The Fiasco of LP Idaho

Following up on the previous article, we have here a more detailed explanation of the debacle facing the Libertarian Party of Idaho (LPID), which goes back to at least 2022. While I cannot and will not go over too many personal details, the main events of this story will be outlined, to show how everything had developed.

2022

On May 17th, 2022, Idaho had its primary, in which for the first time a Libertarian was elected as precinct committeeperson. According to Jennifer Imhoff, former Regional 1 Representative for the LPID, this was wholly unexpected: while they were running candidates for precinct committeepersons, they did so “with the intention of demonstrating that this process was a hindrance and help us establish a lawsuit against the state in order to free us from the state election law process.” With the election of Todd Corsetti to precinct committeeperson for Bannock County, Ms. Imhoff and her husband Robert Imhoff, former Chair of the LPID, alongside others, sought to remedy this through a “rollback” of the earlier LPID convention that occurred on April 2nd. This was intended to revert the Executive Board back to its pre-April state, as well as to hold a new convention on August 27th of that year for the election of the Board and Judicial Committee (JC), in order to adhere to Idaho law by allowing the convention to be organized by the State Central Committee (SCC), composed of precinct committeeperson Corsetti. This rescheduling of the convention, according to Ms. Imhoff, “were affirmed by a majority of state members who met, in person, to discuss the complications created by the election of a precinct man.” Included in the “rollback” were the deactivation of the emails for newly elected members Zachary Callear, Adam Belnap, and Chris Ward, as well as notification to the Secretary of State that the previous convention was invalid.

In response to these actions, the SCC composed of Corsetti, now the Chair of the Bannock County Libertarian Central Committee (BCLCC), and his wife, elected as a state committeeperson, held a meeting on June 20th, in which it was decided that the Board elected at the April 2nd convention was valid, and the Imhoffs were removed from their positions on the Board. It was also decided that the JC, which was chaired by Matt Loesby at the time and who also was acting Chair for the SCC meeting, would be petitioned to rule on whether the Imhoffs were to be expelled from the LPID. The Imhoffs were not present at this meeting, and while Ms. Imhoff claims that the meeting “was held in a non publicly accessible location and without notification to members or the executive committee,” she had received a letter by a lawyer retained by the LPID notifying her of the meeting to consider the earlier actions mentioned taken against her and her husband. She clarified that they were only notified that a hearing would take place, not that any election or vote would take place.

On August 27th, the aforementioned convention was held, as a special meeting. Consisting of credentialed members including Joseph Evans, Shon and Jennifer Luoma, the Imhoffs, and others, it was affirmed by those meeting, as shown in the minutes, that the Board and JC voted in the April 2nd meeting were vacated on May 30th due to the issues regarding not having the elected precinct committeeperson of that year as part of the April 2nd convention as allegedly required by Idaho law, though the actions made by that Board were still affirmed as valid. In the minutes, it is also allegedly affirmed that:

“a majority of officers elected at the April 2nd meeting determined that they could not in good faith honor the April 2nd meeting without disenfranchising members, precinct committeemen, or county organizations. As such they voluntarily dissolved the April 2nd board to return control to the previous board, with the explicit purpose of reviewing and analyzing state law to understand how to properly proceed and to organize holding a properly called convention.
This decision was affirmed by the previous board and certified in writing. The actions and intention to hold a new convention were communicated to the Secretary of State and the entire membership body of the Libertarian Party of Idaho on May 30th.”

Matt Loesby was also present at the meeting, to voice the Board’s objections to this meeting. “Nothing has happened which could have caused the convention to retroactively become invalid,” states Loesby, and that no convincing case was made to the LPID JC or the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) regarding the removal of officers done through the rollback of the April 2nd meeting. Any decision made by those in attendance, according to Loesby, were not valid and had no effect on the LPID.

After the filing of petitions and counterpetitions, the JC held an investigation, interviewing both Corsetti and the Imhoffs regarding the situation. After the investigation, the JC ruled that the April 2nd convention was legitimate and that the expulsion of the Imhoffs were justified, on the basis that by their actions they withheld party-owned resources from the legitimately elected officers and attempted to disenfranchise these members. The files for the petitions, investigations, and rulings can be found here.

Before the beginning of the investigation, the JC had contacted Caryn Ann Harlos to inquire whether they should get the national JC involved in this matter. While at that time it was recommended that this situation was to remain with the LPID JC, the LNC later got involved, holding their own investigatory meeting on August 11th. In the meeting, both parties, labelled as the Sorenson group and the Imhoff group, were given time to state their positions and were then questioned, similar to the interviews mentioned earlier. After the investigations, on August 14th, the LNC affirmed the following resolution:

“Whereas, The Libertarian National Committee has found no convincing evidence that the regularly scheduled annual convention of the Libertarian Party of Idaho (LPID) which took place on April 2, 2022, was invalid;

Whereas, The delegates at the April 2, 2022, LPID annual convention interpreted their own Bylaws and recognized the convention and its business as valid;

Whereas, LPID leadership elections were conducted at the April 2, 2022, LPID annual convention; and

Whereas, The LPID Judicial Committee determined that “The convention held on April 2, 2022, was a legitimate, valid, and effective Convention of the Libertarian Party of Idaho,” and that the officers and their successors, including Jayson Sorensen as the interim Chair, are the legitimate officers of the LPID;

Resolved, That the Libertarian National Committee recognizes the leadership elected at the April 2, 2022, LPID annual convention and their successors in the ordinary course of business as the legitimate representatives of the recognized Idaho affiliate, including interim Chair Jayson Sorensen.”

Later in the year, on September 6th, the Secretary of State affirmed that Jayson Sorensen was the chair of the LPID. These decisions, intended to bring a conclusion to the conflict, only left the party divided, with Joseph Evans, an influential member of the LPID, withdrawing from his congressional candidacy that year over the schism. While it seemed to have quieted down in 2023, these events were the precursor to the current controversy, in a sense mirroring what had happened before.

2024

In the Idaho primary election this year, Jennifer Luoma was elected as the sole precinct committeeperson for the LPID, representing Kootenai County. A meeting was later held on May 31st, for the establishment of the Kootenai County Libertarian Central Committee (KCLCC). As shown in the minutes of the May 31st meeting, Ms. Luoma elected Shon Luoma, her husband, to be the KCLCC Chair; herself to be the Secretary; and Marissa Gurney as Treasurer. This was in line with Idaho Statutes §34–502, which states that the organization of the county central committees would be done through the election of officers such as mentioned above by the precinct committeepeople elected for that county. According to Ms. Imhoff, this was also done properly in accordance with LPID bylaws, with the Board having sanctioned the meeting via the notification of that meeting by Chris Ward, the vice-chair of the LPID Executive Board currently recognized by the LNC, via email. This is contrary to the Board’s claim in its account on the controversy that “between May 21 and today, no communication, notice, or record of meetings has been sent from Mr. and Ms. Luoma to the Board.”

During this meeting, Loesby, the current Secretary of the LPID, Mr. Ward and Ms. Amanda Ward, the Chair for LPID Region 1, challenged and at times demeaned the Luomas. They and Loesby argued during that meeting over whether it was done in accordance with LPID bylaws, at times talking over each other, with Loesby claiming the meeting was invalid and violating the bylaws. It was also at this meeting that the meeting for the SCC was announced to take place “within 30 days and posted 5 days in advance on our [the KCLCC’s] website.”

Evans alleges that, right after the May 31st meeting convened, Loesby, both Wards, and some other supposed bylaws-sustaining members present at Kootenai County, held a meeting to remove Mr. Luoma as KCLCC Chair and instate in his stead August Pope. This appears confirmed by an email sent by Callear, in which Pope is “purported to have been elected as Chair of the Kootenai County Libertarian Central Committee by a meeting of LPID bylaws-sustaining members in Kootenai County, on May 31st, 2024.” The question of who legitimately holds the position is still being investigated by the JC, as confirmed by Loesby. Currently, Mr. Luoma is listed as the Chair in the public filing of the KCLCC with the Idaho Secretary of State, and, unlike Pope, was elected in accordance with Idaho law, as mentioned earlier.

According to the minutes, the Luomas and Gurney “are the only 3 voting members on the Libertarian State Central Committee at this time,” positing that Ms. Luoma and Gurney, alongside being elected Secretary and Treasurer respectively, were also chosen to be state committeepersons, in accordance with the Idaho Statutes mentioned earlier. However, when the requisite election of these members as state committeepersons is unclear, not being explicitly noted in either the minutes or the live recording.

It is not fully clear what occurred on the June 17th meeting, as the only document currently available to the public regarding it is the agenda. This is, according to Evans, due to the KCLCC-associated SCC waiting to be approved by the Secretary of State:

“Those [records of the June 17th meeting] will be available after the consultation with the SOS. If we did it wrong, we want the opportunity to correct the record before moving forward.”

From what can be confirmed by records made by the parties involved and the statements of those parties, the meeting was announced on June 11th. During that meeting, Evans was chosen to be the interim Chair of the LPID, Mr. and Ms. Imhoff’s previous suspensions from membership were repealed, and at least Sorenson, the Chair of the LNC-recognized Board, was removed. According to that same Board, and corresponded with Jacobs’ account, neither the Board or the alleged other members of the SCC were notified of this meeting. This is slightly contradicted with both Ward and Loesby being present at the May 31st meeting, which had made an announcement regarding the notification and publicizing of the June 17th meeting.

On the day after the SCC meeting, The LNC-recognized Board held an emergency meeting and moved to “task the Judicial Committee with:

- Determining the current membership of the Executive Board and the State Central Committee;
- Determining whether any meetings of SCC occurred in the months of May and June, 2024;
- If any meetings did occur, determining whether any officers were suspended at those meetings; and
- Hearing appeals for any suspensions that may have occurred.”

They had also notified Adam Haman, the Region 1 Representative on the LNC, regarding the situation, in which he motioned for the LNC to recognize the Board with Sorensen as Chair until the LPID JC investigation was completed. This motion was approved by the LNC. Later, on June 21st, Jacobs sent his opinion as a parliamentarian regarding the situation to Haman, who then shared it with the LNC. According to Jacobs, while the SCC are allowed to remove Board members, the June 17th meeting was invalid due to possible other members of the SCC, such as Corsetti and Sorensen, who both claim to be the current Chairs of the BCLCC and Oneida County Libertarian Central Committee(OCLCC) respectively, not being notified and were absent from the meeting, thus making it invalid according to Robert’s Rules of Order.

However, this is countered with the claim that, in the eyes of the State of Idaho, neither the BCLCC, OCLCC, or similar committees exist: according to Evans, because no precinct committeepeople were elected for these counties this primary, there was no reorganization of those county central committees. After May 28th (eight days after the primary), those committees and their officers’ terms expired. This leaves the KCLCC being the only legally recognized county central committee of the LPID, having had an elected precinct committeeperson, and thus the officers chosen by it to head the SCC as the only legitimate members under Idaho law. There is still room for debate on whether the KCLCC-chosen SCC is required to directly contact and notify the incumbent members of the Board in order for the meeting to still be valid, but insofar as the voting members of the SCC are concerned, the KCLCC-chosen SCC is legally valid, though further confirmation by the state of Idaho is required.

While accepting the information presented by the LNC-recognized Board and Jacobs, the LNC’s motion is only temporary: as Haman states regarding the situation:

“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.”

The KCLCC-created SCC and Board, however, plan on not partaking in the JC investigation. Evans states that “the KCLCC members of the SCC do not recognize the JC at this point of the Precinct Committeeman process,” and that “by state law, it is out [sic] interpretation that they [the JC] do not exist as an entity of the party at this time… Even if they did exist, they are not impartial.” This is because, Evans alleges, “2 of the JC members are listed as part of Loesby’s Secret Central Committee, and the 3rd had filed false documents with the Imhoffs’ 2 years ago. They have a vested interest in the Loesby interpretation.”

Concluding Remarks

Until the Secretary of State and the LPID JC complete their investigation, we will have to be content with these details. I cannot see any purely right parties in this fiasco: the only thing clear from this is the lack of proper organization and the fragmentation of the LPID that has been going on for at least 2 years now. We see again that struggles of power are affecting the effectiveness of the LP and the ability for the party to serve the people it claims to represent. Something has to change, or the party will, deservedly, be no more.

It does seem that both parties are acting with the best intentions in supporting the LP and its constituent members. Evans argues that what is being done “ensures a party that answers to the people and the state that provides it ballot access,” even if he finds the methods personally distasteful. And while Loesby may not have clean hands in the 2022 controversy and biases in his judgement regarding this controversy, he, alongside the other members of the LNC-recognized Board, are acting for what they see as the good of the party. “We look forward to focusing our efforts on defending the natural rights of the people of Idaho from an increasingly tyrannical government.” There may be speculation on the more negative aspects or reasons both parties are taking the actions they have, but it is best here to assume that we are dealing with people who are at least to some extent good, even if they are doing actions that we may find to be mistaken or wrong.

While there are no permanent solutions that can be offered, it might possibly be a good, though temporary, resolution to this: that the LPID bylaws be revised so as to allow the Executive Board to be voting members on the SCC. This may act as a kind of bandaid to the issue of having a whole party restructured through the acts of one individual. It is my hope that, whoever is found to be legitimate in the end, that they take such a suggestion; and that, if they wish for the party to be strong, that the fragmentation and factionalism within the party be eliminated and replaced with unity, harmony, and a community of people working towards a shared vision of liberty and prosperity for all.