Bruce, This is no different from the Angela Keaton controversy, just with the factions' positions reversed. I for one am tired of such things. A good Treasurer is hard to find. He or she is legally liable for every mistake. Aaron Starr deserves our gratitude for taking on the burden.
Chris > In this and other forums, there have been some attacks > on Mister Starr, personally, and professionally. > > I'm not going to address the siliness of the personal > attacks, but the professional attacks are mainly from > Lee Wrights, an LNC Board Member, and all around > firebrand Libertarian. > > Lee has it in his head that Aaron is keeping some kind > of secrets that Aaron is hiding something about the > budget, I'm not really clear about his allegations. > (Probably because they are not clear.) > > Besides the needed disclaimer that Aaron and I are > long time friends and I am certainly a steadfast supporter > of his, he's basically an open book, about the budget, > or any other Libertarian thing. > > Like him or not, he's honest to a fault and will take > anyone's phone call or email. > > There is zero secrecy about the budget, and no > need for any. This is all just an emotional blowup, > without foundation, and a waste of time. > > I only address it so it won't go unanswered and become > another of the numerous false urban legends of the LP. > > There is nothing secret about the National LP Budget. > All the money spent, and all the plans for it are open > and reportable after the money is spent to the FEC. > > I highly doubt Mister Starr would risk time in jail > for a volunteer post we stuck him with by electing > him as our Treasurer. > > He's not taking trips to overseas casinos or buying > himself Hawaiian hot stone massages and MaiTais > with the LPs money. > > It's just craziness from the hater extremists. > > Please. Read and enjoy, if you can make it to the end. > > Aaron Starr // Jan 21, 2009 at 2:58 am > > “On a completely different subject, I hope Aaron will address some of the > questions above clarifying the apparent controversy with the budget.” > > I hope you will bear with me during this long response. > > For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to introduce myself. I am a > life-long resident of Southern California. I first started volunteering for > our party when I was only 16 (that was 29 years ago). In 1980 I read Robert > Ringer’s book “Restoring the American Dream” and was hooked forever. I then > proceeded to mine the book’s bibliography, reading the works of Rothbard, > Hospers, Von Mises, Hayek, Spooner, Bastiat, etc. I became your typical, > young lapel-grabbing libertarian. > > I have been a registered Libertarian voter since I was 18. I have been an > anarchist and a minarchist. In my early years I was the type who would seek > out where others disagreed with me. Today, I look for where we agree. I ran > for State Senate. I’ve been a successful campaign manager (actually electing > Libertarians to office). I served as state chairman of the Libertarian Party > of California and was apparently so unpopular that I served six years > (elected to a record three consecutive two-year terms). > > By profession, I am a CPA. I serve as the controller of an $800 million > manufacturer of machine tools. When I started with the company five years > ago, our sales were around $280 million. Today, we are the largest machine > tool manufacturer in the world. I have a wonderful staff, work with great > people and I enjoy what I do. > > Regarding the question on the budget, I’ll do my best to explain my thoughts > on this. > The budget that was passed at the December meeting is on a single page. > > It is composed of broad categories of activity with the exception of > compensation, which is a separate category of its own. I prefer this approach > to budgeting because I generally oppose micro-managing staff and this gives > the Chair and the Executive Director more flexibility. > > The exact same format was used the prior year, and it wasn’t considered > controversial. > (Several people have asked for and received copies of this budget. I have no > objection to it being distributed to any member who wants to see it.) > > The next level below the broad categories mentioned above are individual > general ledger accounts (think of them as classification categories). I tend > to add more general ledger accounts over time in order to better analyze the > data and prepare various charts. > > Typically, you wouldn’t want to create financial statements based on this > level of data because it would tend to overwhelm the reader. > > The next level below that are models I developed that feed information into > the general ledger accounts. The models combine historical information with > future projections, and include some rather granular and sensitive > organization data (e.g. salaries by employee, the cost of a fundraising > letter, response rates, expected attrition rates of new and existing donors, > etc.). > > As part of my oral presentation to the LNC on the budget, I shared on a > computer screen the assumptions that I used to compile the figures for the > budget. There was over two hours allotted to answer questions. > > In addition, in the weeks prior to the meeting I gave two advance > presentations (approximately 3 hours a piece) to the EC and the LNC — Mr. > Wrights did not attend — where many questions were asked and answered. > > I have spent a lot of time in my personal career developing spreadsheet > formats and formulas that assist me with presenting financial information. > These were developed long before I took on the duties of Treasurer. > > These models were developed for my convenience, so that I could present a > reasonable budget. I own these and I am not inclined to simply give such work > away, any more than a programmer wouldn’t want to give away his software > tools that he developed prior to taking on a job. > > Mr. Wrights is presenting an argument that I am not being “transparent,” > while I insist that I retain ownership of my intellectual property. > > I suppose I can commend Mr. Wrights on his great political framing. His > position is much easier to put forward in a short sound bite. > > But I realize that this “controversy” is just a manifestation of a deeper > political disagreement between me and Mr. Wrights. I doubt that any of this > manufactured controversy would matter to him if he and I shared the same > outlook. > > Mr. Wrights and I have a basic conflict in visions for how an organization > should be operated and managed. I believe he also perceives ideological > differences between us, though we’re probably much closer in thinking than he > realizes. > > He believes that staff should be managed with a very short leash; I believe > they should be given broad goals and metrics and a lot of latitude as to how > to accomplish them. > > He believes staff should be criticized publicly; I believe staff should be > praised publicly and corrected privately in a dignified way. > > There are other differences, but I won’t belabor the point. > > It’s unfortunate that we allow such differences to devolve to this point. I > prefer to see the bigger picture and recognize that most all of us have > something to contribute to bringing about more liberty to this world. > > I’ll continue to strive to be agreeable (while disagreeing). Hopefully, Mr. > Wrights and I will find more opportunities to agree and work constructively > together. I find that I get a lot more done with honey, than I do with > vinegar. > > Anyway, anyone can e-mail me to get a copy of the budget that was actually > adopted, which is the only set of measurements that the board has agreed to > use for financial comparison purposes during the year. > > I have offered and will continue to offer to spend as much time as any board > member may require to understand any figure of this budget. I have done so > for other members of the board. > > And if it doesn’t involve sharing confidential operating data of the party, > I’m happy to spend time explaining the budget with any other member of this > party. > > I generally enjoy teaching and interacting with people, so it’s not really a > burden to me. > > Best regards to all, > > > Aaron Starr, Treasurer ------------------------------------ ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! 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