I see that the LNC hasn’t gotten any more functional since I left even though they managed to nominiate someone who wasn’t a nutjob:

At the Libertarian National Committee meeting today, Mary Ruwart moved to reconstitute the Advertising and Publications Review Committee, seconded by R. Lee Wrights. Ruwart said “We recently had a press release that recommended more government, and if it had been reviewed it probably wouldn’t have gone out.” Secretary Bob Sullentrup pointed out that the APRC has been created and abolished multiple times, and said that if it gets reconstituted it should be done in a way that won’t require abolishing it yet again.

Ruwart suggested that the APRC be created and then its chartering language be improved. Wrights objected to hearing from staff about potential problems in the operational details of the APRC, and said “This committee does the business of the party, not staff.” LP Media Director Andrew Davis said that even a 12-hour turnaround time can miss a news cycle. Redpath said he had a policy of reviewing “anything that might be controversial”, but he admitted it did not happen with the recent controversial press release. The APRC was re-created, with Aaron Starr and Pat Dixon voting no. Its members will be Wrights, Ruwart, Starr, Jingozian, Flood, and they will have no authority until they create and win approval for new chartering language for it.

The Executive Committee was populated with the four officers and Mark Hinkle, Michael Colley, and Jim Lark.

I’ve highlighted the interesting bits. The APRC is also known as the purity committee. I’d love to see how this works with someone like Barr as the nominee. Purists tying the hands of the party staff trying to help the presidential campaign. Thats Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld levels of incompetence there.

Wrights is a nice guy and all, but you can tell he’s got no idea what being on a Board of Directors is about if he objects to hearing what the employees have to say.

Wrights and Starr hate each other with a passion, and on a commitee with no authority this is probably all meaningless. It will be interesting to see if this is the last gasp of the kooks or the start of a come-back. I’m actually suprised Barr got the nod. It was close. After the reformers gutted the platform in Portland, I expected to radicals to be back in more force for Denver. Denver is also a lot easier and cheaper to get to - which does factor into things as their is a reverse coorelation between radicalism and affluence in the LP.

HT: Third Party Watch