June 2023 EC Meeting Agenda

Agenda

Libertarian Party of Florida

 Executive Committee Meeting

Sunday, June 18, 2023

7:30 PM/Eastern    6:30 PM/Central

https://zoom.us/j/98465468002?pwd=ZmliZXBZdi9EcWlQcW5hWnl4dlZKUT09 

Meeting ID: 984 6546 8002

Passcode: 268097

 

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Meeting ID: 984 6546 8002

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THIS CALL WILL BE RECORDED

 

 

Begin Recording

Announce Recording

 

1. Call to order

 

2. Roll Call and Introduction of Guests

 

1	Josh Hlavka, Chair
2	Tim Crosby, Vice Chair
3	Edward Appler, Secretary
4	Patrick Leistner, Treasurer
5	Robert Vinson, At Large 1
6	Hector Roos, At Large 2
7	Lee Korotzer, At Large 3
8	Matt Rice, Region 1
9	Joey Ferguson,  Region 2
10	Vacant, Region 3
11	Leon Armstrong, Region 4
12	Rachel Danner, Region 5
13	Andrew Parrott, Region 6
14	Matt Johnson, Region 7
15	G. Padraig Quinn, Region 8
16	Dennis Misigoy, Region 9
17	Adam Whitworth, Region 10
18	Michael Rufo, Region 11
19	John Paff, Region 12
20	Diona Kozma, Region 13
21	Lisa Gansky, Region 14

 

Invited Guests:

Dave Benner, LNC Region 2 Representative

Martin Cowen, LNC Region 2 Alternate

 

3. Determination of Quorum (a majority of its seated members per LPF Constitution, Art. III, Sect. 5C, as amended 2021-03-21).  11 with 20 of 21 EC positions filled. 

 

4. Public Comment (< 10 Minutes)

 

5. Approval of Agenda

 

6. Approval of LPF EC Meeting Minutes – May 21, 2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Nw3Vx7y29-bgM7dc2G1irBkFVde0aZmZkYL-Qm8ub4/edit?usp=sharing 

 

7. LNC Report: Dave Benner/Martin Cowen

 

8. Committee Reports (< 5 Minutes Each)

• Rules – Greg Peele
• Affiliate Support – Krystina Baxter
• Audit – John Thompson
• Candidates – Hector Roos
• Communications – Matt Johnson
• Convention – Patrick Leistner
• Fundraising – Steven Nekhaila
• Legislative Action – Robert Vinson
• Membership – Ricardo Mejias
• Platform – John Thompson

 

9. Officer Reports and Comments (< 2 Minutes Each)

• Treasurer Report: Patrick Leistner
• Secretary Report: Edward Appler
• Vice-Chair Report: Tim Crosby
• Chair Report: Josh Hlavka

 

10. Consent Agenda

• Mr. Hlavka moves to add Charles Waters to the Membership Committee.
• Mr. Hlavka moves to remove Mark Golob as a voting member of the Convention Committee and to reappoint Mr. Golob as a non-voting member of the committee.

11. Directors At Large and Region Reports (< 2 Minutes Each)

• Robert Vinson, At Large 1
• Hector Roos, At Large 2
• Lee Korotzer, At Large 3
• Matt Rice, Region 1
• Joey Ferguson, Region 2
• Vacant, Region 3
• Leon Armstrong, Region 4
• Rachel Danner, Region 5
• Andrew Parrott, Region 6
• Matt Johnson, Region 7
• G. Padraig Quinn, Region 8
• Dennis Misigoy, Region 9
• Adam Whitworth, Region 10
• Michael Rufo, Region 11
• John Paff, Region 12
• Diona Kozma, Region 13
• Lisa Gansky, Region 14

 

12. Unfinished Business

• Motion No. 809

Title: Motion to Approve the Calling of Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary in March 2024

Mover: Hector Roos

Motion: I move for the LPF to approve the following Resolution for the LPF to call for a Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary in March 19, 2024 to coincide with the other parties’ presidential primaries; directing the Chair to make the arrangements with the Florida Secretary of State according 

to Florida law; and for publication of this resolution on all LPF communication platforms.  The 

resolution is as follows:

 

Title: LPF Calls for a Libertarian Presidential Primary in March 2024

 

Whereas, the Libertarian Party of Florida finds that holding primaries and inviting the public to participate in them is a practical strategy to recruit new members and build coalitions; and

 

Whereas, Florida Law requires primaries when there is more than one party candidate running for the same partisan office, except for President where the presidential preference primary is optional for minor parties; and

 

Whereas, the Libertarian Party of Florida regularly runs candidates for President there is an opportunity every four years to hold a Presidential Preference Primary and invite members of the public who are not registered to vote as Libertarian to participate.

 

Therefore be it,

 

Resolved, on this day, that the Libertarian Party of Florida will call for a Presidential Preference Primary to take place on March 19, 2024 alongside those primaries for other parties with the list of candidates to be transmitted to the Florida Secretary of State as follows:

Justin Amash

Spike Cohen

Jacob Hornberger

Mike ter Maat

Lars Mapstead

Chase Oliver

Joshua Rodriguez

Dave Smith

that is subject to change through the November 30, 2023 deadline; and

 

Resolved, the Libertarian Party of Florida will also allow voters, especially “No Party Affiliated”

 or independent voters be allowed to participate in this Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary; and

 

Resolved, the Libertarian Party of Florida will attempt to invite those voters who chose to participate in the Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary to join the party and/or work 

in coalition.

 

Rationale:

Calling for our own Presidential Preference Primary that is not at our cost (already paid for in the Florida state budget) is an obvious activity to encourage our own LPF voters to participate in.

 

However, it is an added benefit that we can allow independent voters, particularly NPA voters to participate in our election. The idea of doing this (which is not unique around the country) is to encourage more people to participate with the LPF and to remember to come back in November to vote for their candidate. This would allow us to reach voters who we could not reach before.

 

It is the policy of the LPF through the LPF Platform that we get to call our own shots with regards to how we organize ourselves and the rules we set for our primaries and conventions.  Asking for independent voters to participate in the presidential primary (not the August primaries which we won’t have anyway) is a first step to putting our principles into practice.

 

In all likelihood, the Secretary of State will probably say “NO” to our request to allow non-LP voters 

into the Presidential Preference Primary because of Florida law. But the law about us having a Presidential Preference Primary is definitely in our favor.

 

Disposition: Ms. Danner seconded.  Mr. Roos moved to postpone the motion until the June LPF EC meeting; Ms. Danner seconded.  Roll call vote resulted in 9 ayes (Appler, Roos, Korotzer, Danner, Parrott, Misigoy, Whitworth, Rufo, and Paff); 8 nays (Crosby, Leistner, Rice, Ferguson, Johnson, Quinn, Kozma, and Gansky); and 2 abstains (Hlavka and Vinson).  

Status: Open

 

Attached: Resolution from LP Brevard to LP Florida:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1027_4VcO6emzVWBionuBpDbErTluzErurqfWWV3b1Ic/edit 

13. New Business

• Election of Region 3 Representative

• Motion No. 810

Title: Motion to Authorize Amicus Brief Filing by Attorney in the Closed Primary Lawsuit by Professor Michael Polelle before the Federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Motion: I move to authorize the submission of as a motion for leave to file a brief of amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) in support of the lawsuit filed by Professor Michael Polelle (Polelle vs. Bryd and Turner, Case No. 22-14031-JJ). The lawsuit is asking the court to prevent the state of Florida from enforcing Florida law related to closed primaries that prevent the participation of independent voters like Polelle, a No Party Affiliation voter. This amicus brief is to be filed by an attorney at no cost to the LPF with the approval of the LPF Chair.

 

If the lawsuit is successful presumably that would leave LPF free to determine whether or not to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in its primary. A draft amicus curiae brief has been prepared with assistance of retired attorney Laurence Gillis, law student Robert Vinson and Hector Roos. The intention under this motion is to have this draft amicus filed after any necessary edits for clarity and grammar.

 

Rationale:

An amicus curiae brief is a straightforward legal procedure attempting to help the court better understand the arguments that are being brought forward and expand on the related topics that have not been discussed in the court pleadings. The filing of an amicus does not cause the LPF to join the lawsuit as a party.

There are two main reasons for the LPF to file an amicus in this appeal:

1)     We are affected by the outcome of this case and have a direct interest in ensuring that a good outcome occurs (especially since these lawsuits are rare opportunities). Oliver Hall, the LNC special counsel reviewed the lawsuit and the draft amicus concluding: “As to whether the plaintiffs’ goals are compatible with LPF’s, it appears that they may be — his complaint only asks that the defendants be enjoined from enforcing the Florida statute. Presumably that would leave LPF free to determine whether or not to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in its primary.”

2)     The Closed Primary system in Florida (explained at length in the draft amicus) is a direct hindrance to the ability of the LPF to recruit new members. After years of not being able to recruit candidates for office in large numbers, the LPF is left to wonder: What is the point of having ballot access if we are prohibited from using it effectively (since voters are only paying attention to candidates in closed primaries)? William “Billy” Wohlsifer, attorney and past LPF candidate for attorney general wrote in response to my request for him to review the case (he did not have a copy of the draft amicus at that time): “I am glad to know that the closed primaries are being challenged. It is a salient reason why people do not change their voter registration to LPF.” Even if this lawsuit is successful, the court will not end closed primaries but cause legal review as to whether new legislation is needed to repeal and reform the law including allowing the LPF to be free to determine who votes in our primaries.

The attorney expected to file the amicus brief is Tallahassee-based Attorney and Libertarian Zachary Ward with the aid of student lawyer Robert Vinson (and LPF board member) who is allowed by the federal appellate rules to participate under Mr. Ward’s supervision. Mr. Ward and Mr. Vinson have agreed to represent us in this matter at no cost.

LNC Special Counsel Oliver Hall is not permitted to practice law in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and could not help us further.

 

Attached:

Copy of draft amicus curiae brief

Email exchange with response to lawsuit and draft amicus from LNC Special Counsel Oliver Hall

Email exchange with comments from Attorney William “Billy” Wohlsifer

• Motion No. 811

Title: Motion to Approve Committee Budgets

Mover: Patrick Leistner

Motion:  I move to have the following funds approved to be used by the corresponding LPF committees as they deem proper and necessary to the fulfillment to their duties to the LPF as their budgets for the term July 1 – September 30, 2023:

Membership – $400.00

Affiliate Support – $2,000.00

Candidates – $7,000.00

 

Rationale: Dr. Mejias, Ms. Baxter, and Mr. Roos have requested these amounts respectively to help them achieve their goals within their committees.  It is my opinion that these amounts seem reasonable, but I would ask for the Chairs to speak on behalf of their committees as to their intentions with the funds. One note on candidates $6,000.00 of the total would be earmarked specifically for campaign contributions, $5,000.00 to Mr Turney’s campaign.

• Motion No. 812

Title: Motion to Approve $2,300 for Fundraising Committee Budget

Mover: Hector Roos (On Behalf of Fundraising Committee)

Motion: I move to have $2,300 in funds approved to be used by the LPF Fundraising Committee as they deem proper and necessary to the fulfillment to their duties to the LPF as their budgets for the term July 1-September 30, 2023 with the following breakdown:

$720 501c4 (only because we expect to get to it in this quarter)

$1,400 mailing supplies

$180 contingency

$2,300 budget request total

Rationale:

As part of the normal course of the duties of the LPF Fundraising committee requires the follow up with direct mail responses to donations in the form of Thank you notes and direct mail appeals.  In addition, the committee has agreed upon forming a 501c4 non-profit to raise funds from high net-worth individuals and companies that either like to 1) keep their donations private (donations to this non-profit are not disclosed publicly to any public agency); and 2) provide an entity to donate to that is not explicitly a partisan organization like a political party.  If there is concern regarding legal or accounting compliance, I suggest the non-profit raise some funds first and pay for such services from its own funds.

For a long format explanation to how non-profits are used in modern politics (post Citizens United) please read the attached proposal and booklet titled “Strategies for Creating and Operating 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s and Political Organizations”, Fourth Edition (2022 Update) by B. Holly Schadler published by BolderAdvocacy.org. 

 

14. Notice

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held on July 16, 2023.

 

15. Announcements (<10 Minutes)

 

16. Adjourn