Minutes of the Meeting of the Libertarian National Committee 3 September 1989 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Members Present: Chair Dave Walter Vice-Chair Mary T. Gingell Secretary Joseph W. Dehn III Treasurer Stephen R. Fielder At Large I. Dean Ahmad Toni L. Black William Redpath Norma D. Segal Region 1 Karen Allard Region 2 Geoffrey J. Neale George O'Brien Region 3 Stephen L. Dasbach Region 4 Ron Crickenberger Region 5 Clifford F. Thies Region 6 Vicki Kirkland Region 7 Steven I. Givot Region 8 Gary Johnson 1. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Libertarian National Committee was called to order by Chair Dave Walter at 4:10pm, at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2. CREDENTIALS: The Secretary noted that the new LNC has 18 members, and announced the names of the members. The members then introduced themselves. 3. CHAIR'S REPORT: Walter reviewed the need for all members of the committee to share responsibility and work to make the party grow. He reminded everyone that reports should be submitted on time, so that meetings can concentrate on discussion of future plans rather than on reports of past activities. Walter announced that Nick Dunbar had resigned to allow us to appoint a new National Director. Givot moved to reappoint Nick Dunbar as National Director. Dunbar expressed the view that his work is determined by what we tell him to do. Ahmad asked about membership cards; Dunbar responded that there are currently other projects listed as having higher priority, but that it is up to us to set the priorities. Walter said that the Executive Committee has been setting priorities, and that the Membership Committee should consider whether cards are important. The motion to reappoint passed without objection. Givot moved to refer the matter of membership cards to the Executive Committee. Thies moved to amend Givot's motion by adding that the LNC feels that this should be handled at an expedient time. The motion to amend and the main motion passed without objection. 4. VICE-CHAIR'S REPORT: Gingell presented a written report on activities of the Affiliate Party Committee (included with minutes of 30 August 1989 as Attachment E). She will be working on the telephone tree and on coordinating some of the committees. 5. TREASURER'S REPORT: Fielder reported that he will be working on the new budget, and that the format will be revised to be more comprehensible. 6. SECRETARY'S REPORT: Dehn reported that he will be working on updating the Bylaws and the Platform, and will be sending everyone a NatCom profile questionnaire. 7. FINANCE COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Steve Alexander be appointed as chair of the Finance Committee. The motion passed without objection. 8. AFFILIATE PARTIES COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Mary Gingell be appointed as chair of the Affiliate Parties Committee. The motion passed without objection. Gingell announced that Steve Dasbach will be chair of the Campaign 90 Committee, which will be acting as a subcommittee of the Affiliate Parties Committee. Dasbach reported on campaign workshops and on the use of telephone conferencing. He proposes to purchase a block of 100 hours of service on a system being installed by Advocates for Self Government, to be used by regional representatives, candidates, and the Executive Committee. He suggested that our goal for next year should be to elect at least one legislator and to get at least 20,000 inquiries. Walter requested that he identify a winnable race by the next meeting. Dasbach said that we should make any financial assistance to such a candidate conditional on the campaign already showing some success. 9. BALLOT ACCESS COMMITTEE. Givot said that he has been acting as a figurehead chair, but that he wants to take on the job for real. He wants to institute a pledge program so that Paul Jacob can concentrate on actual ballot access work. He has no objection to other groups also working on ballot access. O'Brien moved that Givot be appointed as chair of the Ballot Access Committee. In response to questions from various members, Givot said that it is fine with him for the office to handle receipts, and that he was reporting disbursements to the office by the 5th day after the end of the month. He thinks that the office should be able to handle both parts of the FEC reports; he could sign them, or the LP Treasurer could serve as BAF Treasurer and sign them. He favors keeping SFAC status so that contributors will know that we are committed to spending the money on what it was raised for. The motion to appoint Givot passed without objection. Givot presented a mission statement for the BAC (Attachment), including guidelines acknowledging and encouraging the independent ballot access efforts of affiliate parties and other organizations. He also reported that Karl Hess has agreed to put BAC material in LP News. In reponse to a query by Walter, Givot said that BAC money should not be used for petitioning for local offices unless it can get us continuing ballot status. Dasbach said that paying affiliate parties for volunteer signatures is a different situation because it serves to build up the capabilities of the affiliate. Fielder suggested that Givot review the old plan which outlines generalized ballot access priorities. Fielder moved to accept the mission statement as the report of the BAC; the motion passed without objection. 10. FIELD COORDINATOR: Walter announced that Paul Jacob will now be supervised by the BAC Chair and Affiliate Parties Chair. 11. MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT COMMITTEE: Dasbach moved that Bill Redpath be appointed as chair of the Management and Audit Committee. Redpath said that he is familiar with the problems of the national office, and that he sees his role as including review of non-financial procedures. The motion to appoint Redpath passed without objection. 12. AUDITOR: Redpath moved that Clifford Thies be appointed as Auditor. Thies noted that he is not a CPA but said that this is not a problem for an internal auditor position. He is familiar with the systems, but does not expect to be part of the management team, and is not on any committee that deals primarily with finances, so will have some independence. He also informed the committee that the Treasurer is his brother-in-law. Givot pointed out that if we ran into a real problem we could always appoint an additional auditor. Thies suggested that we budget for an external audit by 1991, because a treasurer's report with a favorable report of such an audit would show people that a good job is being done. The motion to appoint Thies passed, with Fielder abstaining. 13. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was appointing Karen Allard as chair. She will be looking into various ways to get affiliate parties to promote national membership, such as semi-annual contests and a full rebate for new members. 14. OUTREACH COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was appointing Toni Black as chair. He said that a mailing to the Reason list was in progress, and that Black should check with David Bergland about pending new literature. Givot suggested that TV advertising should be under this committee. 15. MEDIA RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Walter announced that since Tonie Nathan has presented a proposal to serve as a paid contractor, a new chair is needed for this committee. Gary Johnson volunteered and was so appointed by Walter. 16. LEGAL ACTION COMMITTEE: Walter announced that he was reappointing Bill Hall as chair. 17. INTERNAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE: There was a discussion of the purpose of this committee and whether it is still needed. Walter said that its purpose is to help new members understand the platform. Redpath said it is needed to keep in touch with other libertarian organizations. Givot suggested that it would be better to have fewer, larger committees than many committees with just one member. Gingell suggested that chairs use her mailings to solicit members for their committees. Norma Segal volunteered to be chair of the Internal Education Committee, and was so appointed by Walter. 18. ADVERTISING DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE: Walter announced that David Nolan is willing to serve as chair of this committee, and will merge in his Liber-TV fund. Dasbach moved that Nolan be appointed. It was suggested that Robert Murphy be appointed as a member of this committee. The motion to appoint Nolan as chair passed. 19. ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIR: Walter announced that he was appointing Don Ernsberger as Assistant to the Chair. He will be working on special task force projects. Ernsberger reported on the census project. This was done by SIL in 1970 and 1980; it involved asking people to either not answer, answer only with their names, or to provide a full response under protest. He thinks we should do something similar, although some aspects might be need to be different because we are a political party, and that we need to start on it by January 1990. Givot commented that such a project doesn't address party goals. Walter said that it was a good activity for between elections. Kirkland said that we need our resources to get on the ballot. Thies said that although he was generally in favor, we should get legal advice. Walter said that it was a moneymaker for SIL. Dasbach said that being in the forefront on an issue is a good way to attract prospects. Walter requested that Ernsberger draft a proposal for the next meeting. 20. PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Ahmad moved that we approve the Program. Dasbach moved that "decriminalize" be changed to "relegalize" in the drug plank; there was no objection. Segal moved that the word "voluntarily" on line 4 of the tax plank be italicized; there was no objection. Black noted that some people have objected to the call for vouchers in the education plank. Givot said that this was an interim proposal and no worse than the current use of tax money for education. The motion to approve the Program passed, with Segal voting no because of the lack of a plank on abortion, and with Gingell and O'Brien abstaining. 21. ADVERTISING/PUBLICATIONS REVIEW COMMITTEE: Walter moved that Bill Evers, Ted Brown, and Dean Ahmad be appointed as the Advertising/Publications Review Committee. The motion passed without objection. 22. BUDGET: Fielder reported that an additional $7300 was available because equipment had been listed under both lease and depreciation. Fielder moved that $1000 be allocated for purchase of a fax machine for the national office. Dunbar said that he currently uses the service at Kinko's 5 or 6 times per week, and that an in-house machine will also facilitate distribution of material to the press. The motion passed without objection. There was a discussion of getting an additional computer. Dunbar said that he needs a machine that can serve as an additional terminal for the network, and that can duplicate the function of the main database machine for backup and testing. Ahmad suggested that the same purpose could be served by getting a much less expensive computer and adding a larger disk to one of the existing machines. Givot moved to authorize an expenditure of not more than $3000 for purchase of computer equipment, with the Executive Committee deciding on the specific configuration. The motion passed without objection. There was a discussion of funding the Media Relations Director proposal as submitted by Tonie Nathan. Walter reported that sufficient funds were available from convention fundraising to fund the position for the rest of the year on a trial basis. Fielder moved that the budget be amended by increasing convention fundraising income by $6000 and by increasing media relations expense by $6000; the motion passed without objection. Givot moved that the Executive Committee negotiate a contract with Tonie Nathan to implement the proposal; the motion passed without objection. Walter reported that he has asked Karl Hess to submit a budget for publishing the LP News on a monthly schedule. 23. MINUTES DISTRIBUTION: Johnson suggested that minutes be sent to state chairs. Ahmad pointed out that anyone can get them by paying an annual fee. Gingell suggested that we could send them just to state chairs who ask. Dehn moved that LNC minutes and agendas be sent without charge to any state chair that requests them; the motion passed without objection. 24. PLATFORM: Givot suggested that we should have someone watching world events to suggest updates to the platform. 25. NEXT MEETING: Walter suggested the weekend of 2-3 December for the next meeting, which will be the annual budget meeting. Johnson proposed holding the meeting in Austin, Texas. Gingell proposed San Diego, California. The committee approved holding the meeting on 2-3 December in San Diego. The committee approved holding the spring meeting in Austin. The meeting adjourned at 6:47pm. Respectfully submitted, Joseph W. Dehn III Secretary Attachment: Ballot Access Committee Report (Mission Statement)