LNC Policy Manual revision

We have a mail ballot concerning the EPCC as indicated in the attachment. Dan Karlan, Stewart Flood, Rebecca Sink-Burris and Admiral Colley co-sponsored.

Section 2.02

COMMITTEE SCOPE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

4) Employment Policy and Compensation Committee

Existing language . . .

[The Employment Policy and Compensation Committee shall develop the documents necessary for the administration of the employment of the Executive Director, including but not limited to a performance review. Proposed procedures, including forms, for the Executive Director performance review shall be presented by the Employment Policy and Compensation Committee to the LNC for its advice and consent in the 4th quarter of each calendar year. The proposed procedures shall include the administration of the Executive Director performance review in the 1st quarter of each calendar year. The results of the review and any additional recommendations of the Employment Policy and Compensation Committee will be reported at the first available LNC meeting following the review period.]

Replace with . . .

[The Employment Policy and Compensation Committee shall develop documents, procedures, and guidelines for the effective administration, supervision and development of Staff, including but not limited to job descriptions, compensation ranges, hiring, training, performance reviews, promotion, progressive discipline and termination. The LNC may supersede any such documents, procedures and guidelines by adopting a replacement.

The Employment Policy and Compensation Committee shall also be available to Staff to discuss on a confidential basis the working environment or observed violations of the
Policy Manual.]


Fails 7-7, 3 abstentions

For

Bob Sullentrup
Aaron Starr
Alicia Mattson
Scott Lieberman
Rebecca Sink-Burris
Stewart Flood
Dan Karlan
James Lark

Against

Michael Jingozian
Pat Dixon
Lee Wrights
Mary Ruwart
Tony Ryan
Mark Hinkle
Rachel Hawkridge

Abstain

Bill Redpath
Michael Colley
Julie Fox

REGION 7 REPORT

Submitted to: Libertarian National Committee, July 7 , 2009.

Submitted by: Rachel W. Hawkridge, Region 7 Representative, Libertarian National Committee

This report will provide information concerning activities of the Libertarian Party state affiliates in Region 7 since I last reported on February 21, 2009.


Florida

The Libertarian Party of Florida held its annual meeting and convention on March 28-29, 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida, and elected Mr. J.J. McCurry to the Chair. He will serve a 2 year term. Vicki Kirkland was elected Vice-Chair for a 2 year term, Treasurer Jack Tanner , Secretary Mark Clifford, Director At Large (1) Char-Lez Braden, Director At Large (2) Sean Concannon, Director At Large (3) Jeff Hunt, and regional representatives Jim Tall, Alexander George, Nik Ritchie, Tyler Miller, Geoff Scott, Phil Laibe, Jim Kearney, former Chair Karl Dickey, and James Coakley will all being serving on the ExComm.

Florida continues to have regular, active county meetings, active campus groups, and Facebook groups.

The Chair reports that the big push in Florida is the creation of county affiliates. They’ve gone from 11 in January 2008 to 20 in January 2009, and are now at 25. Congratulations, Team! :o)

LP Florida’s currently Declared Candidates:

Governor: John Wayne Smith
Lt. Governor: Staci Henegar
State House Seat 33: Franklin Perez
State House Seat 42: Jeff Shoobridge

Palm Beach County Commission: Karl Dickey
Hillsborough County Commission: Brandon Newton
Bay County Commission: Geoff Scott
Bay County Commission: Justin Guthrie

Great job, Team Florida! :o)


Hawai’i

Hawai’i held a Convention on May 16th. They’ve elected and seated a new ExComm, which consists of:

Chair Ken Schoolland (whose name you may name recognize)
Vice Chair Larry Bartley
Treasurer John Spangler
Secretary Roger Taylor
At Large Jeff Mallan, Aaron Anderson, Li Zhao, Dave Hudson (who was the lone Hawai’i Delegate to Denver).


And they even have a Consulting Director on staff; Roger Taylor who also serves as Secretary.

They’ve published a newsletter already - http://is.gd/1tYAG, and plan to overhaul their website as well.

Welcome back, Hawai’i! Mahalo!



Idaho

LP Idaho has a new website, and it’s fabulous! Check it out!

The Libertarian Philosophical Brunch monthly series is going well and they have about a dozen regular participants. They just had a lively, but civil three hour philosophy discussion at the last brunch.

Due to the popularity of the brunch, there are plans to start a similar dinner group.

Fantastic, Idaho Libertarians!


Oregon

Oregon’s convention was held at the Shilo Inn Suites Oceanfront Hotel in Newport, OR on March 14 and 15. Gene and I were in attendance. Their new ExComm consists of the following brave souls:

Chairman: Joseph Cornwell
Vice-chairman: Marc Delphine
Secretary: Christiana Mayer
Treasurer: Justin Grover

There were numerous changes made to the bylaws, including deleting the Non-Aggression Pledge (NAP). The one included in Oregon's bylaws was flawed - it said "use of force" rather than "initiation of force", but in light of the MIAC report that was just making the news at that time, I'm not convinced that letting go of NAP is a good idea.

Oregon's Convention was a good time, and a lot was accomplished. We had some fun, dinner with our friends, and listening to a great speaker at lunch on the Heller decision.

Oregon's Elected/Appointed Officials:

Gaston City Council Position 3 - Richard Sager
Colton School Board Position 4 - Marty Soehrman
Beaverton School Committee, Elmonica Elementary Position 3 - Adam Mayer
Tualatin Valley Water District Commissioner Position 4 - Richard Burke
Tigard Water Board Position 2 (Chair) - Charles Radley
Beaverton School Committee, Beaveron High Position 3 - Inessa Hamilton-Lee
Beaverton School Committee, Elmonica Elementary Position 1 - Greg Rohde
Mtn. View Middle School Local School Committee Position 1- Mark Delphine
Elmonica Elementary School Local School Committee, Position 1 - Greg Rohde

Congratulations, Oregon Libertarians!


The Real Washington™

Our new Clark County (Vancouver, WA area) affiliate has a school board candidate. That group has a website, and they’ve done a very nice job.

LPWA continues to put out a monthly newsletter, thanks to editor Michael Wilson, who is no longer in Vancouver. It’s been a great fundraising source for us. We just received an $800 donation and a great page long thank you letter from one member, through that newsletter.

I am working with the Independent Voter’s Coalition to change ballot access laws in Washington. This coalition consists of Green, Progressive, Constitution Party, and of course, the Libertarian Party.

We’ll have an exciting, active presence at Hempfest and it’s Olympia, WA sister festival.

Thanks to all the team in Washington!

Convention Delegate's Manual - 2010 St. Louis, MO

As it looks like the Delegate Manual for Convention '10 may not be printed, please be prepared by reading and or printing.

State Chairs - would you please check your delegate totals, membership totals, etc. and make sure that they are correct?

Bob Sullentrup to statechairs, lnc-discuss Jun 21

Dear State Chairs:

As you may or may not know, convention delegate allocation is based on two factors:

1. The vote totals by state for our most recent presidential nominee and

2. The sustaining membership counts by state six months before the convention.

The Delegation Chair’s Manual posted a couple of months back:

https://www.lp.org/files/Delegation%20Chair's%20Manual%202010.pdf

explains all of this. See pages 22-23 for the delegate allocations. Please review and let me know of any corrections to the presidential vote totals by July 1.

Meanwhile, it has been my practice since I became Secretary to produce Delegation Chairs Manuals for each of the affiliates. I did so because one of the things my predecessor, Steve Givot, said to me when I took over for him 57 days before the Atlanta Convention in 2004 was “you won’t believe the number of simple-minded questions you will get including ‘how many delegates does our state get?’.”

As volunteer leaders of the Party who have achieved our positions because we are responsible and get things done, we all lead busy lives. How could Steve expect people to remember the details of an e-mail they had received back in January? It seemed to me this problem was a simple matter of communication that a DCM could solve. I have never gotten one question at any of the three conventions I’ve served as secretary about delegate allocation or much of anything else administrative that could not be looked up in the DCM. This is important because I tend to be, if you will forgive the Missouri Ozark colloquialism, busier than a one-legged man in an a$$ kicking contest.

My question for you is this. Should I produce hardcopy DCMs for St. Louis 2010 (May 29-31 over Memorial Day)? I suspect someone in your delegation will have a laptop and could be persuaded to download the PDF from the link above. The DCMs typically cost about $15 to produce and ship – courtesy of Diane and me -- and I would otherwise donate the savings to the Party to use for other purposes.

Bob Sullentrup

National Secretary

At-Large Credentials Committee - Apply now!

The LNC will be choosing the At-Large Credentials Committee members at our July 2009 meeting.

Below is the information. If you are interested, please apply ASAP.

National Credentials Committee Member

This position serves the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) to prepare and facilitate the credentialing of delegates to the biennial National LP Convention. There are 10 people on the credentials committee; five are appointed by the LNC and 5 are appointed by the top five states in membership as of 7 months prior to the convention.

Someone serving in this committee is expected to be a member of the Libertarian Party and to attend the 2010 Convention being held in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend. Attention to detail, a professional attitude, and a customer-service oriented mindset are important qualities in a potential appointee. He or she must maintain complete honesty and a lack of bias to ensure the credibility of the votes and elections held during the course of the convention.

The Credentials Committee is currently working to develop an updated and streamlined credentialing process for the 2010 convention, creating an excellent opportunity for an appointee to hit the ground running and collaborate with colleagues from across the nation. Additionally, the Credentials Committee works with all the states to ensure that a full, accurate list of delegates is submitted by each state starting in January 2010 and leading up to the national convention. Usually a committee member is assigned to work closely with 5 states to help them fulfill their reporting requirements. Once the convention starts, Credentials Committee members take shifts working at the credentials desk to facilitate the check-in and –out of delegates in order to provide accurate counts for voting and other functions.

Required Qualifications:

- Member of the LP
- Attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills
- Professional attitude, honesty, and lack of bias under pressure
- Ability to learn complex systems
- Familiarity with MS Office, particularly Excel
- Reliable Internet access (regular email correspondence will be required)

Additional Qualifications: (not required, but potentially very useful)

- Familiarity with (or the ability to learn) MS Access
- Previous convention credentialing experience

If you are interested in being considered for appointment to the 2010 Credentials Committee, please email a letter of interest and statement of qualifications to the LNC Secretary, Robert Sullentrup, at rwsully@att.net by 01 July 2009. For more information, contact credentials@lp.org.

Campaign season is almost here!

Campaign season is almost here! If you’ve ever thought about running for office, it’s time to start planning.

Libertarian candidates have some choices to make. There are two ways to go.

The first is to run for a small, non-partisan office. This could be anything from a water or cemetery board to a school board. These are very winnable races. Where you don’t necessarily talk about your political beliefs, but you practice them. You influence policy. Make decisions, and actually govern. School boards are a great race for this. Do not expect that people will know that you are Libertarian, do not attempt to change the world overnight. Especially on a school board – this one should be handled carefully, but can be a launching point for a politician to actually get elected to higher office. Someone who has served on a school board for 4-8 years, putting in the time, the hard work, will have some reputation and network that may help to win a legislative, or city council race.

The second is to run an educational campaign. There might be a race in your district that has no opponent, or where you just have a particular passion, but not any real hope of winning. In this type of campaign, you would run a legitimate campaign, maximizing your exposure, taking every opportunity to speak to voters and to get out the Libertarian message. All the while knowing that there is not much chance of winning. These campaigns are generally run for education and information – a way to expose people to Libertarian ideas, and talk about better government.

No matter which strategy you decide on, never enter into a race for a job that you wouldn’t take, unless it is a strategy. For instance, one time Ruth Bennett ran for Lt. Governor on the platform that, if elected, she would abolish the office of Lt. Governor. Jack Tanner, and a couple of our Florida Libertarians, got elected to a board that accomplished nothing, and cost taxpayers a lot of money, and then they shut it down. All brilliant Libertarian strategists. Thank you, gentlepeople.

What do you plan to do? Need help deciding? Go to your county auditor, or secretary of State’s website, and see what offices are up for election this fall.

What sounds attractive or interesting to you? What fits with your interests, skills?

Once you have an office in mind, start doing the research.

• What are the issues?

• Is this office something that has been in the news recently? Corrupt? Incompetent?

• Spending too much money?

• Look up Voter Guide Statements for the race in past years.

• Pay particular attention to the statement of the winner.

• Start to write a statement that incorporates Libertarian values. Be careful that you don’t include any information that, no matter how true or Libertarian, has no connection to the office. (In other words, in a City Council race, you do not mention federal or state issues. This is not where you talk about your 911 Truth beliefs, or your Birther convictions, or your desire to build ZeroG space stations.)

Then start to prepare –

• Get a photo taken – preferably a professional shot. Dress for a professional job interview (it is!), and be cautious about any emblems, symbols, or backgrounds. You want a photo that makes you look relaxed, confident, and approachable. Susan Hogarth reviewed a lot of candidate photos last season – I found it helpful.

• Have you been in touch with your local LP affiliate to ask for endorsement, campaign help, volunteers? Do it now. This is also a good place to start to get help from Libertarians with your Voter Guide Statement and talking points.

• Put together a list of friends, family, business contacts and organizations that you can ask for donations and help. Even people who don’t have money usually have something that they can help you with. Putting up signs. Sending out an eMail on your behalf. Phone numbers of people who do have money. Ideas.

• Get online, and find a domain name. JoeSmithForCongress.org. Do not use JoeSmithForCongress.freewebs.com, or something like that. It should be simple, understandable, easy.

Now is the time to get online, if you haven’t already. Set up eMail accounts through Google which also gives you

• Google Calendar (Great for scheduling candidate events! The entire team can access the calendar.),

• Google Docs (for leaving Voter Guide Statement, photos and position papers, literature for events, etc.)

Get a Facebook account for the campaign. Be sure that it is used for only campaign things. No pictures of you doing beer bongs at a frat party. Which means be careful who you friend. Maybe the campaign account is named Willis Campaign, or Willis for Congress. Or rather than a whole account, set up a Fan page and group for the campaign.

Start a blog. I prefer Wordpress.com. You can download and host Wordpress on your own domain (best), but if not, or to start, get WillisForCongress.wordpress.com. You can move the blog later, or even just link from your website. On the blog, comment on news stories or developments that are current and germane to your race. Always offer a Libertarian solution.

Here’s an example of a blog entry . . .

"Pleasantville’s City Council plans to raise taxes by 30% to pay for the new park and rec center (make part of that sentence a link to the news story).

Since Libertarians prefer to spend within our means, and not burden your children for recreational facilities, I would first solicit private donations (in exchange for naming), then set up a system where users of the rec center would pay fees for classes, groups would pay rental fees to use the facilities, and businesses and individuals could either provide ongoing financial support or maintenance.

In this way, I estimate that we would only have to raise taxes 10%. Of course, my preference would be to wait until we could raise the complete cost of the facility from private sources and community fundraising before we broke ground and then support it through user fees. "

This example, while some would attack it as un-Libertarian, offers both the proposed Libertarian solution and a compromise. (Often, Libertarians in office find that they can reduce government by offering something less than the original “full meal deal”. Being the lone “No” vote may make you feel good, it really doesn’t accomplish anything. Making an amendment to a motion can begin some discussion in a meeting that just “No” doesn’t achieve. Offering people smaller government solutions helps to wean them off the habit of taxes extracted at the point of a gun. Who knows, maybe by the time a voter has read your blog and smaller government ideas for several months, they may actually be ready to face the idea of life without the all-encompassing government control!)

Start to tweet. Sign up at twitter.com. Use one of the link shrinkers to make the link to your blog entry tiny, and tweet it each time you blog. For example – Willis offers small government solution to 30% tax increase – http://is.gd/cBni. #tlot #liberty Don’t forget the appropriate hashtags – those #tlot and #liberty words at the end. They’re a “filing” system for twitter. More info on hashtags.

Now that you’re blogging, and tweeting, use the tweets as your Facebook status. This is a great way to stimulate discussion among your Facebook friends, and teach more about Libertarian philosophy. Add as many Facebook friends as you can within your voting district. Search for likely suspects, and add them.

Write letters to the editor that are basically your blog articles. You may have make some minor adjustments for format or clarity. Post them to local newspaper’s forums.

Take a few minutes to go to DonorTownSquare.com, PayPal.com and then ChipIn.com. Set up accounts at all of them. Add the widgets to all of your sites.

Since all of this can be a lot of work, and you haven’t even started the “real life” work of the campaign yet, consider having a truted volunteer of family member function as your “online campaign manager”. All of this can be done by a ghost-writer, even remotely. Your cousin George could be sitting in Berthoud, CO, writing your blog and conducting your online campaign for City Council in Portland, OR.

Now, starts the physical part. Doorbelling. One great candidate that I know started in early spring, walking his neighborhood, knocking on doors, introducing himself.

"Hi, I’m Willis, and I’m running for City Council this fall. I have this piece to let you know what I’m about, and I’d appreciate you taking a few minutes to take a look at it. It has contact information for me on it, and you can call or eMail me with any questions you might have. Have a great evening, and if you think my ideas sound good, I’d appreciate your vote."

He knocked on his neighbor’s doors several evenings a week and some weekends, and won the election in the fall.

Always attend neighborhood events, town celebrations, etc. They are great opportunities for networking and campaigning. And do I need to say it? Always have your pocket sized campaign piece in your pocket, and a slim jim or something when appropriate.

More later – the fun stuff, like public forums, interviews, candidate ratings . . .

Have you ever thought of running for office?

Campaign season is almost here! If you’ve ever thought about running for office, it’s time to start planning.

Libertarian candidates have some choices to make. There are two ways to go.

The first is to run for a small, non-partisan office. This could be anything from a water or cemetery board to a school board. These are very winnable races. Where you don’t necessarily talk about your political beliefs, but you practice them. You influence policy. Make decisions, and actually govern. School boards are a great race for this. Do not expect that people will know that you are Libertarian, do not attempt to change the world overnight. Especially on a school board – this one should be handled carefully, but can be a launching point for a politician to actually get elected to higher office. Someone who has served on a school board for 4-8 years, putting in the time, the hard work, will have some reputation and network that may help to win a legislative, or city council race.

The second is to run an educational campaign. There might be a race in your district that has no opponent, or where you just have a particular passion, but not any real hope of winning. In this type of campaign, you would run a legitimate campaign, maximizing your exposure, taking every opportunity to speak to voters and to get out the Libertarian message. All the while knowing that there is not much chance of winning. These campaigns are generally run for education and information – a way to expose people to Libertarian ideas, and talk about better government.

No matter which strategy you decide on, never enter into a race for a job that you wouldn’t take, unless it is a strategy. For instance, one time Ruth Bennett ran for Lt. Governor on the platform that, if elected, she would abolish the office of Lt. Governor. Jack Tanner, and a couple of our Florida Libertarians, got elected to a board that accomplished nothing, and cost taxpayers a lot of money, and then they shut it down. All brilliant Libertarian strategists. Thank you, gentlepeople.

What do you plan to do? Need help deciding? Go to your county auditor, or secretary of State’s website, and see what offices are up for election this fall.

What sounds attractive or interesting to you? What fits with your interests, skills?

Once you have an office in mind, start doing the research.

• What are the issues?

• Is this office something that has been in the news recently? Corrupt? Incompetent?

• Spending too much money?

• Look up Voter Guide Statements for the race in past years.

• Pay particular attention to the statement of the winner.

• Start to write a statement that incorporates Libertarian values. Be careful that you don’t include any information that, no matter how true or Libertarian, has no connection to the office. (In other words, in a City Council race, you do not mention federal or state issues. This is not where you talk about your 911 Truth beliefs, or your Birther convictions, or your desire to build ZeroG space stations.)

Then start to prepare –

• Get a photo taken – preferably a professional shot. Dress for a professional job interview (it is!), and be cautious about any emblems, symbols, or backgrounds. You want a photo that makes you look relaxed, confident, and approachable. Susan Hogarth reviewed a lot of candidate photos last season – I found it helpful.

• Have you been in touch with your local LP affiliate to ask for endorsement, campaign help, volunteers? Do it now. This is also a good place to start to get help from Libertarians with your Voter Guide Statement and talking points.

• Put together a list of friends, family, business contacts and organizations that you can ask for donations and help. Even people who don’t have money usually have something that they can help you with. Putting up signs. Sending out an eMail on your behalf. Phone numbers of people who do have money. Ideas.

• Get online, and find a domain name. JoeSmithForCongress.org. Do not use JoeSmithForCongress.freewebs.com, or something like that. It should be simple, understandable, easy.

Now is the time to get online, if you haven’t already. Set up eMail accounts through Google which also gives you

• Google Calendar (Great for scheduling candidate events! The entire team can access the calendar.),

• Google Docs (for leaving Voter Guide Statement, photos and position papers, literature for events, etc.)

Get a Facebook account for the campaign. Be sure that it is used for only campaign things. No pictures of you doing beer bongs at a frat party. Which means be careful who you friend. Maybe the campaign account is named Willis Campaign, or Willis for Congress. Or rather than a whole account, set up a Fan page and group for the campaign.

Start a blog. I prefer Wordpress.com. You can download and host Wordpress on your own domain (best), but if not, or to start, get WillisForCongress.wordpress.com. You can move the blog later, or even just link from your website. On the blog, comment on news stories or developments that are current and germane to your race. Always offer a Libertarian solution.

Here’s an example of a blog entry . . .

"Pleasantville’s City Council plans to raise taxes by 30% to pay for the new park and rec center (make part of that sentence a link to the news story).

Since Libertarians prefer to spend within our means, and not burden your children for recreational facilities, I would first solicit private donations (in exchange for naming), then set up a system where users of the rec center would pay fees for classes, groups would pay rental fees to use the facilities, and businesses and individuals could either provide ongoing financial support or maintenance.

In this way, I estimate that we would only have to raise taxes 10%. Of course, my preference would be to wait until we could raise the complete cost of the facility from private sources and community fundraising before we broke ground and then support it through user fees. "

This example, while some would attack it as un-Libertarian, offers both the proposed Libertarian solution and a compromise. (Often, Libertarians in office find that they can reduce government by offering something less than the original “full meal deal”. Being the lone “No” vote may make you feel good, it really doesn’t accomplish anything. Making an amendment to a motion can begin some discussion in a meeting that just “No” doesn’t achieve. Offering people smaller government solutions helps to wean them off the habit of taxes extracted at the point of a gun. Who knows, maybe by the time a voter has read your blog and smaller government ideas for several months, they may actually be ready to face the idea of life without the all-encompassing government control!)

Start to tweet. Sign up at twitter.com. Use one of the link shrinkers to make the link to your blog entry tiny, and tweet it each time you blog. For example – Willis offers small government solution to 30% tax increase – http://is.gd/cBni. #tlot #liberty Don’t forget the appropriate hashtags – those #tlot and #liberty words at the end. They’re a “filing” system for twitter. More info on hashtags.

Now that you’re blogging, and tweeting, use the tweets as your Facebook status. This is a great way to stimulate discussion among your Facebook friends, and teach more about Libertarian philosophy. Add as many Facebook friends as you can within your voting district. Search for likely suspects, and add them.

Write letters to the editor that are basically your blog articles. You may have make some minor adjustments for format or clarity. Post them to local newspaper’s forums.

Take a few minutes to go to DonorTownSquare.com, PayPal.com and then ChipIn.com. Set up accounts at all of them. Add the widgets to all of your sites.

Since all of this can be a lot of work, and you haven’t even started the “real life” work of the campaign yet, consider having a truted volunteer of family member function as your “online campaign manager”. All of this can be done by a ghost-writer, even remotely. Your cousin George could be sitting in Berthoud, CO, writing your blog and conducting your online campaign for City Council in Portland, OR.

Now, starts the physical part. Doorbelling. One great candidate that I know started in early spring, walking his neighborhood, knocking on doors, introducing himself.

"Hi, I’m Willis, and I’m running for City Council this fall. I have this piece to let you know what I’m about, and I’d appreciate you taking a few minutes to take a look at it. It has contact information for me on it, and you can call or eMail me with any questions you might have. Have a great evening, and if you think my ideas sound good, I’d appreciate your vote."

He knocked on his neighbor’s doors several evenings a week and some weekends, and won the election in the fall.

Always attend neighborhood events, town celebrations, etc. They are great opportunities for networking and campaigning. And do I need to say it? Always have your pocket sized campaign piece in your pocket, and a slim jim or something when appropriate.

More later – the fun stuff, like public forums, interviews, candidate ratings . . .

Lp Oregon Convention

The Libertarian Party of Oregon held our convention March 14 & March
15. Here are the list of officers and e-mail information.

Chairman: Joseph Cornwell
jrcorn@mindless.com
Vice-chariman: Marc Delphine
marcdelphine@gmail.com
Secretary: Christiana Mayer
christianamayer@gmail.com
Treasurer: Justin Grover
j.grover@notablevideo.com

Thanks and CONGRATULATIONS to all of these courageous individuals for taking on the working positions! We really appreciate your work for Liberty.

There were numerous changes made to the bylaws, including deleting the Non-Aggression Pledge (NAP). The one included in Oregon's bylaws was flawed - it said "use of force" rather than "initiation of force", but in light of the MIAC report that was just making the news at that time, I'm not convinced that letting go of NAP is a good idea.

Oregon's Convention was a good time, and a lot was accomplished. We had some fun, dinner with our friends, and listening to a great speaker at lunch on the Heller decision.

Plan on attending next year . . . maybe a joint convention - Washington and Oregon?