The Libertarian Party of California's state Executive Committee may soon select a Platform Committee alternate (see message from ExCom member Armando Romero below). Delegates at our convention in Ventura two weeks ago should have been allowed to make this selection, but unfortunately that did not happen, and I take partial blame for that, since I did not remember to raise the issue. As you may or may not recall, the ExCom selected Bruce Dovner as the PlatCom representative in an email vote last October, without giving others interested in the position the opportunity to apply and be considered. This was not Bruce's fault, he simply happened to be the beneficiary of a flawed process (or lack of process).
I will submit my name again (as I did before for Platform Committee rep.), and I encourage other LP members who want to keep the party strongly libertarian to apply as well. If you are interested in the position, or know of a good California libertarian who might be, I suggest you (or they) write up a short summary of your LP credentials (positions you've held, activism on behalf of the party and our cause, other relevant life experience, etc.), and sending it to members of the ExCom:
Kevin Takenaga <ktakenaga@...>,
Boomer Shannon <boomer.shannon@...>,
Lauren Hilton <laurenglpc@...>,
Flavio Fiumerodo <ffiumerodo@...>,
Gale Morgan <galemorgan@...>,
Alan Pyeatt <lapyeatt@...>,
Brian Anderson <newamrepublic@...>,
Brian Darby <bsdarby@...>,
Paul Darr <pauldarr@...>,
Nancy Zardeneta <libertyzealot@...>,
Carlos Rodriguez <rodriguez_esq@...>,
Mike Paster <publicity@...>,
Michael Pickens <michael_pickens@...>,
Riley O'Neill <rileyboneill@...>,
Armando Romero <romeroa98@...m>,
Dana McLorn <danajr@...>,
Rich Vanier <bigrich42@...>
If you'd like to be able to see notices like this as soon as they are posted, as well as write to the entire ExCom at one address, you might ask to be subscribed to the Executive Committee email list <xcomm@...>. Probably such a request would be denied, but it's good for the state leadership to be reminded that denying party members access to this email list on which party business is conducted is not okay.
I also again urge everyone to fill out the national Platform Committee's survey -- online at http://www.lp.org/phpQ/fillsurvey.php?sid=18 -- if you haven't already done so, and let the committee know what you think of their proposals. Committee chair Alicia Mattson just posted a message saying "Last call" for the survey (although she failed to specify a deadline).The survey questions and my responses are copied below, and I believe they make it abundantly clear why we need more good, strongly principled libertarians on the Platform Committee.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
At-Large Member, Libertarian Party of California Executive Committee (2011-2013)*
Outreach Director, Libertarian Party of San Francisco*
*for identification purposes only -- all views expressed in this letter are my own, although they may be shared by many others.
From: romeroa98@...
Date: March 18, 2012 9:41:55 PM PDT
To: xcomm@...
Subject: [LPC -XComm] National Platform Committee Alternate
Reply-To: romeroa98@...Hello Ex Comm members,
It has come to my attention that the position for National Platform Committee Alternate is not filled. Bruce Dovner is on the National Platform Committee representing California but has told me that he might not be able to make the first meeting. We need to fill the alternate position soon so the Bruce and the alternate can coordinate their efforts. Bruce also told me the Tom Lippman was interested in the position as alternate. Does anyone else know of others interested in filling the position?
Armando Romero
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry_______________________________________________
Xcomm mailing list
Xcomm@...
http://lpcalif.org/mailman/listinfo/xcomm_lpcalif.org
Platform Committee Report 2012
INTRODUCTION:
The Libertarian Party Platform Committee's job is to recommend changes to the platform, to be voted on by the delegates to our national convention.
Four years ago, based on survey feedback by thousands of you, the 2008 Platform Committee learned what type of platform you wanted. This critically important feedback helped us construct proposals to successfully rebuild our party platform in a new style – short, bold and outwardly focused, yet still in keeping with our core values.
Thanks to your input, the 2008 convention delegates were able to accomplish an amazing feat, getting the 2/3rds agreement necessary to rebuild a complete platform in a single convention day.
Then in 2010 the Platform Committee focused on editorial cleanup, as the 2008 platform was rebuilt with cut-and-paste passages from past platforms, which left some subject matter holes and some readability shortcomings.
With the 2012 convention just around the corner, our convention delegates will soon be voting on improvements to the platform. Again, this year's Platform Committee focused on polishing existing language and filling in subject matter holes to address current issues not previously covered.
The 2012 Platform Committee met in December and adopted a series of 16 recommendations. Each is presented here with a note from the committee chair describing the purpose. By completing this survey you will be able to share with us your thoughts on our recommendations, many of which were inspired by written comments received on the 2008 and 2010 surveys.
Your responses will be very helpful. If you identify important factors we overlooked, or if you can think of improvements for the proposals, the Committee will have an opportunity to modify our report when we meet again in Las Vegas just before the convention in May.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to participate in the process by completing this survey which allows you to show support/opposition for each recommendation as well as an opportunity to provide comments on each.
Alicia Mattson
Platform Committee Chair