Brian Holtz // Jan 26, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Michael, here’s a reality check. When was the last time an off-year LP NatCon ever got an interesting amount of “media attention”? A quick Google News Archive search suggests that our 2006 convention got only 3 mentions in the mainstream media: two local Oregon articles, and one Atlanta article about Bob Barr’s attendance.
Politics is indeed a numbers game. I’d like you to estimate for us: how many extra delegates would you expect to get from delegates being able to attend without paying for a share of the conference facilities? How many extra media impressions would this extra attendance garner for the LP?
I predict you won’t give numeric answers, just like you wouldn’t tell us how much of the LNCC’s bank account should have been donated to Joe Kennedy, and how much it would have changed his 1% outcome.
Talk is cheap. Facts and action, not so much.
Brian Holtz // Jan 26, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Whether the LNC does or does not waste money on other things isn’t strictly relevant to the question of whether delegates should have to pay for a share of the conference facilities. Ditto for whether these conference facilities are overpriced. (“Overpriced” implies a comparison. Where has somebody compared this convention’s costs to a comparable past or alternative venue?)
Tom, exactly where do you think rank-and-file dues-payer subsidization of delegate expenses should end? You apparently already say they should subsizide the room, P/A system, electricity, and A/V system. Should they also subsidize the convention packets and badges? What about internet access? food? parking? lodging? transportation? Why should a penny of LP dues be spent on an office as long as a single delegate can’t afford some of these things? After all, according to you, facilitating a convention of delegates is a core Bylaws mandate of the LNC, whereas the Bylaws say nothing about an office.
I have to chuckle at the irony of candidates for Libertarian office/nomination boldly telling delegates that non-delegate dues-payers should subsidize some of their convention-weekend expenses. Quelle courage!
When the Platform Committee met in Vegas in December, we didn’t ask for LP dues-payers to subsidize our meeting space. Should we have?
Brian Holtz // Feb 2, 2010 at 7:36 pm
@52: Yes, at the 2005 LPCA convention, Allen Rice ended a bitter fight over “floor fees” by donating $195 to cover unpaid fees. Later, in the advanced stages of a tragic case of LP burnout, he complained so much about the whole episode that I paid him the $195 just so I wouldn’t have to hear any more from him about it. So at this point, you could say that the floor-fee sugar daddy was me.
Allen still does small-L libertarian activism, though. His latest project tracks the current initiatives seeking ballot qualification in California: http://www.wgla.org/Politics/2009/Initiatives/index.htm
Brian Holtz // Feb 2, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Cohen misleads yet again. There was nothing private about my deal with Allen. We arranged it on a public forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marketliberal/message/972
It’s on the first page of results if you Google:
California libertarian “floor fees” 2005 convention
Brian Holtz // Feb 2, 2010 at 10:05 pm
My dermis is just the right thickness. It sure didn’t look like an attempt at humor, but given your skills in that department, you could plausibly call anything an attempted joke. Civil and well-mannered people save such jokes and “buddy” references for people who they know like or respect them.
As for you not reading my forum, here’s a clue: whether a fact is public or private doesn’t depend on whether Bruce Cohen is aware of it.
“Play” with you? I had a project to potty-train you. It didn’t work. You’re on your own.
“Relax”? Shedding you is, in the context of my LP activism, one of the more relaxing things I’ve done in quite a while.
So you just keep pretending that being fair and honest about people has anything to do with notarizing things, and I’ll keep bird-dogging your every false or unsubtantiated statement about any LPCA member. But please: don’t keep zooming through the speed trap just because you’re desperate for the social interaction of being ticketed.
