[LPL Board of Directors] Internal party foolishness. Express mail 3/28 letter came today.
Adrien Monteleone
chairman at lplouisiana.org
Fri Mar 29 16:47:03 CDT 2013
I have inquired with the Secretary about the issue of the sending of the
Registered letter and am awaiting a response.
However, due notice was served and received according to our By-laws.
Robert's States in part:
"the secretary should immediately send the accused by registered mail a letter
notifying him of the date, hour, and place of the trial, containing an exact
copy of the charge(s) and specifications..."
and also in part:
"With reference to the appropriate date for which to set the trial, thirty
days is a reasonable time to allow the accused to prepare his defense."
Our By-Laws state:
"ARTICLE 13: PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY
Robert's Rules of Order shall be the parliamentary authority for all matters
of procedure not specifically covered by these By-laws or Special Rules of the
Party."
Therefore, our By-Laws where they are specific to a matter or question or
rule, supersede Robert's.
Our By-laws also state in part:
"ARTICLE 15: JUDICIAL MATTERS
1. Disciplinary action against any Party members shall be provided in
accordance with Robert's Rules of Order *except as provided herein.*
2. Officers and other State Central Committee members may be removed for cause
by a two-thirds majority vote of all members of the State Central Committee.
*1. The charges against any offending officer must be fully stated in the call
for any State Central Committee meeting at which any removal action is planned.**
**2. This call along with the charges must be issued 21 days preceding the
meeting.*
..."
Thus our By-laws specifically state that this is to be in the form of a call
for a meeting.
Continuing, the following are the duties of the Secretary under the By-laws:
Article 7: Officers, §1(c)(3)
"perform such other duties as are prescribed in these By-laws and the Special
Rules of the Party and those assigned by the Chair and/or the State Central
Committee; "
And combined with Article 8: State Central Committee §4
"The State Central Committee shall meet in the manner, times, and places
prescribed in the Special Rules."
Referring now to the Special Rules:
Rule 7: State Central Committee §1
"The State Central Committee shall meet: *a. at such times and places as may
be determined by action of the Committee*, b. by call of the Chairman, *c. by
call of the Secretary,* or d. by the written request of one-eighth of the
actual members of the Committee."
The April 13th meeting is being held per subsection (a) under approved motion
by the Chair to adopt a calendar for the entire term of the SCC passed in
2012. The executive judicial session was added to the agenda of this meeting,
per subsection(c) and emailed to the entire Board per the 21 day requirement.
(as a "call" for a session dealing with "judicial matters")
Mr. Lewis has received this email in his inbox along with everyone else as of
March 22nd 8:39 pm according to our email server logs.(the version sent from
the Secretary's address)
The email server's logs also indicate this message has been "viewed" by Mr. Lewis.
I have archived copies of both the server message log and the email itself
from his inbox, as well as a document from the creators of the mail server
software indicating the "viewed" or "seen" flag as they call it, which shows
that the mail was in fact "read" by Mr. Lewis. (though he may not have read it
entirely, the same could be true of a printed copy. Evidence of service and
receipt is the issue, not his literal reading of the notice)
Additionally, your emails to me, as of October 2012, and my own telephone
conversation with Mr. Lewis on most of these matters specifically, attest to
his knowledge of these allegations for many months. I would not counsel
anyone to hide behind nuances of parliamentary procedure on the issue of "due
notice" when Mr. Lewis has been aware for many months now that there are
members of this board that have intended to move for removal on these
grounds. The allegations are not "new" to him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore it is the opinion of the Chair that, the combination of Mr. Lewis'
prior knowledge of most of these allegations, and the electronic record of his
service and receipt of this notice, meets our rule for due notice of a "call"
for a judicial session on disciplinary matters, and that the accused has in no
way been short changed any days to prepare his defense.
Furthermore the Chair rules the claim of dereliction of duty on the part of
the Secretary, and the proposal of charges (since it is not an official
motion) based on the above opinion, to be OUT OF ORDER. The Chair entreats
the member who made them to refrain in the future from making such claims of
any other member unless in the form of a motion to begin a formal
investigation according to Robert's and our By-Laws as is presently being
conducted in the case of the Vice-Chairman.
The Chair further reminds the member, the accused, and the entire Board that
this call was issued only to Board members and does not constitute an "open to
everyone email."
Additionally, since an investigative committee has been appointed, and the
preference to bring charges or not is theirs, the matter now rests in their
hands. The committee will not be dissolved otherwise, short of resignation of
the accused from his office as indicated in other communications, and the
accused remains suspended in his duties.
Accordingly, no apology from anyone is in order as requested.
Finally, the Chair rules that if the above ruling on due notice is challenged
and the challenge is upheld by a proper vote of the requisite number of Board
members, that this shall not invalidate the process or proceedings, but shall
merely effectuate a call by the Chairman, upon the conclusion of the
Investigative Committee's work, for a special State Central Committee meeting
to be held for the express purpose of holding an executive session judicial
hearing on these matters, with sufficient time to meet the rule requirements
if those requirements have been deemed by the Board in such a challenge to
have not been met. In short, a challenge will only slightly delay the
inevitable hearing and cause the Board members to travel for an additional
session at additional personal expense, rather than attend these matters at an
already scheduled meeting of which all involved, including the accused, had
notice of on March 22nd, being 22 days prior to the April 13th meeting.
In Liberty,
Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana
On 3/29/13 12:32 PM, T Lee Horne III wrote:
>
> Mr. Chairman,
>
> I believe the time line for the consideration of the allegations must be
> changed and another meeting must be called but that causes problems in that
> the notification says the meeting to consider all this is specified for
> April 13. Â A letter was signed for today, postage charge was $19.95
> postmarked yesterday March 28. If I understand previous information, Mr.
> Lewis has 21 days from the date a REGISTERED letter is mailed.
>
> Due the dereliction of duty by the secretary of the party. I think the
> entire procedure must be voided as the party has failed to abide by its own
> rules and time line. In addition I propose charges against the Secretary for
> such dereliction of duty and for causing great cost in time and travel
> expense to the members and great mental anguish to the accused as well as
> members of the party who had to deal with this fiasco.
>
> In as much as the whole proceeds are void I insist on a formal letter
> notifying everyone that the proceeding mentioned in the open to everyone
> email have been withdrawn and notice that the Vice-Chairman has NOT been
> suspend from his office nor his duties. I believe an apology by those
> responsible for this fiasco is in order.
>
> *T Lee Horne, III*
>
> Organizer of NAACP Unit 6080, Saint Joseph, LA
>
> President of Brumby Enterprises, Inc. 800-746-1705
>
> Former Chairman of Libertarian Party of Louisiana 2009-2012
>
> Former Candidate for Governor of Louisiana ran a 4 year campaign 2003-2007
>
> tleehorneiii at gmail.com
>
> 318-542-4445 google voice
>
> tleehorneiii skype
>
> *http://bit.ly/12zAQMS*
>
> *From:*Adrien Monteleone [mailto:chairman at lplouisiana.org]
> *Sent:* Thursday, March 28, 2013 4:12 PM
> *To:* Paladin at LPLouisiana.org
> *Subject:* Re: Internal party foolishness.
>
> I'm off to NOLA for the Orleans caucus.
>
> I'll reply more later tonight.
>
> Did he get the notice yet? Reed is going to track it to find out where it is.
>
> -- In Liberty,   Adrien Monteleone - Chairman Libertarian Party of Louisiana
>
> On 03/28/2013 02:24 PM, T Lee Horne III wrote:
>
> Adrien,
>
> I spoke with Scott Lewis at length just now. He is quite angry now. He
> has been talking with his friends who are, as friends will be, very much
> in his corner and they are not helping me calm him down. One of his
> friends is a lawyer and is suggesting pro bono legal action against Reed
> personally and the party in general. I'll need at least another over
> night to work on calming this down.
>
> It may not calm down, in which case there will be blood in fields so to
> speak. Reed will have won a very pyrrhic victory. It will cost him all
> he has and all he may ever get just in legal fees. This could easily
> turn into an NAACP vs. Libertarian Party of Louisiana State Central
> Committee battle. There are a lot more of members at the NAACP than
> there are at the LPLA. Can the treasury take this risk?
>
> As Scott said, "They formed the mob, they brought the rope and they are
> looking for a tree and I'm going to defend myself."
>
> *T Lee Horne, III*
>
> Organizer of NAACP Unit 6080, Saint Joseph, LA
>
> President of Brumby Enterprises, Inc. 800-746-1705
>
> Former Chairman of Libertarian Party of Louisiana 2009-2012
>
> Former Candidate for Governor of Louisiana ran a 4 year campaign 2003-2007
>
> tleehorneiii at gmail.com <mailto:tleehorneiii at gmail.com>
>
> 318-542-4445 google voice
>
> tleehorneiii skype
>
> *http://bit.ly/12zAQMS*
>
> *From:*Adrien Monteleone [mailto:chairman at lplouisiana.org]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 27, 2013 1:57 PM
> *To:* Paladin at LPLouisiana.org <mailto:Paladin at LPLouisiana.org>
> *Subject:* Re: Internal party foolishness.
>
> That is most excellent tune-age for nearly any occasion, but I oddly
> want a glass of scotch and a smoldering fire just thinking about them.
>
> The Investigative Committee already has plans to talk to Scott once they
> were informed he had received the official notice.
>
> (has he received it yet?)
>
> But certainly, they can do so now regardless.
>
> Charges do not have to be officially brought. They haven't even
> finished investigating yet.
>
> This suggestion is perfectly within the framework of Robert's.
>
> I'll inform the Investigative Committee at once so they can contact
> Scott and get this over with.
>
> If he resigns - and certainly if he does so to focus on the campaign,
> the committee can simply drop the matter and return "no bill" as you
> suggest since the issue would be a moot point.
>
> I wouldn't have him address the charges directly in any letter of
> resignation though. They aren't public outside of the Board and never
> will be. But his resignation will be official record if someone wants
> to read it. Best to leave it speaking only of his campaign reasons. If
> he feels compelled to say something in some fashion otherwise, perhaps
> the usual artful phrases "differences of vision/opinion" or
> "irreconcilable differences" would be best.
>
> If however, he waits too long and we have to proceed with a trial before
> he offers to resign, the Board under Robert's can refuse the resignation
> as affecting the trial and proceed anyway. Our By-laws state his
> resignation is always effective without the need for acceptance, and
> this would still be true, but the Board could proceed with the trial,
> still vote on guilt or innocence, and still vote to impose other
> penalties or sanctions. The sooner the resignation is offered the better.
>
> Sorry you didn't get any sleep last night either. This mess has been
> taking up many hours of my time preparing everything for the judicial
> session, on top regular duties. I'll be more than happy if we can drop it.
>
> In Liberty, Adrien Monteleone - Chairman Libertarian Party of Louisiana
>
> On 3/27/13 5:47 AM, T Lee Horne III wrote:
>
> Adrien,
>
> I sent the following to Scott Lewis this morning.
>
> Scott,
>
> I spent all my sleep time last night with these two songs playing in
> my head:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGwCP2hX2FM
> and
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAbY2cmEsS0
>
> I'm thinking it may be time to end the BS and go your own way. It's
> just a matter of negotiation. To me the issue is clearing the
> charges with a rebuttal and a resignation all at the same time in
> the same letter. That will give you a clean exit and if the
> investigating tribunal will return "No Bill" as in no charges you
> resign with a clean and clear name. What say you?
>
> ===========================
>
> Adrien, do you think this can be done on the side of the party? I
> know Scott wants to be able to say he resigned because he found his
> campaign needed more attention and he did not feel he could
> effectively be vice-chairman and run a full time campaign. I know we
> are bending things a little and that is the art and science of
> political negotiation.
>
> *T Lee Horne, III*
>
> Organizer of NAACP Unit 6080, Saint Joseph, LA
>
> President of Brumby Enterprises, Inc. 800-746-1705
>
> Former Chairman of Libertarian Party of Louisiana 2009-2012
>
> Former Candidate for Governor of Louisiana ran a 4 year campaign
> 2003-2007
>
> tleehorneiii at gmail.com <mailto:tleehorneiii at gmail.com>
>
> 318-542-4445 Google voice
>
> tleehorneiii Skype
>
> *http://bit.ly/12zAQMS*
>
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