Judicial Committee Qualifications

[Angela McArdle]

Dear LNC and JC Members:

An issue was brought to my attention regarding the membership status of one of our newly elected Judicial Committee members, Stephen Kinsella. He joined the national Libertarian Party two months shy of the four year mark, which (according to my understanding) barely makes him ineligible to serve.

I apologize that this wasn't discovered prior to convention and I know that an effort was made to double check his eligibility in advance, but we will have to vacate his position on the Judicial Committee.

I believe the JC fills their own vacancies so I will leave the rest to them. My apologies for the situation, Mr. Kinsella. Thank you for your willingness to serve.

Angela McArdle, Chair

Libertarian National Committee

[Linnea Gabbard]

Thank you for the information Madam Chair.

Was Mr. Kinsella the only JC with eligibility discrepancies?

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Concordia res parvae crescunt
 
Dave Benner
Region 2 Representative, Libertarian National Committee

[Angela McArdle]

As far as I know (right now), yes.

Angela McArdle, Chair

Libertarian National Committee

[Dustin Blankenship]

Good evening,

A concerned delegate inquired with me about instructions that were given on the convention floor. The delegate mentioned that both Ken acting as chair and our secretary instructed the body that if any JC candidate were to be found ineligible, that the next highest candidate would be moved up. Based on the information above, it would appear as though Mr. Kinsella was ineligible for election. 

I believe the process is supposed to be that the JC handles selection; but since it has been asserted that an alternative instruction was given to the membership at our convention, I wanted to bring it forward for the record and allow you to speak to it for clarification as I’m sure there may be others who are confused.

Thank you for your attentiveness to this request.

Best,

Dustin 

Dustin Blankenship, JD MPA 

At-Large Representative 

Libertarian National Committee 

[Linnea Gabbard]

How timely, I was about to ask for clarification on this, I second this request. 

[Joshua Clark]

My recollection was it was stated that could be the case if the next candidate in line also received over 50% of the vote. Do we know if anyone else running met that threshold? If not, the JC would make the selection anyway.

[Dustin Blankenship]

I believe Jim Turney was next in line, but I don’t know his percentage offhand.

[Steven Nekhaila]

Dear All,

Mr. Turney, or Uncle Jim as he is affectionately known in the LPF, has served on previous JC's and I know he would do a fantastic job if selected for another term.

Sincerely,

Steven Nekhaila

[Secretary LNC]

No one else reached a majority.  The JC appoints it’s own vacancy

On Thu, Jun 2, 2022 at 7:35 PM Mike Seebeck <mike.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Please forward to the rest of the LNC.

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To the LNC:

 

To address the concerns over the election of Mr. Kinsella:

Mr. Kinsella is indeed ineligible at this time for the Judicial Committee, and the Judicial Committee is considering its options.

Per Convention Rule 9, election of the Judicial Committee is done in the same manner as the LNC At-Large elections in Rule 8, with the exception that there are seven positions up for election instead of five, in accordance with the Bylaws, Article 8, Section 1.

As such, the members elected are the top seven vote-getters who also have earned a majority of the votes cast, per Rule 8-2-c.

Per the election results, there were only seven candidates who met that majority criteria: Mr. Montoni, Mr. Seebeck, Mr. Latham, Mr. Stratton, Mr. Krawchuck, Mr. Tarnoff, and Mr. Kinsella.

With Mr. Kinsella not currently meeting the 4-year membership eligibility requirement under the Bylaws, article 8, Section 1, that seat is vacant and per that same Article and Section, the remaining six Judicial Committee members may appoint to fill the vacancy.

Mr. Moellman’s instructions at convention may have been incorrect, in accordance with the Bylaws and Rules cited above, which are clear.

Hopefully this helps.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

 

For the Judicial Committee,

Michael Seebeck

mike.s...@gmail.com

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___________________________________________________

In Liberty, Caryn Ann Harlos

LNC Secretary and LP Historical Preservation Committee Chair ~ 561.523.2250

[Angela McArdle]

DId Ms. Harlos' email help clarify?

Angela McArdle, Chair

Libertarian National Committee

[Dustin Blankenship]

Does for me.

Thank you.

[Linnea Gabbard]

For myself, yes, I very much appreciate that.

For my delegation, some are worried that they were disenfranchised at the time of voting due to a violation of the rules made by Mr. Moellman, creating the results we now have which would have been different had the instructions been given properly.  How do we reconcile this?

I do have a sidebar question for my own curiosity: the 4 year eligibility requirement, is it consecutive or can someone have had breaks in between their membership if they left the party etc?

[Secretary LNC]

Let me answer and own up to a sloppiness in my wording during my brief period as chair.

Mr. Moellman violated no rules.  I said that the next highest vote getter would be seated but the context of my comment was the next highest “qualified” vote getter would be qualified.  Qualified requires getting a majority votes.  No one else got a majority vote.  However I concede I should have been clearer.

However the same delegate asked the same question of Mr. Moellman and was given a clear answer.  That delegate could have moved to have a second ballot at that time or any other challenge and chose not to.

The time for any remediation is past as plenty of opportunity was given at convention and there is no continuing breach of the bylaws - this was a convention rule not a bylaw.

The membership rule is not consecutive.  Our records show Mr. Kinsella as first signing the pledge in July 2018.

I am triple checking with staff and of course anything I say is inferior to anything said by the Chair.

I own up to my ambiguous statement but that was absolutely cured by Mr. Moellman.

[Linnea Gabbard]

Awesome, thank you Ms. Harlos, that’s exactly what I needed.

[Angela McArdle]

Thank you, all. I feel it would be a bad move for me to 'tell the JC what to do' beyond simply stating that Mr. Kinsella is not eligible at this time.

Angela McArdle, Chair

Libertarian National Committee

[Donavan Pantke]

Also note that, although the JC fills its own vacancies, the JC could simply appoint Mr. Kinsella to fill the vacancy once he qualifies to serve in a couple of months. He was never removed, just declared ineligible, so I see nothing in the bylaws that prevents him from being appointed to fill a vacancy.

Donavan Pantke

Region 7 Alternate

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[Secretary LNC]

You are correct.  The purpose of the bylaw is for new converts not to be making judicial decisions.  It is a good rule.  However I don’t think Mr. Kinsella of all people is going to learn momentous new things in two months.  However the Party Chair has to rule as the bylaws state and right now he is not eligible. On 8/1 he will be.

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