By Elmer Whittaker
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 9am – 5pm the Libertarian
Party of Nevada holds its convention at the Suncoast Hotel &
Casino at 9090 Alta Drive in Las Vegas, NV 89145
A luncheon is scheduled from 1pm-3pm with the guest keynote speaker Katie Kieffer
In spite of the lack of an official agenda for the convention,
it is known that aside from the aforementioned luncheon several proposals of
revisions to the bylaws of the Libertarian Party of Nevada (LPN) are up for
vote, as well as the new or re-election of the party’s 5 position Executive
Committee which includes a chairman, a vice-chair, a treasurer, a secretary and
an at large representative.
Although I am one of the obviously very few due paying
members, I have not received an official notification about the convention
neither by regular mail nor email. There are also no official notifications
posted on either the LPN
Meet-Up group nor the LPN Facebook group. I cannot imagine and it does not appear
that the LPN convention has been advertised in any newspaper or other news
media.
As the participation in the LPN convention costs between
$65-$125 and requires an official NV State ID for delegates many people have
speculated the current Executive Committee does not want a widespread
participation of the current and former membership in the convention out of
fear that a big membership participation might lead to the Executive Committee
being voted out of office and replaced.
After the few experiences and interactions I had with the
current Executive Committee (ExComm), other members and general insights, that
I personally had as a new member, I can only conclude that the fears of the ExComm
of being out-voted and shunned by a large membership and supporter
participation in the LPN convention might not only be fully justified but might
indeed be necessary for the LPN to play any kind of prominent role in Nevada’s
political landscape.
An inquiry of mine with LPN Secretary Jared Thomas Lord about the
current number of due paying members resulted in a referral to LPN Treasurer
Kurt Brackob whom I contacted via email. Kurt Brackop however claims that he
does not know the exact due paying membership count because “numbers are always
changing” but that the due paying membership is “usually around 30-35”.
From Kurt Brackop’s answer and conversations I had with
other prominent LPN members, I can only conclude that the membership nowadays
is at an all-time low and unless many of the former LPN members decide to renew
their membership immediately and make sure they are registered voters in
Nevada, participation and voting for an Executive Committee at the LPN
convention on April 27, will also be at an all-time low.
Treasurer Kurt Brackop also stated that there will be a
report at the convention about the membership numbers. I wonder if there will
also be some sort of an explanation or even just an educated speculation about
the reasons why a State Chapter of the Libertarian Party, the third largest
party in the country, only has "usually" 30-35 dues paying members,
although the state party has been in existence for many years.
As the current ExComm is obviously unwilling to properly advertise
and promote new and renewing memberships and the upcoming LPN convention it is
left to the LPN members and supporters to spread the word, encourage and
promote due paying membership and participate in the LPN convention.
If the current membership of the LPN really wants a, what I
perceive with my limited LPN experience, badly needed change in leadership,
candidates to challenge the current ExComm members need to step forward,
advertise and campaign and hold their own events so the rest of the membership can
get to know them.
