Editorial from Nick Sarwark: On Supporting the Brave Women Who Fought Corruption in Politics

Unless you are in healthcare compliance law or live in Louisiana, you probably don’t know Beth Vest. If you’re not in Colorado or a parliamentary procedure nerd, you probably don’t know Caryn Ann Harlos. But these two women stood up against one of Donald Trump’s dirtiest political tricks and did what a complacent Libertarian National Committee failed to do: force the resignation of Angela McArdle as Chair of the Libertarian National Committee,

They did this at great personal, political, and monetary expense. They did it while being opposed by two separate white shoe law firms that worked together to defend both Angela McArdle and the Libertarian National Committee that was complicit or negligent in diversion and embezzlement of member donations.

For the last two years, most of my pro bono time has been assisting with this lawsuit to try to help keep the fees down and because Angela McArdle was fleecing the Libertarian Party without any meaningful opposition from the majority of the board.

The lawsuit achieved its primary goal of removing Angela McArdle from the Chair of the Libertarian National Committee, but not until she had been able to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump, RFK Jr., and her own family members.

Because derivative suits have to be filed by individuals, it’s Beth Vest and Caryn Ann Harlos who are on the hook for the legal fees, which added up after aggressive litigation by Angela McArdle and the majority of the Libertarian National Committee.

If you can help us close out this bill before the end of December, there’s a generous Libertarian who is willing to match the first $10,000 in donations.

In May of 2024, when Angela McArdle started selling out the Libertarian Party to Donald Trump and improperly throwing party resources at candidates from competing parties, it was Beth Vest, a Regional Alternate from Louisiana and an attorney herself, who filed a derivative suit to protect the interests of members and donors.

During the next two years, Angela McArdle and the LNC worked together with law firms paid for by the insurance policies members had paid for to fight against the derivative lawsuit seeking accountability for misconduct in office.

Even after a second derivative lawsuit was filed by Secretary Caryn Ann Harlos, even after Jake Porter revealed evidence of Angela McArdle’s embezzlement, her resignation, and the appointment of a separate law firm to represent the LNC, members of the national committee steadfastly voted to help Angela McArdle evade legal responsibility and avoid any further discovery into who assisted in McArdle’s misconduct at a trial.

The Libertarian National Committee has a duty to the members to be good stewards of their resources. That duty includes holding officers accountable for misconduct and seeking legal remedy for negligent and willful misappropriation of funds.

When the evidence of Angela McArdle’s malfeasance came out in black and white, including in the LNC’s own investigatory report, the Committee should have taken up the civil action against McArdle and sought damages. In August of 2025, there were settlement discussions to achieve that goal, but the LNC chose not to settle.

Instead, the LNC chose overwhelmingly to support a dismissal of the lawsuit that was granted in late October 2025.

Beth Vest and Caryn Ann Harlos did what nobody else on the Libertarian National Committee was willing to do. They saw LNC officer misconduct and they filed suit to make it stop.

Angela McArdle resigned and the misconduct stopped.

But there’s still the matter of the legal bills.

In stark contrast to Angela McArdle and the LNC, which both received free legal representation under the insurance policies held by the organization, Beth Vest and Caryn Ann Harlos have paid out of pocket and raised funds from individual Libertarian Party members and supporters to keep the lawsuit going.

There is an outstanding bill of approximately $59,000 for the cost of litigating the derivative lawsuits that resulted in Angela McArdle’s resignation from the Libertarian National Committee.

These are fees that never would have been incurred if the other members of the Libertarian National Committee had done their job and reported Angela McArdle’s misconduct to their insurance carrier in the first place. They could have saved all of this trouble just by doing their job, checking on contracts, and seeking restitution for fraud.

A generous donor has offered to match the first $10,000 in donations that come in the month of December. If you can contribute to help retire these legal fees so our party can move forward and Beth Vest and Caryn Ann Harlos aren’t stuck with a bill they shouldn’t have to personally pay, please give as much as you can.

Once this chapter is closed, we can rebuild our party.

Donations can be made directly to the Veritas Law Firm at their secure payment portal. Please put “LNC Derivative Suit” in the reference field. If you would like to donate another way or would also like to match donations, please reach out to me personally.

Yours in liberty,

Nick

P.S. If you skipped to the post script, (1) the derivative lawsuits achieved the objective of removing Angela McArdle from the Libertarian National Committee, (2) there are still outstanding legal bills from the derivative lawsuits, and (3) your December contribution to the legal bills will be matched by a generous donor.