Convention Report
Thank you to all the members, old and new, who came to the 2011 LPNH state convention. Highlights included hearing from two presidential campaigns, raising some money for ballot access and meeting new Libertarians. We had some good back and forth discussing this year's activity and how we move forward.
We ratified two amendments to the party's constitution, both of which had been approved at last year's convention. The officers of the party have changed. We consolidated the two vice-chair positions into a single vice chair, and we expanded our ability to fill in a vacant past chair seat. These changes will make it even easier for the board to get important work done.
Speaking of officers, the new executive committee of the LPNH is:
Chairman: Rich Tomasso
Vice Chair: Howard Wilson
Alternate Vice Chair: Max Abramson
Treasurer: Rich Kahn
Secretary: Tom Kershaw
Past Chair: Philip Hodson
The Judicial Committee is: John Babiarz (chair), Ken Blevens and Brendan Kelly.
The Membership Committee is: Tom Sweeney (chair), Chris Maden and Max Abramson.
Thank you to everyone who stood for election and others who volunteered to help.
We passed one resolution, focusing on the troublesome policy created by the current administration for execution orders on American citizens without any judicial review. The text reads:
"Resolved, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire condemns the action of the President of the United States, acting as arresting officer, arraigner, grand jury, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner all in one, in contravention of the Bill of Rights, by ordering an execution warrant against an American citizen in complete absence of due process of law, and thereby has destroyed the rule of law in the United States. We furthermore call upon our Congressmen and Senators to push for legislation expressly forbidding any government action to implement such an order and to consider articles of impeachment for the President for ordering any action under said executive order."
The resolution will be distributed to the press and elected officials this week.
We closed the evening with presentations from the Bill Still and Carl Person campaigns. Mr Still could not make it so sent his NH coordinator. Mr Still's main focus is on fiscal issues and the monetary system. He has several videos outlining the problems with our current system and his solutions, and invites everyone to look at them on his website. Carl Person spoke in person, highlighting his experience as a business lawyer finding creative solutions for his clients. His main campaign ideas are to remove all regulations on the first three employees of any business ("first three are free"), to allow small businesses to publicly raise up to $1million in capital without going through the SEC regulations of a public offering, and to deregulate post-secondary education to make it easier to train the next generation of workers.
The board is currently discussing our action plan for 2012 and the new officers are getting up to speed. We hope to streamline our processes more and build our activist base so we are better prepared for what is to come.
Moving forward, our goals are straightforward:
- Finish petitioning
- Nominate candidates
- Earn as many votes as possible
- Work on election law reforms
Obviously the more help we can get on these action items the better. If you can offer assistance on any of these please send a note to volunteer@lpnh.org and we'll include you in our plans. The first priority is finishing our ballot access drive, the next major effort for that will be the presidential primary on January 10th. But before then you can also collect signatures locally or in some high traffic areas. Or you can donate to the drive so we can hire professional petitioners.
Beyond that, town elections will be here before you know it. Filing period is usually in January. If you are thinking you might run for state office in the fall, then run for local office in the spring. It will build name recognition and build your local connections. Plus you'll learn a lot.
Thanks for reading. If you haven't done so yet, please renew your membership or make a contribution to the LPNH. We have the opportunity to make a big splash in 2012, I want you all to be a part of that.
Thanks
RIch Tomasso
Chairman



