LNC Meeting Report: APRC reinstated and Exit Strategy response
Dixon reported that he knew of the topic of the white paper for the Iraq Exit Strategy (IES) in advance but had not reviewed the text prior to publication. As part of his Treasurer’s report, Nelson said there was a short burst in memberships and donations from the website immediately after the release of the IES.
In response to a question from Region 2 Alternate Emily Salvette (Michigan), Cory said that proper timing is the key to any process for reviewing future white papers. The IES was dropped the day after President Bush gave a speech changing his Iraq policy. The next white paper, a solution to the so-called war on terror, will need to drop soon to be timely. Cory said a new Advertising and Publications Review Committee (APRC) could work quite well if staff could establish a close working relationship with them.
Lark brought forward a proposal to reconstitute the APRC. This committee is charged with reviewing all party materials for conformance with the party platform and statement of principles. Speaking for his motion, he stated that while he had strong concerns about how this would affect the timeliness of white papers and other media communications from our staff, he felt this was the best available solution to strike a balance between staff flexibility and ideological correctness, and invited the board to amend his proposal as they saw fit.
The structure of the committee would be very much the same as it had been when the LNC abolished it at their August 2004 meeting. The one main difference is that the APRC would only be comprised of LNC members. While I am personally proud of my work on that committee and would enjoy serving on it again, this in my view is a significant improvement. By doing this the LNC fully accepts its responsibility as ideological as well as administrative caretakers of the party and delegates the work in an appropriate fashion.
Starr moved to change the seven day turnaround time for white papers and similarly timely material to one day. After discussion, he altered the amendment to three days to review the original document and one day for any necessary follow up responses. This passed by voice vote.
Nelson made an amendment to remove the reporting requirement to staff, so the APRC would report only to the Chair. This passed on division 8-7.
A roll call was requested for the amended motion to restore the APRC, which passed 11-5:
Yes: Colley, Hoch, Lark, McGinnis, Redpath, B Ryan, T Ryan, Southerland, Squyres, Starr and Wrights.
No: Breudigam, Carling, Nelson, Rutherford and Sullentrup.
BetteRose Ryan moved to appoint Lark, Nelson and Wrights to the APRC, with Wrights as Chair. The appointments passed by a voice vote.
A draft of the next white paper was distributed. While I have been asked not to reveal details of the paper before publication, I did read it and am extremely pleased. It makes a strong and very practical case for the Libertarian policy of nonintervention in foreign affairs as the key to solving international tensions and protecting our country and its citizens.
In response to a question from Region 2 Alternate Emily Salvette (Michigan), Cory said that proper timing is the key to any process for reviewing future white papers. The IES was dropped the day after President Bush gave a speech changing his Iraq policy. The next white paper, a solution to the so-called war on terror, will need to drop soon to be timely. Cory said a new Advertising and Publications Review Committee (APRC) could work quite well if staff could establish a close working relationship with them.
Lark brought forward a proposal to reconstitute the APRC. This committee is charged with reviewing all party materials for conformance with the party platform and statement of principles. Speaking for his motion, he stated that while he had strong concerns about how this would affect the timeliness of white papers and other media communications from our staff, he felt this was the best available solution to strike a balance between staff flexibility and ideological correctness, and invited the board to amend his proposal as they saw fit.
The structure of the committee would be very much the same as it had been when the LNC abolished it at their August 2004 meeting. The one main difference is that the APRC would only be comprised of LNC members. While I am personally proud of my work on that committee and would enjoy serving on it again, this in my view is a significant improvement. By doing this the LNC fully accepts its responsibility as ideological as well as administrative caretakers of the party and delegates the work in an appropriate fashion.
Starr moved to change the seven day turnaround time for white papers and similarly timely material to one day. After discussion, he altered the amendment to three days to review the original document and one day for any necessary follow up responses. This passed by voice vote.
Nelson made an amendment to remove the reporting requirement to staff, so the APRC would report only to the Chair. This passed on division 8-7.
A roll call was requested for the amended motion to restore the APRC, which passed 11-5:
Yes: Colley, Hoch, Lark, McGinnis, Redpath, B Ryan, T Ryan, Southerland, Squyres, Starr and Wrights.
No: Breudigam, Carling, Nelson, Rutherford and Sullentrup.
BetteRose Ryan moved to appoint Lark, Nelson and Wrights to the APRC, with Wrights as Chair. The appointments passed by a voice vote.
A draft of the next white paper was distributed. While I have been asked not to reveal details of the paper before publication, I did read it and am extremely pleased. It makes a strong and very practical case for the Libertarian policy of nonintervention in foreign affairs as the key to solving international tensions and protecting our country and its citizens.
posted by genushaha at 1:20 AM
4 Comments:
I am pleased to see the APRC restored.
I am disappointed that no action has been taken to fix or abolish the Iraq Exit Strategy.
You said, "By doing this the LNC fully accepts its responsibility as ideological as well as administrative caretakers"
I consider them to still be administrative. Their job is to uphold the will of the members. The bylaws and the platform are both part of that will. We would not allow them to violate our bylaws, we should not allow them to violate the platform.
Buried someplace in your reports seemed to be the assertion that the National Convention would run through July 3, so the politically active could attend their 4th of July parades.
All I can say is that if this is the case then once again the politically ignorant have taken control.
First, for many of us it takes more than a half day to travel home from Oregon.
Second, in many parts of the country 4th of July events are staggered over several days to avoid competition. For example, this year here our fireworks were on July 2nd.
George,
I argued exhaustively against July 4th weekend at the meeting the convention date/site was set. It fell on deaf ears.
The problem was I didn't realize what was going on until it was too late. Bids had been obtained for three sites. One site was bid for Memorial Day and two sites were bid for July 4th weekend. The Memorial Day site had a much higher room rate bid. It was a done deal before the voting even started.
LNC members (myself included) need to realize that LNC committees have a lot of power. In this case the Convention Committee forced a decision on the rest of the LNC.
And who really made that decision? In my opinion the decision was made by the person on the Convention Committee who solicited the convention bids.
A lot of times people don't want to do actual work, so they let others volunteer to do grunt jobs (e.g., soliciting bids from hotels). The people who actually step forward have all the power.
Further, in my opinion the convention site was a done deal before the vote hit the LNC because of the bidding process and Convention Committee report.
We need to change the bylaws. July 4th conventions should be prohibited by our bylaws. Currently the policy manual says July 4th is adopted as a libertarian activist date. That was supposed to mean candidates would work the crowds on July 4th festivities. What it has actually become is conventions are held on July 4th and candidates are encouraged to stay away from voters.
The July 4th weekend convention date screws over Pennsylvania royally. It is our single best petitioning weekend of the 2 year period. If we don't miraculously finish our petitioning long before July 4th weekend (very unlikely with 100,000 signatures required starting in March), we will have to choose between collecting signatures and attending the convention. Either way, we lose.
I think that holding the national convention on Memorial Day weekend, as was done at the 2004 convention, makes much more sense.
I know that there was talk of shortening the convention by one day. This would be a very bad move. The national convention is so much fun that it already seems to fly by and be overwith so soon after it starts. Moving it to a different week and keeping it at its standard 4 day length is a better option.
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