LP Scandals 2: Electric Boogaloo
In a previous article, the allegations regarding delegation at the Libertarian Party national convention were discussed and criticized. Since then, there has been a development, as well as two new situations. These will be quickly looked over here.
LP Delegation Challenge: Lawyers In Play
On June 28th of this year, the official account of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s (LPNH) social media leaked a letter sent to the Libertarian National Committee (LNC). The letter allegedly comes from Rock Spring Law Group, a legal organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. In it, the founder, Carl A. Anderson, on behalf of the same delegates who had written the memorandum mentioned in the previous article, that there were ineligible delegates and that it put into question the election of Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat for presidential and vice-presidential nominees, and Mark Rutherford for the vice-chair position of the LNC. The arguments for the illegitimate delegation are similar to that of the memorandum, which we have already criticized previously.
While this may be, as the LPNH claimed, a legal challenge, it appears to be something that can be easily resolved by the LNC: Anderson says in the letter that “The LNC can resolve the controversy by appointing the same presidential and vice-presidential candidates by a three-fourths vote of the entire membership of the National Committee. The LNC can also vote to fill the vacancy created for LNC Vice Chair by a majority vote of the National Committee.” If the LNC is in full support of the candidates chosen, then such appointments should be easy.
If no action is taken, then that, according Anderson, could lead to further legal action. We will have to wait and see what the LNC decides to do, though it seems that, if the LNC public list email is to be trusted, they are in support of their candidates and working to reconcile things with the state affiliates, such as the Libertarian Party of Florida, and those supportive of the challenge, such as the LPNH.
Carl A. Anderson did not respond to requests for comment. The LNC, as represented by secretary Caryn Ann Harlos, did not provide comment.
LP Colorado: Teaming Up With RFK
On July 2nd, the Libertarian Party of Colorado (LPCO) announced that they would be partnering with the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign. In doing so, “the Libertarian Party of Colorado will place the Kennedy/Shanahan ticket on the Colorado state ballot for president and vice president” instead of the nominated candidates Oliver and ter Maat. They claim that Kennedy shares many of the core principles of the Libertarian Party, and that he “s a signatory of LPCO’s Presidential Liberty Pledge, affirming his alignment with many of the positions libertarians strongly hold.”
The reasoning for choosing Kennedy was also elaborated on by Jordan Marinovich, the Communications Director of the LPCO. Marinovich commented that:
“Partnering with the Kennedy campaign has many advantages. The number one goal is to deliver a body-shot to the two-party system, but specifically for Colorado, taking a major strike at the Democrat super majority stranglehold. Considering Biden’s recent polling, this moves Colorado squarely into toss-up territory.
At the national level, combined with all other states Kennedy gains ballot access, we could have helped force a contingent presidential election, in which has only happened once in US history exactly 200 years ago…
We believe the massive surge in media coverage, social media attention, funds and resources combined with our mutual goals makes this partnership a no-brainer.”
Alongside that, Marinovich said that the LPCO have “received commitments for joint fundraising, campaigning and volunteer support; up and to and including RFK himself campaigning with our candidates in Colorado.”
Understandably, there are those who are against the actions of the LPCO: Caryn Ann Harlos, the secretary for the LNC and the former chair of the LPCO Judicial Committee (JC), sent a letter to the LPCO resigning from the position due to their partnering with Kennedy (which she later posted to her personal social media). She states in her resignation letter that:
“the Board’s actions today were beyond reckless, and potentially civilly illegal, but one thing they definitely are: in gross violation of our bylaws and a spit in the face of the decades of people who have built this Party…
I will be filing an appeal with the LPCO Judicial Committee. This is a shameful day… I call upon you to have integrity and call a Special Convention for a recall vote of the Board.”
Indeed, there does seem to be issues of whether this violates both the national bylaws as well as the state bylaws of the LPCO. In the national bylaws, we can look at Section 4 of Article 6, which reads:
“No affiliate party shall endorse any candidate who is a member of another party for public office in any partisan election. No affiliate party shall take any action inconsistent with the Statement of Principles or these Bylaws.”
Alongside that, we can also read Section 2, subsection D of Article 4; and Section 4, subsection I of Article 11 of the LPCO bylaws:
“Only Sustaining Members are eligible to receive the Party nomination for partisan public office, vote as a delegate at any state conventions, be elected as a delegate to national Party Conventions, or be elected as the state appointee to any national Party committee, subject to any further express limitations in these Bylaws…
The Party, its affiliates, and its elected Directors in their official capacities, either individually or as a group, shall endorse only Libertarian Party nominees for election to partisan public office.”
Marinovich, however, claims that the LPCO “thoroughly vetted all options, potentials and challenges and believe we are operating within our rights.” Until the LPCO JC looks into the matter and reaches a verdict, we can only be left with these speculations and these possible issues of bylaws violation.
The national JC and LPCO JC did not respond to requests for comment. The LNC, as represented by secretary Caryn Ann Harlos, did not provide comment.
LP Idaho: Executive Board Fiasco
On June 18th, Adam Haman, the Region 1 Representative on the LNC, moved a motion to recognize the current Executive Board of the Libertarian Party of Idaho (LPID) as the official officers of that Board, which was adopted by the LNC. This was made in response to a rather peculiar turn of events, as laid out by both Matt Loesby, the secretary of the LPID, and Jonathan M. Jacobs, a parliamentarian retained by the LPID Executive Board.
According to these accounts, the situation started after Jennifer Luoma was elected as the precinct committeeman for the Libertarian Party of Kootenai County, Idaho. According to the statement given by Loesby on behalf of the LPID Executive Board, Ms. Luoma was part of “a group of individuals who were not punished for their involvement in a 2022 attempt to steal the assets of the Libertarian Party of Idaho from its legitimately elected board.” Being the sole committeewoman of Kootenai County, Luoma called for a meeting on May 31st, in which Shon Luoma was elected as the chair for the Kootenai County Libertarian Committee, and a member of the State Central Committee (SCC) of LPID. After radio silence (except private Facebook messages with the LPID Region 1 Representative) between both Jennifer and Shon Luoma and the Executive Board since May 21st, it was announced on July 17th on Jennifer’s social media that Joseph Evans was chosen as the new interim chair of the LPID.
While there may have been a meeting that occurred on July 17th supposedly involving the SCC, members of the SCC, like Todd Corsetti, the chair of the Bannock County Libertarian Committee, and Jayson Sorenson, the chair of both the LPID and the Oneida County Libertarian Committee, received no such notice. While, as Jacobs notes, the SCC is allowed to remove officers of the Executive Board at will, this could only be done at official, legitimate meetings of the SCC, which according to Jacobs has not occurred since the 2024 LPID primary.
The issue has currently been put forward to the LPID JC, and further action still remains to be taken. As the statement from Loesby states:
“This party’s Judicial Committee has been tasked with gathering the full set of facts and delivering a report detailing who the current officers are in this party, what meetings have been held, and what their effect has been, if any. We anticipate that their report will support our description of events. We look forward to focusing our efforts on defending the natural rights of the people of Idaho from an increasingly tyrannical government.”
Currently, even members of the LNC such as Haman aren’t sure how things will turn out:
“At this moment, the LNC is still recognizing the board chaired by Jayson Sorensen. That may change depending on the decision made by the LPID Judicial Committee. And of course, there might be an appeal made at some point to the LNC JC.
So, I don’t know how things are going to shake out, but as of now, the LNC voted to maintain the status quo with the Jayson Sorensen board.”
Shon Luoma did not respond to requests for comment. The LNC, as represented by secretary Caryn Ann Harlos, did not provide comment.
Update 7/11: Due to new information from both parties involved, a more in-depth article has been made, and can be found here.
The Party Itself: Can It Go On?
These recent debacles show the Libertarian Party going through a rough time: with all of these issues and fragmentation, it is a test of the resiliency of the party, and whether it can remain whole. There are many things still left unresolved, and no doubt further reflections will be needed once more updates and developments have been brought to light, as well as looking further back at possibly deeper roots of these controversies.
I had already previously mentioned that the issues surrounds the want for power; we can also add that factionalism may be an underlying factor in these issues. Again, I cannot say for certain how these may be solved, but it is pertinent that a solution is reached, before the party finds itself shrinking and dissolving into nothing more than a relic of a more hopeful time.
