Minutes from the Libertarian Party of Tennessee
State Convention, 12 April 2003
Held at the Realty Association
1305 Murfreesboro Rd Nashville TN
These minutes are also available in MS Word format here
0915: Meeting was called to order
Henry Coffer, owner of the building, made the guests aware of the restroom facilities available, coffee,
refreshments etc
Welcome by State Chair, Ray Ledford, with thanks to Mr. Coffer for making the building available. Mr.
Ledford then gave an outline to the attendees of the day's events.
Mr. Ledford then recognized those attendees with family members serving in the armed conflict overseas.
He also recognized some newlyweds in attendance. Finally, he recognized the late chair, Dr. Richard
Pearl Sr. who passed away with lung cancer in May 2002. He went on to highlight the achievements of the
Libertarian Party of TN (LPTN) over the past year:
- The LPTN was instrumental in defeating a state income tax in the General Assembly
- The LPTN sent a full delegation to the Libertarian National Convention July 2002 in Indianapolis
IN-one of the few states to have a full delegation
- Eight candidates ran in races across the state, and Mr. Ledford recognized Commissioner Heather
Scott's successful campaign to win a seat on the Wilson Co. TN county commission
- Steve Trinward and Deryl Martin were elected to serve on the Libertarian National Committee (LNC)
- Richard Pearl was posthumously awarded the Sam Adams Award the LP National Convention
- Mr. Ledford also noted the Wilson Co. Commission races of Al Williams and Dave Wilson who both
ran competitive county commission races.
- Recognized the fact that many LPTN candidates received more than 10% of the vote totals in their
local races
- Mr. Ledford mentioned the recent state chairs conference in Houston TX in which he and Mr.
Trinward participated.
- He mentioned the success of finding a friendly representative I Donna Rowland (R. Murfreesboro)
to sponsor a ballot access bill. He also mentioned the help of Richard Winger with Ballot Access
News on this project.
0935: Secretary's Report by Joey King Secretary, LPTN
Motion was made by Mike Croteau and seconded by Commissioner Scott to accept the minutes from last
year as they are posted to the website at www.lptn.net. Secretary King proceeded to outline projects
he had been affiliated with since his election to the Secretary position. He spoke to the issue of
the different versions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) that are on the table at the state and
local level. He also spoke to the issue of Ballot Access wherein the LPTN would be listed on the ballot
as the LP and not as "independent." He also felt it would be better to pass legislation rather than a
court challenge to the current law. King also spoke in opposition to 2 bills in the General Assembly
that would increase the number of signatures it would require to get on the ballot.
0945: Vice Chair's Report by Commissioner Heather Scott of Wilson County.
The focus of Commissioner Scott's report was her activities in party building and she chose to let the
individual county chairs speak to their organization.
James Chesser, Chair Davidson County-Spoke of his 4-point focus: a) eliminate voter apathy b) make
government more accountable c) focus on the Bill of Rights d) recruit candidates who can get elected.
Mike Croteau, Chair Hamilton County-They have been focusing on educating the public to the concept
of Liberty. In addition, they have been focusing on local races and local ballot access. Joe Dumas
ran a good campaign for the Signal Mountain Town Council. The members have also been thinking of
fabricating a giant John Ashecoft look-a-like "head" similar to the Don Sundquist head that was
seen around the state during the past few months. The purpose of the giant head would be to draw
media attention to the outrages of the Patriot Act. He is trying to facilitate the passage of a
resolution by the City of Chattanooga in opposition to the Patriot Act.
Ray Ledford (also chair of Bradley County LP) spoke to their decision to meet with Hamilton County
from time to time since there is strength in numbers and the same media covers both counties.
Taylor Nickey, Shelby County Chair-Thanked previous Shelby County Chair, Bruce Young for increasing
the membership during his tenure. Taylor spoke of the book report project where he assigns a 5-minute
report by a member each month. They try to have a guest speaker each month as well. One of their biggest
local battles is fighting a light rail project in Shelby County. He also commended the work of Larry
Hanson in keeping up with legislation in the General Assembly. Kelly Fleming (Secretary Shelby County LP)
spoke of her fund raising efforts using a raffle and a quarterly E-bay auction ($150). They also have
a program with the Amazon.com "click through" program that nets the party some money. Bruce Young
(former chair Shelby County LP) spoke to their party building efforts. He also spoke of their anti-NBA
efforts and media success in having them refer to him as the Libertarian (large L) candidate for Mayor.
He spent $32 on his race to open up a bank account, and relied on a core of activists. Bruce also told
of how Vernie Kuglin has been arrested by the IRS for income tax evasion. She is facing 30-years in prison
and a $1.5 million fine. 15 agents came to arrest her, but the doorman at her condo and her soon would not
let them in without a search warrant. Bruce asked us to support her and called her the matriarch of the
Shelby County LP.
Jonathan McGlumpy (Hamilton County) spoke to the success in Southeast Tennessee at various events using the
Operation Politically Homeless Booth. They have set up 3 booths in the last 6 months. He detailed to the
group how to obtain the "components" of the booth.
James Chesser (Chairman, Davidson County) spoke again about his idea to have each monthly meeting
"sponsored" by one of the Bill of Rights. His wife, Tunde, is also spearheading a drive to place copies
of the Bill of Rights on car windshields. He has also been networking with the Tennessee Highway Patrol,
Belmont College and Stage Post Design (who donated $25,000 in free video).
End of Vice Chair's report.
Treasurer's Report by Alicia Matson, Treasurer LPTN
Alicia felt the numbers are a little boring at times. The budget will be posted on the web site soon,
and she is available for individual questions at any time. The LPTN had to become a IRS registered section
527 party in order to maintain compliance with the new Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). The LPTN
currently takes in about $10,000 per year and we would not be under the new regulations until we brought
in $25,000 per year. She felt it safe to file the 527 status under the new law because it has a stipulation
that we should file as a 527 entity if we "reasonably expect" to bring in $25,000 per year. We were afraid
that the IRS might retroactively take retribution if our yearly total began exceed $25,000 later.
Quarterly report to the IRS if income and expenses $200 & individual donors must listed. Our information is
listed on the IRS web site. We earn about $15/month interest, and paid $9.45 in taxes last year.
Alicia went on to report that we hope many parts of the BCRA will be found unconstitutional.
Steve Trinward, our regional rep, commented that the LNC must go into closed session to discuss BCRA
with the attorney present because we are really unsure how this will affect us until the US Supreme Court Rules.
Alicia again spoke to the confusion of the new law. Donations made at this convention will have to
be looked into. Alicia is doing the database work, so please forward email changes to her. She will
update budget later in this meeting.
Ken Bryant had a question from the floor regarding the current status of UMP. Steve Trinward (Regional Rep)
spoke to the issue. UMP was deferred to those states who elected to defer (TN was one of those states).
By the end of June, the payments should be caught up. For reference, the LNC was about $140,000 in the red.
Ray Ledford has copy of UMP deferral agreement for review. In general, the LPTN has $15,000 in the bank and
we spent about $4,000 last year.
10:25-1st Speaker
Kay Brooks with TNHomeEd.com was introduced by Ray Ledford
10:45-2nd Speaker
Tom Knapp, Editor-in-Chief, Rational Review Online introduced by Steve Trinward
11:15 3rd Speaker
Michael Badnarik, LP Presidential hopeful, introduced by Ray Ledford
11:45 4th Speaker
Geoffrey Neale, LP National Chair, introduced by Deryl Martin (former LP National Treasurer).
12:15 Adjourned for Lunch
2:20 Afternoon Session called to order
Officer and Staff Report continued
Tony Wall, chair LP Sullivan County, announced that Glen Moody is running for re-election
to the school board of Sullivan County and welcomed any help.
Bill Bolen, Valley Regional Coordinator, reported that his goal was to visit each county
in his region and make an attempt to set up county affiliates, or get people from those counties
to join larger markets such as Chattanooga. He is also focusing on free media such as Democratic
and Republican debates. He talked about the chain of events that lead to Mike Croteau's appearance
on a recent TV show. They are trying to come up with creative ways to promote the LPTN. The BCRA
prohibition on people under 18 donating is a problem. At which problem, Steve Trinward noted that
there is also a problem if you can't determine the donor's age. Mr. Bolen also said he would be
campaigning to move the convention around the state.
Ray Ledford, LPTN State chair, had nothing further to report.
Tribute to Dr. Richard Pearl Sr. (deceased)
Ray Ledford -- shared a personal story about meeting Richard for the first time on email and then
face-to-face in April of 2000. They became close friends and shared common interests such as a love
of Jimmy Buffett music. Eventually Richard became his best friend.
Steve Trinward -- felt Richard was his inspiration for his decision to run for a seat on the LNC.
Richard lived liberty in both his personal and private life, and felt activism was superior to
materialism. Often, Richard responded to email for about 4 hours daily. Above all, Richard
believed in a "bottom-up" approach in organizational structure. One of Richard's favorite quotes
was "there is no limit to what can be accomplished as long as no one cares who gets credit."
The "Tennessee Paradigm" is more activists less money. Steve then played a message from Richard
that was still on his answering machine. On the message, Richard thanked Steve and everyone for
the participation in the anti-income protest of 15 April 2002. Richard saw the coverage on TV and
listened to it on the Steve Gill show (99.7 FM WTN). He was proud of the LPTN and told Steve that
he would be going for more exploratory surgery soon.
Sam Reid -- He and Richard became good friends, and he admired Richard's low maintenance lifestyle.
Meeting Richard was a life-changing event and he talked to Richard often about their love of firearms.
His regret was that he never knew he was sick and did not visit Richard in the hospital. Now, he does
not take friendships for granted.
Commissioner Heather Scott -- Richard was the reason she joined the LP. She sent Richard an email and
he invited her to be the chair in Wilson County, since there were no other members. She also
commented how all Rutherford County politicians knew Richard by name.
Joey King -- announced that much of Richard's personal items had fallen to him after his passing,
and he wanted to share any remaining memorabilia with the group
Announcement of the Pearl Award-motion
In honor of the memory of Dr. Richard Pearl Sr., Ray Ledford proposed the establishment of the Pearl
awards. Four categories will be awarded each year:
- Lifetime achievement
- Best activist
- Outstanding communicator
- Keeper of Liberty
To win the awards one must be a member of the LPTN, with the exception of the Keeper of Liberty award.
Serving State Chairs are not eligible. Committee of 5 people designated by the chair will select the
awards. It will be awarded at the state convention.
Motion made by Steve Trinward and seconded by Heather Scott.
Discussion of the motion:
-
Jonathan McGlumpy wanted to know when the 1st awards would be presented
-
Dr. Joe Dumas raised the question as to the prize awarded
-
Ray Ledford responded that the awards were up to the committee
-
Steve Trinward asked if a budget line item needed to be made
-
Ray replied that a small plaque would be of minimal cost
-
Tony Wall thought it was perhaps too many awards.
-
Ray Ledford responded that it was patterned after the National Party's awards.
-
Alicia Matson (point of order) the chair has a lot of flexibility and discrepancy when dispersing funds
-
Joey King offered a friendly amendment to issue the awards yearly instead of every other year. Mike
Croteau seconded .The friendly amendment was accepted by Ray Ledford.
John Sebastian called the question and it received several seconds.
| 21 | FOR |
| 3 | AGAINST |
| 1 | None of the Above (NOTA) John Sebastian |
The 1st Pearl Awardees 2003
-
Lifetime Achievement Pearl to Richard E. Pearl Sr. (posthumously)
-
Keeper of Liberty Award to Sam Reid Rutherford County and Henry Coffer
Recess 3:10
Reconvened at 3:25
LPTN Elections
State Chair
-
Commissioner Heather Scott of Wilson County was nominated by Dr. Joe Dumas of Hamilton Count,
but she withdrew her name from consideration.
-
Ray Ledford was nominated by Ken Bryant and seconded by Sam Reid of Rutherford County.
-
James Chesser was nominated by Henry Coffer of Davidson County and seconded by Mike Croteau
of Hamilton County.
-
Bill Bolen of Hamilton County made a motion for nominations to end, which was seconded by
Mike Croteau. This motion won overwhelmingly.
At this point Commissioner Heather Scott (Vice Chair) took the gavel and opened the floor
to the candidates for speeches.
Summary of Ray Ledford's speech:
Ray wanted to stress the "bottom up" approach, and wanted to focus on the 3 new committees
(legislative, marketing, and political). He stressed the need to concentrate on local races
in the upcoming 2 years. Ray also offered as a possible option that smaller counties merge
with larger metro markets. His goal is to recruit and educate 100 candidates for the next
election. Finally he wanted to concentrate on party building.
Summary of James Chesser's speech:
Introduction by Len Bennett (summary):
James has a bachelors and masters degree from Cambridge University in England: a law degree
from the University of VA. He is a published author with another book in the works. He is a
practicing attorney and is on the Belmont Board of Directors. Len shared a personal story
about how James introduced him to Libertarianism. Len talked of how James has concentrated
on 4 areas: 1) reducing voter apathy 2) Bill of Rights 3) recruiting candidates 4) hold
government accountable
Summary of speech by James Chesser
Introduced a vision statement as to the things that set him apart from Ray. He has been
chair of LP of Davidson County for about a year and feels like he has given a fresh look
to the party. He stresses that we should listen to what people want, with a theme of "better
living through better government." He urged each member to talk about reviving the American
Dream, the Declaration of independence and the Bill of Rights. He wants to recruit good
candidates and build county parties. Outreach is important especially with other groups
and government agencies. We should strive to establish credibility for the LPDC. He also
urged the LPTN to pick our battles carefully. He has a 4 point mission statement for the
LPTN: 1) reduce apathy 2) make government accountable 3) protect individual liberty outlined
in the Bill of Rights. 4) find good people to run for office.
Sam Reid of Rutherford County suggested, in the interest of fairness, that we give someone
the opportunity to say some words about Ray. The group agreed, and John Sebastian of Knox County
agreed to say a few words.
Summary of John Sebastian's "intro" of Ray Ledford - (note: conducted after James Chesser's speech)
Ray will continue the "bottom up" approach we have traditionally followed in TN. Ray has a history
with the members and has done a great job under very difficult circumstances. He urged the members to vote for Ray.
James and Ray left the room for the vote.
Vote Tally:
| Ray Ledford | 17 |
| James Chesser | 16 |
| NOTA | 1 |
Ray returned and resumed the chairmanship from Commissioner Scott.
Vice Chair Nominations
-
Heather Scott was nominated by Joey King with several seconds
-
James Chesser was nominated by Helen Ledford and received several seconds. James withdrew his nomination.
-
Mike Croteau was nominated by Jonathan McGlumpy and seconded by Helen Ledford.
-
Jonathan McGlumpy moved that the nominations be closed and was seconded by Ken Bryant.
-
Voice vote was unanimous to close the nominations
-
Neither candidate offered to make a speech and left the room.
-
Jonathan McGlumpy wished to comment on his reasons for nominating Mike for Vice Chair. He felt the
HCLP was growing and needed to be recognized. He felt Heather had done a great job.
-
Al Williams of Wilson County asked if he might say a few words on Heather's behalf. He has known
Heather for about a year and she was making a name for herself in Wilson County political circles.
Vote Tally:
| Heather Scott | 20 |
| Mike Croteau | 6 |
| NOTA | 1 |
Treasury Nominations
-
Alicia Matson nominated by Heather Scott and seconded by Mike Croteau.
-
Bill Bolen made a motion for the nomination to close which received several seconds.
Vote Tally:
| Alicia Matson | Overwhelming |
| NOTA | 2 |
Secretary
-
Joey King was nominated by Steve Trinward and was seconded by Heather Scott
-
King made 2 comments for the record: 1) If someone else wanted to run, he would step down so that
person would run unopposed 2) This would be the last time he would run for state office
-
Motion to close was made by Jonathan McGlumpy and seconded by Ken Bryant.
Vote Tally (voice vote):
| Joey King | Overwhelming |
| NOTA | 6 |
Treasurer's Report (Part II) Alicia Matson
The budget procedures outlined in the LPTN bylaws are vague, and are largely at the discretion of the chair.
The actual budget numbers will be posted on the LPTN web site for review soon.
A question was raised from the floor as to the line item for web site hosting at $400 and web master $1800
per year. Steve Trinward who has been the web master receiving the payment up to this point recommended that
we begin paying Jonathan Wright that the fee because Jonathan has been doing most of the work since we
updated the site recently.
BCRA-Alicia explained another aspect of the new campaign law known as BCRA. Some of our funding/purchasing
could be designated "federal" and fall into a different category of the new law. Our biggest purchase
of those "federal" is literature we receive from National. Al Williams of Wilson County asked Alicia
if individuals could buy literature and donate it to the LPTN. Alicia thought it would be a violation
of the new BCRA law. Alicia also noted that if 25% of the webmaster's time was spent on federal issues
that would fall into the new federal category of the law.
Bill Bolen was uncertain if county affiliates buying national literature fell into the new federal category
State Convention cost was expected to be about $300.
Commissioner Heather Scott made a motion to accept the budget as presented which received numerous seconds.
Tally to accept budget as presented:
Goals and procedures 2003-2004 (Forum conducted as an open debate)
Ray Ledford noted that he had outlined many of his goals in his nominating speech.
Sam Reid of Rutherford County thought county level candidate recruitment was the best item in
Ray's plan. To which Ray commented that we had ran several competitive local races.
Tony Wall of Sullivan County recommend that we have no paper candidates except for Gov. He also
pointed to the success of Glen Moody and Heather Scott.
Jonathan McGlumpy expressed the need to run races for unopposed local candidates and the
possibilities of becoming a recognized local party under the current TN ballot access law.
Bill Bolen wanted to know who is working on various committees appointed by the chair
-
Tony Wall of Sullivan County suggested we hire a part-time person to work on the legislation
committee. Mr. Sebastian of Knox County thought that was a good idea also.
-
Alicia Matson brought up the point that if they work more than 25% of the time on Federal
issues they would fall under the new BCRA regulations.
-
Ray Ledford mentioned that Larry Henson of Memphis has been keeping up with legislative issues on his own.
-
Tony suggested we give it more thought.
-
Heather Scott thought we should form a steering committee, which she made in the form of a motion.
The motion received several seconds.
-
The motion was to form a Comprehensive Growth Steering Committee.
-
Jonathan Wright made a motion to close debate, which was seconded by Tony Wall.
-
Motion passed without opposition.
-
Composition of steering committee was debated for a short while until John Sebastian brought
up a point of order: the Chair can designate committees to serve at his discretion and Ray
promised to do so.
Next Motion:
Bill Bolen of Hamilton County made a motion for the chair to establish a convention committee.
-
Seconded by Commissioner Heather Scott of Wilson County
-
No debate
-
Heather Scott of Wilson County called the question and received several seconds.
-
Vote Tally
-
Motion received unanimous support
The Chair recognized presidential candidate Mike Bednarik who thanked the LPTN members and
invited everyone to attend his constitutional class to be held at the Realty Association
Building on the following day. He offered his help to any local candidates.
The Chair recognized Dr. Joe Dumas of Hamilton County. Joe was in agreement with the plan
to concentrate on the local political races. He has also felt it necessary to have some
sort of means to support local candidates from the LPTN. He felt the LPTN needed a statewide
"war chest" to help them win. We should also consider a Political Action Committee (PAC) to
help out local candidates. Joe chose not to bring a motion to the floor, but encouraged
anyone wishing to help out to talk to him.
-
The Chair recognized Kelly (Secretary of Shelby County). She said they are set up in a similar
manner as described and offered their help.
-
The Chair recognized Dr. Joe Dumas who replied that it would perhaps be best to set up a group
outside the party structure in order to more easily help candidates statewide.
-
The Chair recognized Sam Reid of Rutherford County who had a question about the amount of money
it could take to run a successful local campaign
-
The Chair recognized Dr. Joe Dumas response to Sam Reid depended on several factors, one of
which was the size of the county.
-
The Chair noted that Shelby County's large size worked to our disadvantage.
-
The Chair recognized Kelly (Shelby County Secretary). She said Shelby County $2000 fundraising paid off.
-
Chair recognized Dr. Joe Dumas of Hamilton County who wanted to brainstorm with others and designate a group leader.
5:00 Commissioner Heather Scott of Wilson County made a motion to adjourn which received several seconds.
Vote to adjourn received unanimous vote
Notes compiled by Joey B. King Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee
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