As written in 2000-2002
Similar questions may also be raised about the $3333 that the LNC presented as a gift in kind to the Browne campaign. Who was at fault? Once again, blame must go in the first instance to National Committee Treasurer Butler and National Committee Chair Dasbach. Unlike the loan, the gift in kind was not disclosed on the FEC reports. Browne is shown on the reports as having been billed for mailing list rentals, but there was no disclosure that the lists were provided in part via gifts in kind from the National Committee. It would therefore have been much harder for the full LNC to learn via independent investigation about the gift in kind.
The $11,185.01 the LNC loaned to Browne in 1996 and the $3333 the LNC gave Browne were only the first two installments on the huge de facto financial support soon to be given Browne by the LNC for his 2000 nominating campaign.
The Party Staff and the National Committee
In June 1996, there was a contested election for Party National Chair. Steve Dasbach was challenged by Gene Cisewski. Disturbing features of the election include repeated reports from a variety of sources that members of the National Party’s staff involved themselves in internal Party elections. For example, in a letter dated January 20, 1997, long-time Pennsylvania activist and donor Mike Nixson wrote “Perry Willis made it clear to many individuals that he would resign if Gene Cisewski defeated Steve Dasbach.” Nixson emphasizes that these statements were made before the National Convention, when they might have influenced the election.
On Friday, August 17 2001 long-time activist John Slevin made a disclosure to National Chair James Lark about “fraud or related unacceptable practices” related to the National Party. Slevin began by noting that he had first registered with the Party in 1979 and did professional ballot access work, always at a much reduced rate for Libertarians. Slevin reports that he visited National Headquarters the week before the 1996 convention and personally witnessed that most staff members he saw—’most’ specifically not including Perry Willis—were wearing ‘Dasbach’ [for Chair] buttons. Slevin emphasizes that to his knowledge Dasbach was out of town, that when he returned to the headquarters after Dasbach’s return the buttons were no longer in sight, and that he was informed that when Dasbach had learned of the buttons he had ordered staffers to remove them.
Nonetheless, Party members should recognize that repeated hints that the National Staff is attempting to influence internal party elections potentially form a dangerous pattern. Once an organization has a paid staff, there is a natural tendency for the paid staff—not in every case, but often enough—to seek to influence or control the direction of the organization. Not uncommonly, the directions include hiring more staff rather than using outsourcing. We saw one recent proposal that the current Strategic Plan should be implemented by hiring more staff for the National Headquarters. These directions often point less at advancing the organization’s objectives and more at advancing the conditions of work of the staff and the numbers of subordinates of senior staffers. An early firewall against this hazard is an announced and rigidly enforced rule that the staff may not attempt to influence internal politics. There are indications for 1996 that the firewall was under stress.
The End of the Trail
We reach July 1996. The Libertarian National Convention met in Washington, D.C. Harry Browne was nominated by the Libertarian Party as its candidate for President; he won on the first ballot. His running mate would be Jo Jorgensen, a Carolina businesswoman.
Chapter Five
