[LPL Board of Directors] Bayou Parishes!
Adrien Monteleone
chairman at lplouisiana.org
Thu Feb 21 16:17:53 CST 2013
To all SCC members,
I'm forwarding the discussion below for all of you to review for input.
The issue at hand is "can St. Mary, Terrebonne, and Lafourche parishes
hold their three caucuses together at one location as a single event?"
For various reasons, mostly stated in my latest reply, I would say "no."
If you have time, please read this over and let me know your thoughts.
Otherwise, my position and "ruling" on this matter is that each caucus
needs to be held separately in their respective parishes.
This does not prohibit the actives from collaborating and assisting one
another to make all three events a success.
We will also need to consider minor modifications to our By-laws or
Special Rules in order to clarify this for the future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 2/21/2013 4:05 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
Thanks for the clarification.
I guessed already at everything you have here, and I am sympathetic and
sensitive to it. And I've driven that area quite a bit, so I understand
how close AND how far apart, those three parishes are.
But I also have other considerations to balance out.
As far as Lafourche and Terrebonne go, historically, they used to be a
single parish. (Lafourche Interior Parish was the old name)
I don't remember all the history, but in hindsight I would say dividing
the parish wasn't the best move by the Legislature. And really, for the
locals there, they do consider themselves more together than separate.
Certainly, if Dr. Block or someone else makes a special appearance, it
would be nice to not have to ask him to attend two separate events, even
15 miles apart. Of course, there's nothing prohibiting say Lafourche
from holding its caucus 1st, and then Terrebonne inviting everyone to
their caucus to hear Dr. Block or anyone else speak.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Mary Parish is another animal entirely. (though anyone would be
welcomed to attend the Terrebonne Caucus as a guest to hear a speaker)
The least distance someone has to travel to get to Houma is from Amelia
which is 30+ minutes away.
Morgan City is 45+, and Franklin which is the parish seat is over an
hour away from Houma. People from Charenton, Baldwin are even further,
and if someone lives in St. Mary parish just east of Jeanerette, they'd
have to drive nearly 90 minutes to get to the caucus that should be held
about 20-30 minutes away in Franklin.
I don't think it's right to ask people to drive 90 minutes to another
parish, when the meeting is supposed to be 1/3 that distance away in
their own parish.
This is a disenfranchisement issue. Even if no one other than those who
showed up to the planning meeting, show up to the caucus, it still is a
bad practice to hold elections in a "foreign" and "far away" jurisdiction.
Remember, we aren't just concerned with those people you called or met
with already. We're concerned about access for the general public of
each parish. Everyone is invited to attend. If they aren't registered
LP, they are invited to switch so they can participate. We've already
discussed using these events to drive voter registration. That becomes
increasingly remote if the meeting is held in another parish.
We will be advertising the caucuses publicly in each parish. We may not
get any attendees from that announcement alone even with separate
caucuses, but I can guarantee that the prospect of having to drive an
hour or more to Houma for a St. Mary Parish meeting WILL be a deterrent
for people to consider going. Even having to drive 30 minutes from
Thibodeaux to Houma might be a deterrent considering the Lafourche
caucus SHOULD be in Thibodeaux.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to their interpersonal dynamics.
Once formed, the PECs and parish members are free to collaborate on any
election or other projects they want. But they have to hold their
individual PEC meetings within their respective parishes. (that's in the
rules) Thus I see little practical purpose to holding their election in
Houma. St. Mary and even Lafourche will be holding all subsequent
meetings in Franklin and Thibodeaux respectively.
If they want to attend each other's caucuses to assist with pulling off
the event, more power to them. They can do this and still support each
other. In no way do I want to trample on or discourage what they are
building there. But holding a single caucus isn't the only way to work
together.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is another important consideration:
We are in no-mans land legally. It's uncharted territory so to speak.
State law requires us to have PECs, but the sections of law specifying
how to elect them doesn't apply to us. So we're left to make up our own
rules on that. However, we have yet to gain any official recognition
for a PEC. (we haven't tried yet) And there doesn't seem to be any
procedure for doing so since there are no public elections for us yet.
I'll have to contact the SoS and Registar of Voters to find out what to do.
I would be dimes to dollars that if we hold a caucus for electing a PEC
for a parish, in order for the State/Parish to recognize it as the
legitimate PEC, that election will have to be held in that parish.
I don't want to end up with a situation where we set a precedent for
doing this, and either in this case, or another, some other group holds
a caucus on their own within the parish and files and claims to be the
legitimate PEC. In such a case, there is no way we could back the PEC
formed outside the respective parish. We might even find that merely
doing it the way they plan to, will precipitate someone trying to do
this just to force the issue.
There are just too many problems and issues with doing it all as one,
and since there are other ways to accomplish collaboration, and since
having separate caucuses doesn't necessarily sacrifice that dynamic,
there is no overriding reason to not do them separately.
I'll investigate further on the legal issues, and I'll pass all this by
the larger Board, but the safest and surest bet is this needs to be
three separate events one within each respective parish.
-- In Liberty,
Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana
On 02/21/2013 01:31 PM, Wendy Adams wrote:
> Thank you, Adrien, you too.
>
> They were open to either structure for the meeting: holding them one
> right after another, or one in the front showroom and one in the back
> training room simultaneously.
>
> There is no intent for an organized regional LPL structure (such as
> outlined or experimented with previously/historically by LPL.) This
> is their best operational approach to coming together and building and
> growing. They understand that these are separate PECs.
>
> They want to do it together because they are operating like a
> community. They are small right now but they plan to grow and evolve
> to hold separate meetings. There are multiple needs for making this
> work..as far as characteristics in leadership. There is a certain
> amount of energy needed for success or participation will not get off
> the ground. Each individual has something to contribute, and at this
> time they are enjoying the support of each other. They are building
> relationships and encouraging each other. They need to feel good
> about what they are getting into.
>
> I think we have to let that evolve organically. Look at it on a map.
> Houma is right there in the middle. These people share a culture.
> They call themselves "bayou region" and it has nothing to do with
> LPL. They share the same geographical characteristics and lifestyle.
>
> Many of them have worked together supporting Ron Paul for the past
> eight years. They like meeting at David Mounts office. The first
> meeting (21 people) was about half Ron Paul half new folks I called...
> half were registered LPL. The second meeting had 21 people but a
> different mix, almost all reg LPL. There is a good group dynamics.
> They are all getting to know each other, building relationships,
> sharing ideas and visions of what they want their community to look
> like. This is an "event" they are taking part in producing... to
> kickoff a long term three year commitment. They are excited that they
> can make a change. We talked about Walter Block coming out and saying
> a few words.
>
> I think with volunteers you have to give them choices and let them
> have input. Otherwise they do not show up. It is important to
> respect those that show up. (Not the interest of those we called who
> said that they were not interested.) This might be the perfect example
> of local knows best.
>
>
>
>
> On 2/21/2013 10:50 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>> Wendy,
>>
>> First, I'd like to thank you for your hard work and effort to make
>> these events happen. I know from experience they are not easy.
>>
>> I can understand the desire to want to combine the events. But doing
>> so is against their purpose.
>>
>> Before I explain further, I have two questions:
>>
>>
>>
>> #1 - Are they intending to form a tri-parish/regional PEC?
>>
>> or
>>
>> #2 - Do they intend to hold 3 separate simultaneous meetings in the
>> same room or in separate rooms in the same location, or consecutively
>> one after the other in the same location?
>>
>>
>> In short, what is the purpose and intention of holding a single
>> caucus in Houma?
>>
>>
>
On Wed 20 Feb 2013 11:16:53 PM CST, Wendy Adams wrote:
Adrien,
No one thought this..."Also, they need 5 registered libertarians in
each parish at each caucus. Someone from Terrebonne can't count for
Lafourche for example, and they can't vote for people for a PEC that
isn't their parish. If that's what they were planning on - that's
right out. "
The examples you gave are like comparing apples and
oranges...Franklin and Houma? This is the Bayou Region and the
three parishes are adjacent.
We called every single registered LP in every parish and invited
them to the planning meeting. Every adult in that room who took the
time out of their schedule to attend the meeting was perfectly
capable of analyzing whether or not it was appropriate. The points
you brought up were addressed and discussed. Twenty of them voted
unanimously to do it like this and they were excited about it. We
are calling everyone back and offering a ride to anyone who needs a
ride. It is a Saturday night. The planing meeting is 6 weeks and 4
days away from the night they scheduled.
We told them they are their own independent organization. I pulled
up the Parish Caucus Meeting Agenda on a big screen and read them
this,:
"These new Parish Executive Councils (PEC's) are now the primary
organizational unit of the Party. We know the maxim that ALL
politics are
local, and it makes perfect sense to decentralize the party and
facilitate party activities on the local level. The PEC's will be
responsible for
all party activities within their parish, including but not limited
to: membership drives, educational outreach, working with local elected
officials, community involvement, local fund raising, finding
candidates to run for local office, and assisting local and statewide
election
campaigns. While the State Party has created a few programs to help
coordinate these activities, each parish has autonomy to conduct its
business as it sees fit. (within the limits of state law, and
national/state party by-laws)
You're telling me that there is no rule or lay that says they can
not. Are you sure you want me to tell them you said they cant do it
because you think it wouldn't be appropriate?
On 2/20/2013 10:40 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
Thanks for the update. I'm very happy to see activism again in
that neck of the woods.
Holding a combined planning meeting is one thing. I don't
particularly favor it for this very reason, but I'm not going to
"outlaw it."
However, the caucuses must be held separately in each parish.
They don't all have to be on the same night. If they want to
stagger them, and help each other out for each one, that is fine.
It wouldn't be right, for example, to hold the Tangipahoa caucus
in East Baton Rouge, or the New Orleans caucus in Mandeville.
Yet this is similar to what they are proposing. They want to
hold a caucus for three parishes in one. That means people two
parishes away have to travel further. Carpooling or not, it
isn't appropriate. Would they think it appropriate to hold
elections for Franklin's city council in Houma? This IS an
election (though not to public office) and should be conducted
accordingly. It should be held if at all possible in the
jurisdiction it is for.
Also, they need 5 registered libertarians in each parish at each
caucus. Someone from Terrebonne can't count for Lafourche for
example, and they can't vote for people for a PEC that isn't
their parish. If that's what they were planning on - that's
right out.
-- In Liberty,
Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana
On Wed 20 Feb 2013 09:25:42 PM CST, Wendy Adams wrote:
Hi Adrien!
The meeting went great last night! We had 21 people in
attendance.
They are all on board for caucus.
We set the caucus for Saturday April 6th at 7:30pm in Houma.
Everyone took a vote and they unanimously decided they
wanted to hold
all three parishes together in Houma. They like working
together. I
tried to talk them out of it, but we've already called all
registered
LPs.. we are going to call all of the actives and offer them
a ride if
needed. I had told them that this was their show.. so
unless there
anything that would prohibit them from doing it like that..
I guess
thats fine huh?
-Wendy
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