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LNC Meeting of December 1998
LNC Region 2/California Report
for the LNC meeting of
12-13 December 1998
by Joe Dehn
(This report covers California. Terry Savage has reported on
Nevada.)
I. Membership
A. Registered Voters
The number of voters registered Libertarian continues to increase
gradually, at a higher rate than overall registration. There has
been
very little explicit voter-registration work -- the increase
appears to
be a side-effect of general LP activity and acceptance of the
Libertarian alternative among the population.
The count as of the registration deadline for the general election
was 82,079; this was 0.55% of the total registration.
B. Central Committee Members
This is the state voting membership category. This count differs
somewhat from the national member count due to a number of
factors,
the biggest of which is a difference in the treatment of
expiration
dates (LPC allows a grace period, which in a typical month results
in a few hundred extra people being included).
This count stood at 4,787 at the end of 1997, and the state chair
set a
goal of 7,000 for the end of this year. It doesn't look like we
are
going to make it -- we will probably end up with about 6,300.
Most of the increase this year has been from Project Archimedes,
although we didn't get nearly as many members from this source as
we
had been hoping for, because of reductions/delays in the mailing
schedule.
C. National Members
| end of 1996 (pre-ump) | 3326 |
| end of 1997 | 4548 |
| end of November 1998 | 5710 |
II. Finances
| 1998
Projected | 1999
Budget |
| UMP Revenue | 83,000 | 91,000 |
| Other Revenue | 180,000 | 203,000 |
| ------- | ------- |
| Gross revenue (including UMP payments from national, but excluding dues payments from members that are passed on to national) | 263,000 | 294,000 |
| UMP revenue passed on to regions | 46,000 | 55,000 |
| Cost of Revenue | 87,000 | 95,000 |
| ------- | ------- |
| Net Available Revenue | 130,000 | 144,000 |
| Expenses | 124,000 | 144,000 |
| ------- | ------- |
| Surplus | 6,000 | 0 |
All figures are rounded estimates. 1999 budget figures are based
on static membership.
III. Local Organizations
The LPC is divided into 57 "regions", which mostly correspond to
counties, except that a few counties are combined and Los Angeles
County is divided into eight regions. About 40 of these are
"active".
IV. Candidates/Election Results
A. Partisan
There were 93 candidates running as Libertarians in the 1998
general
election, out of a possible 164:
| US Senate | 1 |
| US House (52 districts) | 33 |
| Statewide State Office (7 offices) | 7 |
| Board of Equalization (4 districts) | 3 |
| State Senate (20 districts up this year) | 11 |
| State Assembly (80 districts) | 38 |
There were no other partisan races -- all local elections in California
are non-partisan.
Highlights:
| Statewide Candidates |
| U.S. Senate | TED BROWN | 93,747 | 1.13% |
| Governor | STEVE KUBBY | 73,729 | 0.88% |
| Lt. Governor | TOM TRYON | 167,015 | 2.05% |
| Secretary of State | GAIL LIGHTFOOT | 216,398 | 2.69% |
| Attorney General | JOSEPH FARINA | 149,164 | 1.87% |
| Treasurer | JON PETERSEN | 183,031 | 2.31% |
| Controller | PAMELA PESCOSOLIDO | 147,105 | 1.84% |
| Insurance Comm. | DALE OGDEN | 169,588 | 2.11% |
| Highest Number of Votes: |
| KENNITA WATSON
Board of Equalization District 1 | | 403,485 | 22.06% |
| Highest Percentage for Congress: |
| BRUCE ACKER, District 25 | | 38.669 | 25.33% |
| Highest Percentage for State Senate: |
| LINDA STARR, District 20 | | 8,372 | 6.71% |
| Highest Percentage for State Assembly: |
| MAUREEN LINDBERG, District 63 | | 26,622 | 28.27% |
B. Non-Partisan
There were at least 8 Libertarians running for local office.
(In many
cases people running for these offices do not have any contact
with the
state or regional LP organization, so information is incomplete.)
There were 4 winners:
| Bonnie Flickinger - Moreno Valley City Council |
| John Mehaffey - Saratoga City Council |
| Robert Noble - Arcata City Council |
| Norman Vroman - Mendocino County District Attorney |
These were all contested (but non-partisan) races; only one
(Flickinger) was an incumbent running for re-election. One other
incumbent, Sandi Webb, ran for re-election but lost by a slim
margin.
V. Ballot Status
The LP is qualified for the primaries in 2000 and 2002, as a
result of
at least one statewide candidate getting 2% in the 1998 election.
There are five other parties with this status (Democrat,
Republican,
American Independent, Green, Natural Law), plus two that failed
to get
2% but which can still qualify if they meet a registration test
(Reform
probably will qualify, Peace and Freedom probably won't).
Note that although the LP is ballot-qualified, each candidate for
partisan office must qualify for the primary either by paying a
significant filing fee or circulating a petition among registered
Libertarians. The LP's ballot status has no effect on local
offices.
VI. Conventions
The next convention is scheduled for Presidents Day weekend 1999,
in
San Jose. This convention will elect state party officers
(two-year
terms)
The following convention is scheduled for Presidents Day weekend
2000,
in San Diego. This convention will elect delegates to the
national
convention.
VII. Concerns
Although the state party leadership and many regions are generally
comfortable with the UMP, there is a vocal minority at the region
level
that feel that the fraction of "dues" that is available to them to
support basic functions (e.g., newsletter) is too small. Under
the
current arrangements, regions receive 60% of the funds that the
LPC
receives from national, so for a $25 member the region receives
$7.20
per year.
To a certain extent this is about the absolute amount of money,
but
there is also a lot of complaining about the percentage,
especially
at higher "dues" levels. Some adjustment to the payment formula
to
increase the monthly payments for the $100, $250, $500, and $1000
membership categories would help answer this concern.
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