[LPL Board of Directors] Advertising
Adrien Monteleone
chairman at lplouisiana.org
Wed Apr 10 19:53:09 CDT 2013
I made a call for agenda items back when I called for officer reports.
I understand this "newly" came up. No problem.
The final agenda is pending other issues right now anyway.
But yes, we do need to discuss this.
In some ways, the voting population at large has been clamoring for
"what is the party doing" for many years now. Most of them gave up on
us long ago. That's because we never advertised and established a
brand. Doing so isn't just accomplished with direct marketing via
radio, TV, and print. It has to be a comprehensive approach, the
biggest of which, should be running quality candidates, especially at
the local level. Doing various projects will certainly be more
successful with organized parishes, but we also can't twiddle our thumbs
otherwise until all the parishes are formed. We have to do a little of
everything, at a smooth and steady pace.
Also, I don't think this has to be a one or the other approach. This is
the entire point. If one project sucks all the resources out of the
party, perhaps it is time to very closely examine that project. It may
be that such a budget item is a basic necessity. Perhaps it's just the
priority of some but not of others. It might also be a shared goal with
differing ideas on how to achieve it.
There are some that believe we need certain basic functions taken care
of by paid staff and the rest will just have to be done by volunteers
until the party grows large enough to support more staff, or higher paid
staff or both.
Then there are some that want the kitchen sink nearly, and are insisting
that be the party's sole function and goal. Some want to only take one
step at a time in one area, not realizing if you do nothing else, you
aren't reinforcing the one action you are doing.
I will tell you right now. I do not support turning this party into a
vehicle that exists to pay people or employ them. Staff should be part
of what gives the party the boost over a purely volunteer force it
needs, not become a self-justifying argument merely for its own maintenance.
Put more bluntly. There are listed purposes of the LPL in our Bylaws.
Not one of them is to "give someone a job."
If we need and desire and can afford staff, then we asks for tasks to be
done that we can afford to pay for.
If someone doesn't want to do that work, and do other work instead, or
if they don't want to do any work for X amount which is more than we can
pay, then they aren't right for the job that is being offered. It's a
simple and plain as that.
I'm reminded of a little history lesson. The colony of Pennsylvania
started out as they all did, with no government apparatus in place
initially. The king sent over a governor who promptly levied a tax.
When asked what the tax was for, the governor replied "to pay my
salary." To which the colonists asked, "what do you do for that
salary?" The governor replied, "collect the taxes." They promptly ran
him out of the colony. They went through several such incidents before
the king sent in an army to force his government and his taxes upon
them. Mind you, they got along just fine without all of that mess, so
they saw no need for the taxes, or the governor.
To be sure, we are getting more for our money than just paying a staff
member. But we can't lose sight of our purposes and instead get trapped
into behavior that focuses more on making sure someone has a job, than
focusing on what jobs we need done.
-- In Liberty,
Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana
On 04/10/2013 07:21 PM, Boyd Smith wrote:
> When I said that we will need to discuss advertising for the future, I
> meant just that. That it needs to be an agenda item. I am not sure
> how that would be done. I only know to say "Here is an issue we need
> to be talking about." We can not wait till too late to have a plan in
> place.
> It is like the Army. There are plans in the Pentagon for attacking
> any country on earth. Why do you think we went into Iraq so quickly
> and so well? We had those invasion plans for decades and they were
> updated regularly. The closer we got to having to do something the
> more those plans were updated with better and better intelligence.
> There are plans to invade Cuba, Mexico, Ireland, Egypt, any country on
> earth and several places that are not countries. Are there even plans
> to take care of a president who gets way off the beam? I do not know
> for sure. But I would be willing to bet good money that there are
> such plans.
> The point is, we need to know now at 7500 registered Libertarians in
> the state what we will do when we have 9500, or 12,000 or 15,000 or
> 20,000. We need to have discussed and put into writing what we will
> do when we do when word of mouth has reached everybody that word of
> mouth can reach. When everyone who goes to a gun show has seen us and
> knows how much we support the 2nd amendment. When we have 10,000
> registered Libertarians throughout the state and they are spread out
> and feeling like their voice is the only voice and they decide "The
> party does not do anything, and I am the only one saying these things
> so I may as well stop because I am all by myself."
> And evidently talking, planning and bringing up ideas for discussion
> actually offends some people. Well too bad! It is what organizations
> do. It is what political parties do. They plan. They discuss and
> they try to have ideas.
> bws
>
> *From:* Reed Ebarb <secretary at lplouisiana.org>
> *To:* Mailing list for LPL Board of Directors <scc at lplouisiana.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2013 3:44 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [LPL Board of Directors] Advertising
>
> Since Ms. Adams is interested in organizing parishs and we are not
> providing the proper funds, would it be possible for her to take a full
> time job where she makes what she wants and she can still volunteer to
> help organize parishes? If we aren't paying her enough, that sounds like
> the best course. This is especially true now that Mr. Hayes' pledges are
> backing out.
>
> > Boyd,
> >
> > There are some other considerations here as well. Of particular note is
> > what is in the contract that we are paying for and what is being
> > provided. There's nothing wrong, and in fact, much outstanding and
> > great, about what is being provided. The sticking point is we set a
> > price for certain services, this list does not include the work the ED
> > is actually spending most of her time on. As Reed noted, we don't have
> > the funding levels to support the work actually being done in the
> > current fashion, and now that pledges are backing out, that foundation
> > is even more tenuous.
> >
> > The present contract payment level is unsustainable at present. It was
> > only offered to secure a signature. We operated on dangerous ground for
> > 8 weeks without a contract. I still don't know if that time would be
> > sufficient to establish an "employer/employee" relationship under the
> > law. We don't need that headache and all that comes with it.
> >
> > That isn't going to happen again.
> >
> > My records and projections show our original amount of $200-$250 a week
> > for what we were asking for is right on target for the upper limit of
> > what we can afford to pay. Closer analysis by myself and Mr. Ebarb
> > shows what we were specifically contracting for likely falls even less
> > than that - closer to $150 a week. That difference would provide more
> > cushion for other projects and still get the tasks we set out in the
> > contract accomplished.
> >
> > The issue isn't, is the work being done of value? - it is.
> >
> > The issue isn't simply, can we afford it? - we can't.
> >
> > The bigger issue, the one that will control the final decision - is what
> > do we really need that matches what we can afford? And what were we
> > asking for and what were we getting?
> >
> > I have no beef with Ms. Adams concerning her ability to organize people
> > into functioning parish affiliates. She's done excellent in that
> > regard. And, I understand she needs full time employment.
> >
> > The problem is we not only didn't task her with being responsible for
> > organizing those parishes, I specifically instructed several times that
> > was not part of her duties, that if she did so anyway - she was doing so
> > as a volunteer, and that the original contract terms still had to be
> > fulfilled - they could not be put on the back burner. I even had to
> > re-word the contract terms to put more emphasis on this point.
> >
> > The problem is we simply are not in a position to offer to pay someone
> > $26k a year right now. We are at best, able to offer part-time work and
> > part-time pay at about half or less than that amount.
> >
> > We will get to the point everyone wants us to get to eventually. But
> > we'll have to walk a bit, rather than break out into a full sprint.
> >
> >
> > -- In Liberty,
> >
> > Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
> > Libertarian Party of Louisiana
> >
> > On 04/10/2013 02:51 PM, Boyd Smith wrote:
> >>
> >> As long as we can do it with out cutting Ms. Adams' money. She is
> >> worth it and we need to hold on to her. Especially with losing you
> >> and Wes concentrating on EBR.
> >> bws
> >> *From:* Reed Ebarb <secretary at lplouisiana.org
> <mailto:secretary at lplouisiana.org>>
> >> *To:* Mailing list for LPL Board of Directors <scc at lplouisiana.org
> <mailto:scc at lplouisiana.org>>
> >> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2013 2:41 PM
> >> *Subject:* Re: [LPL Board of Directors] Advertising
> >>
> >> You make a really good point Boyd. At this next meeting, lets
> rework our
> >> budget and look at cutting our costs so we can put more money into
> >> advertising.
> >>
> >> > I agree 100%.
> >> >
> >> > -- In Liberty,
> >> >
> >> > Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
> >> > Libertarian Party of Louisiana
> >> >
> >> > On 04/10/2013 09:02 AM, Boyd Smith wrote:
> >> >> Here is an issue that we are going to have to make room for in the
> >> >> meeting Saturday. And I will do as much as I can to make the part
> >> >> that may take up time that we need take as little time as possible
> >> and
> >> >> to make it be as painless and actually productive as possible. But
> >> >> the issue relates to growing the party and performing advertising.
> >> >> We will need to engage in actual advertising in some markets to both
> >> >> grow the party, the PECs and the local base. We will also likely
> >> have
> >> >> to engage in advertising to gather the support/people necessary to
> >> >> form PECs in some parishes. Calcasieu is one of those special cases.
> >> >> We do not have the luxury of waiting till we have 64 or even 10 PECs
> >> >> formed. There is a momentum that we have to maintain to continue
> >> >> building the party. We are at 7550 (approximately) we could very
> >> well
> >> >> get to 8500 from events like the Strawberry Festival, Gun Shows and
> >> >> even word of mouth. But, I think the limit of that is going to be
> >> >> around 9000 - 10,000. In order to become a viable force in this
> >> state
> >> >> for politics, for reform, and for liberty, we will need to get to
> >> >> 25,000+. And that is going to be only a start. We are #3 now. I
> >> >> want to be #1. I want to be able to look at the Elected Officials
> >> >> Database and see Libertarians in elective office all across the
> >> state.
> >> >> To get candidates who can make a serious run at some of the higher
> >> >> offices in the state (parish council/police jury, state rep, state
> >> >> senate, congress, US Senate, Governor, ect) we need a large
> >> membership
> >> >> base. To get a large membership base we will have to sell what we
> >> >> have and what we have is ideas. Good ideas, yes. But ideas - and
> >> >> ideas while bullet proof are abstract concepts. They are not a hard
> >> >> item like a vacuumcleaner or a tangible service like massage
> therapy.
> >> >> They require propagation/marketing/advertising and we are getting
> >> >> close to the point where we are going to have to market our
> ideas and
> >> >> that is going to require an actual marketing campaign and
> >> advertising.
> >> >> Boyd W. Smith
> >> >> Elections Officer
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> If you have not already done so, please consider becoming a dues member
> >> of
> >> the Libertarian Party of Louisiana by visiting
> >> louisianalibertarian.net <http://louisianalibertarian.net/>
> >>
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>
>
> If you have not already done so, please consider becoming a dues member of
> the Libertarian Party of Louisiana by visiting louisianalibertarian.net
>
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