2002 Minutes Libertarian Party National Convention

Minutes of 2002 Libertarian National Convention

Prepared by Dan Karlan using notes maintained separately by Steve Givot (Secretary) and Dan Karlan.

First Session: Thursday July 4, 2002; 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM

The meeting was called to order at 10:45 AM by Chairman James Lark.

Secretary Givot made an announcement advising the delegates of the deadline for reporting the formation of new regions. Chairman Lark recognized Gary Johnson (TX) for the Credentials Committee report. Chairman Johnson introduced the other members of the Credentials Committee (Ray Acosta, CA; Dena Bruedigam, OH; Nick Dunbar, VA; Richard Fischer, VA; Tim Forzly, GA; Robert Howard, TX; Bette Rose Ryan, CO; Emily Salvette, MI; and Jack Tanner, FL), and reported their determinations. All affiliate delegations sent delegation lists in accordance with LP Bylaws. There was the report of an objection (Jack Tanner) to the appearance in the MA delegation of non-LPMA members.

Mr. Johnson reported the total number of delegates is 307, 7/8 is 269, a quorum is 123, and the number needed to refer a matter to the Judicial Committee is 31. The motion to accept the report of the Credentials Committee was approved.

Mr. Johnson moved to suspend the rules to amend the Bylaws to add, at the end of Article 13, Section 5, "By unanimous consent, the Convention may approve additional delegates and alternates whose names and addresses are submitted to the Credentials Committee during the Convention."

The motion to suspend the rules passed. Mary Gingell (CA) spoke in explanation of the proposal. It was moved and seconded that "By unanimous consent" be changed to "By two-thirds vote". It was moved and seconded (Nick Sarwark, MD) to change two-thirds to seven-eighths. The motion passed on a voice vote, resulting in the pending matter being to substitute seven-eighths for unanimous. Time expired. The amendment was adopted. The main motion, as amended, was adopted.

The agenda was reviewed. A motion to reserve time for awards at the beginning of the Friday morning session was approved on a 180-89 counted vote. A motion (Sean Haugh, NC) to delay recess on Thursday from 5:30 to 6:00 was approved on a standing count. A motion (Bill Redpath, VA) to proceed to Platform debate Thursday afternoon if time permits failed on a voice vote. The agenda was adopted as amended.

It was moved and seconded that a standing rule be adopted that each speaker be limited to two (2) minutes during debate. It was moved and seconded (Laura
Stewart, CA) to amend the proposal to one (1) minute. The amendment failed. The main motion passed.


The agenda was changed to move the Treasurer’s report to the Thursday afternoon session, for 20 minutes. The Convention was adjourned at 11:40 until 2:30 PM.
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Second Session: Thursday July 4, 2002; 2:30 PM – 6:00 PM
The meeting was called to order at 2:55 PM.

Credentials Committee Chair Johnson moved to add to the list of delegates. There was a motion to divide the question into those who are residents of the state in which they are to be delegates versus those who are not residents of the state from which they are to be delegates. The motion to divide failed. The motion to add to the list of delegates failed (7/8 required).
Ms. Gingell (CA) moved to ask the Credentials Committee to return with a list of those who are and are not to be delegates of their home states, and vote on those two lists separately. An amendment to make this motion apply to all future Credentials Committee reports passed. The main motion passed.

Mr. Johnson then reported the total number of delegates is 355, 7/8 is 311, a quorum is 143, and the number needed to refer a matter to the Judicial Committee is 36.
Dr. Martin presented his Treasurer’s Report.

Mr. Johnson presented his report, with the two lists (same state, different state). The first list totaled 18, the second totaled 3. The first list was approved (5 delegates from CA, 2 from NH, 1 from NY, 3 from PA, 6 from Il, and 1 from FL), the second list was not approved (2 CA residents to be delegates from NY and 1 IN resident to be a delegate from IA).

Mark Nelson (IA) presented the report of the Bylaws and Rules Committee (Marianne Volpe, VA; Jen Bisson, IN; Sam Goldstein, IN; Con Gorman, NH; Tim Hagen, NV; Dana Johansen, VA; Dan Karlan, NJ; Rich Moroney, IA; Geoff Neale, TX).

Proposal 1 specified that the following sentence be added after the first sentence of Article 8:
A motion to revoke the status of an affiliate party for cause must specify the nature of the cause for revocation.

This was approved.
Proposal 2 removed the following (vestigial reference) from the first sentence in Rule 2, section 3:
, except for ex officio delegates
This was approved.
Proposal 3 attempted to reconcile a contradiction between the Bylaws and Rules regarding eligibility to serve on the National Committee. This proposal was to change Rule 10, section 1 as
Nominations for Party Officers shall be from the floor, with any national or affiliate party Party member eligible to run for office.

And section 2 as Nominations for the at-large members of the National Committee shall be from the floor, with all national or affiliate party Party members eligible for nomination.
This was defeated.

Proposal 4 was removed from the report. This proposal, to correct the apparent incorrect placement of a sentence, was moot, as the incorrect placement was only in certain downloaded versions of the Bylaws.

Proposal 5 proposed to change the way vote totals are to be announced in elections of Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. It would modify Rule 10, section c, as For the first round of voting for Chair At this point, announcement of each delegations vote totals shall be made by delegation chairs in alphabetical order beginning with a randomly selected delegation.

This was amended to add the following sentence:
Subsequent announcements of each delegation’s totals shall be made by the Secretary.
The amendment was approved. The motion was approved.

Proposal 6 was in two parts. These proposal was to increase certain amounts constraining the LNC and staff. Both proposals were to Article 12. The motion was divided.
3. No disbursements exceeding $100 may be made with cash. All disbursements exceeding $20.00 shall be made solely by check.
This was approved.

5. The Party shall not borrow in excess of $2000 $5000 total without prior approval by 2/3 vote of the National Committee.
This was defeated.

Proposal 7 was approved after amendment. This proposal changed the way Bylaws Committee proposals are to be dealt with on the floor. The proposal as adopted specified that the initial debate would be without amendment, and a vote for or against conducted after 8 minutes. If rejected, the proposal is then automatically open to debate and amendment, for a period of 10 minutes.

Current:
Each recommendation shall be considered and adopted separately, with a maximum of ten minutes discussion on any recommendation.

Proposed:
The Chair of the Bylaws and Rules Committee shall report each recommendation of the Committee to the Convention separately and may have two minutes to explain the intent or purpose of the proposed amendment(s).

The Convention Chair shall open each recommendation to discussion and without amendment from the floor. Each recommendation shall be considered and adopted separately, with a maximum of ten eight minutes discussion on any recommendation. After the discussion, the Convention Chair shall bring the recommendation to a vote. If the recommendation fails, the Chair of the Bylaws and Rules Committee may choose to open the recommendation to amendment for an additional 5 minutes or to postpone further action until the remaining committee recommendations have been acted upon.

A proposal from the floor to amend the last two sentences by substitution to
After the discussion, the Convention Chair shall bring the recommendation to a vote. If the recommendation fails, the Convention Chair shall open the recommendation to amendment for an additional 10 minutes.

The amendment was approved. The motion was approved.
At this point, the debate became governed by the new rule.
Time ran out on Bylaws and Rules debate.
The Convention was adjourned at 5:00 PM until the next morning.

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Third and fourth sessions: Friday July 5, 2002; AM and PM.
Note: adjustments to delegation lists were made at the beginning of subsequent sessions, but the records of those adjustments are not time-stamped, so DK was unable to reconstruct the specific adjustments.
Platform debate:
Proposal 1
IV. Foreign Affairs, B. Military, 1. Military Policy to change Paragraph 5 from
We call on the U. S government to remove its nuclear weapons from Europe. If European countries want nuclear weapons on the soil, they should take full responsibility for them and pay the cost. We call for the replacement of nuclear war fighting policies with a policy of developing cost-effective defensive systems. Accordingly, we advocate termination of the 1972 AMB treaty or any future agreement which would prevent defensive systems on U. S territory or in earth orbit.
to
We call on the U. S government to remove its nuclear weapons from Europe. If European countries want nuclear weapons on the soil, they should take full responsibility for them and pay the cost. We call for the replacement of nuclear war fighting policies with a policy of developing cost-effective defensive systems. Accordingly, we advocate termination of the 1972 AMB treaty or oppose any future agreement which would prevent defensive systems on U. S territory or in eEarth orbit.

This proposal was approved.

Proposal 2
I. Individual Rights and Civil Order, 7. Juries, to add the following paragraph:
We oppose the practice of "death qualification," (excluding jurors who are opposed to the death penalty) which denies capital defendants the right to a trial before a jury representative of community values.
This proposal was defeated.

Proposal 3
IV. Foreign Affairs, D. International Relations, 1. Colonialism from
United States colonialism has left a legacy of property confiscation, economic manipulation, and over-extended defense boundaries. We favor immediate self-determination for all people living in colonial dependencies, such as Samoa, Guam, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, to free these people from U. S. dominance, accompanied by the termination of subsidization of them at taxpayers’ expense. Land seizure by the U. S. government should be returned to its rightful owners.

To
United States colonialism has left a legacy of property confiscation, economic manipulation, and over-extended defense boundaries. We favor immediate self-determination for all people living in colonial dependencies, such as American Samoa, Guam, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, to free these people from U. S. dominance, accompanied by the termination of subsidization of them at taxpayers’ expense. Land seizure by the U. S. government should be returned to its rightful owners.
This was approved.

Proposal 4
III. Domestic Ills, 15. Election Laws, insert the following as a new paragraph 4:
Electoral systems matter. The predominant use of "winner-take-all" election in gerrymandered, single-member districts fosters political monopolies and creates a substantial government-imposed barrier to election of non-incumbent political parties and candidates. We propose electoral systems that are more representative of the electorate at the federal, state, and local levels, such as proportional voting systems with multi-member districts for legislative elections and instant runoff voting (IRV) for single winner elections.
This was approved.

Proposal 5
I. Individual Rights and Civil Order, 15. Internal Security and Civil Liberties, to replace the existing paragraph 1 with the following as new paragraphs 1 and 2:
The defense of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to detect and to counter threats to domestic security. Agencies that legitimately seek to preserve the security of the nation must be transparent and subject to oversight. Rogue agencies like the CIA and the NSA that by intent are not subject to such oversight and transparency must be abolished. Agencies that were created to be transparent but have evolved into secret agencies, like the FBI, must be replaced. Because oversight becomes more difficult with the proliferation and growth of such bureaucracies, we oppose the establishment of a new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security.

We call for the repeal of the Patriot Act of 2001, the Counter-Terrorism Act of 1996, and all other legislation that authorizes secret evidence, holding people without charge, treating material witnesses like convicted criminals, engaging in search and seizure without Constitutionally issued and executed warrants, and other violations of individual rights under the color of national security.

This was amended twice, to remove all but the first and last sentences of the first paragraph, and to remove the word "such" from the last sentence of the first paragraph. The final motion was to replace the existing paragraph 1 with the following as new paragraphs 1 and 2:
The defense of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to detect and to counter threats to domestic security. Because oversight becomes more difficult with the proliferation and growth of bureaucracies, we oppose the establishment of a new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security.

We call for the repeal of the Patriot Act of 2001, the Counter-Terrorism Act of 1996, and all other legislation that authorizes secret evidence, holding people without charge, treating material witnesses like convicted criminals, engaging in search and seizure without Constitutionally issued and executed warrants, and other violations of individual rights under the color of national security.
This was approved.

Time ran out on the Platform debate.
The Platform Committee introduced two resolutions. The first was proposed by Robert Murphy (OK):
Be it resolved by the 2002 Libertarian Party National Convention that the 2002 Libertarian Party Platform Committee shall continue to operate as a special committee for the sole purpose of developing an Executive Summary of the Platform approved by the 2002 National Convention. This Executive Summary shall be derived directly from the text of the existing Platform and shall involve no new language. The Committee shall complete this task prior to 5PM July 7, 2002.

This resolution was approved.

The second was proposed by Dean Ahmad (MD):
Be it resolved by the 2002 Libertarian Party National Convention that the 2002 Libertarian Party Platform Committee shall continue to operate as a special committee in order to develop a proposed Platform for consideration at the 2004 National Convention. This proposal shall be based on and use the same Sections and Planks as the Platform approved by the 2002 Convention. This proposal shall be developed in the "accordion" format such that the first sentence of each plank will be used as the component of the Executive Summary. The Committee will complete its work prior to October 1, 2003, and will maintain an open e-mail list for participation by all members of the Party desiring to offer input.
This resolution was approved.

A motion (Roger B. Abraham, OK) to suspend the rules to introduce an amendment to the plank on the Right to Property failed.

A motion (Brendan Trainor, NV) to suspend the rules to introduce an amendment to Internal Security and Civil Liberties (striking all from "agencies" on line 3 of the first paragraph to "replaced" in line 10 of first paragraph) failed, 157-135 in a standing count.
A motion (Ken Prazak, IL) to suspend the rules to introduce a statement opposing voirdiring of jurors was approved. An amendment to call for random selection of jurors was defeated. The main motion was defeated.

A motion (Gerhard Langguth, AR) to suspend the rules to amend the Colonialism plank (to strike all language after "dependencies") was defeated.
The Convention was adjourned at 5 PM until 9:45 AM the next day.
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Fifth session: Saturday July 6, 2002; 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
The meeting was called to order at 10:30 AM.
Mr. Johnson presented the Credentials Committee report, with only one list (same state). The list totaled 7/1 (delegates/alternates) (1 each from MI, TX, NJ, CA, CO, and OH, 2 from MO). The list was accepted.

Mr. Givot then reported the total number of delegates is 615, 7/8 is 539, a quorum is 247, and the number needed to refer a matter to the Judicial Committee is 62.

Nominations for Chair proceeded. Harry Browne nominated Eli Israel; Chris Azzaro seconded and Mr. Israel spoke for himself. Mary Ruwart nominated Geoff Neale; Lorenzo Gaztañaga and Fred Collins seconded. Ilana Freedman nominated George Phillies; Melinda Pillsbury-Foster and Dean Ahmad seconded. Nominations were closed at 11:30. A motion to allow a speaker for None of the Above (NOTA) failed.
The Convention was adjourned at 12:50 PM until 2:30 PM.
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Sixth session: Saturday July 6, 2002; 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
The meeting was called to order at 2:50 PM.
Mr. Johnson presented the Credentials Committee report, with the two lists (same state, different state). The first list totaled 3/0 (delegates/alternates), the second totaled 2/0. The first list was accepted; the second list was accepted.
Mr. Givot then reported the total number of delegates is 624, 7/8 is 546, a quorum is 250, and the number needed to refer a matter to the Judicial Committee is 63.
A motion to suspend the rules to replace the roll call for Chair with a presentation by the Secretary of the vote totals by state, and the final vote totals, passed.

The first ballot results were announced. The vote totals were: Israel 178, Neale 261, Phillies 123, NOTA 5, Abstentions 2, "Any of the Above" 1. Phillies was dropped from the list of candidates. Israel withdrew and asked his supporters to vote for Neale. Ms. Gingell moved to suspend the rules to take a voice vote (Neale vs NOTA); the motion passed. On the voice vote, Mr. Neale was elected Chair.

Mr. Neale addressed the body.
A motion (Johansen, VA) to suspend the rules was approved. The proposal specified
that the nominating speeches for Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be conducted without balloting interruption, and that the balloting for these offices occur simultaneously.
The motion was approved.

For Vice-Chair, Ken Bisson was nominated first (Rutherford, Bisson), followed by Steve Boone (Gorman, Lancaster, Phillies). For Secretary, Carol Moore was nominated (Madison, Kennedy, Moore), followed by Givot (Gorman, Givot). For Treasurer, Deryl Martin was nominated (Dixon, Ms. Martin).

The votes for Vice-Chair were: Ken Bisson 260, Steve Boone 238, NOTA 6, "Head on a Stick" 1, and "Pool" 1.
The votes for Secretary were: Steve Givot 349, Carol Moore 147, NOTA 12, and George Phillies 1.
A motion to suspend the rules to take a voice vote for Treasurer (vs NOTA) was made passed. Dr. Martin was elected Treasurer.
Nominations for LNC At-Large were conducted. There were 11 candidates (following the candidate in parenthesis are the nominator and seconders, where known): BetteRose Ryan, Mike Dixon, R. Lee Wrights, Don Gorman, Aaron Starr, Austin Hough (Kolhaas, Nelson, Skinner), Dan Karlan (Gaztañaga, Dixon), Starchild, Alvin Anders, Sam Goldstein, and Richard Freedman.

The Vice-Chair announced the final constitution of the LNC regions. They are: (names are in the pattern "Representative/Alternate")
Region 1: Ed Hoch/Mike Fellows
AK WA OR ID MT WY UT CO
Region 2: Joe Dehn & George Squyres / Mark Hinkle & Scott Lieberman
AZ CA HI
Region 3: Mark Rutherford/Jeff Zweber
MI KY OH IN

Region 4: Michael Gilson de Lemos ("MG")/Sean Haugh
NC SC GA AL FL

Region 5: Lorenzo Gaztañaga/Fred Childress
DE DC MD PA VA WV NJ
Region 6: Mark Cenci/Bonnie Scott
MA NY ME RI VT NH CT
Region 7: Steve Trinward/Tim Hagen
TN NV NM OK TX AR LA MS
Region 8: Mark Nelson/Bob Sullentrup
IL MN MO NE ND WI IA KS SD
The Convention was adjourned at 6:00 PM until 9:30 AM the next day.
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Seventh session: Sunday July 7, 2002; 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
The meeting was called to order at 10:05 AM.
Mr. Johnson thanked the staff for their assistance in credentialing delegates. There were no proposed changes to the delegations.
Mr. Givot reported the total number of delegates is unchanged.
Mr. Givot reported the At-Large results. Elected were BetteRose Ryan (316), Mike Dixon (277), R. Lee Wrights (265), Don Gorman (259), and Austin Hough (257). In order of placement, the remaining were Aaron Starr (184), Dan Karlan (178), Starchild (169), Alvin Anders (167), Sam Goldstein (138), and Richard Freedman (65). Additional write-ins were Elias Israel 3, Carol Moore 1, and Marina Neale 1.

Nominations for Judicial Committee were conducted. Nominated were Tom Knapp (Wrights, Dixon, Glosson), Dave Nolan (Starr, Wagner, Rushing), Greg Clark (Dixon, Ahmad, Johnson), Dean Ahmad (Gaztañaga, Ahmad), Rock Howard (Lark, Howard, Ruwart), Blay Tarnoff (Scott, Tarnoff), Rich Moroney (Nelson). The nomination of Nicholas Sarwark (Lancaster) was withdrawn. There were thus seven nominees for seven places. Nominations were closed and a suspension of the rules to approve the nominees on a voice vote was approved. The Judicial Committee selected Dean Ahmad as Chair.

The Convention adjourned sine die at 10:55 AM.