Folks,
I got a couple of upset emails from members of the LNC about a rare social media post of mine in one of the uncensored LP delegate groups. Anyone reading it certainly sensed my frustration with our progress on the LNC.
I just wanted to say.....there's nothing ugly or dishonest about speaking the truth. Truth to power, I believe, is the expression. I've got nothing personal against the chair, have not sought to humiliate her or anyone else. Our lack of results is what this is about. Metrics matter. IMO most of ours are bad. And there has been zero refutation of anything I wrote in that one, solitary post.
Publicly acknowledging failures is something that mature organizations do. It's something that we as leaders can and should do. It's not an insult to acknowledge reality.
Our members are wise enough to know things have been going poorly over much of this term, notwithstanding some recent fundraising wins...which I was glad to hear about. A couple of months hitting six figures would be nice, but it's by no means cause for celebration, when you look at our recent 26% budget cuts for 2023, and our upcoming ballot access needs. It's not all rainbows and unicorns out there.
And there are storm clouds still ahead.....in our last Region 6 Roundtable video meeting, multiple states reported that, while contacting members for renewals, they were having difficulty overcoming member objections to renewing related both to the MC takeover and to changes in the platform made (abortion, bigotry) at the last convention.
My Alternate Mr. Redpath and I are gave some verbal examples and will provide some written talking points to help them overcome those objections. But these are unforced errors, friends. Organizationally, they keep us from attaining much, much more. They are unnecessary barriers to our success, which I believe in part are reflected in our declining membership stats.
Personally, I hope everyone on the LNC and elsewhere realizes you can be both completely committed to seeing an organization have success, while at the same time being concerned about how things have been going. They are two sides of the same coin.
I haven't been a life member since '94 for nothing, haven't served on 5 state boards just for the fun of it, haven't worked so hard during my tenure in my native New Hampshire and much more... and now I have to spend time helping the 9 states in my region rebound from the ill effects felt throughout the Region (and I suspect, the Party) since Reno?
That's not an insult. It's just the truth.
With best wishes,
Mark Tuniewicz ("tune-YEV-ich")
Region 6 Representative
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.