DOES GROWTH FOR GROWTH'S SAKE LEAD TO DIRTY
POLITICS?
Many charge that over the last eight years the
ruling Libertarian National Committee ("LNC") faction and their
national office staff have "grown" the party at the expense of
principles and especially ethics, sometimes to the financial benefit of
themselves or their cronies. There have been a number of controversies over the
years that seem to support many of these charges. (Feel free to contact
me to correct any
erroneous factoids.)
Few people would
dispute the general propositions that liberty can be marketed in mainstream
ways, that professional individuals should be paid at least close to market
rates and that political battles can be fierce. What is charged is that
these individuals have consistently employed dishonest means to these
ends. They don't seem to trust libertarians to accept their strategies or
their pay rates on their own merits and therefore punish those who challenge
them, attempting to trick, bully or intimidate libertarians into submission.
Detractors have labeled
this evolving but ever-controlling faction by the names of its leading members
or more generally called them "the partyarchs" or "the powers
that be." I label the worst of them apparatchiks,
i.e., manipulative operatives using organizations for their own
purposes, as described in the article The Empire of the Rising Scum.
Below are very general
outlines of sixteen of the main controversies that have afflicted the
Libertarian Party over the last decade. Linked to them are relevant
documents or opinion pieces by various party activists. Note that former
LNC Secretary John Famularo also presents a Libertarian Party Historical Timeline with links to available documentation on
many of these controversies. I link to some of his documents. LNC member
Joe Dehn also has a Controversies page which includes a briefly annotated
timeline and information on three major controversies.
This evidence and opinion is
not meant to be conclusive, only suggestive of the kind of problems complained
about over the years. It is not necessary to know the full details of every
controversy to understand that consistent patterns of revelations of credible
accusations only destroy trust in the Libertarian Party as a voice of
liberty. We must rule in our apparatchiks, not let the Libertarian Party
become known as one were self-serving apparatchiks rule!
1992: EMERLING (CLOUD)'S ATTACKS ON ANDRE MARROU
Michael Emerling (now
Cloud) is a well-connected speaker and professional
fundraiser. As Chief of Staff for 1992 Libertarian Party
Presidential candidate Andre Marrou, Emerling reported to the LNC in early 1991
that Marrou was engaging in financial fraud and should be removed as the LP
candidate. Perry Willis had previously criticized Marrou for not doing
things Willis' (and evidently Emerling's) way.
LNC members interviewed
Marrou for several hours asking him detailed questions and found that he was
experiencing some financial difficulties and that there may have been some
misunderstanding about use of a credit card but nothing to justify dropping him
as the Presidential candidate. However, Emerling kept attacking Marrou,
even sharing his accusations with anti-party groups like the Republican Liberty
Caucus, to the extent that even Steve Givot was called him an "enemy of
the party." This attempt to unseat the Presidential candidate because he
would not do it "their way" is typical of the Willis/Emerling-Cloud
modus operandi that would continue through the years. See April 1992 Chair report and e-mails. See also San Francisco Chronicle.
1992-93: "COMMITTEE FOR LIBERTARIAN MAJORITY" ATTEMPTS
TO IMPOSE STRATEGY
The
Committee for a Libertarian Majority ("CLM") was formed in 1992 by a
number of LNC members, including (circa 2002) current LNC member Steve Givot
and current staffers Ron Crickenberger and Steve Dasbach. It met secretly
in Atlanta in early December, 1992, one week before the December 1992 LNC
Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. It adopted a detailed Mission Statement and plan
which it "sprung" on the National Committee and passed with little
discussion. Much of the content was non-controversial, but the call for
eliminating the membership certification and turning the platform in to a
vague, short term program sparked controversy.
However, the 1993 National Convention squashed the Committee for a Libertarian
Majority's plans; the group dissolved soon after. A "Dump Givot" campaign resulted in Steve Givot being defeated in
his bid to be voted back on the LNC. However, other LNC members were
re-elected, including Steve Dasbach as Chair of the party. In 1998
Platform Committee member Givot convinced the committee to consider a
streamlined platform that deleted references to abolishing significant laws and
agencies. His efforts resulted in some minor streamlining that
effectively prevented the Convention from making some important updatess.
It annoyed me so much that I ran against him for Secretary--he beat me by only
37 votes on the second ballot. See CLM Goals, Strategies, Bylaws Changes and
relevant E-mail Debates.
1993: STEVE DASBACH REPLACES GENE CISEWSKI WITH PERRY WILLIS AS
NATIONAL DIRECTOR
In the September of
1993 new LNC Chair Steve Dasbach selected experienced activist Gene Cisewski to
be the new National Director. Dasbach hired Arizona resident Perry Willis
as temporary Interim Director while Cisewski wrapped up his affairs in
Wisconsin. As John Famularo documents on his timeline web page, Cisewski
was on the job barely a month when Dasbach fired him by memo and hired Perry
Willis--who had just finished moving all his personal possessions and his
girlfriend to DC. While a Bill Winter memo painted a sorry picture of Gene's efforts, many believe
Dasbach and/or Willis were intent on making Willis National Director, no matter
what Cisewski's qualifications. See Perry's summary of
his views on this, a defacto resume promoting his own candidacy. (When
Willis resigned several years later it was discovered Dasbach had signed a
secret contract with him assuring him severance pay and moving expenses even if
he resigned.)
This incident sparked
an ongoing rivalry between Gene Cisewski and the "partyarch's."
Cisewski went on to form the Liberty Council Political Action Committee, work
for several high profile campaigns, become chair of the Libertarian Party of
DC, as well as Coordinator of an active and semi-independent Council of State
Chairs. He twice ran energetic campaigns for LNC Chair, against Steve
Dasbach and then David Bergland.
1994-2000: LNC/STAFF FAVORITISM/CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS REGARDING
PRESIDENTIAL AND PARTY OFFICE CANDIDATES
Individuals as varied
as Rick Thompkins, Richard Cowan, Gene Cisewski, and Jacob Hornberger have
charged that LNC, and especially staff members, made it clear to them in
various subtle, and not so subtle, ways that their competing with favored
candidates was not welcome. This is a thread running through several of
the incidents described below. Jacob Hornberger has a number of web page
articles about this and related controversies at http://www.jacobghornberger.com/ Harry Browne has finally replied to these and other charges
in his own "Controversy" page. Hornberger also replies to Browne.
In summer of 1994
Richard Cowan of NORML, tax protester Irwin Schiff and Harry Browne announced
they would be seeking the 1996 Libertarian Party presidential nomination.
Rick Tompkins announced the next spring. (Browne seems to have been brought in
by the discredited Michael Emerling Cloud, who kept a low profile on his
involvement before turning the campaign over to LNC member Sharon Ayres.
He came back in as a fundraiser later in the campaign.)
Some alleged prejudice
against non-favored candidates. Richard Cowan quit, claiming Willis'
attitude made him feel he would not get fair treatment. Tompkins alleged
the national office seriously delayed sending him delegate labels. But
favoritism towards Harry Browne was the main complaint. First, Perry
Willis proposed the national office provide services for pre-nomination
campaigns and immediately arranged at least two receptions for Harry
Browne. Steve Dasbach allowed Perry Willis and Communications Director
Bill Winter to do paid work for Harry Browne. When the LNC moved that
such work could be done only with the LNC's approval, Willis started doing so
secretly since he felt he would be forced to chose between working for Browne
or the party. (More details of this incident below.) Complete time-line at John Famularo's web page.
In the spring of 1998
Jacob Hornberger proposed that the 1998 LP Convention pass a new bylaw that
would prohibit Libertarian Party candidates paying cash or gifts, both before
and after nomination, to members of the Libertarian Party National Committee,
the national Libertarian Party staff or their close relatives for consulting,
advising, fundraising, managing, etc. any national presidential political
campaign. Ken Bisson, Chair of the By-Laws Committee, led the
charge against the amendment. The Convention did not pass the bylaw amendment;
members believed that disclosures of conflicts of interest was sufficient to
prevent problems. See Hornberger's Great Bylaws Debate page as well as further details below.
According to
Famularo's web page, staffers also tried to influence the election of party
officers. Before the 1996 National Convention national staffers Perry Willis
and Bill Winter, counter to the Policy Manual, circulated a statement that they
would quit if Gene Cisewski was elected Chair of the national party.
After member complaints about this, staffers were more circumspect in opposed
Cisewski in 1998. Staffers Kris Williams and Dan Smith distributed Bergland
for Chair literature and trashed Cisewski to delegates, claiming, among other
things, that he would fire all the current staffers if elected, something which
would disrupt operations. In 1998 one staff member trashed Cisewski
to me personally and recommended I vote for David Bergland. However, as
soon as I announced for Secretary, staff members refused to discuss anything
about the races with me, claiming that it would be a "conflict of
interest"! Bergland won and made Steve Dasbach his new National
Director.
In March of
1999 LNC Treasurer Mark Tuniewicz reported on LPUS he had gotten reports that
an unnamed presidential candidate (assumedly Browne or his operatives) was
trying to get state chairs to "put unusual restrictions on who they will
allow to speak as presidential hopefuls at their state conventions." See the e-mail, plus a list of other complaints. Later that year LNC member Ken Bisson
proposed that no presidential candidate be listed on the LP web site unless
they paid $2,000 to the Libertarian Party; the proposal was not passed.
In 1999 some members also complained that the national office was using Harry
Browne's 1996 campaign book as a premium for contributions made to the LP. They
felt it promoted Browne, who everyone assumed was certain to run for the year
2000 nomination.
Jacob
Hornberger, who announced in April of 1999 that he was forming an exploratory
committee to run for President in 2000, began making the same claim.
Harry Browne stated he did not receive any money from the sale of the
book. On May 28, 1999 Chair David Bergland ruled: "The use of Harry
Browne's book as a premium for contributions, whether for Archimedes mailings
or otherwise, is completely proper until such time that Harry Browne announces
that he is seeking the Party's nomination as its presidential candidate.
The National Director [Steve Dasbach] is authorized to exercise his judgment on
whether or not to use the book for that purpose and in what manner."
Two weeks
later, Hornberger abandoned his exploratory committee sighting
"irreconcilable conflicts of interest between his duties as President of
the Future Freedom Foundation, and those of being a political
candidate." Some believe Hornberger genuinely felt that the cards
were stacked against him and running was a waste of time.
Harry
Browne did not formally announce until February of 2000, during which time the
LP staff was free to continue distributing his book to new contributors.
Don Gorman ran against Browne, as did Jacob Hornberger who inexplicably revived
his presidential campaign a few days before the 2000 convention.
One allegation of
LNC-related interference with Browne competitors is that Massachusetts Chair
Elias Israel, who became an LNC reprsentative in spring of 2000, announced at
the the December 1999 LNC meeting that he opposed putting libertarians who
didn't meet certain criteria running against Harry Browne in the Massachusetts
primary--a privilege granted to him by the State of Massachusetts. One
criteria, which he exercised against Don Gorman, was that they had to be
national party members, which Gorman was not. Even though Gorman quickly
joined the national party, and was assured by Massachusetts activists he would
be put on the ballot, he did not end up on the ballot. (December 1999 LNC Mintues and two recent e-mails shed light on this story.)
As we shall see
in the New Libertarians section, many feel some LNC members and
staff members (especially LPNEWS, in its articles and advertising polilcy, have
been promoting Carla Howell as the 2004 candidate ever since the year 2000
convention and election. In December, 2001 the LNC formalized the Duties
of the Political Director to include preferential treatment of state candidates
with pre-nomination aid "with the express written permission of the state
chair." Needlesstosay, many worry this will give the LNC and
national staffers power to reward cronies and punish critics. (See LNC draft minutes.)
DIRTY TRICKS AND THE ETHICS AMENDMENT
The 1998
Libertarian Party Convention rejected Jacob Hornberger's new bylaw that would
prohibit Libertarian Party candidates paying cash or gifts, both before and
after nomination, to members of the Libertarian Party National Committee, the
national Libertarian Party staff or their close relatives for any national
presidential political campaign work. However, Hornberger for an LNC
Policy Manual amendment that would submit the LNC to the same ethical
constraints that the LNC had imposed on its subordinates.
In an April
2001 e-mail Hornberger discusses not only the personal attacks on him
for filing his request for an amendment to the LNC Policy Manual, but what
seems to have been a dirty trick pulled on him. Sometime after the 1998
national LP convention, LNC Alternate Barbara Goushaw approached Hornberger and
said she might consider supporting him over Harry Browne as the year 2000
Presidential candidate. Goushaw later arranged a speech during his visit
to Michigan. In both cases, he reminded her of his position on LNC neutrality
in pre-nomination races. Nevertheless, in 1999, after Hornberger announced
the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, Goushaw sent him a $600
check. He promptly returned her original check for $600
to her.
Nevertheless, as part
of her LNC Campaign Finance Disclosure Statement, Goushaw claimed receiving
"payments totaling $600.00 from the following LP candidates, their staff,
organizations, or campaign-related third-party entities: Jacob Hornberger for
President." Steve Givot, who Hornberger claims is the "most
vociferous opponent of the Ethics Amendment and of the Request for Financial
Disclosure," was quick to jump on Hornberger, writing in a critical
e-mail: "As a presidential nomination contender, Mr. Hornberger hired LNC
member Barbara Goushaw and paid her $600 to work for his campaign to win the LP
presidential nomination. That also violates the ethical standards that Mr.
Hornberger publicly embraces."
Hornberger
discusses the effect of such obvious tricks and intimidation tactics:
"There are of course some people whose integrity is impeccable serving on
the LNC. What are the chances that they would call for a censor of Goushaw and
Givot for their deceitful and malicious misconduct against a member of the
Libertarian Party? None, because the good and honest people on the LNC are
terrified that Goushaw and Givot (and others like them on the LNC) will do this
sort of thing to them!"
In another e-mail, Hornberger claims that his Amendment was discussed
at the April 21, 2001 LNC Meeting in Washington, DC. However,
the still Draft Minutes on the site, done by Secretary Steve
Givot, of course, make no mention of this. Hornberger wrote: "My
sources on the LNC advise me that for some reason, LNC Secretary Steven I.
Givot intends to delay for several weeks the posting of the minutes of this
particular meeting on the LNC meeting archive web site:
http://archive.lp.org/lnc However, this is a run-down of what I think took
place, based on what I have learned from reliable sources. 1. The LNC chose not
to take any vote on the Ethics Amendment, which means, of course, that no one
can determine where individual LNC members publicly stand on the issue.
However, a reliable source on the LNC advised me that there were three LNC
members who were fiercely leading the fight against the Ethics Amendment behind
the scenes before the meeting: Steve Givot, Colorado, who is current LNC
Secretary; Ken Bisson, Indiana, who reputedly wants to be LNC
Vice-Chairman in 2002; and Elias Israel, Massachusetts, who reputedly wants to
be LNC National Chairman in 2002."
1995-2000: LNC INTERFERENCE IN ARIZONA DISPUTE
In the
early 1990s the Arizona Libertarian Party ("LPAZ") experienced deep
divisions. One faction, led by Peter Schmerl and Michael Emerling Cloud
supported taking government campaign funds and backed Harry Browne.
Another, more "hard-core" faction opposed taking such funds and
backed Rick Tompkins.
Opponents
charge the Schmerl/Cloud faction first tried to take over the Arizona party in
1995 by taking advantage of the fact the LPAZ had long acted outside of
compliance with Arizona law on electing party officers. He and his allies
formed a party that would comply with these laws, Arizona Libertarian Party,
Inc. ("ALP, Inc."). As soon as Schmerl's party got it's
official state file number and statement of organization, he wrote to the
LPAZ's bank on his attorney letter head and asked them to turn the money over
to him, effectively embezzling it. The LPAZ raised hell, got their money
back--but was too kind hearted to charge him with embezzlment or complain to
the Arizona Bar Association. (Which many of them later regretted.)
Schmerl then
proposed "reconciliation" at the next LPAZ convention. But he
tried to pack the convention by using disputed proxies and by registering
Republicans as libertarians . When this attempted takeover failed,
Schmerl launched law suit after law suit demanding the state of Arizona stop recognizing
LPAZ because it was out of compliance with the law.
While the
LNC originally supported LPAZ, Schmerl and Cloud's cronies on the LNC continued
lobbying for the LNC to disaffiliate LPAZ and designate the ALP, Inc. the
affiliate party. Eventually they accomplished this in 1999 through an LNC
decision that a mail ballot of national members would decide which state to
affiliate. However, because LPAZ did not join the Unified Membership Plan
("UMP"), many of its members were not members of national.
Moreover, there are charges that Schmerl enrolled a number of non-libertarian
Republicans in the party for the purpose of voting for ALP, Inc. The
Schmerl faction and ALP, Inc. won the mail ballot. Disgusted by these
voting irregularities and the LNC, the LPAZ decided not to appeal to the
Judiciary Committee.
George Phillies in his
book Funding Liberty points out that the LP bylaws specific parties can only be
disaffiliated "for cause." A break off faction declaring it is
the "real" party is hardly sufficient cause and the LNC may have
encouraged more such splits in the future through its actions.
Nevertheless, a
lower court found in favor of LPAZ as the official party, which gave it the
right to choose the year 2000 Presidential candidate. The LPAZ offered to
make Harry Browne their candidate, contingent upon receiving an apology from
the LNC. The LNC refused and instead spent $130,000 trying to get Harry
Browne on the ballot, even though they petitioned after the deadline.
They hoped an Arizona court would support their effort, but the court refused
to do so. Harry Browne was not on the ballot in Arizona in 2000.
The ALP, Inc.
continued its lawsuits until the Arizona Supreme Court agreed that the LPAZ's
failure to follow state law invalidated its claim. That left ALP, Inc.
free to try to gain ballot status as the recognized affiliate, since many of
the "hard core" Arizona libertarians do not want to dance to the state's
tune. Dozens of activists left the party over this and new activists
suffer from the continuing division. See links to LNC meeting decisions, chronologies
of Schmerl embezzlement and other acts, statements from LNC and LPAZ members
and part of the Appeal Court opinion depriving LPAZ of state recognition as the
official party, other links.
1995: LNC CENSURES TAMARA CLARK
Tamara Clark, a two-time state chair and former LNC member, had been an
extremely effective and high profile libertarian candidate in Nevada.
Clark had received some financial aid from the LNC in 1994 for two Nevada
campaigns, both of which she had to suspend due to major party interference and
personal problems. When she moved to Arizona she ended up on the wrong
side of the Arizona schism. (She served as State Chair in both states.) The
Schmerl cronies on the LNC demanded Clark give a detailed accounting of the
money. She claims it had not asked this before of others who received
money. Clark refused, explaining that some of her vendors were doing business
without a license and she feared the AZP, Inc. faction, which had snitched to
the state of Arizona on LPAZ libertarian's refusal to obey state law, would
similarly snitch on her vendors. At the April, 1995 LNC voted to censure
Clark for this failure to report. See Clark's side of the story.
1998-2000: LAWSUIT AGAINST GENE CISEWSKI
Gene Cisewski
challenged the "partyarchs" in his races for Chair in 1996 and 1998.
During 1997 and 1998 he also did a number of mailings in his work for the high
profile Murray Sabrin and Steve Kubby campaigns and for the Liberty
Council. He was one of the few people who seriously challenged the
Cloud/Willis campaign and fundraising machine.
After Cisewski
lost the July 1998 Chair race, LP staffers charged he had made unauthorized use
of Libertarian Party data bases which he previously had rented. The
listing of evidence of unapproved uses in the attorney's chronology is not very
impressive. (That the final out-of-court settlement included large penalties
should Cisewski publicly challenge the validity of the "evidence,"
leads one to further suspect the evidence. Moreover, it did not forbid
him from renting LP state mailing lists, which usually include all of the
national party members.)
In mid-November a party
representative informed Cisweski of the "circumstantial
evidence." He replied, claiming the problem was "either due to
the LNC's incompetence in maintaining its 'seeds' or fabricated for political
reasons," according to the LNC's attorney's chronology. A few days
later the Libertarian National Committee voted unanimously to pursue legal action against
him. Cisewski's failure to respond adequately did not help his case and
gave the party an excuse to refuse to engage in binding arbitration when he
requested it.
In early 2000 Cisewski settled out
of court for $1,000 immediately and $10,000 after five years. The lawsuit cost
the Libertarian Party $48,000 in attorney's fees and, doubtless, a number of
disgusted member failures to renews. Many people still think this was a
trumped up case, or over-reaction to a Cisewski staffer's error and that the
partyarchs took advantage of this to try to destroy a challenger.
While Cisewski did take
a break from the party, as of April 2002 he was actively working on the Ed
Thompson for Governor campaign in Wisconsin and had just been elected to the
Iron County, Wisconsin, Board of Supervisors after defeating a 4-term incumbent
by capturing more than 60% of the vote. See the LNC attorney's listing of facts and the
final settlement agreement.
2000: SIX YEARS OF CLOUD-WILLIS-BROWNE FUNDRAISING HYPE CAUSE
CYNICISM
A number of members
have complained that the Cloud-Willis-Browne modus operandi over six years of
fundraising consisted of big and exciting promises which raised large amounts
of money that paid campaign staffers generously, without producing anything
like the promised results. Former big contributor Mike Nixson listed a number
of such examples in a 1997 letter.
March 1995: "Our Plan to force Clinton to
demand LP inclusion in the 1996 TV debates"
May 1995: "Our plan to get 5% of the
primary vote in New Hampshire. $270,000 in TV ads"
July 1995: "Our plan to use the City Vote
to achieve national publicity"
Sept 1995: " Our plan to distribute 6
million flyers to City Vote voters"
October 1995: "Our plan to get Harry
Browne's book on the New York Times best seller list"
Feb 1996: "Our plan to produce a
professional and powerful National TV ad and recruit 100's of CEOs"
March 1996: "Our plan to get into the 1996
TV debates" by convincing the Federal Debate Commission (to let Harry
Debate)
June 1996: "Our plan to get double digits
in national election polls"
August 1996: "Our new plan to get into the
TV debates using talk show endorsements and radio ads"
October 1996: "Our plan to
"saturate" CNN with TV ads and to produce a professional 30 minute
video or TV ad placement"
Particularly criticized was the Browne Campaign's April 2000 announcement it had suspended its campaign for
financial reasons--which it blamed on Jacob Hornberger's criticisms, including in letters to Browne contributors.
However, money poured in and Browne re-started his campaign.
Many
libertarians bought the excuses for the Browne campaign's failure to deliver on
promises of publicity, network television commercials and high vote totals in
1996. (Like many people who supported Browne, I was not happy with this
pattern, but still found him a good candidate in many respects. Also, the
fact that he continues to speak out strongly for military non-intervention even
after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks indicates to me that he is
willing to take principled positions even if it may loose him some following and
cost him financially.) Browne continued the same pattern during the year
2000 race and got even fewer votes than in 1996. Some claim this pattern
of hype is a large part of the cause of the drop off in Libertarian Party
membership since the year 2000 election. Longtime activist George
Phillies was so disgusted he wrote a whole book called Funding Liberty. See a cynical analysis of Cloud/Willis/Browne
motives. Harry Browne also replies to these charges on
his "Controversy" page.
2001: RESIGNATION OF LNC TREASURER MARK TUNIEWICZ
In
March, 2001 two term LNC Treasurer Mark A. Tuniewicz resigned effective April
21, 2001, the date of the upcoming LNC meeting. He also revoked his
membership certification ("the pledge") and canceled his life
membership in the Libertarian Party. His doing so forced the National
Committee to accept his resignation since the Libertarian Party Bylaws require
that officers must be members of the party.
Tuniewicz promised to give an official explanation, but never did
so. He did around that time send an e-mail to LPUS
complaining about the staff's consistent refusal to give him timely financial
reports. This despite new LNC chair Jim Lark's loosening the restrictions
David Bergland had placed on Tuniewicz' "interfacing directly with
the staff and/or the accountants and/or the FEC consultants," as John
Famularo put it, Another National Committee member
speculated Tuniewicz worried that the Internal Revenue Service might soon
find irregularities in LP reporting for which Tuniewicz would be legally
responsible if he remained Treasurer. However, in September, 2002, when
National Director Steve Dasbach gave his resignation after new Chair Geoff
Neale and re-motivated Treasurer Deryl Martin discovered definitive financial
irregularities, Tuniewicz sent another post reminding everyone: "In April
of 2001, I expressed grave concerns to the National Director and the LNC over
financial reporting issues. Much of the reports I'd been requesting had
to do with accounts receivable, which from the recent minutes I see have not
been properly booked & reported since after I left. The national
director's lengthy response cited his lack of awareness that a problem
existed." See relevant e-mails from Tuniewicz, Famularo,
Lark and others.
2001: WILLIS ADMITS LYING TO LNC ABOUT BROWNE WORK IN 1995-96
Jacob
Hornberger and others continued to hammer away at Willis-Browne conflicts of
interest based on the evidence revealed 1995-96. Given no new evidence,
most people (including myself) felt it was a closed issue. However, even
as the LNC debated in the fall of 2000 and early 2001 whether to join on to
Harry Browne's new effort, RealCampaignReform.org, a lobbying effort and law suit to abolish the
Federal Election Commission, questions continued about the campaign's poor
performance and whether this lawsuit was just another fundraising
venture. (See Jacob Hornberger's The Great FEC Fundraising Caper and Browne's Controversy page.)
That debate
became irrelevant, however, when John Famularo distributed to the April, 2001
LNC meeting a copy of a February, 1996 invoice Perry Willis had sent Browne
friend Jack Dean for work done on fundraising letters for the Harry Browne
campaign. Willis sent it to Dean so the LNC would not discover he was working
for Browne behind the LNC's back. (Famularo found the invoice on LP
computer files he had access to during work for the party, as he explains in an
e-mail. He held it back in part because it was evidence that Willis and
Browne had committed felonies, including conspiracy, in causing the Browne
Campaign and Libertarian National Committee to file false campaign and IRS
reports.)
Surprisingly, a
month later Perry Willis issued a 20-page "confession"
admitting that he conspired with the Brown campaign to work for it secretly and
claiming he did it for the good of the Libertarian Party. Harry
Browne admitted in a private an e-mail to former Chair Mary Gingell
knowing and approving of Willis' actions.
The Libertarian
National Committee launched an investigation, despite the best efforts of LNC
members Ken Bisson and Elias Israel to hamper its effectiveness. (Draft minutes
of the meeting went up on the LNC minutes web page only in mid-February 2002.) In an unofficial report,
LNC member Joe Dehn revealed soon after the meeting they included:
"censuring Perry Willis for doing this work and for denying it;
prohibiting employment of or contracting with Willis or organizations
controlled by him for five years; requiring that other organizations with which
Willis is associated be treated as external organizations when renting the
mailing list or advertising in LP News; declaring the matter closed unless
additional evidence is presented; admonishing Harry Browne and Jack Dean for
their participation; calling on Browne, Sharon Ayres, David Bergland, Michael
Cloud, and Jack Dean to denounce Willis' violation of policy; rescinding the
approval for LNC participation in Browne's proposed lawsuit against the FEC
censure Perry Willis; limiting his ability to use the LP mailing list and
LPNEWS advertising."
As I detail
on the New Libertarians page, Elias Israel derided the investigatory efforts
and opposed strong sanctions against Willis, Browne and their associates.
As reported in Liberty Magazine, Michael Cloud refused to cooperate
with the investigation and characterized the affair as a petty inquisition and
"star chamber proceedings."
See full R.W. Bradford timeline and report and John Famularo's Timeline web site for full details. See Gingell-Browne exchange, Famularo's
explanation for delaying release of the incriminating document, Joe Dehn's
understanding of the decision reached, and comments of Steve Kubby. Harry Browne includes comments on this
incident in his "Controversy" page.
2001: PRO-INTERVENTION AND PRO-STATE OF ISRAEL HAWKS DOMINATE LNC
At the August of
2001 LNC meeting in Las Vegas, two LNC members put forth a resolution that
given escalating conflict in Middle East nations, the LNC should reiterate the
Libertarian Party's position that military aid and troops should be withdrawn
from the region. (One of them had asked me to write it, per debates on the LPUS
discussion list.) LNC member Elias Israel charged that the proposal seemed to
him to be "anti-Jewish" and he was "a little
offended." Member Ben Scherry stated he disagreed with the
LP's non-interventionist position and that the United States had a duty to
protect Israel which would be destroyed without America's help. After
these heavy intimidation tactics, the resolution gained only 3 votes out of 18
members. (See Georgianna Geyer's article "Pro-Israeli, Anti-Arab Campaigns Could Isolate
America.")
At the October 14th LNC
meeting Elias Israel, touting the support of Ken Bisson, proposed (even as he
assured members he wouldn't "force" it on them) that the LNC support
the U.S. government taking "forceful action against terrorists." The
resolution passed with no "no" votes and only one abstention.
It included the controversial statements: "Such criminals must be rooted
out and destroyed before more innocent people die. Their training camps and
weapons must be eliminated. Their supply infrastructure must be shattered."
It also noted: "Every precaution must be taken to minimize injury or death
to innocent civilians and non-combatants -- in Afghanistan and in other
nations."
This statement
obviously supports the U.S. government bombing any part of any nation where
those suspected of terrorist connections or intent are living, working or
passing through--and without a Constitutional declaration of war, which our
platform clearly calls for. Many libertarians felt that the resolution,
and some related press releases and other statements from the national office,
violate the Libertarian Party Principles and Platform by supporting an
unconstitutional war, undermining our claim to be a principled
non-interventionist party. Angry libertarians immediately formed two
different list serves which quickly merged into Libertarians for Peace.
At the December 2001
meeting longtime LNC member Joe Dehn proposed a non-intervention
resolution. The hawks voted this one down as well with 9 "no"
votes. This time there were three "yes" and five abstain
votes. For full details of the relevant resolutions and notes and quotes
from the LNC debates go to the articles section of the Libertarians for Peace web site. See also Carol Moore's
article on Middle East Issues and Emotions.
ONGOING: STAFF'S EMBARASSING POLITICAL OBTUSENESS AND PANDERING
The national Libertarian
Party's main outreach leaftet--the "New Political Party" leaflet--is
typical of the misleading and amateurish quality of too much of what comes out
of the national office. (One wonders how many people are surprised to learn
what seems to be a "new political party" is 30 years old!) I am sure
everyone has their favorite embarrassing national party story, be it something
at a national convention or seen in a mailing, LPNEWS or a press release read
over the Internet. I personally remember the minor controversy at the 1998
Convention where well known anti-Semite Willis Carto's Liberty Lobby had both a
table and a full page advertisement for their often lurid publication The
Spotlight in the convention's official handbook. Staffers
explained it was their "free speech right."
National
staffers must embarrass celebrities who join the party with the front page
stories in LPNEWS their photos splashed on the fold over address
page. Some high profile members even find their photographs have been
used on the envelopes of LP fundraising letters! I still cringe when I
think of the photo of African-American activist Roy Innis dancing across the
front of one envelope.
Staffers also
seemed to be totally politically obtuse when they gave front page coverage to
Jewish Defense League ("JDL") head Irv Rubin joining the party in
2000. Savvy political activists know that JDL members had been imprisoned
for bombings in the 1970s and linked to bombings and even murder, including in
Rubin's home town Los Angeles, in the 1980s; one member committed mass murder
of Palestinians at a Mosque in Israel in 1994. A simple Internet search
would have revealed these facts. As well as JDL's statement on its web page: "JDL upholds the principle of Barzel --
iron -- the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish
image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and
violence." Well-known writers Justin Raimondo and Lew Rockwell immediately
excoriated the LP for boasting about Rubin's membership.
In summer of
2001, when Rubin started talking about running for Congress or California
Governor as a libertarian, several libertarians raised a ruckus, despite
accusations of anti-Semitism by a couple of California libertarians. I
myself put up an Irv Rubin/JDL "expose" web page linked to my larger article on
leftist activist violence titled The Return of Street Fighting Man.
It is unknown if
these critiques influenced Rubin's decision on running for office.
However, it looks like the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may have
convinced him to turn (or return) to terrorism. In December, 2001 the FBI
arrested Rubin and Earl Leslie Krugel on charges of planning to bomb the King
Fahd Mosque in Culver City, CA and the field office of Congressional
Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA). Allegedly an informant who became
alarmed at the plans alerted the FBI who taped conversations about such
plans. Rubin and Krugel were indicted in January 2002 and charged with
conspiracy, conspiracy to use a destructive device, attempted arson, attempted
arson of a United States government facility, possession of a destructive
device in furtherance of a crime of violence and solicitation to commit a crime
of violence. If convicted both face life in prison. Rubin claims he was
"set up" but the national staff has not come to his defense.
Finally, in writing and
distributing press releases, the national Libertarian Party seems to adhere to
the philosophy that if you can't make news, you can at least make jokes.
The titles of some of its more infamous joke press releases include: "Five
good reasons why Saddam Hussein should have been Speaker of the House,"
"Libertarians urge: Pull the plug on silly Alabama law that bans
vibrators," "News from the future: Jenna Bush launches another
airstrike on Iraq," "Gin-Soaked Jenna Bush. Her problem is not the
boozing; it's a power-drunk federal government," "Why we should say
'Cell No!' to new laws banning cell phone use in cars," and
"Government should end its jihad against Indian sports team names."
Of course, the subject
matter of some are verge on the offensive, such as: "Why rapists will love
the anti-gun agenda of Sunday's Million Mom March,"
"Bureaucrats' outrageous new claim: Higher beer taxes prevent
gonorrhea," and "Proposed law in Mississippi would (ahem) get a grip
on public priapism." [Note: priapism means male sexual
erection] The emphasis on sex jokes make the press releases sometimes
quite puerile! Can the press take seriously any organization that issues
such press releases?
After the September 11,
2001 attacks, but before the October 14 pro-war resolution, Libertarian Party
press releases were sensible and libertarian. One was titled
"Frightening numbers: 49% in new survey support 'special IDs' for
Arab-Americans." After the October 14th National Committee
pro-war resolution some press releases began to parrot President Bush's blatant
pandering to patriotism and fear--and went further, even displaying blatant
anti-Arab sentiment. Titles include: "Let's cut off tax funding for
colleges that prohibit showing the American flag," "Repeal gun
control laws that leave us defenseless against evil terrorists," "Why
did police arrest 734,498 pot-smokers, instead of tracking murderous
terrorists?", "Unbelievable: EEOC forces airport security to hire
foreign Arabs from terrorist nations." (Could staff have been trying
to please pro-state of Israel hawk and Chair "front runner" Elias
Israel?) See particularly obnoxious excerpts from some of
these press releases. Or
go to the LP's national press release list.
In April and May 2002
the LP sent out two press releases ostensibly calling for the US to withdraw
from the middle east and for the US to end the war on terrorism. However,
these points were made only after six or seven paragraphs of veritable rants
about terrorism in Israel! (See April 4 and May 1 releases.)
In contrast, see
the solid press release the Libertarian Party put out after the
1998 national Convention passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of
Bill Clinton. (Those who proposed the resolution told me my call for such
action during my Secretary nomination speech before the 1998 Convention
inspired them.) Since the LP was the first party to call for Clinton's
impeachment, it actually made news and received concomitant national publicity.
CONCERNS THE "STRATEGIC PLAN" IS BEING USED AS A
"NEW LIBERTARIAN" POWER PLAY
Strategic planning
to set goals and plan strategies and tactics to achieve them is a necessary
part of any organizations functioning. The Libertarian National Committee
has engaged in such short term planning over the years. However, one must
wonder if the "Strategic Plan" initiated in early 2001 and approved
at the December, 2001 LNC meeting is merely another "Committee for a Libertarian Majority"--like attempt by Steve Givot, Michael
Cloud, Elias Israel and their allies to gut the Libertarian Party platform and
to pass Bylaws that might entrench their personal control of a
majoritarian-oriented party.
The Strategic
Planning process was initiated by Steve Givot who also facilitated the series
of meetings. Needlesstosay, many people doubted his ability to be a
neutral facilitator. Elias Israel's repeated appeals for closed Strategic Planning Committee
meetings, which members would be barred from witnessing, caused
controversy. The first meeting was conducted secretly but outcry from
members ensured the rest were open. See the final Strategic Plan report.
Even if Steve
Givot was a neutral facilitator during the Strategic Planning process, there is
no doubt that now that it is over it is back to "politics as usual"
for Givot. A few weeks before the December LNC meeting he grilled me repeatedly
via e-mail, blind cc-ing LNC members, on whether I, as a candidate for the
Platform Committee, was willing to follow to a tee the mandate of the Strategic
Plan. At the December LNC meeting Steve Givot stated confidently
that the 2002 Convention could suspend the rules and adopt some or all of the
new platform he envisions. And he twice talked about the need for a Bylaw
to allow the LNC to expel people from the national party. This makes one
wonder just how Givot and friends intend to enforce the most controversial
aspects of the Strategic Plan.
The Strategic
Plan's final six goals themselves are non-controversial. However, several
strategies have potential for great mischief if they are used by factions in a
controlling way to downplay principles or discourage activism:
#3: If "redevelop the LP platform,
presenting both direction and destination" means deleting references to
the laws, taxes and programs we would repeal and stressing interim positions,
it could demoralize principled libertarians, especially if those who want to
run campaigns on more radical platforms are discouraged from doing so.
#5: "Codifying" relationships
between the national and state parties could become divisive if it means a
contract forcing states to accept a Presidential candidate who they believe did
not live up to libertarian standards; such a contract could attract well
financed quasi-libertarian candidates who know they only have to win the
biggest states and the rest would be forced to accept the candidate.
#8: "Target races and allocate
resources for maximum effectiveness" and "coordinate campaign
activities within and among campaign levels" could have a demoralizing
affect if the national staff uses its money and power to convince state parties
to accept national's preferred candidates, despite any contrary desire of local
activists. The LP will never raise funds like the Demopublicans and need our
grass roots activists.
#18: "Focus resources to achieve the repeal
of drug prohibition" could become a problem if it was done more on
the bidding of well-heeled drug legalization contributors than LP members or if
too many members or potential candidates become annoyed by the focus on that
issue See related e-mails;
#19: "Develop an awareness that political
success requires adequate resources of all sorts" could become a problem
if it means that members or candidates with money use it as an excuse to
disrespect the efforts of those who contribute substantial time and energy.
LNC At-Large
member Lois Kaneshiki, in an article entitled The LNC’s Strategic Plan
-- What Went Wrong, criticizes the
process. She believes the LNC exceeded its authority in coming up with a plan
to change the platform and bylaws -- a criticism also made of Committee for a
Libertarian Majority. She believes the LNC wasted "$93,000 and six
and a half weekends spent in hotel rooms" to come with a plan that is
basically a “'let’s do more' version of what is already being done."
She believes the LP has not "decided if we want to recruit members, sell
our philosophy, or get Libertarians in office. It is not at all obvious that we
can do each of these things at the same time, or that we should continue to
try."
While I myself do
not agree with Ms. Kaneshiki's strategic emphasis, I do think it is important
to explore more explicitly the strategic alternatives, as I do. I believe these were not explored because
those promoting the process already knew what they wanted the Strategic Plan to
do: tame the platform, grow the membership, and attract monied
quasi-libertarians, in part to run the party as a cash cow for themselves
and/or their cronies.
LNC TO TURN NAME "LIBERTARIAN PARTY" OVER TO PETER
SCHMERL?
As we have seen,
Arizona Libertarian Party, Inc. Chair Peter is quite willing to use
misrepresentation, lawsuits and cronyism to get his way. Therefore many
libertarians were suspicious when one of Schmerl's friends put forth a proposal
at the March, 2002 LNC meeting that effectively would have given Peter
Schmerl full control of the use of the name "Libertarian Party."
Called the "Resolution Granting Use of the Name Libertarian Party to The
Libertarian Party Foundation" -- the resolution read in relevant
part: Libertarian National Committee, Inc. hereby grants perpetual use
of the registered trademark "Libertarian Party" to Peter G.
Schmerl, his successors and assigns, in his capacity as incorporator of the
Libertarian Party Foundation, provided such foundation is granted 501(c)(3) by
the Internal Revenue Service and so long as such status is maintained, and
provided such foundation creates and maintains bylaw provisions making the
Chairman of the LNC an automatic ex officio member of the foundation's board of
directors by virtue of his office with all the rights and privileges given
every other member of its board;
Given Schmerl's
propensity to use law suits to get his way, it is easy to see how he might have
interpreted this as meaning Schmerl now enjoyed possession of the name
Libertarian Party for ALL uses and not just his one approved one, as long as he
went along with other provisions. He thereby could license use of the
name for someone who wanted to set up the Libertarian Party Lobby or the
Libertarian Party PAC. And it could cost the LP tens of the thousands of
dollars to disprove this.
At the meeting
some members argued that according to the Bylaws the party could not confer
ownership of the name on anyone for any other purpose. According to Joe
Dehn, "There seemed to be a lot of sentiment that the whole thing had been
sprung on us without sufficient preparation and without time to investigate all
of the implications -- and a particular concern that our General Counsel had
not had a chance to review the proposal -- and so there was a reluctance to
spend a lot of time debating the specifics. Points like this will have to be
debated if/when this or a similar proposal is presented again, or if the LNC
decides to come up with a general policy for "chartering" LP-related
organizations. The LNC directed the Chair to gather information relevant
to such a process and report on it at the next meeting."
Those of us who know
about the kinds of abuses described above cannot help but wonder if a
Schmerl-crony controlled LNC will go ahead and pass this resolution during one
of the two July LNC meetings. And they wonder if this is the sort of
thing we will see more of if the "New Libertarians" take power in the
party. (Note: This nefarious plan evidently was abandoned and was not brought
up at the Indianapolis meetings.) See the full resolution and full Joe Dehn comments.
BILL WINTER AND STEVE DASBACH RESIGN
Communications Direct (and LPNEWS editor) Bill Winter gave his notice a couple
months before the July 2002 Indianapolis Convention, effective after the
Convention, but agreed to stay on on a month-to-month basis until a replacement
was found. Some LNC members claimed that he had been caught in one two
many inaccurate statements to the LNC. (In both July 2002 LNC meetings
the issue of the unknown level of LPNEWS accounts receivable loomed
large. See my report on the convention.) Other people opinined he was but the
first rat deserting the sinking ship.
On
September 18, 2002 National Director Steve Dasbach gave notice, citing LNC
members having lost confidence in him. Of course, this was due to a long
series of mismanagement problems (like the above and others discussed in my
Convention report), capped by new revelations that Dasbach, through either
incompetence or intention, had withheld important financial data from the LNC:
like the LPNEWS accounts receivables, the fact that he had used Convention
money for general operating purposes, that the actual debt from the convention
was unknown, and the new revelation that the LNC owed staffers over $100,000 in
vacation and other time. The August 21, 2002 LNC Executive Committee meeting minutes and the Treasurer's September 2002 report provide further details. (See Dasbach resignation letter.)
February 2004
Postscript:
Since I've noticed this page still gets a lot of
hits, for some reason!, I decided to do a quick postscript and share a few
updates. First, I'd like to note that despite assailing the office
staffers above, I do believe the Libertarian National Committee and especially
Chair Jim Lark exercised ineffective oversight, often over-taxing
staffers and encouraging them to exceed their capabilities.
Also note that after Texan Geoffrey Neale
became Chair in 2002 he and his Treasurer discovered the party to be over
$200,000 in debt. However, with the help of their new National Director,
and better oversight, they have managed to pay off the debt and hopefully will
be on to better things. Like NOT inviting Neale Boortz to speak at any more
National Libertarian conventions, especially since he endorses FBI spying on
peace activists (including libertarians) who oppose the War on Terrorism and
the Iraq War! (See radicalbuttons.com/bootboortz.html and carolmoore.net/libertarianparty/replytoboortz.html )
Fighting the right wing neoconservatives obviously
trying to subvert the party remains my focus, be it on Women's Rights,
abortion, government spying or non-interventionist foreign policy.
See libertarians4peace.net and pro-choicelibertarians.net However, I'm also still in there encouraging
libertarians to make their main strategy nonviolent secession. See my
relevant article right at the top of carolmoore.net/libertarianparty.
I also want to congratulate Steve Dasbach for
retaining his good temper despite the many aspersions cast upon him over the
last couple years. Hopefully, he's learned any necessary management
lessons. I congratulate him for continuing to forge on for liberty in
running Gary Nolan's campaign. Get Nolan buttons from me at topicalbuttons.com and feel free to link to the site or
to radicalbuttons.com which has a greater selection of naughtier buttons.
As for Bill Winter, who was always a charming
and helpful LPNEWS ad person but an often annoying LP NEWS editor, he's now
gone on to new adventures. Of course, he offered a parting shot in his
last LPNEWS editorial sure to anger party gadflies: "How can we make
sure that LP leaders are qualified to do their jobs? And how can we weed out
those Libertarians who through incompetence, inexperience, or personality
defects sabotage the party's progress?"
LP 2004 candidate for Presidential nomination Aaron
Russo's unnecessary personal attacks on candidate Gary Nolan sufficiently
annoyed me I ended up doing a whole page on that controversy. Plus another on the 2004 LP convention. See my Libertarian Party page for whatever I'm up to or reporting now.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
is for good men
[and women] to do
nothing." Edmund
Burke
