2021 Q1 LPD State
Board Meeting Minutes
01/24/21
Attendance: Sean,
Brad, Dayl, Mary Pat, Nadine (Zoom), John, Will, Vern (Zoom), Jimmy.
Absent: Aaron
Non LPD Board
Members Present: Irene Mavrakakis, Amy LePore, Wayne Norczyk, Ryan
Bunting, Mark Parks, and Carter Hill.
-
Meeting
called to order at 12:30 EST. Recess called as members joined in
person and on Zoom and helped themselves to pizza and soda if in
person. Recess ended and meeting called back to order at 12:35 EST.
-
Approval of
agenda
-
Will 1st,
Mary Pat 2nd to add HB49 to the agenda under line item
10b. Passed 6-0-3-1
-
Mary Pat
1st, John 2nd to approve the agenda as
amended. Passed 8-0-1-1.
-
Reading and
approval of minutes from previous meeting
-
Mary Pat
1st, Will 2nd to waive the reading of the
minutes and approve the minutes. Passed 8-0-1-1
-
Treasurer’s
Report
-
PayPal:
$3700.52
-
Bank:
$1893.11
-
Total:
$5593.63
-
Mary Pat
stated that none of the candidates that ran in 2020 asked for
funding from the LPD.
-
NCC Report
-
Despite Gov.
Carney’s orders, we are still able to meet in person at Crabby
Dick’s while following the letter of the law.
-
NCCLP is
switching how their meetings are run from information oriented to
goal oriented. This will have the NCCLP creating committees with
set goals, getting more activities going, change how our committees
are formed to give them more autonomy, all with the goal of
building our outreach and build the party itself.
-
NCCLP
Adopt-a-Hwy sign defaced as noticed by Dayl when he drove by it.
Nadine to go look at it. Discussion had on how to clean it
ourselves.
-
Kent Report
-
Passed a
resolution supporting HB49.
-
New members
coming out to meetings.
-
New people
to the meeting last week were not libertarian, but were welcomed.
-
Aaron Mobley
and his family will be moving back to Ohio, which will leave a hole
in both the LPD for the second Kent County Rep to the Board
position and for KCLP Vice-Chair. Aaron will not be running for
re-election at the convention.
-
Will joked
that it is unfortunate as Aaron was the chosen one and was meant
to bring balance to the force and not leave it in darkness.
-
Sussex Report
-
Like Kent
County, not much going on.
-
One new
member came out and Jimmy will reach out to him again.
-
No
Adopt-a-Hwy in 2020 due to COVID-19. Jimmy sent a letter to DelDOT.
-
SMM Committee
Report
-
There have
been complaints from members of the NCCLP on the lack of social
media posts.
-
The SMM
Committee is encouraging people to post things to various sites
themselves by signing their names so that anything they post is not
mistaken as something posted by the LPD. There have been complaints
about doing this too. Overall, members would like to see the LPD
leadership post more to generate activity and be more visible.
-
Will
expressed his concerns and frustration with newer members’
demands, feeling that they aren’t taking everything into account
that the LPD state board needs to when asking the state board to
post things.
-
All of that
said, Will agrees with newer members that more content needs to be
generated, hence his writing of the HB 49 resolution.
-
It is agreed
that the LPD needs to post more comment and the LPD is making an
effort to post more. The LPD website has a new image up, courtesy
of Dave Casey’s artwork and Will posting it.
-
More
discussion had, including state boards from other states doing more
on their web-pages and social media sites. It was suggested that
the LPD have a spokes person, like the White House Press Secretary,
to speak and share content on behalf of the party. If this person
speaks or steps out of line concerning the will of the LPD, the LPD
needs to have the responsiveness to reprimand and/or stop this
person from causing more harm.
-
Irene asked
if things could be approved by the three county chairs and Will
explained that the SMM Committee has the three county chairs as
members, along with the LPD secretary and one other person picked
by the party. Discussion had concerning picking this person, the
fact that we are volunteers and burnout is a real thing, possibly
paying this person, etc. We could possible alienate a spokesperson
if we disagree with their content. Sean shared that there has been
a general misunderstanding between how the LPD uses the website
versus using the group.
-
Will
suggested writing a platform at the annual convention so that the
LPD have a guideline when posting items.
-
The SMM
Committee has been open, inviting discussion, but taking a stand
against spamming (posting things repeatedly without inviting
discussion). One recent poster posted five times about leaving
Facebook to our page with two different accounts. Will warned her
and she left the page and stopped posting.
-
The current
amount of money the SMM Committee has is $305.00.
-
Sean asked
Will if he has aggregated reports to see what total reach is so
far. Will then gave a brief report on what the SMM Committee has
been boosting and what the reach has been with said boosting of
particular items. The SMM Committee does admit people into the
public Facebook group with little discretion. We are seeing an
increase in interest. We have between 1200-1300 followers with
about 11-12 likes per post.
-
Looking to
write a tangible goal to increase social media followings/numbers
-
Data and Tech
Committee
-
Five minute
recess called at 13:22 EST. Meeting resumed at 13:27 EST.
-
Amy LePore
had to leave early and left the meeting at 13:26 EST.
-
Update from
Amy LePore regarding Adoption of Trello for State Board task
management
-
Dayl spoke
on behalf of Amy since she had to leave early. Dayl shared Amy’s
findings on the task management platforms Trello, ClickUp, and
Monday.
-
Sean
suggested that the LPD executive committee (Sean, Brad, Dayl, and
Mary Pat) try both Trello and ClickUp (Monday doesn’t seem
attractive). Will asked in his capacity of webmaster that he be
allowed to look at them as well. Discussion had on having Amy look
in on things from an outside perspective as an auditor as the LPD
board tries Trello and ClickUp.
-
ACTION
ITEM #1: By this
Wednesday, January 27th, we need to schedule a time so
Amy can give the ClickUp tutorial and start testing both Trello
and ClickUp. Mary Pat asked if Amy can give a tutorial on Trello
too. Dayl to follow up.
-
Transition
from Messenger to Signal following Facebook Lock-down
-
Look into
Trello and ClickUp for messaging capability.
-
Sean shared
why we should switch to Signal for ad hoc business. Discussion had
on Amy being banned from Facebook and trying to figure out why,
given her sweet nature. Irene shared caution in discussing this in
Amy’s absence. Will clarified that the fact that someone like
Amy could get banned should have us concerned about using
Facebook.
-
ACTION
ITEM #2: By
Wednesday, January 27th, Will and Sean to look into
using Signal for our ad hoc business.
-
Old Business
-
Voter
Outreach: September 1977/2046 (+69) +312 20-21
-
NCCo:
1170/1207 (+37) +169 20-21
-
KCCo:
373/399 (+26) +74 20-21
-
SusCo:
434/440 (+6) +69 20-21
-
Beer
Settlement
-
Ryan
Bunting left at 14:00 EST.
-
Sean
followed up with this quarter’s payment to NCCLP by giving the
money to Dayl in Nadine’s physical absence (She was on the Zoom
call). Discussion had. Sean jokingly asked that the following be
added into the minutes: That the Kent County LP chair, Will McVay,
waited until the second-to-last quarterly meeting before the
convention to raise concerns on how the beer settlement is decided
on (number of newest members in a county vs. proportion of
people). Will shared that he was just bringing forward something
stated by one of our members of our Facebook group, Carter Hill.
Sean explained that the beer settelment is just a private thing,
that he was trying to set a precedent and whoever is the next
state chair can decide how to go about it themselves.
-
2021
Municipal Elections – All municipalities except
Ellendale/Greenwood
-
Ellendale –
Filing date was 23rd of December
-
Greenwood –
Filing date was 28th of December
-
Carter Hill
left the meeting at 14:06 EST.
-
Sean shared
a plan on how to get more people running for office, via social
media and posting filing dates for races. Discussion had on
running for school board races, particularly in fighting COVID
lock-downs. Sean expressed concern about compulsory attendance,
but stated that the LPD wants parents to have the most freedom
concerning their children’s education. Will then shared what to
post on social media concerning races. It was agreed that the
counties would be taking care of getting candidates for races and
that the state board would help if it was wanted and the counties
could help each other. Will shared that getting away from the
industrial school factory model is good and we should capitalize
on this. Sean shared that it has been seen that localization for
schooling is becoming more evident and our school board candidates
should fight for this against the Dept. of Education in Dover.
Irene then shared that we should make sure that as many choices as
possible are available and fight for such. Will followed this up
with saying that candidates for school board races have a good
middle ground when running for the LPD: opening schools while
encouraging alternative forms of education.
-
2021
Convention
-
Liberty
Speaks pre-convention event
-
Will asked
that we recognize Irene Mavrakakis to speak on this.
-
She shared
that we would want to have an event on the Friday before the
convention to drum up support. It would be on the Green in Dover.
Irene shared a list of speakers that could come (including those
from the group Medical Freedom) and already has a musician lined
up. We need to get a permit and one-day insurance.
-
Mary Pat
asked when on Friday and Irene shared that we would start at 4pm
and have the main speaker at 6pm.
-
Sean asked
for clarification on “medical freedom” and Irene explained
that there are three to five basic tenants, some of which are: 1)
Nuremberg Code of Medical Freedom (no forced vaccination or
medical procedures and informed consent); 2) Nutrition based
information from doctors.
-
Will
suggested that this event be more Libertarian Party focused then
medical freedom. Will’s concern was giving someone a platform
that may contradict what the LP stands for. Will also asked what
the actual logistical challenges and costs of pulling this event
off (permit costs, insurance costs, what money can be raised,
what amount of money is wanted from the LPD, etc.). Will
encouraged Irene to start looking into this. When Irene asked if
she should form a committee, Will said that she should feel free
to do so. Sean brought up that the LPD had been discussing
expanding into more than a one day convention at the 2020 Q4
meeting, looking at having something the night before the
convention. Mary Pat said that this event sounds ideal for what
Sean had brought up. Will shared that he is good with the idea in
general, but his suggestion was to focus on generic libertarian
messaging for focus and program of the event. Issue speakers are
fine, just need to worry about costs. Will then shared that the
LPD board could set up a committee for Irene, but since she has
the drive for it to go ahead and do the work herself. When Irene
is ready to come back to the board with a more concrete plan, the
board could then pass a motion on it, which would be appropriate
and necessary. We could then recognize the event as part of our
“convention thing” so that when we start promoting the
convention, we can then say this is happening the night before
and acknowledge the work Irene put into it. Irene then said that
she would like Liberty Speaks to be a Libertarian Party of
Delaware event.
-
For
context of the above, Sean then brought up that the LPD’s
relationship with Delaware for Liberty (D4L), which Irene is a
member of and which came out of the JoCo campaign, is only three
months old and that D4L is made of members of the LPD and can do
things unencumbered with election law, unlike the LPD. Moving
forward together side-by-side, Liberty Speaks would be an
opportunity to do that. We can workout the logistics in the
meantime.
-
Wayne
Norczyk left at 14:26 EST. ACTION
ITEM #3: Dayl to
contact Wayne at his request.
-
Irene
stressed that she wasn’t stuck on the speakers but on having
the event
-
Mary Pat
asked that we have a backup/rain date.
-
Vern
Proctor left at 14:32 EST
-
Mary Pat
mentioned that Wendy Jones of Sussex County LP has contacts that
would be willing to do workshops.
-
Will
suggested having the event on Sunday to take advantage of time
for workshops and setting up tables to whoever wants to pay.
-
Sean
suggested getting a Convention Committee together consisting of
the LPD state board, Amy LePore, Irene Mavrakakis, and Will
McVay. Will made a point to say that we need to have something
shared to make sure that we are all on the same page. Sean said
let’s use Trello for the Convention Committee, due to his,
Dayl’s, and Amy’s familiarity with it, while running it
concurrent with ClickUp.
-
15 May for
convention proper
-
Mary Pat
to double check this week, but things look good for May 15th.
ACTION ITEM #4:
Mary Pat to follow up by this Wednesday, January 27th,
on if we have the theater guild for our convention on May 15th.
-
Will
served notice that he will make an amendment to the LPD Articles
of Association (AoA) for early nominations for office. Sean
shared that any LPD member can make a suggestion to change the
AoA at anytime according to our current AoA.
-
Discussion
had on whether we want to wait until the convention to change
the AoA to let the registered libertarians in Delaware a chance
to hear it and vote on it then leaving it up to the LPD state
board ad hoc decision.
-
Extended
hours?
-
The LPD to
push this to the Convention Committee. See above.
-
Speakers –
Spike?
-
Dayl
had written to Spike and shared their conversation with the LPD
about Spike coming out to
Delaware.
Dayl had suggested
for Spike and Tasha to drive to Delaware in order to save money,
but Spike was concerned about the shape his body condition would
be in
if he drove up. Spike also asked that Dayl contact Spike’s
director Brian, who Spike put in charge of his event scheduling,
in order to work out the dates of Spike coming to the LPD
convention.
-
Sean
is in favor of paying for both Spike and his wife Tasha to come
up and get a hotel for two
nights. Mary Pat suggested three
nights and that we ask
the county parties for financial help. Will suggested getting
sponsors (like Crabby Dick’s).
-
ACTION
ITEM #5: The
Convention Committee will look into getting Spike and Tasha to
the convention and Liberty Speaks events and all the costs
associated with what we want to do for Liberty Speaks and the LPD
state convention.
-
Will
made a motion to make an
earmark for convention expenses
to help raise funds and recognize those who have donated.
Mary Pat 2nd.
Passed 7-0-1-2.
-
First
donation towards the convention of $100 was given by Will McVay
to LPD Treasurer Mary Pat McVay.
-
ACTION
ITEM #6:
Dayl to contact Spike Cohen’s scheduler
Brian to see if Spike is available the weekend of the 15th
and if not the weekend of the 22nd.
-
Will
1st,
John 2nd
that the LPD can guarantee $1000 for travel expenses for Spike
and Tasha Cohen to come to our 2021 LPD Convention and the
Liberty Speaks events. Passed
7-0-1-2.
-
Invitees:
-
Joe
Bishop-Henchman – LNC Chair
-
Susan
Hogarth – LNC District 5 Representative
-
David
Valente – LNC District 5 Alternate
-
Possible
other attendees would be Dr. Jim Lark, Nick Sarwark, and the
LNC. Discussion had on this. We will invite the LNC Executive
Committee and the state chairs of NJ, PA, and MD.
-
Succession
Planning.
-
Nadine
brought up on Zoom chat and Will brought forward to the meeting
that we need to discuss succession planning. Discussion had on
Sean stepping down as chair and that he would make sure there was
a successful transfer of power from the old LPD board to the new
LPD board.
-
Nadine
then shared that her concern was about how once a new board
member is voted in, they automatically take that position
according to the LPD AoA, which Mary Pat confirmed, then how
would the old LPD board hand off the various social media
accounts that the LPD has built up in the last two years. Will
then said that the LPD doesn’t have to because he is the
administrator and web master, giving him transition authority.
-
Sean then
shared that he didn’t know who was running for chair, but when
elected, he would give the new chair a chance to speak about
their vision and goals at the convention. Sean would continue his
duties as chair at the pleasure of the LPD until the gavel swings
at the end of the convention. Will then reiterated that he is
under contract as web master to hand off the account information,
etc. to the new LPD state board, as he serves at the pleasure of
the LPD state board, not the state chair’s pleasure. Nadine was
satisfied with this answer.
-
Rank the
Vote DE Update
-
Dayl gave
the following history: Kent County LP and Sussex County LP passed
resolutions to support Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). NCCLP voted to
table a resolution to support RCV at their December 2020 monthly
meeting because the NCCLP membership didn’t feel that they had
had enough time to read it. At the January 2020 NCCLP monthly
meeting, the RCV resolution was again tabled, this time to a
special, separate meeting. The NCCLP Board decided to meet on
Wednesday, January 20th for this meeting, which took
place on this date. The RCV resolution was discussed. Though NCCLP
members were in favor of it, there was concern on if RCV would
help Libertarians as much as other types of alternative voting.
Dayl shared that these alternative voting methods would not be as
helpful to Libertarians in Delaware because RCV currently has the
moment to get passed in Delaware. Brad had also brought up
concerning with the RCV draft bill, which Dayl brought up with
RTVDE executive board.
-
Sean asked
if there was standardized language between the three LP counties’
resolutions or was it something that the LPD state board would
have to act as a joint committee to pass a final resolution. Dayl
said it would be the later. He also shared that at the next NCCLP
monthly meeting on Feb. 1st that they would try to
decide on RCV.
-
Dayl asked
Will to read the concerning language of the draft RCV bill. Irene
shared that both she and Dayl were involved in RTVDE and would be
able to affect the RCV bill. Will tried to confirm that the LPD is
being asked for a yes/no support of RTVDE. Dayl then shared
through his messaging with RTVDE’s executive committee as RTVDE
secretary that the RCV bill is not being proposed yet and it’s
just a rough draft which shouldn’t have been shared yet. More
discussion had. It was agreed that the bill is a very rough draft
and that not too much should be read into it. Dayl corrected his
previous mistake that the LPD would be supporting RTVDE because
RTVDE itself isn’t asking for support of RTVDE, but RCV. Will
and Jimmy confirmed that the resolutions passed by KCLP and SCLP
support RCV.
-
ACTION
ITEM #7: Dayl to
get a statement of principles from RTVDE so that the LPD could
draft a resolution that the LPD does not support top-two primaries
and elections (or something to that effect) and get the LPD
Executive Committees and RTVDE Committees together to discuss this
further.
-
New
Business:
-
Ad Hoc
Review:
-
Set
Convention Date for 15 May (Third weekend) 10-0-0-0
-
Dayl
reached out to Spike about his convention visit
-
Vern filed
for Bethel Town council
-
Steve
“Stunt” Stutzman nominated for Milford SB Area D
-
Steve
dropped out as not a resident of Area D
-
Prep for
removal and detention legislation over COVID/pandemic risks
-
Vern
“reelected” (was appointed last time and ran unopposed this
time) to Bethel Town Council
-
Discussion
regarding Social Media posting outreach. Need to stay on top of
scheduled events (specifically the municipal elections).
-
Discussion
regarding deplatforming and alternatives.
-
Aaron, Kent
County LP Vice-Chair and one of the KCLP reps to the state board,
is leaving Delaware
-
Random
messenger video call from Mary Pat. Confusion ensues
-
House Bill
49 (HB49):
-
A number of
Republicans have submitted this bill to constrain the Delaware
governor's power to declare states of emergency that are not
related to weather for longer than 30 days without acceptance from
the Delaware General Assembly.
-
Will wrote
a resolution talking about the lack of accountability on Gov.
Carney concerning his power to declare states of emergency and
this resolution calls for the LPD and others to support HB49 to
have checks and balances against the governor’s mandates.
-
Will made
a motion to accept the resolution supporting HB49. Before Sean
took a second, he asked if anyone needed to read it. Dayl and
Nadine asked for that time. John 2nd. We will leave
the vote open 48 hours, or until all 10 members of the LPD vote,
per our AoA, to give everyone a chance to vote on this. For those
present to vote the roll call was as followed:
-
Dayl
Thomas: aye
-
John
Machurek: aye
-
Jimmy
Brittingham: aye
-
Sean
Goward: aye
-
Brad
Thomas: aye
-
Will
McVay: aye
-
Mary Pat
McVay: aye
-
Nadine
Frost: aye on January 24th at 7:33pm via Facebook
Messenger
-
Absent
members:
-
Vern
Proctor: aye on January 24th at 5:11pm via Facebook
Messenger
-
Aaron
Mobley: ye on January 24th at 5:11pm via Facebook
Messenger
-
The
motion passed 10-0-0 on January 24th at 7:33pm via
Facebook Messenger. Was to be finished by Tuesday, January 26th
at 16:00, which it was.
-
Irene
will then pass on the resolution to Rep. Yerrick and Sean will
co-ordinate with Will and Dayl to send it out to Governor Carney
and other elected officials in Delaware via
sean.goward@lpdelware.org.
-
Next
Meeting:
-
Tentatively
May 2nd at 12:30 EDT at the McVay
-
Mary Pat
confirmed that Dayl won the Bill Morris Award this year as she
needs to order the trophy before May 2nd.
-
Thanks were
giving to those in attendance, both in person and on Zoom and to
the McVay family for hosting. Irene thanked everyone for letting
her present at the board meeting.
-
Adjournment
Will 1st, Mary Pat 2nd. Passed 6-1-1-2.
Meeting adjourned at 16:10 EST.
Chat box:
From iPhone to
Everyone: 01:22 PM
Hello Dayl. I had a
hard stop at 1:30, I’m going to hop off.
From Me to Everyone:
01:23 PM
Okay.
Is there anything
you would like me to share?
Like the spreadsheet
you sent to us last night?
From iPhone to
Everyone: 01:23 PM
I’ve got plenty of
thoughts, I think I’ll collect them first. But yes, the
spreadsheet is good.
From Me to Everyone:
01:24 PM
Okay, will do. If
you want to text me your thoughts, feel free to do so.
From Carter Hill to
Everyone: 01:45 PM
They've been going
after a lot of page admins
From Me to Everyone:
01:45 PM
I'll share this
Carter. Thank you.
From Carter Hill to
Everyone: 01:46 PM
D4L was warned about
a shared Spike post, which was a joke, because it wasn't factual. FB
is getting extremely tedious.
From Wayne Norczyk
to Me: (Privately) 01:47 PM
https://project-management.com/top-3-software-alternatives-to-trello/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlaqr-Zm17gIVC67ICh2EmwkMEAAYAiAAEgIcIfD_BwE
From Me to Wayne
Norczyk: (Privately) 01:47 PM
Thank you Wayne.
From Nadine Frost to
Everyone: 01:49 PM
my parent company
uses an app called “GroupMe)
From Carter Hill to
Everyone: 01:52 PM
Keep in mind that
people getting banned from FB are also unable to use Messenger.
From Me to Wayne
Norczyk: (Privately) 01:53 PM
Will share Nadine
and Carter, thank you.
From Me to Everyone:
01:53 PM
Will share Nadine
and Carter, thank you.
From Wayne Norczyk
to Me: (Privately) 01:55 PM
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger&hl=en_US&gl=US
From Me to Wayne
Norczyk: (Privately) 01:55 PM
Thank you Wayne.
From Ryan B to
Everyone: 01:59 PM
I had a hard stop at
2pm, so I'll have to head out, but thank you for having me here, I'll
see several of you at the next county meeting.
From Me to Everyone:
02:00 PM
Thank you Ryan!
From Nadine Frost to
Everyone: 02:03 PM
which brings up
something which should be addressed: succession planning...
From Carter Hill to
Everyone: 02:06 PM
I need to jump off.
Thanks, everyone (yes, even Will). I'm looking forward to working
with everyone to grow the party and its influence.
From Me to Everyone:
02:06 PM
You got it Carter!
Thank you!
From Wayne Norczyk
to Me: (Privately) 02:26 PM
I need to go now.
Dayl - I would like to talk to you during the week.
From Me to Wayne
Norczyk: (Privately) 02:26 PM
Thanks Wayne!
From VernonEsq to
Everyone: 02:31 PM
I need to hop off at
this point. Let me know if there's anything I can do before the next
meeting. Cheers, and stay healthy (voluntarily)!
From Me to Everyone:
02:31 PM
Okay!
Thanks Vern!
From Nadine Frost to
Everyone: 02:55 PM
have we looked into
the cost of a flight?
From Me to Everyone:
03:07 PM
We are going to look
into them.
From Nadine Frost to
Everyone: 03:55 PM
my dog needs to go
out NOW. brb
From Mark Parks to
Everyone: 04:10 PM
thanks good bye
From Nadine Frost to
Everyone: 04:11 PM
gotta go. I have
work to do. bye, all!