Steve Trinward Steve Trinward is "Soul Proprietor" of Trinwords.Com (wordsmithing and editing services) and a contributing editor for Rational Review. SUPPORT OUR
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The day the LP stood up
-- and honored its fallen heroes As one of the three Rational Review editors who attended the recent Libertarian Party national convention in beautiful downtown Indy, I feel it my duty to make some sort of report. As one of two among that trio who is now a full-fledged National Committee member, I find myself walking a tightrope of sorts, being privy to some information that should not be made public (for a variety of reasons, all sound and valid) and having a somewhat split focus on the proceedings. As the only one among our cadre who was a delegation chair, and who had multiple sorts of agendas to follow while on the floor and between sessions, I'm almost not sure where to begin. I shall thus confine most of my comments to discussing the convention's initial floor battle, in which I played a fairly significant role: The successful awarding of 2002 Liberty Awards. First, a bit of background. The Liberty Awards consist of (a) the Sam Adams Libertarian Activist of the Year; (b) the Thomas Paine Communicator of the Year and (c) the Thomas Jefferson Award for Lifetime Achievement. These are normally created in three steps: the general LP membership submits nominations, usually in the fall preceding a national convention; the Libertarian National Committee selects the three nominees most often submitted, at an LNC meeting before the convention; and the delegates vote on their choices, usually with a ballot provided among the papers in their delegate kit. All fairly routine, most of the time. Backtrack to the fall of 2001. In just one more example of how American foreign policy and world unrest can affect our lives, about the time that the call for Liberty Awards nominations should have been going out in LP News, the folks at National HQ were -- understandably -- preoccupied with more pressing issues like recovering from the events of September 11th and dealing with a postal blockade during the subsequent "anthrax threat" … just to name two! The result: It wasn't until about late May of 2002 that someone (identity both unknown to this columnist and irrelevant to the story?) at LPHQ happened to notice that this particular "t" had not been dotted. In an effort to make good on the awards, even with virtually no time for nominations, National Director Steve Dasbach authorized an e-mail barrage, soliciting last-minute nominations, although the window was a very small one, since by that time the convention was looming closer and closer. Nevertheless, there were some nominations received, and some worthy candidates presented. Skip to the LNC meeting just before the convention's opening gavel. Upon being presented with the prospective nominees list, there was some immediate concern for how little time there had been for nominations, and that the delegates might consider that the "fix" was in. This was especially of concern since nearly 95% of the nominations had been for what appeared to be almost a "slate" of choices: Carla Howell for the Adams; Sharon Harris for the Paine and Harry Browne for the Jefferson. Collectively, these three received something like 50 of perhaps 60 of the nominations received in Washington. Standing alongside this trio were a handful of nominations for several of our recently fallen warriors: Dr. Richard E. Pearl, Sr., of Tennessee; Bruce Baechler, late of Texas and other LP tenure; and the man most often considered the Libertarian Hero of 9/11, NYPD officer John Perry. However, none of these worthies got more than a handful of votes during the abbreviated process. (For what it's worth, this scribbler knows of at least a half-dozen people who missed the announcement for nominations, and then were a bit annoyed when told they could no longer nominate anyone. A couple of them had intended to support at least one of the posthumous notables.) Whatever the case, when the LNC met and reviewed the results of the nomination process, several members expressed great concern that the "politicizing" of the awards would lead to nothing of value. Using the valid reasoning that the process had been essentially aborted before the fact, by the understandable oversight at LPHQ, the LNC voted NOT to present any nominees to the convention, and to recommend that the Liberty Awards be shelved for this time around. Cut to Wednesday, July 3, late afternoon. This little black duck arrived, checked into his hotel room and proceeded to the evening reception. Less than a month earlier, I had had a rather close automotive encounter with a guardrail, and was still staggering a bit here and there, while gulping the occasional painkiller to ward off collapse. But there I was, Tennessee's Head Volunteer, leading the LPTN delegation in the stead of both our late State Chair and his successor, Ray Ledford, Jr. (whose job kept him tied up -- July 4th is the WRONG time to take off when you manage a department at a grocery store!). I had made it somewhat of a personal mission to see that Dr. Pearl receive at least fair consideration for his tireless and effective efforts while he was alive: His activism was unquestioned, as he had been the spearhead of the Libertarian drive to stop the Tennessee state income tax from ever happening; the Sam Adams award seemed obvious. But his communication skills were unquestioned as well -- as an inveterate Letters to the Editor fanatic; as a regular Operation Politically Homeless booth operator at local gunshows and other events; and as an annual speaker in his county's high school classrooms, teaching tomorrow's adults about the Blessings of Liberty. So the Thomas Paine Award was also appropriate. Meanwhile, who better to offer a Lifetime Achievement Award to, than someone whose entire life had been dedicated to Living Liberty -- from raising two exceptional kids as a single parent, to reinventing his own career-path in his mid-40s, to taking on jobs and contracts which allowed him to make a survivable living, while not preventing him from spending a good portion of his "spare time" working for the causes of human freedom and justice which he loved so much? And how appropriate that it would be the Thomas Jefferson Award, for someone who had revered that man and his words and deeds all his life? So you might understand my reaction to the news that there were to BE no Liberty Awards this time around! I immediately sought out National Chair Jim Lark, pulled him aside and asked him point-blank to explain the LNC's decision. (Whether because of our personal friendship, or just because he saw the burning coals behind my eyes, he gave me a direct and clear picture of what had happened. He also said he had himself been concerned that the whole thing might be used as a political football, or be seen by the delegates as such, due to the appearance of "ballot stuffing" on behalf of the Browne/Howell/Harris "ticket." When the vote had come down he had basically agreed with its conclusions.) I told him right then that this issue would indeed be a political football, if I had anything to say about it! I asked Jim what procedure to use to bring this up in convention session; he gave me the overview, and we promised to confer in the morning. I excused myself and went seeking both support and a tall cool drink at the bar. I lobbied a bit, then went up to my room to start planning the campaign. My first thought was there should be some sort of Sample Ballot to present on behalf of our case. My own intention at that point was to put Richard Pearl, Tom Knapp and L. Neil Smith onto the list (since I had nominated each of them myself, so I knew they'd all gotten at least one vote). I would then add the trio of "favorites" to their respective categories, along with at least one other name in each slot. It was about then that I remembered John Perry, the NYPD policeman and LPNY activist whose dedication to duty and basic sense of doing what is right cost him his own life in the Trade Tower catastrophe. As we all know by now, John was filing his retirement papers a little way uptown from the Towers when the first plane hit. He dropped everything (literally -- the papers were half filled out!) and ran to help… and never returned from the scene. Clearly, if anyone were to be rewarded for answering the call of Liberty and Justice, he had to be considered. Meanwhile, there was also a plan involving the LP of Texas Hospitality Suite, to hold a special Dual Tribute on Friday, July 5th -- honoring both Dr. Pearl and former LPTexas and anti-Drug War activist Bruce Baechler, whose own life had been abruptly ended as a result of a car crash in late 2000. (Note: This event did not actually take place, due to a combination of other convention issues and the premature closing on Friday night of EVERY LP Hospitality Suite due to 'noise complaints'.) So Thursday morning, right after the opening gavel, I rose to place on the agenda, for early Friday, a 15-minute period for discussion of the Liberty Awards, with the intention of re-enacting the current year's effort. Now let's jump to Friday morning, about a half-hour before the opening gavel for that session. I was ensconced in the hotel Business Center, tapping out the Sample Ballot, including the names of Pearl and Howell, Baechler and Harris; and Perry and Browne (along with blanks for other nominations in each category). I thought I had it all figured out for some reason; blame it on my still-recovering head and the painkillers. Fortunately, I was discovered by not one but two LNC regional reps, Michael Dixon and Mark Nelson, who asked almost in unison, "There you are! What are you doing?" I made to show them my craftwork; they glanced at it, both grimaced… and handed me a small scrap of paper with three scribbled names on it. "No, this is what you should submit," said Dixon. My little ego started to get up and protest, but then I looked at the list they had offered: "Richard Pearl - Activist; Bruce Baechler - Communicator; John Perry - Lifetime." Suddenly the thin veil of pharmaceuticals and unsteady mind drifted aside, and I saw immediately the wisdom of the ploy. "Yes," I shouted, "this is EXACTLY what needs to be done!" They both shushed me a bit, then each smiled as they realized maybe I wasn't as dense as it had appeared. I tapped out the list, reworded the resolution text ever so slightly, and printed out two copies (one to read from, one to go to LP Secretary Steve Givot for formal presentation): RESOLVED: That the Libertarian Party in convention award the LNC Liberty Awards to the following dedicated libertarians, each of whom has fallen from our presence during the last two years: Sam Adams Activist of the Year: Richard E. Pearl, Sr. Tom Paine Libertarian Communicator of the Year: Bruce Baechler Thomas Jefferson Lifetime Achievement: John Perry I headed into the convention hall, and as I passed by Mr. Givot on the way in, I handed him the resolution. "Well, at least they can't say any of these people are running for anything," he quipped. When the session opened, Chairman Lark recognized me, and I proposed the resolution as it read, to a good deal of applause. Some discussion followed, which made it appear at first that the Massachusetts delegates (who had presumably been among the Carla Howell/Sharon Harris/Harry Browne nominators, since it looked to all appearances like a bloc vote?) were trying to filibuster the resolution. Actually, as I found out in later discussion with a couple of their number, the concern was over how procedure was being railroaded, since the usual process had been so mislaid along the way. The concern was more about not letting this extra-legal precedent gain too much momentum, than about thwarting an attempt to honor our fallen heroes in the only appropriate way we had. The resolution passed with very little opposition (outside of those procedural concerns from Massachusetts?), and now that the announcement of the awards is in the latest LP News all that remains is some sort of formal presentation to the survivors of the trio. There were other things going on at the convention, including a hopeful turnaround in both the makeup and the focus of the Libertarian National Committee; a first step at revising the Platform to reflect both the diversity of the LP and the validity of "nested" information as a marketing tool; and an exciting and competitive race for National Chair. But I'll let others discuss those events; me, I had a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in making sure a good friend was not forgotten in the midst of it all… |
