For any Libertarians who would like to call and contribute input or just listen in, the Libertarian Party of California Bylaws Committee will be holding a teleconference this evening. Here's the info you need to connect:
Dial-in Number: (712) 775-7031
Meeting ID: 214-242-837
Besides myself, the committee members are:
Brian Thiemer (chair) (Solano county) - lpsolanocounty@gmail.com - (650) 867-3657
Kevin Duewel (Sacramento county?) - kevin.duewel@gmail.com - (916) 995-3545
Bill Lopez (Los Angeles county?) - billlopez1971@gmail.com - (626) 975-5421
Jim Hoerricks (Kern county?) - jimhoerricks@mac.com - (661) 724-1860 (Note - This seems to be a daytime work # for Jim's office)
I've put forward four proposals (9-12), aimed at increasing transparency and/or enhancing bottom-up governance in the party. Here's a brief description of each, and links to the text on the committee's Google Drives site set up by Brian (which I asked him to make public after they were initially accessible only to committee members):
Proposal 9 - Allow LP members not on the California LP state Executive Committee to subscribe to the email list on at least a read-only basis -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid
Proposal 10 - Expand the state Executive Committee to allow each active county party to appoint a representative -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid
Proposal 11 - Have the Bylaws Committee composed in the same manner as the Platform Committee, with each county party getting to appoint a representative (currently there are only five people on the committee, all appointed by the state Executive Committee -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid
Proposal 12 - Remove the language designating the chair as "Chief Executive Officer" of the party and replace it with a more specific description that isn't so all-encompassing and doesn't sound so corporate -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid
At our last teleconference on March 21 in which all of the committee took part except Jim, Proposal 11 was passed unanimously out of committee. Proposals 9 and 10 were supported by myself and Bill, but Brian and Kevin voted AGAINST transparency (Proposal 9) and AGAINST county representation on the ExCom, so these proposals were not adopted. Proposal 12 will be considered on this evening's call.
I would welcome your support in asking Brian and Kevin to move to reconsider Proposal 9 and Proposal 10 (which they can do as persons who previously voted against them), and asking Jim to support them if they come up for a vote, as well as asking all the committee members to support Proposal 12.
Bill also deserves thanks for supporting Proposals 9, 10, and 11, and Brian and Kevin for supporting Proposal 11. Another important proposal adopted on March 21 was Proposal 2 from Brian Thiemer, to get rid of the state ExCom's Operations Committee (Brian, Bill and I all voted for this change -- Kevin opposed it). The text of this and the other proposals already voted on and still before the committee can be found at the Google Drives site by clicking the left or right arrows from any of the pages linked above.
Of the other three proposals besides Proposal 12 up for consideration tonight, I oppose Proposal 6 (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid), support Proposal 7 (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid), and am neutral on Proposal 8 (I would welcome your thoughts on this measure in particular -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid ).
Your help in lobbying is encouraged whether or not you can (or want to) call in on tonight's conference call or not. As well as getting new leadership, part of turning the Libertarian Party of California around from its dismal current state of affairs is expanding participation and communication. The Committee plans to have additional conference calls between now and the convention (happening May 31 in Las Vegas, NV), and presumably a meeting at the start of the convention, where the committee report can be amended. If you would like more advance notice of these conference calls, please let the chair (Brian) know.
The Bylaws Committee's report was supposed to be published to the LPC website on April 1 (see convention deadlines listed at http://ca.lp.org/convention-2015-deadlines ), but if it is anywhere on the site, I cannot find it. A site search for relevant terms turns up nothing. There is a graph showing which measures have been adopted on the committee's Google Drives site set up by Brian -- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzSz2eHat7lkU0RBN2pwNThIXzA&usp=sharing_eid .
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
(415) 625-FREE