Editorial note: This article will be used by Independent Political Report staff (as well as others by invitation) to report on brief and breaking Libertarian Party news unrelated to more prominent and specific articles currently running. The IPR editorial team will reflect such news and updates on the Libertarian Party in the comments below the article.
For readers interested in commenting on Libertarian Party matters discussed in this article, a separate section titled “Libertarian Party Commentary” has now been added to the lefthand sidebar. Readers are invited to use this section as a Letter to the Editor.
Rachel Blackfyre announces on social media that she’s dropping out of the race for an at-large position on the Libertarian National Committee.
She writes, “I have never wanted to lead. Every position I’ve had in an organization I took because I was the one willing. I only ran up until this point under the premise that I’d drop if I thought there were plenty of good people running.
I hope to spend the next 6 months trying to get people to vote for Chase Oliver. After that I am dedicating my time to growing my state and local affiliates, growing the @LPLiberation and making liberty go viral.
My continued running for at large would only detract from good candidates and if elected distract me from other persists of spreading freedom.”
Link: https://twitter.com/libertarianneko/status/1787351426827440333
Mark Rutherford, one of several candidates running for Libertarian National Committee Chair, held a campaign event yesterday evening. The event took place over Zoom and was exclusively open to attendees who had already been chosen to represent their state as delegates to the Libertarian National Convention.
Due to the limited space, there are plans for another town hall in the future for those states that have not yet convened to select their delegates. Independent Political Report will attempt to attend and report on the next event.
Adrian F Malagon has resigned as Chair of the Convention Oversight Committee, as well as from the Convention Oversight Committee as a whole. Below is his message shared to the public LNC Business List:
“Folks,
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I regret to inform you that I am resigning as Chair of the Convention Oversight Committee and the Committee as a whole, effective immediately.
All Committee work has been meticulously chronicled in the master folder for whomever the LNC appoints as my replacement to ensure a smooth transition.”
Libertarian Party of Indiana Convention Presidential Straw Poll Results:
Chase Oliver 63
Lars Mapstead 14
Mike ter Maat 7
Michael Rectenwald 6
Joshua Smith 4
Jacob Hornberger 4
Oliver, Mapstead, ter Maat, and Hornberger were sponsors and had pre-done speeches at the start of the Convention shown to delegates. Oliver, Mapstead, and ter Maat spoke and attended live at a Friday night social event.
I learned of this information late, but the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire will be meeting this Friday for its 2024 state convention. Convention delegates need to be registered Libertarians by today, and only lifetime members or those who have been a member in good standing for the previous 182 days are eligible to run for leadership positions.
The Libertarians are also caucusing tonight in Iowa, although the results are not binding. Specific numbers are difficult to find, but anecdotal accounts and general alternative party spaces on social media are reporting that four caucus precincts have finished voting, including one in Polk County.
Mike ter Maat has won two of those four precincts as of 10:20 PM EST, whereas Chase Oliver and Michael Rectenwald have won one each. More information to come as its collected.
Hey, Michael. You’re definitely not alone. I’ve heard from others late last week about receiving that card in the mail. From what I can tell in photos, there still isn’t an organization or formalized effort associated with it beyond the website you referenced, if you even want to refer to it as such.
RE Mises Caucus concerns, I received a card in the mail today. It urges me to check out this site. Anyone?
https://lncexposedDOTcom/
Candidates for National Chair:
Angela McArdle
Mark Rutherford
Pietro Salvatore Geraci
The Libertarian Party of Maine has attained major party status by persuading more than 5000 Mainers to re-register as Libertarian.
Two Libertarians in the Race
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISTRICT 2
NAME-Party-Vote Percent-Vote Count
CELESTE MALOY Republican 56.83% 89,866
KATHLEEN RIEBE Democratic 33.49% 52,949
BRADLEY GARTH GREEN Libertarian 2.86% 4,528
CASSIE EASLEY Constitution 2.33% 3,678
JANUARY WALKER United Utah 1.81% 2,856
PERRY T. MYERS NONPARTISAN 1.44% 2,276
JOE BUCHMAN NONPARTISAN 0.81% 1,281
Write-in NONPARTISAN 0.44% 688
JONATHAN LA RELE PETERSON NONPARTISAN 0.00% 2
By report, Vivek Ramaswamy is discussing with the Libertarian Party of Iowa the possibility of becoming the Libertarian Party Presidential candidate.
Is Joe Walsh a libertarian? I would say no.
I just listened to that interview. I got several things from it. First, the chair of the libertarian party has an extremely large ego. Numerous times, her point in response to questions was simply that she is either great at her job, or other descriptive terms all about her and how good she is at her job. Second, she presents herself as naïve and someone that 40 years ago we would’ve called “a valley girl”. How many times did she say like or super in her answers? I lost track.
Is there an emoji for throwing up that I could insert here that would display?
Mr. Berkman is correct that for a member of the libertarian party she is an embarrassment. Among other things, it was obvious that she kept asking questions of somebody in the background, and she did not even appear tonknow how membership cycles work in the party leading up to conventions. I would also note that she miss spoke twice claiming the January 6 was an attempt to take over the White House and not the capital building.
Having served three terms on the LNC, most of the first as an alternate, and then two as a regional representative, I do agree that there are problems with the board system. But it is not the regional representatives. It is the people elected as regional representatives, or in some cases as members at large or officers. And when I served, it also included an overabundance of experts in Roberts rules of order.
The main problem is that there appear to be too many whack-a-doodles currently serving. There were a few when I was on the board, but it appears to now be full of them – led by the chair and secretary, who I personally think could make a fair replacement for two of the Marx brothers.
Replacing the current system with a smaller board, elected entirely by the national convention, is a great idea — if you want to completely eliminate any incentive for states to promote membership in the national party. As most of us here know, your presidential vote, along with your percentage of membership in the national party control your state’s relevance in building regions. Take away the membership factor, and I would estimate that membership would go down at least another 25%.
Of course, that would not happen until the convention cycle after regions were eliminated.
The chair has some great ideas on how to consolidate power and stay in control. After all, according to her repeated statements, she is “doing a great job”.
Eliminating the Regional representatives makes it straightforward for a majority at a national convention to elect a National Committee purely of its own choosing. There would be no more Mark Tuniewiczes.
Angela McArdle proposed to the Bylaws committee that the Regional Representatives be eliminated, and a few at-large members added, yielding an LNC with four officers and nine at-large members, a total of 14 rather than the current 17 or 18. Note that she says 25 members, which counts the Regional Alternates, even though Regional Representatives and Alternates cannot both participate in an LNC meeting at the same time.
She wrote:
Eliminate Regional Representative System and Expand At Large
The LNC is an overly large organization. When Jim Cantrell and other professional mentors have given board governance advice to me and the LNC, they have all stated that a 25 person board is too large.
Large boards lead to dysfunction.
https://boardsource.org/resources/board-size-finding-the-sweet-spot/
https://www.diligent.com/resources/blog/best-practices-board-size-and-corporate-governance
https://governancetoday.com/GT/GT/Articles/What_is_the_optimum_Board_size.aspx
I propose we scale down to 4 officers and 9 at large members, with the caveat that no more than 2 at large members may reside in the same state at the time of their election. States are still allowed to band together to form regions for various purposes (cost sharing for trainings, for ex.) and that purpose could also include lobbying together for an at large member…
https://nhjournal.com/kauffman-ousted-in-free-state-shakeup/
Jeremy Kaufman was ejected from the Free State Project board.
I have been listening to the Joe Walsh interview with Angela McArdle. Angela is such an embarrassment. Joe Walsh is clearly more qualified to be a leader of The Libertarian Party than Ms McArdle is.
Joe Walsh did say one thing I disagreed with. He said to Angela McArdle “You are intelligent…” Not sure why he said that.
But Joe Walsh clearly has figured out the so-called “Mises”Caucus is a variation of Alt Right politics. Angela’s responses were weak and unhelpful, at best.
News from the California LP:
Region Four is proud to announce that Ms. Meredith Hays was appointed earlier tonight by the LPCA ExCom as the Region Four Alternate.
Region Four is also proud to announce that Mr. Gary Alvstad was appointed as the Platform Committee Representative from California. (An alternate will be appointed at a later date.)
The new Region 1 Regional Representative is Adam Haman
Iowa State Fair Presidential Candidate Straw Poll Results
Chase Oliver – 27 votes – 18.9%
Raymond Dude Wagner – 27 votes – 18.9%
Melissa Biondi – 11 votes – 7.7%
Aaron Avouris – 11 votes – 7.7%
Hugo Valdez Garcia – 10 votes – 7.0%
Jon Stewart – 8 votes – 5.6%
David Reed DeSilva – 8 votes – 5.6%
David Dunlap – 6 votes – 4.2%
Jacob Hornberger – 6 votes – 4.2%
Charles Griffith Ferry – 5 votes – 3.5%
Kevin Babicz – 5 votes – 3.5%
Antonio Gagnon – 4 votes – 2.8%
Mike ter Maat – 4 votes – 2.8%
Russell DeLeon – 3 votes – 2.1%
Lars Mapstead – 3 votes – 2.1%
Others – 5 votes – 3.5%
No other 3rd parties. Democrats went:
Biden 67.0%
RFK Jr. 18.8%
Williamson 14.3%
Republicans:
Trump 42.5%
DeSantis 15.3%
T. Scott 11.1%
Ramaswamy 9.4%
Johnson 6.2%
Haley 3.8%
Hutchinson 3.4%
Pence 2.7%
Burgum 2.7%
Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle interviewed by former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh.
https://whiteflagwithjoewalsh.libsyn.com/206-white-flag-with-joe-walsh-angela-mcardle
The topic is primarily the Mises Caucus, its controversies within the Libertarian party, and whether it is part of the Alt Right. Also covered are McArdle’s views on January 6th and German New Medicine.
BREAKING: Libertarian Party Executive Director Lainie Huston announces she is stepping down from the position, citing a return to the tech and innovation world. Article to come.
There is also data on state spending. Massachusetts has two groups that view themselves as the state organization, and where I live a Worcester County affiliate that actually has candidates. What are the two groups raising and spending?
MA Libertarian State Committee (the state party organization) in 2023 has neither raised nor spent money through its state PAC.
Liberty Tree: The Small Government, Low-Tax PAC, which is the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts (LAMA) state PAC, in 2023 has neither raised nor spent money.
In the current year the LAMA Federal PAC raised $2,970.17, spent $4,988.88, and ended up with $727.52 cash on hand.
Since its formation last November, United Libertarians of Massachusetts (the LNC affiliate) has raised approximately $6000, and spent $4000 of it, largely for Nation Builder and Anedot processing fees.
At 11:30 in the evening, the LNC posted its financials for June.
Income $96,746
Outgo $97,012
From the disbursements, one can find salary numbers for the staff.
Mises supporters are applying their ideas on advancing the Libertarian Party by advancing radical ideas.
The Libertarian Party of Georgia, writing on Twitter, maintains that claims of the Uyghur genocide are fabricated.
The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, writing on Twitter, maintains that the Uyghur genocide is fake.
Corrected: We have heard from former LPNH Chair Conrad Nelson. He reports that the LPNH Judicial Committee has heard his appeal. The Judicial Committee dismissed counts 3, 4, and 5 as irrelevant to rising to the level of sufficient cause for suspension, 1 and 2 (the counts relating to bylaws/policy manual interpretation) are what the JC upheld. In this regard, they determined that the bylaws were unclear but, with the burden of proof being on Nelson as the appellant, could not meet the threshold to overturn the EC decision to suspend him.
Nelson has therefore been removed as LPNH Chair.
Libertarian Ken Krawchuk of Pennsylvania has announced that he will be undertaking a tour of Pennsylvania in support of a possible run for Pennsylvania Governor in 2026. A 2026 campaign would be his fourth run for Governor.
Wow! Talk about a disturbance in The Force! Richard Winger and his work has been extremely valuable to all “third” parties. Obviously Bill Redpath is also a highly respected and qualified person.
Personally, I consider Bill to be one of the best chairs the LP ever had, and I greatly respected his work and dedication over the two terms I was on the LNC while he was chair. And the few times I have interacted with Richard Winger also always left me respecting his opinions and work.
Independent Political Report has been presented with a report that Richard Winger will be turning Ballot Access News over to LNC Regional Alternate Representative Bill Redpath, likely within the next few days. We have asked Redpath for his comment.
Adrian Malagon of California is joining the LNC as its new Region 4 Representative.
Involvements and affiliations per the LNC Conflict of Interest list include:
– Chair, Libertarian Party of California (LPCA)
– Chair, Libertarian Party of Contra Costa County (LPCCC)
– Chair, California Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (CA-LPMC)
– Member, LPCA Strategic Planning Committee
– Chair, LPCA Affiliate Support Committee
– Member, LPCA Budget Committee
– Chair, LPCA Candidate Support Committee
– Chair, LPCA Membership Committee
– Member, LPCA Recruitment Committee
– Chair, LPCA Operations Committee
While the motion has not yet been closed, Kathy Yeniscavich has enough votes to become the next member of the Libertarian National Committee’s Executive Committee.
We are advised that the LPNH Executive Committee has removed the LPNH Chair from his post. We also understand that as a result Karlyn Borysenko, the LPNH’s 2022 candidate for Governor, has separated herself from the LPNH. More information will be revealed when available.
Good news from Montana:
Montana Libertarian Party
@Montana_LP
SB565 (3rd Party killer) was voted down on the house floor! 39 yea, 61 nay! Thank you to our Representatives who remembered they work for Montana, not DC.
1500 is kind of a joke though, right? That’s like ten cents a signature ?
I am pleased to report that the LNC, having recently appropriated $12,000 for Michigan Trademark legal action, has made a further step.
It appropriated $1500 for Arkansas ballot access.
In other good news, the Montana law to impose Top-Two for one election to one office is apparently going down in flames, as there was a negative committee vote, 1-17. The committeepeople had heard from their constituents.
The heise Pac is apparently better at musical chairs than other typical lnc pursuits.
Voting is not yet over; however, with 11 votes in favor and five waiting to be cast, it looks highly likely that Kathy Yeniscavich will be selected to fill the At-Large LNC vacancy.
Otto Dassing shares on the LNC internal list that the chairs of Region 5 met and chose Will Hyman, Chair of the Libertarian Party of West Virginia, to be the new Region 5 Alternate Representative.
For personal reasons unrelated to the LNC, Brian Elliot has resigned as an At-Large member of the LNC.
Bill Redpath is the new Libertarian National Committee Region 6 Alternate, replacing Mark Tuniewicz, who was recently elevated from Alternate to Representative of the region.
Saturday April 8 at 4 PM the Libertarian National Committee Executive Committee will meet. A topic is legal action in Michigan.
Reported on the internet are the following numbers for LNC fundraising in Februaries the year after an off-year election. Without inflation adjustment, they are the worst since 1995:
2023 — 78,713
2019 — 123,388
2015 — 112,022
2011 — 109,713
2007 — 177,302
2003 — 180,068
1999 — 194,217
1995 — 73,046
In inflation-adjusted-to-2023 dollars, the 1995 take was $144,192.
Karlyn Borysenko, writing on Facebook, reports that Libertarian Mises Caucus National Coordinator Jeff Douglas removed all New Hampshire members from the Mises Caucus. No explanation was provided. It was reported that the expulsion was from a social media group controlled by a Mises group.
Data from the LNC’s March FEC reports detailing the contributions collected in February. This is the total contributions reported on line 11(d) of the report.
Feb 2013 – $78,713.75
Feb 2014 – $79,130.43
Feb 2015 – $111,912.02
Feb 2016 – $123,673.74
Feb 2017 – $80,110.88
Feb 2018 – $199,719.84
Feb 2019 – $119,506.83
Feb 2020 – $180,592.79
Feb 2021 – $130,110.85
Feb 2022 – $127,497.68
Feb 2023 – $74,203.40
Kudos to the takeover crew for the worst February in 10 years.
P.S. Before someone claims I am cherry-picking using 10 years of data, the LNC’s total contributions in February 2012 were $131,954.95.
Yes, you can shrink the size of a government.
Quoting from the Economist for March 11, 2023, page 33, speaking of Egypt:
About 20% of working Egyptians were employed by the government in 2021, down from 27% a decade ago, reckons the International Labor Organization.
New article on Third Party Watch https://thirdpartywatch.com/2023/03/10/february-surprise-breaks-ice-at-installed-lec-meeting/
An event-based article on the Michigan LP, written by one of the participants, Scotty Boman.
We will be putting articles on controversies, when from people involved in the matter, on http://ThirdPartyWatch.
This is roughly a week out; however, Mark Tuniewicz replaced Joseph Ecklund as Region 6 Representative on the Libertarian National Committee. Previously, Mr. Tuniewicz was the alternative member. Mr. Tuniewicz also states a vote in Region 6 to adopt Mr. Ecklund as the Region’s alternative member failed.
Libertarian Party of Indiana Convention stream. Starts at about 45 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qaZq5p9fc8
The Libertarian Party of California had their convention a few weeks ago. It’d be nice if someone who was there posted a report on what occurred.
The LNC Executive Committee will meet this Wednesday, mostly in Executive Session. A request from the Chair for $10,000 for legal expenses will be made, “…to retain an attorney for legal matters in Michigan, New Mexico, and/or Massachusetts…”
The Libertarian National Committee will meet this coming weekend.
Ryan Graham has announced: I’ve always said that if the party walked away from me, I’d walk away as well. Today, I stepped down as Political Director of LP Georgia as the party I have given so much to continues down a path that aligns less and less with my values.