Hi All. Here are the minutes finally. Please review them for accuracy and
let me know if I missed anything or made any bloopers so I can correct
them. Nick, if you could please post them to the website in a few days,
that would be great.
Minutes for July 14, 2018 Meeting of the Libertarian Party of San Francisco
taken by Aubrey Freedman.
*Attendees*: Nick Smith (Chair), Rebecca Lau (Vice Chair), Aubrey Freedman
(Secretary), Phil Berg, Richard Fast (guest), Saul Flores (guest), and
Starchild.
*Introductions:* Richard hails from New Orleans and was part of the
California delegation at the LP National Convention at the beginning of the
month. He studied under Walter Block and will now be moving to Alabama
where he will matriculate doing graduate work in economics. He will also
be organizing a branch of the Libertarian Party in Pike County,
Alabama. Alabama
is one of two states that makes ballot access very difficult, and only
certain counties in the state have ballot access for the LP. When Richard
is in the Bay Area to visit his family, he goes to as many local LP county
meetings and functions as he has time to attend.
*Chair’s Report:* Nick reported moderate success with the first monthly
social gathering at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Co. (off the Montgomery Street
BART exit) on the last Thursday of June. He noted that around 8 people
attended for a few hours, and there were some unfamiliar faces and some
were from the Bay Area Conservatives. On the 5th Annual LPSF Panel
Discussion on school choice held on June 21, Nick reported moderate success
with a turnout of 30-35 attendees. The collection of $144.39 helped offset
the costs of $300.00 for the rental of the meeting room at the Mechanic’s
Institute and $63.11 for refreshments. The net cost of $218.72 was about
one month’s worth of recurring donations and well worth the effort. The
panel discussion was videotaped by both the Mechanic’s Institute and the
Independent Institute and will be available for viewing at a later date. Ken
Olsen, Northern California Chair, has organized a leadership summit in
Sacramento on August 18, and there will be panels on organization and
by-laws, financial issues and fundraising, membership growth and outreach,
and local politics and elections. The gathering is primarily for county
officers, but any interested party member is encouraged to attend. Nick
noted that LPCA is tabling at the Sacramento State Fair this month July
13-29, and he and Rebecca will probably help out during one of the time
slots.
*Vice Chair’s Report:* Rebecca was at the LPCA Executive Committee meeting
in Stockton last month and reported that it was a rather mellow meeting
with minimal disagreements. She reported that Robert and Jennifer Imhoff
resigned as At-Large members, and Mark Herd and Gail Lightfoot served in
their places. Rebecca signed up for 3 committees: the budget committee,
the program committee (5 topics), and the convention 2019 committee, and
Nick was signed up for the website committee. Ken Olsen is the chair of
the convention committee, and so far it’s looking like the state convention
will be in Concord next year, as the Crowne Hotel in Concord was the only
hotel that bothered to respond to his request. Rebecca confirmed that the
Latino/Hispanic room at the Main Library is booked for the January 5, 2019
meeting and convention.
*Treasurer’s Report: * Aubrey reported that we have $4,193.92 in the credit
union and $2,232.66 in PayPal for a total of $6,426.58. Total collections
since the last meeting were $7.00 from Pride donations + $144.39 from the
panel discussion donations + $99.98 from a miscellaneous, generous donor +
$319.66 from PayPal donations (mostly recurring donations) = $571.03. Total
disbursements were $160.00 to Aubrey for the booth for Pride. There are
still 2 outstanding disbursements to be paid: $300.00 for the room rental
at the Mechanic’s Institute and $63.11 for the panel discussion
refreshments. So, while our cash position is $6,426.58 today, our adjusted
cash balance will be $6,063.47 once these panel discussion expenses are
reimbursed.
*Secretary’s Report:* Aubrey reported that membership is unchanged from
last month with 21 lifetime members and 27 regular, currently paid-up
members, for a total of 48. From Angela’s current updated list statewide,
LPSantaClara is still way ahead of the pack with 95 members, the LPSF is in
second place, Alameda is 3rd with 45 members, Sacramento is 4th with 41
members, and San Mateo clocks in at 5th place with 38 members. He noted
that we are working on getting one of our members to renew whose lapse date
is coming up who hasn’t attended a meeting for a while but does
occasionally post on our Facebook. Richard inquired how our lifetime
membership system works here; he said that in Louisiana, they offer
lifetime members at the national level for $1,500.00; at the state level
for $1,000.00; and the parish (county) level for $750.00, though they are
considering dropping the parish level to $500.00. Aubrey mentioned that
one of the problems with lifetime memberships is that you can’t really be
sure that your lifetime members are really members anymore as they may have
gone to their maker, moved away, or even changed parties. We don’t have
the email addresses for some of our lifetime members, so there’s no easy
way to clean up our lifetime list, which was once requested from our
Northern Chair but never done.
*Newsletter Report:* Aubrey reported that the July newsletter is still in
process. The newsletter will be going out each month for the next few
months even if it’s an article short—better to get something out each month
rather than intermittently. Aubrey again mentioned that anyone can write
an article for the newsletter/website if they are moved by an issue and
it’s liberty-oriented. Nick provided the website statistics for the June
newsletter: it reached 1,607 subscribers, though only 19.4% opened it up
and only 2.5% clicked on anything in the article. The click rate was 3.6%
for the previous newsletter, so Aubrey noted that maybe he should make the
articles shorter. Nick noted that Mail Chimp provides these statistics for
tracking purposes. Nick said that he is working on an article for the July
newsletter highlighting the LPSF’s accomplishments for the first half of
2018: 5 ballot measure arguments in the Voters Handbook; multiple
presentations on the ballot measures before community groups; 2,678
postcards mailed to registered Libertarians; newsletter subscription now
over 1,600 members with over 6 articles published; 3 election events for
candidates hosted by the LPSF (Nickolas Wildstar, Zoltan Istvan, and Tim
Ferreira); the 5th Annual LPSF Panel Discussion; and a booth at Pride. Also
upcoming events like the November ballot measures, gun show in September,
and JSA Convention in November may be mentioned. His article will be
presented as a membership recruitment and fundraising effort. Richard
mentioned that Jennifer Imhoff from the Santa Clara LP is trying to
coordinate a newsletter effort from all of the Bay Area county LP
affiliates.
*LP National Convention Recap:* Nick reported that he, Starchild, and
Aubrey attended from the LPSF. Featured candidates for office like Larry
Sharpe for New York Governor, Murray Sabrin running for US Senate in New
Jersey, and Jeff Hewitt running for Riverside County Supervisor are all
running active and impressive campaigns. Several platform planks were
adopted during the convention: a new plank opposing governmental licensing
and supporting the right to earn a living, rather than a privilege to be
granted by government (passed unanimously); a new plank adding the right of
sex workers and their customers to engage in consensual trading of services
for compensation without government interference; and changing the plank
regarding free trade and migration to remove wording that sounded
nationalistic like it is OK to keep out “foreign nationals who pose a
credible threat” to give the plank a more pro-open borders ring to it. Nick
Sarwark was re-elected to an unprecedented third term as Chair by a 65%
vote, Alex Merced was elected as Vice Chair (Arvin Vohra only received
11%), Caryn Ann Harlos was elected as Secretary, and Tim Hagen was
re-elected as Treasurer. At Large elected members are Joe Bishop-Henchman,
Sam Goldstein, Alicia Mattson, Bill Redpath, and Joshua Smith. The
convention ran out of time to finish the election of the Judiciary
Committee members, so it was unclear if the LP will finish up the voting by
email balloting or just stick with the 7 members with the most votes or
have no Judiciary Committee at all this term.
*Ballot Measure Arguments (November Election)*: The deadline for the
“free” ballot measure arguments is Thursday, August 16. The final ballot
measure list is not finalized yet and won’t be until August 3 for local
ballot measures and August 10 for school and college districts and other
special district measures. There aren’t too many measures right now, but
that always changes at the last moment when the Board of Supervisors
submits ballot measures in the 11th hour. Right now the proposed ballot
measures are changing Kearny Street to Mayor Ed Lee Street, development of
the 17 acres of Balboa Reservoir Property for housing, a declaration of
policy calling for the impeachment of President Trump, a parcel tax for
“affordable” rental housing, and an additional tax on gross business
receipts for homelessness services. There was also an additional
initiative put forth by Angela Alioto to allow local law enforcement to
cooperate with federal immigration enforcement if the individual was
convicted of a violent or serious felony, but it was withdrawn due to
insufficient signatures at this time and may qualify for the ballot next
year. We discussed the Balboa Reservoir measure a bit, and the consensus
was that the land would probably be better off in private hands rather than
being owned by the PUC, and it would help to provide needed housing in The
City, even with the requirement that 50% be designated as “affordable”
housing. We will probably support this measure but not submit an argument
on this one. For the parcel tax, even though the voters just passed
another parcel tax last month, this one is not insignificant at 43 cents
per square foot (would be $430 extra on a 1,000-square foot home). The
measure has the words “purchase,” “acquire,” “construct,” and “manage” all
over it as it is meant to be government housing funded by another tax on
middle and upper income property owners. We will submit an argument
against this measure—Phil offered to write the argument. On the additional
tax on gross receipts for homelessness, there were two competing measures
on the June ballot for an additional gross receipts tax, and this one
funding the homelessness industry did not pass (though the other one for
child care did pass), so now it’s back again for a second try in November. It
is an additional tax of .175%-.69% on gross receipts depending on the
business, and for businesses that pay the tax based on payroll expense
rather than gross receipts, it’s an additional 1.5% of payroll expense. We
will submit an argument against this measure, and Nick offered to write the
argument. Aubrey stressed that none of this is finalized yet, and some of
these measures could be withdrawn and others submitted instead, so best to
draft the arguments now but not belabor them as they could be withdrawn at
the last minute. At our next meeting in August, all official measures will
have been finalized just before the meeting, so we will only have a few
days to finish up our arguments and submit them on Thursday.
*Activist Reports:* One of our guests attended an Objectivist Summer
Conference in Southern California sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute
featuring Yaron Brook, Jordan Peterson, and Dave Rubin. Phil did his usual
talking to Lyft drivers about banking and Bitcoin when he got around The
City—he reported that they tend not to be left-oriented. Starchild had a
philosophical discussion with a minister in route to the national
convention, and he’s been trying to stay in contact with Miriam Zouzounis
from the Arab American Grocers Association and Allison Jones, both of whom
he worked with on the No on E campaign earlier this year. He also has been
posting a lot in the comments sections of the Examiner and SF Chronicle, as
that’s a good way to argue against statist ideas and it sharpens your
arguments and lets “the other side” know that we’re not just throwing in
the towel. Starchild sustained minor injuries to his face during an
immigration protest in New Orleans when leftist protestors took his protest
sign from him and there was a scuffle with the leftists. (He did not press
charges as he thought making a big commotion might get innocent “illegal”
bystanders in trouble with authorities.) Starchild also mentioned that
none of the Board of Supervisors ever bothered to get back to him (no
surprise), and he is still trying to organize the SF Liberty Coalition with
Alex, who attended our meetings a few months ago. Starchild is also
working with Angelo (former guest at our meetings) to secure a spot at his
boss’ place of business as a venue to host events. Aubrey worked at the
Pride booth and finished the June newsletter just before the national
convention. Nick gave out 160 copies of the Declaration of Independence to
passers-by in Union Square on Independence Day dressed as George Washington..
Nick and Rebecca went to a Meetup where blockchain experts and
entrepreneurs were preparing to lobby lawmakers in Sacramento to
proactively establish a legal definition of blockchain.
*Special Motion Passed:* The LPSF will have a table at the gun show at the
Cow Palace September 23-24. Previously the LPSF voted to allocate $110 for
the table, but Aubrey spoke with Dan The Man (who always tables for GGLR at
the gun show), and the price is now $120. Aubrey made a motion to raise
the allocation from $110 to $120. Motion was seconded. The LPSF voted
unanimously to approve the allocation for this gun show to $120.
*Announcements:*
July 11-14 (Wednesday-Saturday) *FreedomFest2018* in Las Vegas, Nevada
July 26 (Thursday) *“None of Our Business” LPSF Happy Hour*
Thirsty Bear Brewing Co. at 661 Howard Street
Unable to make it to our regular monthly meetings? Just want to kick back
and mingle with liberty-minded individuals? We are kicking off a monthly
“None of our Business” happy hour social, where we can take a break from
party business and talk, life, politics or whatever is on your mind. Come
out for a drink and get to know us!
https://www.meetup.com/the-LPSF/events/lzghvpyxkbjc/
August 4 (Saturday) *GS2AC Mesquite & Skeet BBQ*
Hosted by the Libertarian Party of Santa Clara
Win guns and get fat! We will have firearms for raffle and our superb
5-star chefs will prepare a scrumptious lunch for all! Many other
activities and demonstrations will keep you entertained! Also, you can
shoot some skeet and have a professional instructor standing by for an
extremely reasonable price. Tickets are available at any GS2AC meeting. $25
for adults—kids are free.
https://www.meetup.com/Libertarian-Party-Santa-Clara-County/events/252531136/
August 18 (Saturday) *Northern California Libertarian Party Leadership
Summit*
The Northern Vice-Chair of the Libertarian Party of California is hosting
this leadership summit for leaders within California’s 58 counties to
become better organized and develop best practices. This event will
feature panel discussions on issues such as writing bylaws, fundraising,
hosting events, building membership, and more. More information to come
soon!
Piatti Sacramento at 571 Pavilions Lane in Sacramento
Contact kolsen@ca.lp.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/194599041206601/
September 14 (Friday) *10th Annual Silicon Valley Mises Celebration*
Featuring Jeffrey Tucker and Edward Stringham
6:00 PM in the Corinthian Grand Ballroom at 196 North 3rd Street in San
Jose, CA 95112
http://www.bastiatsociety.org/18-cl-north-ca.php
September 14-15 (Friday-Saturday) *Classical Liberals in Northern
California Conference*
Inspired by a similar effort in the Carolinas. The conference brings
together dynamic scholars, philanthropists, think-tank directors, business
leaders, and policy advocates to discuss issues affecting freedom in
California. For more information, visit: classicalliberals.org
SJSU Student Union Theater at 211 South 9th Street in San Jose, CA 95112
http://www.bastiatsociety.org/18-cl-north-ca.php
Thanks!
Aubrey