Minutes of Convention
Libertarian Party of Colorado
May 19, 2007

Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chairman Travis Nicks.

A count was taken. In attendance: Thirty-two in Aurora, four in Montrose. [19 is majority—24 is 2/3].

Records Director Steven Gallant took minutes.

Directors

• Front Range Outreach – Jeffory Orrok
• Western Slope Outreach – Debbie Schum (Western Slope convention)
• Membership – Clint Jones
• Publications – Jesse Herron
• Records – Steven Gallant
• Legislative – Richard Randall
• Treasurer – Wesley Long (Western Slope convention)

Meeting Rules

Orrok raised a point of information concerning the correlation between the number of the motion and the number on the Qwizdom electronic voting units. Orrok moved to amend the rules to strike the sentence “Since amendments will have higher numbers than main motions, voting on questions often will not occur in numerical order,” from Section 8A; to change Convention Chair to System Operator in section 8C; and to strike the words “and by changing the color of the EVU’s number box on the projector screen” from section 8C. Seconded and passed 33-2. The amended rules (See included text.) were adopted by unanimous consent.

Meeting Agenda

Motion to adopt Meeting Agenda (see included text). Adopted by unanimous consent.

Minutes

Orrok moved to correct the minutes of the 2006 Convention to show that his title was Arapahoe County LP Chair and Outreach Director, not Treasurer, and to correct the spelling of his first name, Jeffory. Amended 2006 minutes approved by unanimous consent.

Board Director Reports

Chair – Thanked delegates for attending and Steve Yates for providing the Qwizdom units and technical support. Spoke of the LPCO’s success with Senate Bill 83, which gives third parties greater latitude in nominating candidates. Thanked Marc Goddard for organizing the Casino Night Fundraiser. Thanked Michele Poague for wooing national delegates, encouraging them to hold the national convention in Denver in 2008. Spoke of reviving the newsletter and raising more funds.

Campaigns – Orrok moved to allow Goddard to present the campaigns report in Leah Kelley’s place, as she was unable to attend. No objection. Goddard spoke of the completion of the campaign handbook, Dawn Winkler’s campaign, and Club 20 debates. Looks forward to working with future candidates.

Front Range Outreach – Asked people to volunteer to work at the outreach booth at the People’s Fair. Overall trend shows the LPCO growing. From January of 2006 to January of 2007, the numbers from the Secretary of State show 831 new members, an increase of 14 percent. However, he noted that a lot of growth is needed for the LPCO to reach major party status. Party needs more money and more activists so it can operate more booths at more outreach events. Orrok said Larimer County has shown a lot of growth and credited Gene Freeland and his personal outreach kits for much of that growth.

Western Slope Outreach – Spoke of growth of the LP on the Western Slope and creation of new affiliates.

Membership – Goals include increasing contact with new members and increasing number of donating members. Using Ballot Base, he has called 103 people this month, seeking donations. He is also looking for student interns to work with the party. Wants everyone to see the word “Libertarian” twice a day during the campaign season. Envisions possible advertising avenues, including flyers and stationary ads.

(Quorum: 37.)

Publications – Herron, elected to position in March 2007 by the Board, said he intends to make some changes to the newsletter. Believes the newsletter should be more than a list of previous and upcoming events. Wants to move toward more professional-looking newsletter with more varied content. In the short term, the newsletter will be web only, but he hopes to offer a printed version again soon. Would like affiliates to provide editorial content for newsletter. Newsletter will be published bimonthly or quarterly. Also creating a weekly webcast program that will address issues of the moment. The webcast will be connected to a chat room for Libertarians.

(Orrok moved to extend the time for the directors’ reports by fifteen minutes. Seconded. Motion passed 27-9.)

Media – Nicks presented the media report on behalf of Chris Thompson who was absent.

Records – New database 90 percent completed. Continues to maintain and update records.

Legislative – Promoted multiple bills that advanced Libertarian causes. LPCO was successful in killing several bills that limited freedom. Also successful in opposing multiple bills that required vaccination, including the Gardicil bill. Successfully lobbied with the Secretary of State to get Senate Bill 83 passed. Several legislators are willing to put forth Libertarian legislation. Need better means of communicating with membership.

(Orrok made a point of order that all electronic devices, such as cellphones, must be turned off or muted.)

Treasurer – See report. Worked to improve communications at LPHQ.

BREAK

Reconvened 10:45 AM.

(Quorum: 36.)

Committee Reports

(Quorum: 38.)

Constitution and Bylaws (Randall) – Provided copies of proposed constitution and bylaw amendments. Randall moved to accept the constitution and bylaws report. Seconded and passed 35-1. Randall suggested that the committee continue to examine the use of score voting. He said that the constitution and bylaws needed to be cleaned up before they could be combined into one document. Randall moved to adopt the constitution and bylaws report. Seth Dilday raised a point of information, asking how Randall would divide the question if it were divided. Bud Martin made a motion to divide the question, then withdrew it. Martin moved to strike the word “serious” from Section 3 of the report, which amends Article 2, Section 1, item “f” of the constitution. Chair noted that the question would have to be divided to make such a motion. Randall moved to divide the question by voting on the whole, excepting items 3, 7 and 8. Randall pointed out that, if the report is adopted, items 1 (score voting) and 2 (combining constitution and bylaws) will be sent back to committee. Motion to divide seconded and passed 27-8. Martin moved to strike the word “serious” from section three of the report because he believes it to be redundant. Seconded. After debate, Randall moved to call the question. Seconded. Randall withdrew his motion to call the question. The motion to strike the word “serious” from Section 3 of the report failed 25-12.

David Aitken moved to strike item “a” of Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution in Section 3 of the report. Seconded and failed 25-10.

Herron moved to replace the word “movement” with “party and affiliates” in item “a”, Section 1, Article 2 of the proposed Constitutional language. Nicks said the motion failed for lack of a timely second. Herron appealed Nicks’ decision, moving to overturn the Chair’s decision. Seconded and passed 22-13. Herron restated his motion. Seconded and failed 20-15.

(Quorum: 38.)

(Bette Rose and Tony Ryan joined the convention as observers.)

Goddard moved to call the question, to end debate on the question of adopting the proposed changes in Section 3 of the report. Seconded and passed 34-1.

Motion to adopt the proposed changes in Section 3 of the report seconded and passed 29-3.

Randall moved to shorten the voting time to 20 seconds. Seconded. Shaffer made a friendly amendment to change it to 30 seconds. The amendment was accepted. The motion passed by unanimous consent.

Martin Buchanan moved to amend Section 7 of the report to replace “the national Libertarian Party platform” and “the Libertarian Party of Colorado platform” with “the national Libertarian Party Statement of Principles”. Seconded. After discussion, Goddard moved to call the question. Seconded and passed 33-3. The motion to amend Section 7 failed 19-17.

(Quorum: 37.)

Goddard moved to call the question, to move to the vote on adoption of Section 7. Seconded and failed 20-14.

Shaffer moved to replace the proposed language in Section 7 with “All candidates to be approved by the membership at the Convention with the responsibility for determining candidate qualifications to rest with the Board of Directors, specifically the Campaigns Director.” Seconded. It was moved and seconded to re-commit Section 7 to the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Motion passed 21-15.

(Quorum: 38.)

Randall moved to postpone Section 8 until after lunch so that the convention could vote on the remainder of the constitution and bylaw proposals. Seconded and passed 34-1. Motion to end debate on adoption of remainder of constitution and bylaws report seconded and passed 28-7.

Randall moved to adopt the remainder of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee report, Sections 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9. Randall moved to divide the question, excepting Section 2. After discussion, it was decided that Section 2 was null and void if Section 1 passed. The motion to adopt the remainder of the Committee report passed 27-8.

BREAK

Reconvened 1:20 PM.

Awards Ceremony

Nicks said attorney Rick Daily donated his time to help draft the language in Senate Bill 83. For this, Daily received the 2007 Friend of Liberty award. The award is for non-Libertarians who have helped advance the libertarian cause.

Minuteman Awards:

• Ken Waters, for his Arapahoe County Sheriff campaign.
• Claire Gersch and Mykl Kryka, for helping with Waters’ campaign and organizing Arapahoe County affiliate.
• Ken Wyble, for his work with the Arapahoe County affiliate and organizing the convention.

LUNCH

Michele Poague encouraged delegates to attend the 2008 National LP Convention in Denver. She would like to see 1,000 people attend the Convention. She encouraged people to find sponsors and to support them. Money will be needed to pay high-profile speakers. Website is denverlpcon.com.

Michael Badnarik was the luncheon speaker.

The business session reconvened at 2:00PM with a quorum of 36.

Nicks presented Bo Shaffer with the Minuteman Award that had been awarded, but never presented, to him three years ago, for his years of service as a director, candidate and Boulder County LP activist.

Randall moved to adopt Section 8 of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee report, concerning Article 7 of the LPCO Constitution, Nomination of Candidates. Seconded and debated. Motion passed 32-5.

Orrok moved to extend the time for debate of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee report by 15 minutes. Passed by unanimous consent.

(Quorum: 33.)

Orrok moved to insert language in the LPCO Bylaws to ensure compliance with state statutes. He moved to insert a new Section 1, Article 3 to read, “Any meeting to elect party officers, including Delegates, and any assembly to nominate candidates, shall be held at a public place at the time specified by the State Chair, and the time and place of such meeting shall be published once, no later than fifteen days before such meeting in a newspaper of general circulation in each county wherein Members reside,” to change the name of Article 3 to “Meetings”, and re-number the following sections. Passed by unanimous consent.

Orrok proposed striking the language “a written notice, unless waived by all members of the Board, of the time and place of each meeting shall be mailed to each Board member not fewer than seven days prior to said meeting,” from Article 3, Section 2 (new numbering) of the Bylaws. Seconded. David Aitken moved to amend the motion to replace the word “mailed” with “sent”. Orrok moved to replace the language with “to be acknowledged by any means by all members of the Board at least 48 hours prior to such meeting.” Seconded and passed 25-8.

(Quorum: 34.)

Platform Committee Report

Randall moved to accept the 2007 Platform Committee Report. Accepted by unanimous consent. Randall moved to adopt the report. Seconded. Dilday moved to divide the Platform between the whole and planks 13 and 15. Motion passed 24-9. Randall moved to adopt item 13 of the platform, concerning Voting Age Discrimination. Motion to adopt item 13 failed 23-11. Randall moved to adopt the remainder of the platform report with the exception of items 13 and 15. Motion passed 32-1. Dilday moved to re-commit by unanimous consent item 15 to the platform committee for further consideration. Objections were raised, requiring discussion and a vote. Motion to re-commit passed 29-4.

Nicks discharged the Platform Committee and reappointed the committee, naming Randall as chair. Nicks discharged the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and reappointed the committee, naming Orrok as chair.

Orrok moved to amend the orders of the day to allow an additional 15 minutes to discuss bylaws amendments. Seconded and passed by unanimous consent.

Orrok moved to replace the parliamentary authority clause with “The rules contained in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 10th Edition shall govern the Party in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the Party Constitution, Party Bylaws, and any standing rules and any special rules of order the Party or the Board of Directors may adopt. Passed by unanimous consent.

Orrok moved to add a Section 8 to Article 6 of the Bylaws, stating, “Such other committees, standing or special, shall be appointed by the State Chair as the Board of Directors or State Convention shall from time to time deem necessary to carry on the work of the Party” and to strike the word “Convention” from the title of the article. (Quorum: 35.)

The amendment passed 25-7

Orrok moved to amend the orders of the day to add 30 minutes for bylaws discussion. Seconded.

(Quorum: 34.)

Motion failed 20-14.

Goddard moved for a ten-minute recess. Seconded and approved by unanimous consent.

Business session reconvened at 3:36PM with a quorum of 33.

Nominations

The position of Membership Director was created last year and Jones appointed to the position. The Membership Director is to be elected in odd-numbered years.

Nominations were opened for Chair. Buchanan nominated Nicks. Nominations closed.
Nicks: 32
NOTA: 1

Nominations were opened for Campaigns Director. Goddard nominated Kelley for the position. Kelley has said she will accept the nomination. Kryka nominated Jim Frye. Frye declined. Nominations closed.
Kelley: 31
NOTA: 2

Nominations were opened for Western Slope Outreach Director. Elke Glazer nominated Schum. Schum declined. (Quorum: 31.) Patrick Esser nominated Ron Bain. Nominations closed.
Bain: 28
NOTA: 4

Nominations were opened for Media Director. Randall nominated Chris Thompson. Nominations closed.
Thompson: 29
NOTA: 3

Nominations were opened for Publications Director. Randall nominated Herron. Nominations closed.
Herron: 29
NOTA: 2

Nominations were opened for Membership Director. Kristen Hoyer nominated Jones. Nominations closed.
Jones: 32
NOTA: 0

Nominations were opened for Treasurer. Frank Atwood nominated Long. Nominations closed.
Long: 32
NOTA: 0

RESOLUTIONS

Orrok proposed “Resolve that the Board be allowed to conduct e-mail votes provided that the call of the vote is acknowledged by all Board members within 48 hours of its issuance, and that all votes are received within 96 hours.” Seconded. Buchanan offered a friendly amendment adding “e-mail and web votes”. Orrok replaced “e-mail” with “electronic”. “Resolve that the Board be allowed to conduct e-mail votes provided that the call of the vote is acknowledged by all Board members within 48 hours of its issuance, and that all votes are received within 96 hours,” adopted by unanimous consent.

Kok recommended that the LP adopt approval voting for the National LP Convention.

Frank Atwood encouraged attendees to engage in more activism and to find ways to get involved in local politics.

Goddard moved to adjourn.
Seconded and passed 25-6.

Meeting adjourned 4:13PM