[LPL Board of Directors] Moving Forward and Putting Our House in Order

[Daniel Hayes]

Things have been very silent here for a while. Inactivity creates 
complacency. Lack of communication creates inactivity. Inactivity leads 
to atrophy. One thing I realized is that many people are just assuming 
that since things are quiet that all is well.  Everyone assumes that 
"Someone" must be taking care of things. Usually, that someone is our 
currently contractless and unpaid Executive Director, even though most 
of what needs taking care of does not fall into the realm of her duties.
  In the meantime..we still do not have our bank accounts transferred. 
Mr Trotter informed me that he thinks it will be completed soon, 
however, he is at the mercy of other parties. Where do we even bank? I 
think that should be something every member of the SCC should know.  I 
expect our current Treasurer will get a grip on this eventually.  I am 
certainly sympathetic to Mr Trotter's situation having been handed an 
abject mess, an "electronic shoebox" of notices and links, in no certain 
cronological or categorical order.  All this dropped in his lap during 
the lead up to his law school finals which end Monday, May 6th, as I 
believe.  I have full confidence that once he is able to direct his 
attentions to the matter he can get it sorted out.  That said, its a 
shame things were left in that state.  We need to insure it never 
happens like that again. I am sure Mr. Trotter will set the bar and the 
example of how these records should be kept going forward for his future 
successors.

There are still numerous references to the former leadership all over 
the websites and elsewhere. Mr. Thompson has removed the ones I have 
noticed as I have pointed them out, but it would be nice if we could get 
all our eyes on the matter to get it straight. While it may seem trivial 
and I agree in most cases it is..there are those ones such as this that 
I came across just last night.

"If you would prefer to mail in your payment, please send it to:
ATTN: LPL Treasurer
9340 Davidson road
Shreveport, La. 71129"

http://www.lplouisiana.org/contribute/donation.php

Our money is still being directed to the former Treasurer. THAT is 
highly disturbing.  Larger donations would likely come in check form. 
And while I expect those funds would be turned over eventually,I concern 
over when. When there is this much of a lag in the transfer on the bank 
accounts, and that former acting treasurer was so busy that they had to 
resign the day before our SCC meeting, even though doing so potentially 
left us unable to have a quorum and conduct business.

Another thing of concern is relative to the filings of our PECs with 
the Secretary of State. Who is doing that? How is that being done?  I am 
thinking of speaking with my PEC about contracting Mr. Richard Brown to 
handle the matter for us.  Richard was the professional parlimentarian 
that attended the SCC Quarterly meeting with me.  It struck me the other 
day that he would be the ideal person to undertake the task. Any 
problems arising from the formatting of the Minutes or By Laws or other 
matters would be things he could address on the spot or come back with a 
plan of action for us laid out. The only downside is, he is a 
professional and would have to be paid.  I know for my PEC, that isn't a 
problem as they have full confidence in him. He helped us correct and 
revise our by laws and guided us through their adoption.  Our members 
have found his experience worth every penny.  In my life, I have found 
it very costly in the long wrong, to attempt to handle matters requiring 
professional attention.  I suspect that if multiple PECs did it 
together, it would result in some shared costs for the research,etc.  I 
suspect I already know that nobody else really knows how we are supposed 
to be doing this because the former Chairman seemed to be not so 
forthcoming with others on how and why things are being done.  I could 
be wrong as much of that was before my time. If someone DOES have a good 
grasp on the process..please forward it to me as at the least it will 
save on some research costs. All that said, if Mr Brown is willing to 
undertake this task for my parish, at the very least I intend to 
contract him to make sure it was done properly. I will be contacting the 
other parishes to see if they want his assistance as well.

On another matter, I think that the calling things what they are has 
been settled and we are going back to calling things what they are.  I 
suggest everyone amend their own personal address book here to reflect 
the mailing list for the State Central Committee and/or Mr. Thompson 
take care of that here for us.
Here is another two that reflect the improper naming of our SCC. Funny, 
I thought it was supposed to be for internal purposes only..yet this is 
a public website..and I saw the SCC referred to in the recent LNP 
newspaper as the Board.

http://www.lplouisiana.org/events/calendar/calendar.php
http://www.lplouisiana.org/events/calendar/sccCalendar.php


Also, our organization needs money with which to grow. I know many of 
you already have, but I encourage every member of the SCC to become a 
recurring monthly donor. It gives us fairly predictable cash flow going 
forward and will allow us to budget for expenses such as a suitable 
contract pay for our Executive Director.  It doesn't need to be such 
generous amounts as some of our members have put forward. It needs to be 
an amount that you can safely fit in your budget each month and not feel 
a noticeable strain. While I certainly would like more, I think the 1776 
Club is a great level for donation. It sets you up to pay $17.76/month 
to the LPL. I am trying to encourage every PEC member to do this.. 
Assuming an average of 10 members per PEC..thats 640 members once the 
state is completed.  That would put us at over $11,000/month for our 
cash flow. That's starting to get in a realm where we can ACTUALLY do 
something, especially if we are frugal with it and don't act like 
politicians and spend it before we get it. I understand that some people 
are students and some people may be unemployed or underemployed, but 
everyone needs to decide how important this is to them and check their 
budget. I have the link below for your cut and paste convenience. Thanks 
to everyone that already has gotten on the donation wagon. Its hard to 
expect the PECs to do it if the SCC doesnt set the example.

"Elections are coming, the politicians are getting fat.
Won't you please put $17.76/month in the Libertarian hat.
If you don't have $17.76/month , Ten Dollars will do.
If you don't have Ten Dollars, then may God bless you."

https://secure.piryx.com/donate/3rejnkrb/Libertarian-Party-of-Louisiana/MonthlyPledge

This brings up, who is in charge of the Piryx account? Has it been 
switched? It still shows the Former Chair and Acting Treasurer as being 
the contact people for it. I am pretty sure this is one Mr. Thompson 
can't address. Hopefully, Mr Trotter can get it covered next week.

I will end this here, I don't want it to turn into a 13 page memo on 
why I don't like Jelly with my peanut butter on my sandwiches.  I just 
want to bring to everyone's attention that things are not where they 
need to be.  Having spoken to more than a few people, I have learned 
that everyone thinks everything is fine but are not aware of what needs 
to be done much less who would be handling the matter.  This email is 
not intended to just be a big gripe.  This is a call to action.  We have 
matters to address and its up to us to address it.  Even if it's "not 
your job"..go out of your way to look for things that need to be put in 
order such as the unchanged donation address and bring it to the proper 
person's attention.
Before we can make an impact on this state, we must put our on house in 
order and not assume someone else is doing it. We need to take "Personal 
Responsibility".


Daniel Hayes
Jefferson Parish Representative to the LSCC
Membership Officer for the Jefferson Parish LPEC
LPL Finance Committee Member
Unoffical Rabble Rouser and Cage Rattler