On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 2:03 AM, M Carling <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > Tom, > > It is misleading to characterize a reduced inclination to give gifts as > "retribution." > > M > Sorry but I fail to see the issue here. M states that seating elected delegates without requiring them to pay a $99 registration fee is "giving gifts". I see the opposite. Delegates to our national convention are dedicated volunteers. Many of them have spent untolled hours standing on street corners collecting signatures to get our Libertarian candidates on the ballot. They have no hope of gaining any benefit from their long hours of unpaid work. They were elected by their state committees as their representatives and they have traveled across the country at their own expense to represent their constituents. M says that we are giving them a gift by seating them at the national convention. I say that we owe them, not that they owe us. The title to the blog entry is "LPNY Risks Retribution For Expressing Its Opinion On LPUS Mandatory Convention Registration Fee<http://drtomstevens.blogspot.com/2010/02/lpny-risks-retribution-for-expressing.html> " I agree with M that this was perhaps not the best wording. However, as to the quote, "M Carling, who serves as Secretary of the LPNY and in a number of appointed positions on the national level, warned that although he will ask for national's financial help with upcoming statewide petition drives both this year and in 2012, he feared that his request would fall on "deaf ears" if we expressed our opinion on this issue." I was there and this is exactly what M Carling said. If he does not wish to be quoted saying things like that, then he should not say them. Sam Sloan [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
