Redpath admits he is unfit to lead
Posted in Back Door Politics by R Lee Wrights on April 28th, 2009 by Sean Haugh
The plot thickened over the weekend with an email from Libertarian National Committee (LNC) Chair Bill Redpath to the board, giving them his reasoning behind his recent actions and inactions in his attempt to purge Lee Wrights from the LNC.
It is not an explanation however, but rather a confession. His note gives us the worst of both worlds - admitting he is acting out of the most petty personal reasons without moving away from his plan to tear our party in half. In my opinion, it is an open admission by Redpath that he is unfit for leadership in any capacity.
If Redpath had the first clue about how to lead this party, he would understand that his personal offense at another’s words is quite irrelevant. It wouldn’t matter if an LNC member regularly compared him to Adolph Hitler, or made rude comments about his dog. The courtesy he must extend to all members of the LNC is not dependent upon how he feels he has been treated. As Chair, he is committed to lead the whole party and not just the faction that does the best job of stroking his ego.
Even if Redpath is right to be offended by our reporting of the facts, does that justify blatantly ignoring our party Bylaws? Does it justify usurping the authority of the LNC and allowing our Treasurer and Secretary to make decisions by fiat? Does it justify making up entirely fictional government regulations, and using this lie to purge our party membership? Does it justify purging the board of people our own membership elected in convention to represent us? Is Bill Redpath’s personal vendetta against two people a justification for his policy decisions which are destructive to the entire party?
Ask yourself these questions while reading his memo below. I believe any reasonable person would have to answer “no” to every question, and conclude that Bill Redpath is totally unfit to discharge his duties as Chair of this party.
Also over the weekend some of us heard from Pam Brogren, the estranged wife of Lee Wrights. She reports:
“Lee did NOT receive any mail from the Libertarian party at all in the last several months, telling him that it was time to renew. I just looked through his box of mail that he has not picked up, and there is NOTHING from the Libertarian party except a fund raising letter that he received a week after the big boys already had told him he was banished from the play ground. So they may want to explain the fact that no ’snail mail’ was ever sent to him to even remind him that it was time to renew his membership.”
Since we already know that any email by interim Executive Director Robert Kraus on this matter to Wrights was deliberately sent to a defunct email address, this calls into question the claim that any attempt to contact Wrights about his expiring membership was made in good faith.
Considering that the party has a very strong interest in communicating with our sustaining members and encouraging them to renew, it is now becoming clear that Kraus and LNC Treasurer Aaron Starr conspired to set aside their fiduciary responsibility to the organization in order to set this trap for Wrights, with the express intention of having him removed from the board in violation of our Bylaws.
There is no evidence as yet that Redpath and Sullentrup were in on this conspiracy from the beginning. By their own words and deeds however they have fully endorsed and participated in the conspiracy now.
The best response Redpath can offer to correct his behavior is that he will now ignore his fiduciary responsibility to the party and pursue injustice by his deliberate inaction on a universal basis, instead of simply when it applies to his political enemies.
The memo below paints a self-portrait of a petty, small-minded individual who is willing to destroy his own party just to strike back at two of its members. Every day he continues to remain Chair of this party only deepens the catastrophe he has manufactured.
*
email from Bill Redpath to the LNC, 4/24/09, 9:11pm
Several fellow Libertarian National Committee (LNC) members have asked for an explanation of events leading to the recent loss of Lee Wrights’ eligibility to serve as a member of the LNC.
Here is the story, as I know it.
In November 2008, I was rereading the Bylaws and read Section 8, Article 4, which states, “A National Committee member shall be a sustaining member of the Party, and shall not be the candidate of any party except the Party or an affiliate.”
I then called Aaron Starr about this, and asked him to ascertain whether all LNC members were sustaining members. I may have called Bob Sullentrup about this, as well, but I don’t recall for sure.
Aaron contacted Robert Kraus at LPHQ, and it is my understanding that Robert produced a list for Aaron of LNC members and their sustaining membership expiration dates (unless that member was a life member). All LNC members were sustaining members, at that time, and Aaron so informed me.
I never saw this list with expiration dates, but Aaron did. He noticed that several LNC members had expiration dates in early 2009, including Lee Wrights, who Aaron saw had an expiration date in April. Aaron tells me that he forgot about this list until Monday, April 6, on which day it dawned on him that this was about the time of Lee Wrights’ sustaining membership expiration.
He called Robert Kraus that day and learned that Lee Wrights’ sustaining membership started on (I believe) April 8, 2008, and had not yet been renewed. Aaron called me on, I recall, the evening of Tuesday, April 7, and told me that Lee’s sustaining membership was about to expire. It is my understanding that Bob Sullentrup was not informed of Lee’s impending sustaining membership expiration until sometime on Wednesday, April 8.
I waited a week after Lee’s expiration date to see if his sustaining membership renewal payment showed up in the mail. It did not. The Bylaws, in my opinion, plainly read that Lee was no longer eligible to serve on the LNC. The Bylaws don’t allow exceptions to this. Bob Sullentrup notified the Committee of the new vacancy. I directed Robert Kraus to remove Lee from the LNC Discuss List, and to remove him from the list of LNC members on lp.org.
I have been asked why I didn’t pickup the phone and call or email Lee Wrights to notify him of the impending expiration of his sustaining membership, and the implication of that for his membership on the LNC. I was in a quandary about what to do. Part of me did think that that was the most prudent course of action for both the Party and the LNC. But, in the end, I could not bring myself to do it.
First, it is not my job as Chairman to remind individual members to renew their sustaining memberships. So, for me to call Lee would have been a matter of courtesy. It was my judgment at that time that he did not deserve that, as he has shown a lack of courtesy through what at times has been egregiously rude behavior to his fellow members on this Committee, to LNC staff, and to me, particularly at the San Diego meeting and thereafter. (Although I am not on the APRC email list, I have been told he had behaved very uncivilly at times with his postings to that list.) For him to expect courtesy while treating others so badly is hypocritical.
In particular, it is my understanding that Lee posted a commentary by Sean Haugh to libertyforall.net on the day after the San Diego meeting that other people have told me they thought was defamatory to me. I certainly thought it was, and, in my opinion, to the best of my knowledge, it was also defamatory to M Carling, former LNC member and current LP parliamentarian.
Lee has told us that his failure to renew his sustaining membership before expiration was inadvertent. Maybe this is true, but based on the LNC’s financial donation records, it appears that each of the three times that Lee has been on the LNC, either he ran for election when he was not eligible to do so, or he lost eligibility to serve on the LNC after his election. There is a pattern here that should not be ignored.
Lee has asserted to me that I am trying to “run the radicals off the LNC.” That is not so My problem with Lee Wrights has only to do with his behavior.
While I certainly admit that I am not an “LP Radical,” I have striven to be fair in my role as Chair, as that is an important quality to have in that position. As a part of that fairness, non-life members of this LNC should note that, as long as I am Chairman, I will not be reminding them in any manner to maintain their sustaining memberships. That will ultimately be their responsibility.
I regret that what I consider a straightforward application of the Bylaws to Lee’s failure to remain eligible has caused this controversy. Also, I apologize for the delay in getting this information to you. You have every right to know what happened. In addition to my work and LP matters, I have been preparing for a professional examination in the near future and dealing with the impending death of a long-time friend.
I know some of you think that I erred in not calling Lee as a courtesy to remind him about his expiring sustaining membership. Fair enough. I understand your position. If I had inadvertently failed to take care of a required task, I would want my colleagues to give me a heads-up, and I’d be hurt if they didn’t give me one.
However, I hope you understand my position. I think Lee used up his ration of goodwill a long time ago. He has no right to complain about not receiving special courtesy when he fails to show basic courtesy to others.
If you decide to reelect him to the LNC, I will treat him in exactly the same way as any other LNC member. If he decides to act with courtesy, he will certainly receive the same courtesy from me.
Thank you very much.
William Redpath
LNC Chairman
Sean Haugh is assistant editor for Liberty For All. Sean is married to longtime Libertarian Pam Adams, and they have a family of three dogs and five cats. Besides them, Sean loves God, Liberty, and Oklahoma Sooners football. Write to Sean at seanhaugh@mindspring.com.
MG said,
April 28, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
Un autogolpe?
Liberty's Wing said,
April 28, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
And what of the incident where Redpath called Angela Keaton on the phone and screamed “Bitch, bitch, bitch”?
COURTEOUS?
The man is a whiny 4 year old.
Why? « Liberty’s Wing said,
April 28, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
[...] Why? Redpath = Psychopath. [...]
frost said,
April 29, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Does this mean that you Libertarians are following the path (pun intentional) of Republican ineptness and futility?
Sure seems that way.
As an independent Independent with some pretty strong Libertarian leanings, I might’ve even voted for Wayne Root… maybe.
But Bob Barr, more Republican than the Republican candidate?
You guys made a mockery of yourselves in so doing/nominating — and even with a (apparently) straight face.
Somebody, please - wake me when this terrible comedy-of-errors ceases.
Considering some history, the Republicans used to be what many Libertarians fancy themselves as being today — but that was a long time ago, back in those Barry Goldwater 60’s (and he sure would have given JFK a mighty challenge had Lee H. Oswald not shot Kennedy; but that assassination coupled with the LBJ scare/fiasco killed that…).
I don’t know — maybe it’s me…
Gerry Ford and Bob Dole, Bush-the-Elder, Clinton and Dubya? All the horrible, miserable, pathetic choices we’ve had? I wrote-in names like Dick Lamm, Paul Tsongas, Jeanne Kilpatrick and even Daniel Patrick Moynahan(!) in desperation. Give me some brains, ethics, principle. Brains and ethical character mostly — that person will achieve principle, probably. Hopefully.
Anyway, the frustration is legitimate. And I really don’t expect to find any answers here. Could never vote again for another demented Democrat and look at myself in the mirror; sure can’t go with the stupid GOP with its Trent-Lott-pandering-types and terminal Bed-wetters with their goofy “social” conservatism and weird positions (gay-crap, stem-cells, “Choice” and 86ing InternetWagering are their platform priorities? God save us!).
Yet, the concern borders on overwhelming — not for myself, I’m old. But, my kids and their children? What a huge mess we’re leaving for them (okay, not US, per se — but the ill-educated, unmotivated, opportunistic, Something-for-Nothing bunch)….
Suggestions anyone? I’m drawing a blank….
Michael Seebeck said,
April 29, 2009 @ 10:27 am
frost, Barr was a mistake that a lot of us warned against and were ignored. Coincidentally, the same people warning on that are the same ones subject to the shenanigans going on now.
However, poor leadership is correctable, and the real leaders of the party, not the petty figureheads, but the ones who actually do the work, are working on correcting the issue and righting the ship. It’s just not very visible.
The best thing to do is join us in that effort.
Ayn R Key said,
April 29, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
Unfortunately for those who made the warnings in the past and are targets now, Wayne Root has announced his intention to seek Redpath’s office in 2010 as well as the presidential nomination in 2012.
Michael Seebeck said,
April 29, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
Only if Redpath doesn’t run will Root run.
Root lacks the leadership experience.
Jim Davidson said,
April 30, 2009 @ 4:21 am
Bill Redpath is a very evil man. Sic semper tyrannis.
frost said,
April 30, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Root’s a sharp guy, in spite of his cheesy (insincere?) smile… almost as phoney-looking as Hannity’s yukky laugh on the radio.
BUT Wayne Root is totally unelectable, and would be seen as a joke by far too many of the populous simply because of his profession.
Running the party? Perhaps, but even that scares me a little.
As a candidate. Nope - for the aforementioned reasons.
God — what a wasteland !!!
Michael Seebeck said,
April 30, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
frost,
It’s a long way to 2012.