“What is the role of LPNH?”
LNC members,
On Saturday, September 5th at 11:09 am ET we received an affiliation petition request. I am including public links to the petition sheet, their convention minutes and bylaws, and a submitted letter. Upon the request of the submitter, addresses and phone numbers of the petitioners have been redacted – the LNC Secretary has an unredacted copy. Petitioner also notified that physical copies have been sent to the LNC address.
[The documents have already appeared on Third Party Watch]
This petition will be included in the New Hampshire Affiliation agenda item for the LNC Special Monthly Meeting on Sept 13th at 7pm ET.
In Liberty,
Evan
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[Editor: Apparently there is also an application from “Libertarian Party of New Hampshire” .The Vice Chair of that group recently posted on X.com the objectives of that group. He wrote:
“What is the role of LPNH?
1) Not to cannibalize NH liberty Republicans in close races (and thus inadvertently give political power to authoritarian Dems)
2) Warding off out-of-state Dems and Socialists from moving to NH
3) Giving another reason for NH Dems and Socialists to leave the state.
4) Providing high cover to other liberty orgs. (The Dems screech about us, not them.)
5) Keeping our liberty Rs in line. (Embedded with the government, they can forget that they are agents of freedom.)
6) Preparing new libertarian arrivals for the legislature; they finally have a success path … as liberty Rs.
7) Re-orienting newly arrived libertarians to building liberty rather than playing the losing games of the A-49.
8) Messaging to Libertarians that NH is where liberty-for-real is birthing.
9) Recruiting liberty visitors and liberty movers.”
We thank an LNC Member for calling our attention to this post. We now return to the LNC-Public list.]
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From: Keith Thompson
Subject: Re: Follow up on New Hampshire Affiliate Petition
The idea that the LNC is compelled to affiliate any group which first submits a petition is absurd.
If a collection of Democrats or Republicans petitioned us for affiliation in an unaffiliated state, are you suggesting that we would be compelled to accept them? If such were the intent of the bylaws, we wouldn’t even need to vote, nor would it be a petition.
Aside from the fact that their petition had no actual signatures and suffers from other defects, the base idea that the LNC cannot even vote on accepting or rejecting a petition for affiliation is preposterous.
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I’d like to remind everyone we’ve discussed this at length; at this point we’re abusing the good will of the petitioners who have been quite patient.
Travis L. Bost
LNC Region 5 Alternate
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Mr. Thompson,
“If a collection of Democrats or Republicans petitioned us for affiliation in an unaffiliated state,” they would not and probably could not notify the entire LP membership. They would have to hold a secret convention excluding the full body of libertarians from asserting control, and they would have to create an organization that subscribes to our principles.
Your argument is absurd on its face. The issue isn’t whether we are forced to vote “yes” on the first petition — and no one is suggesting we are.
The objections are coming from the lack of fairness and the clear appearance of corruption in the process, which appears intended to favor an exclusive group that did not notice the whole LP national membership, and did not conform to our principles in the creation of their group.
If such a collection of democrats or republicans were set on creating an affiliate, they would probably need willing help from folks on the LNC to shred the rules and safeguards, like notice to membership.
Asking for fairness and equal consideration is reasonable; the fact some petitions were concealed is concerning.
Austin Martin
R1
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“The issue isn’t whether we are forced to vote “yes” on the first petition — and no one is suggesting we are.”
I am glad to see you agree with me, Mr. Martin, that such an assertion is absurd. But that is, in fact, an argument some have made – silly as it may be.
Thanks,
Keith Thompson
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Mr. Thompson,
Both versions of the policy manual require all affiliate applications to be forwarded to the entire LNC. No one is arguing about this because members like you keep inserting confusing and misleading absurdities that mischaracterize positions rather than giving any kind of clarity.
In addition, we are doing harm to our membership by skipping the LPNH application over for the other GS faction, who have problematic membership rules in their bylaws which arguably violate both the LP bylaws and the law. It is a disservice at least and bad faith at worse.
Austin Martin
R1
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Aloha, Mr. Thompson and fellow members of the LNC.
Apparently, we were all wrong about this, and we appear to already have a NH affiliate. If we want to disqualify them or challenge their standing, it would likely require an act of disaffiliation.
Mahalo for those who wrote to the LNC to express key insights on the bylaws. On closer inspection, the “decision” is clearly self-executing, and we have no discretion to play politics with the affiliation process. The application, if appearing on its face to meet the qualifications, would carry presumptive validity. The first to submit a valid application would become the affiliate via a self-executing contract.
This makes the notice problem much more keen.
Mr. Chair, a respectful point of inquiry: is it true that some members have been quietly telling our new NH affiliate behind-the-scenes that their application(s) were not valid, when in fact, invalidating a self-executing contract under the bylaws would probably require a positive act of the LNC?
I am having trouble understanding why the facts and discussions around this were kept secret from some directors. This sharpens the stakes. If they are the affiliate, they could sue us for recognizing the competitor, and if LPNH’s disaffiliation were not upheld by a court in a challenge, we are heading down a path where 3 different LPNH entities could bring claims against this body. And why wouldn’t they?
I am gravely concerned that our carelessness and arrogance will hurt a lot of people, including ourselves.
Respectfully,
Austin Martin
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