Major bad stuff going down in the Illinois Libertarian Party...

[benburch]

Looks like the LP is nearly as bad off as the GOP here in Illinois, guys.

State chair just resigned. Name calling, "F**k You"s in public emails to a major mailing list, allegations of fiscal impropriety, etc...

Looks like we have Illinois solid blue for the foreseeable future. Let's not screw this up.

[whistle]

1. Wow, same political writers that Dick Cheney uses....

[Heyo]

2. fiscal impropriety..

.. in the Libertarian Party?

Somebody misplace the 20 they had?

Heyo

[benburch]

3. LOL!!! nt

[barb162]

6. don't you mean a five

[Heyo]

8. Oh yeah...that's right a 5.

... I forgot they bought lunch.

Heyo

[fit4life]

4. This is great!

As long as we sit back and let the other parties destroy themselves, we'll be fine. Now if we can just get that message to the governor and his in-laws...

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. Rod and Dick both need to put a sock in it.

Anyone else want to give both of them a hot, steaming cup of STFU, or is it just me?

:silly:

[Nailzberg]

7. It's not just you.

I wish the other parties could mount some kind of decent opposition to us. IL Dems have been blooding up their own every since the IL GOP collapsed. The Madigans, the Hynes, the Daley's, and Mell & Rod, and now Jackson Jr throwing some jabs in the press.

Dems are going after Dems like a crazy. We might get the best Dem for the office that way, but how many good Dems are layed to waste in the process?

If Dick and Rod fighting each other? It leaves both vulnerable, which means more Dems fighting Dems in the next primary, and it means good Dems will see their careers ended by other good Dems.

Where's the sense in that?

[barb162]

9. The GOP might put up some smooth-talking far right winger

(unlike Keyes who alienated just about everyone) and you may rue those words

[Nailzberg]

10. Yeah, like Jack Ryan?

But seriously, what I'm trying to say is we need someone to concentrate on defeating or else we are only defeating ourselves.

Right now, all the Dems do is fight each other. Who will be left standing to take on that smooth-talking right winger when all the Dems are busy destroying each other's political careers.

I've worked candidates in IL, and the brutality is no different than any other campaign in any other region. But when IL Dems aren't campaigning, they are busy hacking away at each other in this bloody internal power struggle.

[barb162]

12. imagine a Lyin' Ryan without the sex club stuff

I think this in-fighting is beyond stupid and sending a bad message to voters, like they're little brats fighting in the front yard.

[benburch]

17. As long as it sends a bad message to voters who would not vote Blue...

then I cannot see the problem with it being egged on for a few more years!

[Susang]

11. Do you have a link or links to any stories on this

I could use more information on this. }(

[benburch]

13. Well, as it was a public mailing list, I'll post one of the emails...

From: [e-mail]
Subject: State Chair Resignation & Boycott Convention
Date: January 31, 2005 5:12:50 PM CST
To: [e-mail]

My fellow Libertarians,

It is with great regret that I must announce I have decided to resign as your State Chair effective immediately.  So that my motives are clear I will make it plain and simple, I have no desire to attend the blood bath that is certain to ensue at our convention let alone preside over it.  Over the past several weeks it has become clear to me there are persons in this party who are simply not capable of playing well with others -- a behavior I expect my 7-year-old autistic son to demonstrate.  His behavior, despite his challenges, is leaps and bounds beyond those of some so called "elders" or "veterans" of this party. 

I came into this job when the party didn't have hardly a dime to its name -- our executive director hadn't been paid in months, we had an office with phone lines we were paying for but not using, obvious neglect of our financial reporting had caused problems with the FEC and led to fines.  During my tenure I have sought to redress all of those issues and move the party forward.  In doing so, I thought it was important that we were mindful of our mistakes so they would not happen again.

Now we have people who want to reinvent yesterday, who don't think getting fined thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars of YOUR money, is such a big deal and wasn't really anyone's fault and we should just move on.  I didn't think it was right money donated to us, and continues to be donated to us, and coming through to us through national ended up in the pockets of the federal government because we couldn't file reports on time.  As I explained in my last email, I wasn't on a witch hunt, I just wanted to find out WHAT happened so we could keep it from happening again.  Apparently that's not good enough.   Apparently my public apology (in the face in the disrespectful disdain illustrated below) isn't good enough.  Apparently people won't be satisfied until lawyers are involved and charges of libel are made.  This makes me sick, sick that we can't put down our petty differences for the sake of the party.

If I were to afford floor time for the airing of personal grievances as has been requested at this convention I would need at least two days of convention time to myself.  There's a group of folks who run another email list who have attacked me, insulted me, parodied me, manufactured derogatory pictures of me, and sought to undermine me and the party at so many turns I could go on for hours about it.  They actively tried to undermine our last petition effort, predicted its doom, and sought to gloat over its failure.  One of these people, who didn't lift a finger for it, wants to be your state chair.

The same persons, when they weren't satisfied with the will of the membership at the last convention, decided they would go around and try to get affiliates to secede from the party.  They want their way and if they don't get it they will never accept it, that is their method of operation.  In contrast we have someone who claims that her character was attacked because it was said she didn't do a good job.  My response is you shouldn't hold office in this party then, if you can't take the criticism at a level not even 1/10th of what I have endured, you shouldn't hold the job.

To give you a taste of some of what I'm talking about I have attached a frank email from the former treasurer in question, Julie Fox, about alleged rumors and innuendos that were circulating.  She ended up requesting 30 minutes of YOUR time at the convention for her to personally opine on and respond to alleged rumors and accusations.  I call your attention to the way she ends the letter, this from a long time and "respected" member of the party.  I've been treated with more respect by an angry bartender in the worst dive you can imagine five minutes after closing time. 

This upcoming convention is certain to be a blood bath on just about any scale imaginable.  There are those who intend to neither seek nor give any quarter.  Even if the membership decides to go one way I'm certain there will be a faction that won't accept that and will find another way, it happened last year.  The are already numerous emails circulating amongst them lobbying for one side or another.  If you aren't on one of these "secret" email lists you're missing half the campaign to replace me.

Because of all these reasons I encourage you to BOYCOTT this convention and NOT participate so in that a quorum will not be present and such a meeting cannot be held.  The party needs time to sort some of these issues out and decide what is in its best interest.  The SOC needs to step in and start taking some action on some of these issues BEFORE bringing it to the membership as a whole.  It's time some members of the party realized this party exists to serve its members, not the other way around.  When a decision is debated and made, whether it's UMP or anything else, it should be respected or those who can't respect it should find themselves another group of people to associate with.

The vast majority of you have been supportive and have said so in your emails to me and I thank you for them, they have kept me going.  I have been no saint in all of this, I have made my share of mistakes, sometimes my tongue got the better of me, but when I continue to be smacked down after making an honest good faith effort to get things resolved I draw the line.  I respect myself too much to be disrespected by people who suddenly decide to get involved in the party again because there's a convention coming up. 

If you feel as I do then I encourage you to call or email your SOC rep immediately and make your thoughts known.  You can also contact me: [e-mail] and I will also have some more updates on this at my blog:  http://www.wguyfinley.com.

It has been my great pleasure to serve the vast majority of you, I encourage you to take this opportunity to take back this party from those who would just assume behave like a group of spoiled children.

In liberty and in YOUR service,

W. Guy Finley

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:
Attacks on former treasurer(s?)

Date:
Mon, 24 Jan 2005 21:27:08 -0800 (PST)

From:
JULIE FOX <[e-mail]>

To:
Guy Finley <[e-mail]>, David Lee <[e-mail]>, Jeff Trigg <[e-mail]>

CC:
Jerry Kohn <[e-mail]>, Ken Prazak <[e-mail]>, Dave Kelley <[e-mail]>, John Spizziri <[e-mail]>, John Teschky <[e-mail]>, Val Vetter <[e-mail]>, Tim Wingate <[e-mail]>, Niko Rajnovic <[e-mail]>, Bob Schlereth <[e-mail]>, Walter Simons <[e-mail]>, Bill Stephens <[e-mail]>, Jim Syler <[e-mail]>, Scott Bludorn <[e-mail]>, Julie Fox <[e-mail]>



I received the LPI newsletter in the mail today.  Guy Finley's article/letter contained at least two references to poor accounting practices; David Lee's gave many more.  I've heard from others in the LPI that I have been attacked by one or all of you at various times, and at this point it has gone too far.  While Guy refers to himself being attacked in his article, he not only does the same thing to at least one of our former treasurers, but he allows the same thing to be done continually by David Lee and Jeff Trigg to the same person(s?). 

 

I agree completely with Scott Bludorn, and fully understand why he left the party.  If there was no chance for change at this point, I would leave the party immediately and take my monthly pledge along with me.  Scott felt exactly as I did, that our time was much better spent on acitivism than arguing.  So I chose to take the higher road and ignore the ridiculous accusations that came out in various e-mails.  Now that I have read the newsletter, I can no longer stand back and have my character assisinated by people who have spent a fraction of the time that I have on libertarian activism. 

 

I am appalled beyond what can be expressed in words at the insinuations and out-right lies that our LPI officials have been spreading about myself and possibly another of our former treasurers.  I am in utter disbelief that such falsehoods would be spread about me.  Considering the number of falsehoods spread already, and what will likely be spread when David decides to go over past years' "mistakes" at his convention report, I will need a block of time in which to present the true story.  To the best of my knowledge, no other treasurer in the LPI has reported profit and loss numbers for their annual report on years other than the one that just ended, so what's the point here??????????

 

I am starting to write my notes now for my rebuttal at the convention.  I'll ask Bill Stephens to do the same.  We're the two people who really know what went on with the treasurer's positions at that time -- hell, Guy and David weren't even members of the party at that time, and Jeff had just joined.  But we're supposed to assume that they know all the facts.  I've been as professional as I possibly could be, but you've crossed the line one time too many times at this point.  I won't go away, not that easily, but look at this situation and ask yourselves why we lose valuable activists.  It's staring you right in the eye.

 

If David wants to back off on his accusations then I won't need as much time to rebut them at the convention.  Otherwise it may take a considerable amount of time.  I spent quite a bit of time at last year's convention explaining the facts, and I can do so again if that's what it takes to finally stop the infantile finger-pointing (at least in this case) that continues to destroy our party.   And don't try to stop me.  Most of the people in this party have known and respected me for years, long before any of you were around, and will want to hear what I have to say.

 

In conclusion, FUCK YOU!!!!!

 

Julie Fox

 

Co-Founder, Fox Valley Libertarian Party, 1994

President, FVLP, 1994 - 1999, 2004-present

Treasurer, FVLP, 1994 - present

Treasurer, LPI, 2001 - 2004

Asst. Treasurer, LPI, 2000-2001

Special Events Coordinator, LPI, 2001-2002

Trustee, Dundee Township Library Board, 2001-present  (Treasurer, 2003 - present)

President, Treasurer and co-founder, Coalition for Accountability in Public Education (CAPE) 1997-1999

LPI candidate for IL State Comptroller, 2002

Convention committee -- 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003

Convention committee head - 1997 and 2002

 

 

 

 

 


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LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF ILLINOIS (LPI)
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[Susang]

14. Thanks Ben

That was mighty helpful indeed. You're the best! :loveya:

[benburch]

15. You're most welcome!

I hope you can do something interesting with this info... :evilgrin:

[benburch]

16. More fun...

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Message from the LPI Executive Board
Date: February 2, 2005 11:35:25 PM CST
To: [e-mail]
Reply-To: [e-mail]

Dear Illinois Libertarians:

The Executive Board of the Libertarian Party of Illinois would like to apologize for the recent actions by our Chair. The email he sent to you was inappropriate, profane, and not in keeping with the professional demeanor expected of officers of the Libertarian Party of Illinois. The LPI-Announce list is not the place to air personal grievances.

As for boycotting the Convention--it's a foolish idea. The quorum at a Convention is fifteen people, including proxies. That means if only three people, each holding four proxies, show up, the Convention will have a quorum and business will go on.

We will have a Convention, and we will have a business meeting. I encourage everyone, particularly LPI members, to attend, as the decisions we make at this Convention may well set the direction of the Party for years to come. If you haven't registered yet, there is still time to do so. Please visit <http://il.lp.org/convention/register.php> or call 1(800) 735-1776 to submit your registration and payment, and visit <http://il.lp.org/convention/> to find information on the Convention location and itinerary. The Convention will be in Springfield, IL on February 19th and 20th. Remember: No pre-registration or payment is necessary to attend the Sunday business meeting.

We are too small an organization to be able to afford angry attacks and divisiveness. We will always have disagreements; that's what keeps an organization like ours dynamic and vibrant. But we can't allow those disagreements to devolve into personal attacks, name-calling and threats of boycotts and hostile takeovers. We are a democratic organization; there is a system in place to deal with whatever problems people may have--if we use it. No, we will not always get our way, but our voice and our vote will always count.

We are all working toward the same end--freedom for ourselves and our children--regardless of our different approaches. We hope that everyone who can will attend the Convention and business meeting, engage in spirited but polite debate, and help to choose the Party's leadership and direction for the next two years.

We cannot fight tyranny while fighting ourselves.

Yours in Liberty,

The Libertarian Party of Illinois Executive Board
Jim Syler, Vice Chair - Campaigns
Aaron Cunningham, Vice Chair - Media
Jeff Trigg, Vice Chair - Membership
Jerry Kohn, Secretary
David Lee, Treasurer

[barb162]

18. enjoyed reading these posts; sounds like a major implosion

[EST]

19. I think (if I remember correctly)

That I'm actually registered as a libertarian. Back in the days of my political infancy, I was impressed by their stance on drug policy. Now that I realize that the drug laws are the way they are because drugs present one of the very best fund raisers for the Vile chimperors minions, I understand a bit more.