Libertarian Party of Iowa
Annual Convention-April 6, 2002
Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa
Minutes of the Business Meeting
The business meeting of the Convention was called to order by Mark Nelson, Chairperson, at 2:00 pm.
1. The agenda was approved unanimously.
2. Three members of the Party were present who had been members for less than 30 days. By unanimous consent the rules were suspended to allow the new members to vote at the Convention. Twenty-five LPIA members were present.
3. The minutes of the last Convention, held on March 17, 2001 in Ames, were approved unanimously.
4. Mark Nelson gave the Chairperson's report. He commented principally on success in membership growth, the impressive slate of candidates for the 2002 elections, and the strong lobbying efforts recently coordinated by Rich Moroney.
5. Tim Hird gave the Treasurer's report. He reported 2001 receipts of $10,313.09, and disbursements of $9,251.78, showing consistent growth from prior years. The bank balance (as of the close of the convention) is $4,055.27.
6. For the third straight year, Roger Fritz moderated the Constitution, Bylaws and Platform debates. Tom Stanley presented Amendments to the Constitution to be considered. (New language is underlined.)
A. The following amendment concerning new Deputy Chairpersons was approved unanimously:
OLD LANGUAGE
ARTICLE IV: OFFICERS
Section 1. The officers of the Party shall be a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. All of these officers shall be elected at each Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year by the attending delegates and shall take office immediately upon the close of the Convention and serve thereafter until the final adjournment of the next Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year.
Section 2. No offices shall be combined.
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 1. The Executive Committee of the Party shall be composed of the following:
a. The four elected officers of the Party;
b. In addition to the four elected Officers of the Party, at least...
NEW LANGUAGE
ARTICLE IV: OFFICERS
Section 1. The officers of the Party shall be a Chairperson, a Deputy Chairperson of Membership & Development, a Deputy Chairperson of Advocacy & Public Policy, a Deputy Chairperson of Campaigns & Elections, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. All of these officers shall be elected at each Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year by the attending delegates and shall take office immediately upon the close of the Convention and serve thereafter until the final adjournment of the next Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year.
Section 2. In addition, one of the three Deputy Chairpersons shall be elected to serve as Vice Chairperson. Otherwise, no offices shall be combined.
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 1. The Executive Committee of the Party shall be composed of the following:
a. The six elected officers of the Party; plus
b. At least...
B. After being amended to include the words "at any time" following "may be filled", the following amendment concerning Executive Committee unfilled seats was approved unanimously:
OLD LANGUAGE
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 1. The Executive Committee of the Party shall be composed of the following:
...
b. At least four and no more than seven members elected at each Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year, so as to be representative of the state as prescribed by the Bylaws. In the event that a maximum number of people have not been elected in an odd-numbered year, then new members may be added at a Regular Convention in an even-numbered year to serve a one year term on the Executive Committee.
NEW LANGUAGE
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 1. The Executive Committee of the Party shall be composed of the following:
...
b. At least four and no more than seven members elected at each Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year, so as to be representative of the state as prescribed by the Bylaws. Any seat not filled at a Regular Convention occurring in an odd-numbered year may be filled at any time for the remainder of the term at a Regular Convention occurring in an even-numbered year, at a Special Convention, or by the Executive Committee.
C. The following amendment concerning Executive Committee vacancies was approved unanimously:
OLD LANGUAGE
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 4. If a vacancy in the Executive Committee should occur through the above procedure or through the resignation, death or disability of a member, the Executive Committee shall appoint new members (including officers) to complete the term of the office vacated.
NEW LANGUAGE
ARTICLE V: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section 4. If a vacancy in the Executive Committee (including an officer vacancy) should occur through suspension, or through the resignation, death or disability of a member, the vacancy may be filled for the remainder of the term at a Regular Convention occurring in an even-numbered year, at a Special Convention, or by the Executive Committee.
D. An amendment failed that would have reduced the requirement to amend the Constitution from 90% to 80% of Delegates voting at a Convention.
7. Tom Stanley then presented Amendments to the Bylaws to be considered. (New language is underlined.)
A. After being amended to include the words "one of which Deputy Chairpersons shall be elected" before "Vice Chairperson," the following amendment concerning new Deputy Chairpersons was approved unanimously:
OLD LANGUAGE
Bylaw III: CONVENTIONS AND CAUCUSES
Section 8. Procedures for election of Officers
a. Officers will be elected in the order of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer.
NEW LANGUAGE
Bylaw III: CONVENTIONS AND CAUCUSES
Section 8. Procedures for election of Officers
a. Officers shall be elected in the order of Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson of Membership & Development, Deputy Chairperson of Advocacy & Public Policy, Deputy Chairperson of Campaigns & Elections-one of which Deputy Chairpersons shall be elected Vice Chairperson-Secretary, and Treasurer. The newly elected Chairperson shall nominate one of the newly elected Deputy Chairpersons to be Vice Chairperson. In addition, delegates may nominate one or both of the two other newly elected Deputy Chairpersons to be Vice Chairperson.
B. The following new Bylaw concerning Congressional District representation on the Executive Committee was approved:
NEW LANGUAGE
Bylaw III: CONVENTIONS AND CAUCUSES
Section 9. Procedures for election of the Executive Committee
(a) Convention delegates shall elect one person to the Executive Committee from each Congressional District, plus two persons to the Executive Committee at-large. Congressional District candidates shall reside in the District they seek to represent. If after Congressional District elections, any Congressional District seat remains unfilled, it may be filled at-large notwithstanding the residence requirement.
[re-letter existing subsections]
8. Amendments to the State Party Platform were then considered.
A. Kevin Litten proposed a plank concerning the military draft and involuntary servitude. Mark Nelson commented that his understanding of the State Party Platform is that it addresses state issues, and that national issues are addressed in the national Platform. It was further noted that under Article VIII of the State Party Constitution, the Party has adopted the planks of the national Party. Kevin withdrew his proposal, pending review of the national Platform.
B. After discussion and slight wording amendments, the following new Platform Plank proposed by Kevin Litten was adopted unanimously. A proposed amendment to restore all rights, including the right to bear arms, was defeated.
Voting Rights for Felons
Any person who has been convicted of a felony shall receive their rights to vote back once their sentence and probation have been completed, with the exception of those convicted of voter fraud.
Phillip Burgmeier made a motion to delete the Platform Plank just adopted, citing the inequity of the last clause of the Plank. The motion was defeated.
C. James Dale proposed the following plank:
The LPIA promotes the formation of laws that compensate victims of any crime based on the direct harm to others and their property; and opposes the formation of preventative laws, which propose to correct social problems through social engineering by discouraging activities which do not directly harm others.
A motion was made to adopt the proposed Plank as the Preamble to the LPIA Platform. Mark Nelson noted that he supports adopting a preamble to the Platform, and that the proposed preamble is consistent with Libertarian views. However he feels that the best results generally are achieved when proposed language can be reviewed deliberately in advance of a Convention (for example through the email list groups). After further discussion, the motion was defeated.
A motion was made to adopt the Plank in the body of the Platform. The motion was defeated.
9. Vacancies in State Party Officer positions and Executive Committee positions were then considered.
A. A motion to amend the agenda to elect Party Officers at this time was unanimously approved.
B. A motion to suspend the rules to implement the Constitutional Amendment concerning Executive Committee vacancies (minutes #6.C. above) immediately, rather than after the conclusion of the Convention, was approved unanimously.
C. Tom Stanley announced that he was resigning as Secretary of the Party under the provisions of Bylaw II (4), prohibiting Executive Committee members from taking part in a working committee of another political party. He was offered and had accepted a job with the national Natural Law Party in Fairfield preparing their FEC reports. In discussion, he stated that he would not be giving strategic advice to the NLP regarding candidate elections or public policy issues, but would offer advice regarding financial compliance issues.
Rich Moroney made a motion, which was unanimously approved, that it is the sense of the Convention that Tom Stanley's position with the national Natural Law Party as he described it is not in violation of the Party's Bylaws. Tom Stanley withdrew his resignation.
D. The Convention noted the resignation of Sylvia Olson from the Executive Committee, as conveyed in an email dated 4/3/02:
"Briefly, I (Sylvia) would like to vacate my seat on the LPIA Executive Committee. I think it should go to someone with more time and interest in being active right now."
E. Mark Nelson noted that there exist two vacant at-large seats on the Executive Committee, that of Sylvia Olson, and that of Tom Stanley (who replaced Lorra Brown as Secretary in October, 2001). Nominations were opened for the two vacancies. Jason Gross and James Dale were nominated, and there were no other nominations. Jason Gross and James Dale were elected unanimously to fill the vacant seats for the remainder of the terms.
10. The Convention proceeded to nominate candidates for statewide office. The following persons were nominated unopposed and with unanimous approval to run for the following elective offices. All accepted the nominations.
Clyde Cleveland Governor
Richard Compagna Lt. Governor
Ed Noyes Attorney General
Fritz Groszkruger Secretary of Agriculture
Clyde Cleveland noted that he had held discussions with Ed Moses, the state chair of the Iowa Reform Party, who had been intending to run for Governor. They discussed the possibility of Mr. Moses not running for Governor, endorsing Clyde's campaign, and instead running for Secretary of State; and the LPIA not running a candidate for Secretary of State. The Convention agreed not to run a candidate for Secretary of State. It was noted that if Mr. Moses's intentions change, the LPIA Executive Committee may endorse an LPIA Secretary of State candidate.
No persons were nominated for the following statewide offices: Treasurer, Auditor, US Senate. The Executive Committee may endorse candidates for these offices at a later date.
11. The convention unanimously endorsed the following candidacies:
Kevin Litten US House of Representatives, 2nd District
Mark Nelson Iowa Senate
Rich Moroney Iowa House
Phillip Burgmeier Iowa House
12. The Convention proceeded to elect delegates to the Indianapolis National Convention in July. The LPIA is entitled to send fourteen delegates. LPIA Bylaw VII (2) provides that the LPIA Chairperson and Secretary shall serve as delegates if they so desire. Both Mark Nelson and Tom Stanley indicated they wished to so serve. There were fifteen nominees for the remaining twelve delegate slots. Twelve were elected as delegates, and the remaining three were elected as alternates:
Delegates: Jason Gross, Rich Moroney, Clyde Cleveland, Christy Welty, Ed Noyes, Eric Cooper, Brian Anderson, Heather Clark, Fritz Groszkruger, Richard Compagna, Eric Kessler, Deb Williamson.
Alternates: Charles Morenus, Jerri Noyes, Spencer Nelson.
13. There being no further business, the business meeting of the Convention was adjourned at 4:45 pm.
Libertarian Party of Iowa
Minutes of the Executive Committee-April 6, 2002
Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa
Chairperson Mark Nelson called the LPIA Executive Committee to order at 4:50 pm. Present were Christy Welty (Vice Chairperson), Tom Stanley (Secretary), Tim Hird (Treasurer), and at-large members James Dale, Jason Gross, Kevin Litten and Rich Moroney. Guests included Heather Clark (Webmaster), and Brad Klopfenstein (Indiana LP Executive Director). All motions discussed below were approved unanimously.
1. After discussion, the Committee agreed to maintain the $10 introductory membership fee.
2. After discussion, the Committee agreed to enroll in the new national UMP (Unified Membership Program) when it becomes available. The new program requires the state party to send only $13 (rather than $25) to national for new members recruited by the state party. It returns $0.50 (rather than $1.00) per month for the first year, and $1.50 (rather that $1.00) per month for subsequent renewals. No overage for donations exceeding $100 per year are paid with the new program.
3. Rich Moroney was appointed as point person for candidate recruitment and training.
4. Jason, Tim and Heather agreed to implement internet credit card service at a cost as good or better than that agreed to by the Executive Committee last October (see minutes #12).
5. The Committee agreed that Jason will solicit monthly pledges to the LPIA by phone from Iowa donors giving more than $100 annually to national. LPIA will pay Jason a 20% commission on the annualized pledges. He will complete the project by June.
6. Jason also, without compensation, will phone lapsed members and those making membership inquiries, to boost LPIA membership.
7. The Committee agreed to offer candidates for elective office the use of a page on the LPIA website, as an in-kind contribution of $35.00.
8. The Committee discussed outreach programs for the coming months. It was agreed to print $1,000,000 bills and provide support to the Cleveland campaign for a Tax Freedom Billion Dollar giveaway in Des Moines on May 4th. It also was agreed to hold a freedom gathering later in the summer after the national convention, in concert with other pro-liberty groups and with Bill Masters as a potential speaker.
9. Kevin Litten proposed a mailing to all Iowans in correctional institutions outlining the LPIA's support for fully informed juries, our stand against mandatory minimum sentences, and our new policy of restoring voting rights. He will report back to the Committee concerning mailing costs.
10. The Committee approved the minutes of the October 7, 2001 meeting held in Coralville.
There being no further business, the Executive Committee adjourned at 5:45