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LP Hawaii State Chair Threatens LNC

Readers who joined your Editor in watching yesterday’s LNC meeting will have noted repeated interruptions by the same person, so far as could be told the LP Hawaii Chair, screaming denunciations of the meeting until he was ejected.  We have since learned that he apparently also sent a threatening message to every LNC member. The message follows:

From: LPHI Chair <lphichair@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2025
To: Entire LNC <entire.lnc@lp.org>
Cc: Abbra Green <lphisecretary@gmail.com>
Subject: Ultimatum from the State and Chair of Hawaii

Aloha!

I am the State Chair of Hawaii, and I am writing to express my state’s concern over possibility of the rushed installation of a chair at this tonight’s meeting, which could effectively be a coup against the elected LNC & the will of the delegates.

I believe optics of impropriety are being exploited by outsiders & insiders alike to manipulate members of the LNC into foolish, rash decisions. Certain selfish (clearly narcissistic) personalities on the board have identified an opportunity for personal advancement through betrayal and induced overreactions.

I doubt our partners & supporters, including the KVF, will like that very much. In fact, my understanding is that they want consistency – and for us to follow through on our strategies & commitments – not to pull the rug in the middle of the game. We are not reactionaries.

We should all know better than to disregard due process before jumping to presumptions of guilt, prejudice, and overreactions with massive political implications for your people.

Step back and take breath, please.

Given the circumstances, it seems very probable that rushed or rash actions today could jeopardize critical relationships, such as our JFC arrangements. I am absolutely confident that slowing down this process would be helpful for them and for our people to adjust and to make an informed decision. It is clear that we have all been bullied & prodded (by people who loathe the LNC, I should add) into making rushed decisions which could threaten most of the gains we have worked so hard to accomplish over the past years. It is not an exaggeration at all to say we are in the midst of a coup. It’s rather obvious there is an attempt to force our hands, and to make profound changes of leadership – and this attempt is NOT being led by loyal party members, but rather by bitter, petty, spiteful, selfish, immature children who should not enjoy the cover their labels afford them.

The needless rush is making the States feel like we can no longer trust the LNC to support our fight – since some of you are (apparently) absurdly vulnerable to TEXTBOOK optical psyops, and blind to the obvious; you are reacting so predictably to bad press that the LNC is now being driven like a fucking car.

Tap the brakes, please.

Slowing this down is what everyone wants – at least those not trying to plant a knife in our backs. We don’t elect you to clique up and play game of chairs. We lose nothing by being mature, and not making a snap decision.

I’m absolutely sick of the games & drama, and I will not allow a bunch of narcissistic non-sense to ruin what my people have worked so hard to build. So…

To those members who are leaning toward voting for a coup tonight, I want to make a couple personal promises with artistic style, beyond my capacity as a state chair:

1. Every member of the LNC who votes with the consensus of the state chairs and the will of the delegates to slow down this process and stop any attempted coup this evening will enjoy my lasting respect & warmest aloha.

2. (If the coup is successful), each member who supports the coup will enjoy an enduring new musical enemy who specializes at being both highly effective, and highly annoying. I will dedicate efforts to the states in your regions and convince them to remove you, your allies, and whomever else you install in the LNC. I won’t hold back, and you will never be rid of my vengeful spirit. I will keep being a pain in your necks even if the LNC disaffiliated my state and kicked me from the party. I would also likely feel compelled to compose songs about you, immortalizing your betrayal of the liberty movement. I would recruit members and send them to your conventions to play the memorial songs of your failures. Your names would become a byword and a running joke for future libertarians, and your career in politics will come to an abrupt, painful end. In addition to pursuing every recourse available to my State, I will also endeavor to infect your personal networks and haunt you from a remote tropical island. I would dance to the tunes I wrote about you on the broken, mangled bones of your once-promising political aspirations. I will drink the lifeblood of the promises you made to our enemies, and skip through the ashes of your dashed dreams.

I promise this.

Do not participate in a coup tonight.

Let matters play out.

Simply tap the brakes.

That’s all your states are asking.

The choice from me tonight is silver or lead.

Thanks in advance for NOT installing a chair this evening, and for making the right choice; to be friends with the delegates & states, rather than adversaries.

Mahalo nui loa!

Austin Martin
Libertarian Party of Hawaii | Chairman
Office: 808-824-LPHI | Cell: 940-368-0364
LibertarianHawaii.com

20 Comments

  1. 5Arete23 5Arete23 February 5, 2025

    Below is a common meaning of the Hawaiian LP chair’s phrase “silver or lead”. He tells LNC members that if they do what he wants, they will receive “my lasting respect & warmest aloha” (desirable silver) but otherwise he will write derisive songs about them (undesirable lead).

    This is more compatible with the NAP than is Pablo Escobar’s offering officials a choice between accepting bribes (silver) or death (likely by lead bullets).

    “plata o plomo” (literally “silver or lead” or “accept money or face bullets”) — https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar

  2. Robert Kraus Robert Kraus February 5, 2025

    “which could threaten most of the gains we have worked so hard to accomplish over the past years.”

    Interesting definition of “gains” – let me check the LP version of Websters:

    Gains = less members, less money, less staff, less folks running for office, less folks winning elections, less support for affiliates, less support for candidates, less stances for libertarian principles, less following bylaws, less following platform, less professionalism, less board fundraising, oh wait here’s one – more self-dealing & other illegal activities.

  3. ATBAFT ATBAFT February 4, 2025

    Seems a far cry from the original “Aloha Caucus” started by Ben and Sylvia Olson back in the early days of the Party. Friendly bonhomie no matter what brand of libertarianism you followed or what faction you supported. The LP’s “guns” used to be aimed outside the circle, not inside.

    • Walter Ziobro Walter Ziobro February 5, 2025

      The Libertarian Party has reached the point where it matters too much.

  4. Kyle Markley Kyle Markley February 4, 2025

    I want to hear these songs. This is a fundraising opportunity.

    • George Phillies George Phillies Post author | February 4, 2025

      It could be worse. You could be asking to hear my singing. Recordings of my singing are regularly sold to the Japanese Navy. They play them underwater on their sonar systems, and Godzilla and her fellow kaiju immediately flee in terror.

      • Stewart Flood Stewart Flood February 4, 2025

        Obviously, the theme song for third-party watch should be impossible dream from the man of La Mancha. We need to get a recording of George singing it.

  5. Walter Ziobro Walter Ziobro February 4, 2025

    I am reminded of a line from Shakespeare:

    “Metinks thou doth protest too much”

    What is Austin martin’s relation to the KVF? Did he benefit from it?

    • Anonymous Observer Anonymous Observer February 4, 2025

      LPHI was one of the seven state affiliates that got money from the KVF. So yes, he benefitted from it.

  6. Stewart Flood Stewart Flood February 4, 2025

    I am still a bit unclear on what the coup was. The former chair was mises. From what I have read here, the new newly elected chair is also one of them. Clearly the other candidate, who founded their caucus is one of them.

    The mises caucus took over the National party and controls a significant number of the state parties. Since they are still in charge, what was the coup? It isn’t quite clear.

    I am certainly not saying that I believe mises should be in charge, and there is some evidence identifying them to be generally of criminal nature and criminal intent as a caucus.

    Overall, this is a quite frightening statement coming from a state chair of a party that alleges to be against violence and aggression.

    • Andy Andy February 4, 2025

      Steven Nekhaila has apparently not been involved in the Mises Caucus for awhile.

    • Joseph Joseph February 4, 2025

      In my view….. Nekhailia is/was associated with MC, but not a “if you don’t like it leave” clown like Angela and Heise. He has always acted professional and respectful to all. He wanted Darr as VC and Darr is CLC, so that seems like a step in the right direction to more cooperation and unity.

      Angela was divisive….and incompetent.
      No other non-profit board in the country would be allowed to function as this one has under Angela.
      Heise would have been more divisive.

  7. Pat Jones Pat Jones February 3, 2025

    1. Who or what is a KVF?

    2. Perhaps I read this rant too charitably but the actual “threat” here is to compose and distribute songs.

    3. Read in isolation silver or lead could be a threat , but since no “silver” is even remotely promised, I take the “lead” to be highly metaphorical as well.

    Am I wrong?

    • George Phillies George Phillies Post author | February 4, 2025

      KVF = Kennedy Victory Fund, the joint fundraising effort.
      Some threats are more imposing than others.

      • Daniel Lutz Daniel Lutz February 4, 2025

        I have to agree with Pat as far as the threats, this guy came off as threatening as acacado toast. I have had morning bowel movements with more menace and ability to instill fear.

      • Pat Jones Pat Jones February 4, 2025

        Indeed, some threats are more imposing than others. This one seems to me like a threat to compose and distribute songs, which is not very imposing. I don’t believe the reference to lead is literal, since the author says actions (making and distributing songs) would take place from Hawai’i, and anything which is used to cause physical damage with lead wouldn’t reach the mainland from there.

        I also wouldn’t consider this a real threat since the converse (silver) is also unlikely to be literal.

        If, however, any of the recipients feel that it’s a serious threat, they can try getting a restraining order, pursuing other options within the legal system, contacting law enforcement in Hawai’i or the federal government, taking normal measures to protect themselves, etc.

        My hunch is that no judge or law enforcement agencies would take this as anything close to a credible threat, but I could be wrong – they can find out for themselves, or perhaps none of the recipients actually take the threat seriously enough to bother taking those kinds of steps.

        If the author is really as tenacious as he claims, which is probably unlikely but not entirely impossible, it’s possible that online harassment could rise to the level of being civilly actionable. But it seems far more likely to me that it was someone using overheated rhetoric in the heat of the moment whose actual follow-up, if any at all, will be significantly less persistent than a hyper literal reading of the missive would indicate.

        I’ve seen/heard/read many threats – for this purpose it doesn’t matter whether they were directed at me, shared with me by friends, shared with me in some professional capacity or capacities , but this does not read like one of the more imposing ones. It reads like someone blowing off steam, possibly under the influence of something or another, who may or may not follow up by composing and attempting to distribute songs which attempt to lampoon or verbally deride their targets.

        • Stewart Flood Stewart Flood February 4, 2025

          I agree that it isn’t a real threat. What I meant by frightening is that it shows the level of insanity in the management of this disfunctional party.

          How can anyone this crazy get elected chairman of a state party?

          I am trying to keep this message “polite“, but it is impossible to ignore the fact that this guy is clearly a whack-a-doodle.

        • Aloysius Aloysius February 4, 2025

          I think he’s saying that asking him to choose between the two candidates that night would be like asking him to choose between silver and lead for the bullet that killed him. Not that he’s threatening to shoot the LNC members with his choice of bullet.

    • Anonymous For Good Reason Anonymous For Good Reason February 5, 2025

      The “invading your personal networks” part is threatening to me – not of physical violence, but of other deleterious behavior.

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