal with corrections on the second lawsuit. Thank you.
@Jill,
You’ve read the letter. Show me where the SOS has said, or has ever said, that the actions of Mr. Wagner were legitimate or not.
The SOS from the beginning has held that the recognize Wagner because he was the “Chair of Record” when the split took place. The latest letter simply says that they are holding to the status quo and that we must also begin filing reports. We must therefore continue with our legal track, which was our basic question.
But nowhere did the SOS comment on the legitimacy or illegitimacy on Wagner’s actions of 3/31/14.
Richard P. Burke
LOL, Burke says re: the latest letter from the SOS: .”While carefully avoiding any suggestion that the acts of one side or the other are legitimate or illegitimate, the Secretary of State has decided to hold with the status quo.”
THAT is truly an April Fool’s Day joke! The SOS administered a sound spanking to the Reeves group.. I can’t believe anyone could read the letter and feel that way.
Sal Alinski tactic: Accuse your opponent of what you yourself are guilty of.
I am willing to be corrected. Let me know what specific reporting errors I have made. I will confirm, correct, and apologize as needed.
Richard P. Burke
You have also been slowly over time changing the vote totals in your litany hoping that if you tell the same lies enough times people will believe them. Also a classic con tactic.
Go read our legal filings and the evidence. They are disputed.
Mr. Wagner,
I’ve not seen any dispute of the facts as I laid them out, and your post doesn’t dispute any of them either. I did acknowledge that people might dispute my related commentary, which I acknowledge that you do.
Richard P. Burke
I dispute the facts .. and have disputed them… therefor they are not undisputed. That makes Burke a liar for continually claiming they are undisputed. I can’t spend my life chasing around an old con man and prevent him from claiming more victims. I have other things to do like make the party successful … and this is just another in a long line of things Burke does to try to create acrimony so our party cannot succeed.
@Blome,
The undisputed facts are these, though I offer some commentary about them that people may disagree with. Your mileage may vary:
1. On March 12, 2011, while still united, the LPO held it’s annual business convention where it failed to make quorum. Wes Wagner, then vice chair of the LPO, moved to adjourn to a meeting (effectively calling a recess) to be held on May 21, 2011 at which time it was thought quorum could be achieved. This had the effect of extending the term of office of LPO officers until May 21.
2. At the close of the session, then Chair Jeff Weston resigned his position. Wes Wagner then ascended to the position of Chair and legally became the “Chair of Record” according to the Oregon Secretary of State.
3. At a regular LPO State Committee meeting held on March 31, 2011, NOT a properly noticed convention as required by the LPO Constitution and Bylaws, Mr. Wagner and his supporters (by a 5-4) vote purportedly adopted new governing documents for the LPO that they had written, appointed themselves to office in accordance with these bylaws, and canceled the scheduled May 21st convention session. They claimed state law ORS 248.072, which says that a party’s State Committee is the party’s highest authority, gave their actions legitimacy. It was later pointed out that this ordinance only applied to “major” parties which agreed to be organized in accordance with the structure provided for in statute (see ORS 248.007, Sec. 2), but Mr. Wagner and his supporters deemed this irrelevant. Mr. Wagner then submitted his governing documents and officer list to the Secretary of State. As you can see in the video of the meeting, the move sent the meeting into fisticuffs. Video of the March 31, 2011 meeting exists here. It is disturbing, but worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89YMq-omW7o
4. By attempting to invoke ORS 248.072 to override the rights of LPO members as defined in the member-approved governing documents, those of us on the other side saw this as Mr. Wagner and his supporters co-opting the force of the state to achieve a political goal, a clear violation of the non-aggression pledge. Needless to say, many of us did not see these actions as legitimate.
5. While it was acknowledged by all that Mr. Wagner was still the legitimate LPO chair at this time, it was pointed out that the LPO Constitution and Bylaws required a properly business noticed convention be held in order to change our governing documents and that 2/3 of those attending needed to support proposed bylaw changes. It was also pointed out that LPO Bylaws made the State Committee subordinate to the LPO convention, so the State Committee did not have the power to cancel the May 21st convention session ordered by the March 12th convention session. Naturally, the Wagner side did not agree.
6. Normally, the actions of Wagner and his supporters would be appealed to the state Judicial Committee. But the Judicial Committee was unpopulated for a variety of reasons including membership expiration, party defection, and the like. We could not repopulate the Judicial Committee because members could only be selected by election during a convention – and we could not elect them in convention because we could not meet quorum. Even had the Judicial Committee been populated, we consider it likely that the Wager side would have asserted that it no longer existed due to the purported adoption of his new bylaws which features no Judicial Committee. This is where things really broke down because we no longer had an internal venue within which to settle our disputes.
7. On May 21, 2011 those LPO members who did not recognize Mr. Wagner’s authority to cancel the session assembled in convention at the time and place specified by the first session of the convention on March 12.. Neither Mr. Wagner nor the other LPO officers attended, so a chair pro-tem and secretary pro-tem were elected by the members and the convention was called to order. Because of the division in the party and the lack of cooperation between sides, quorum was again not met. But this time, the convention adjourned sine die. According to the LPO’s legitimate governing documents, and even former LPO Chair Jeff Weston’s interpretation of our bylaws, all officer positions became vacant because their terms of office had expired.
8. The legitimate LPO governing documents require the State Committee to meet immediately at the end of annual business conventions. It did so, although the State Committee now consisted entirely of county representatives as all of the officer positions were vacant. A chair pro-tem and a secretary pro-tem were elected and the meeting proceeded. In accordance with the governing documents, the vacant officer positions were filled with Tim Reeves winding up in the position of State Chair. The Wagner side later claimed the State Committee meeting on May 21 did not have quorum believing we should count unknown representatives from county parties known to be defunct and county parties with unknown or undocumented representatives. We disagree of course, though we also think that if he really felt that way then his county representatives should have shown up to object. Nevertheless, the LPO as led by Tim Reeves and operating under governing documents approved by members in properly noticed conventions has since held monthly State Committee meetings and annual business conventions as if nothing were amiss.
9. The minutes of the 2011 LPO annual business convention and other updated documents were sent to the Secretary of State. They were also sent to the national party Secretary, at that time Alicia Mattson, who accepted the filing as valid.
10. There were now two groups of officers operating under two sets of governing documents claiming to be the legitimate LPO. One, the Reeves group of officers, came to office in accordance with the governing documents approved by members in properly noticed conventions. The other, the Wagner group of officers, came into office after appointing themselves to office according to bylaws they wrote themselves.
10. When the Secretary of State informed Mr. Wagner of our filing, Wagner claimed that our filing was fraudulent. The Secretary of State, barred by the courts from interfering in a political party’s internal governance, decided to follow an unwritten policy that they would heed whatever governing documents and officer lists were provided to them by the “Chair of Record” which was, of course, Wes Wagner, unless a higher party authority said otherwise.
11. So we went to the Libertarian National Committee whose Executive Committee voted to support the Reeves side 5-1.
12. Mr. Wagner then appealed this decision to the full LNC, and a resolution was proposed acknowledging Wes Wagner’s officers and bylaws as legitimate. It failed 12-5, again supporting the Reeves side. In fact, the LNC said there was no way the Wagner bylaws could possibly be legitimate.
13. Wagner then appealed to the National Judicial Committee, who voted 3-2 not to recognize either side as legitimate, but instead decided to defer to the Oregon Secretary of State (who said they would not decide who was legitimate but would default to the “Chair of Record”). In the text of it’s ruling the national Judicial Committee said that recognizing the same LPO bylaws which have been in effect for years over the Wagner bylaws somehow amounted to a “constructive disaffiliation” of the LPO, a decision which has many of us still scratching our heads.
14. The LNC responded to the National Judicial Committee with another resolution declaring that the Judicial Committee had exceeded their authority on a variety of counts, including the fact that the National Judicial Committee does not have the authority to determine who the leaders are in state parties. This resolution passed 12-5.
15. At this point, the Secretary of State’s office decided to change it’s position only if a judge ordered them to. So we went to court.
16. Meanwhile, at the 2012 National Convention in Las Vegas, supposedly the highest authority in the LP, both the Reeves LPO and the Wagner LPO sent delegations. The credentials committee ruled 3-4 to seat the Reeves delegation. When this was appealed to the floor, delegates overwhelmingly voted in a standing vote to seat the Reeves delegates.
17. At the 2013 LPO Annual Convention held by the Reeves side, quorum was finally achieved. The division within the party resulted in a high number of LPO members not renewing their membership, so they fell off the rolls. A research of the member list also revealed some deaths, some memberships which had been kept on the rolls but should not have been after the national party ended the Unified Membership Program, some whose existence could not be confirmed because of missing names, addresses and other information, and other such anomalies. We also asked LPO members who could not attend convention to resign their LPO memberships in order to help us meet quorum. Quorum was made with two to spare according to the Credentials Committee report which was adopted by the assembled delegates. With quorum reached, the LPO officers were re-elected with the exception that a new Secretary was elected, bylaw amendments were adopted fixing a variety of problems, and the Judicial Committee was finally repopulated.
18. Soon after the LPO Convention, the newly populated state Judicial Committee ruled that the actions of Wagner and his supporters on March 31, 2011 were in violation of the legitimate member-approved LPO bylaws. It is worth noting that the Wagner side does not disagree but simply feels justified in violating bylaws they regard as corrupt or unjust.
19. Meanwhile in court, the Wagner side embarked on a strategy of delay, making a series of motions over about two years to avoid getting to the merits of the case. Most recently Wagner was able to get our lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the courts do not have jurisdiction – the judge said the LPO needed to solve this problem internally. This decision is currently under appeal – the judge himself acknowledged that he had not read most of the briefings. Our side believes that if the Secretary of State cannot intervene when a party’s members rights are violated, and the courts cannot intervene, then members of a party – even it’s internal officials – would have no recourse if a party’s “Chair of Record” decided to arbitrarily change party bylaws, officer lists, and other aspects of a minor party’s governance.
20. As an aside… Wagner’s bylaws made everyone who was a registered Libertarian in Oregon a member of the LPO with full voting rights without their consent and without requiring that each person sign the non-aggression pledge. But shortly after Wagner’s side purportedly adopted new governing documents, a vote-by-mail election was held to “ratify” the new governing documents. Registered LP voters each got a ballot, not LPO members exclusively. We did not participate in this election because we regarded it as illegitimate (the legitimate bylaws do not allow for changing our governing documents through vote-by-mail elections). Even had it been legitimate it allowed people who had not signed the non-aggression pledge to vote and barred a subset of dues paying and lifetime members from voting. This election purportedly “approved” the governing documents, but we regard the election to have been something akin to the recent referendum in Crimea – sans the masked gunmen.
21. Up to now, the LNC (on three occasions), the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance, the delegates assembled at the 2012 National LP Convention and Las Vegas, and the state Judicial Committee (newly populated) have recognized the Reeves side as legitimate and have repudiated the acts of the Wagner side on March 31, 2011. On the other hand, the national Judicial Committee has recognized no side as legitimate (simply deferring to the Oregon Secretary of State). LNC Geoffrey Neale has also said that, in his opinion, that Wagner is legitimate. But Neale, who has ordered the national Executive Director to list Wagner’s organization as legitimate in violation of LNC policy, is not authorized to speak on behalf of the LNC. The Wagner side also claims their “ratification” election as providing them legitimacy, an election which had no basis of legitimacy under the legitimate governing documents.
In fact, NO authoritative body, other than the State (and the constructs of Wagner and his supporters) explicitly recognize Wagner’s actions as legitimate. His current status, and that of his bylaws, rely exclusively on the Secretary of State’s unwritten policy of accepting anything the “Chair of Record” gives them.
Truly, what kind of Libertarian organization exists only because the state grants them legitimacy?
22. Based on stands taken by all of the entities mentioned above, we recently asked the Secretary of State to re-evaluate their position. While carefully avoiding any suggestion that the acts of one side or the other are legitimate or illegitimate, the Secretary of State has decided to hold with the status quo.
And that’s where things are. Sorry about the length of this post, but there have been a lot of moving parts.
Richard P. Burke
We had a record number of partisan candidates in 2012 and per capita the largest field if candidates vs population in the entire LP … and are looking to almost double it this year. How is your state doing?
This is beautiful.. A bunch of crptic allegations, an April Fool’s joke, and the advice that if I want to know more, with the principle players present in the conversation, I have to become a monk at midnight pouring over the dead sea scrolls of IPR. You guys in Oregon couldn’t lead your way out of a paper bag.
There was a referendum of all registered libertarians in Oregon. The vote came out >96% in favor of the officers and rules currently in place. Burke seeks to change that with the help of the Republican Party’s lawyer.
Peter, much of the dispute has been chronicled here at IPR. Since things started in March of 2011. I believe there are well over 40 articles here. If you put “Oregon LP” in the search box, you’ll have plenty of reading for the weekend, and most of your questions wll be answered.
Wes Wagner, what do you mean by violating the prime directive to create equality and justice? Is Allen Hacker a member of the GOP? Has any vote or referendum by the registered libertarians or delegates in Oregon happened validating one leadership or the other? Why was this matter brought to court? If this matter is under appeal, on what basis is it being appealed? The more you guys talk, the less is clear.
Didn’t James Kirk regularly violate the prime directive in order to create equity and justice?
He was a bit of a maverick for breaking rules when the rules were not just and not serving their intended purposes.
Wait a minute. Allen Hacker, “Former Galactic Emperor and former national LP judiciary committee member (as well as CA LP judiciary committee member and campaign manager of Badnarik for Congress 2006),” is currently the parliamentarian of the Republican Party of Idaho? Is that true? If so, is this post itself a disinformation campaign? April Fool’s is over.
Burke: “This post is actually pretty funny. I’m a Star Trek fan myself”
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Who cares.
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Bob T.
I’ve been wondering what happened to Allen–
Currently he is the Parliamentarian of the Republican Party of Idaho according to linkedin.
This post is actually pretty funny. I’m a Star Trek fan myself, and people have compared Wes and I to Commissioner Bele and Lokai as shown in the picture.
Glad you enjoyed it.
More about that episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield
Excerpt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi7QQ5pO7_A
This post is actually pretty funny. I’m a Star Trek fan myself, and people have compared Wes and I to Commissioner Bele and Lokai as shown in the picture.
My understanding is that Wes has a theory, promoting the narrative that the Reeves group and I are somehow working in cahoots with the GOP and (I think) Americans for Prosperity for the purpose of taking over the Libertarian Party of Oregon for the purpose of making it a puppet for the GOP. Or some variation of that. This theory appears to be fueled in Mr. Wagner’s mind by the fact that Tyler Smith, who represents us, is also the GOP’s attorney.
I came into contact with Mr. Tyler by way of Sara Vasche when she and I did some non-profit work together unrelated to partisan politics. I was briefly on the Board of Directors of a watchdog 501(c)4 that I resigned because I wanted to do web work for them. Sara, a lawyer with extensive experience with election law, referred me to her boss, Tyler, when she moved to Washington DC. So when this case came up, we worked with Tyler because we had a pre-existing working relationship. That’s all there is to the connection. And I haven’t worked for Americans for Prosperity for years.
Actually, GOP leadership was barely aware of – and showed no signs of caring about – problems within the LPO until Mr. Wagner apparently threatened the GOP state chair with spoiler candidates via email. These emails circulated around as the GOP state chair was trying to figure out what the Wagner threats were all about. The GOP certainly knows what is going on now. I found out about this because the general manager of my apartment complex happens to be a GOP candidate for the legislature. I supposed that is part of my evil plot too.
I actually find Mr. Wagner’s theory amusing because I have personally managed two Libertarian races, one for governor and the other for the State House, which were seen as spoiler races against Republican candidates.
Of course, we must remember that Mr. Wagner has a habit of implying or declaring outright that those who disagree with him are “Republican Plants” – including former national chair Mark Hinkle. Yes, even Mark Hinkle. Black helicopters abound.
Regarding the court case, Mr. Wagner continues to present the dismissal of our case as meaning that the courts said that the Reeves side is wrong and the Wagner side is right. It’s good marketing, but it isn’t true. The ruling, which is being appealed, doesn’t say that at all. It merely asserts that the courts do not have jurisdiction in the case.
If true, given that the Sec. of State also says they have no jurisdiction, then members of a political party would have no recourse anytime a “Chair of Record” recognized by the Sec. of State decides to write new governing documents and officer lists on his/her kitchen table, hand them to the Secretary of State, and declare them valid. Under such circumstances members have no rights other than those the “Chair of Record” says they have at any given moment.
And that’s no way to run a party, especially one purporting to be a Libertarian Party. Hence the appeal.
Richard P. Burke
The Burke Reeves faction are suing for control of the party using the Oregon Republican Party’s general counsel and are affiliated with the republican affiliated faction in the national party and cannot win an election outright if they had to answer to the libertarian electorate.
They lost but refuse to give up because they think they can continue to inflict damage on the libertarians of this state.
Dr. Spock would say April Fool’s jokes are illogical. Still, as an interested but uninvolved bystander such as I (I live in Florida) has yet to see a concise summation of the internal LP split in Oregon and why it has gone on for so long.
I’ve been wondering what happened to Allen–
LOL!