Originally published as "State Libertarians oppose Kennedy support, vote against Texit" in the Seguin Gazette on August 7, 2024
This past Saturday, the State Libertarian Executive Committee met in Tyler to have their first meeting since the Libertarian Party of Texas’s State Convention back in April, and out of all of the items within the meeting, only two stood out that created much discussion within the body. The first was a motion to adopt a resolution for a referendum on Texas Independence, and the other was a motion to adopt a resolution against the Libertarian National Committee’s joint funding partnership with the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign which would also censure the individuals who voted for it.
After the executive body heard reports by the officers, staff, Paul Darr, who serves as the South Region 3 National Representative, gave his report on the Libertarian National Committee on how they passed the joint fundraising partnership with the Kennedy campaign, and that the Judicial Committee within the Libertarian Party has heard arguments. However, they have not made a decision since meeting last week, and have not given a timeline on when a decision will be made. When asked about how the LNC decision supports an opposing candidate, Darr clarified that the vote was done by a few chosen officers and executives, and not the entire national committee. He also added that due to this, the region representatives, like himself, were not able to vote on the decision.
After passing a motion to establish and fund a campaign support fund as well as going into a brief executive session, the body heard arguments for adopting a resolution to urge the Texas Legislature to pass a bill in its next session requiring a referendum in the 2025 general election to decided on whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation. Steve Ravet, the County Chair of the Libertarian Party of Hays County, was invited to speak for the motion. There were arguments by those against the motion where despite they agreed to the idea of leaving the union to become our own independent nation again, they argued the possible consequences of what would happen if Texas did leave the union. When the vote came, the motion failed.
Afterwards, the body heard arguments for a resolution against the Libertarian National Executive Committee’s decision to create the joint funding partnership with Kennedy campaign, and censure the four National Libertarian Party Executive Committee members who voted for the clear violation of our national bylaws. The four to be censured would be Region 6 Representative Pat Ford, At Large members Andrew Watkins and Kathy Yeniscavich, and the Libertarian Party’s National Chair Angela McArdle. Senate District 16 representative Kyle Russell argued for the passing of the motion as the joint funding partnership with the Kennedy campaign is a clear violation of our national bylaws. When it came to a vote, the motion passed, and all four national executive members were censured.
The meeting was adjourned after several announcements by my fellow SLEC members, and knowing that the Texit and anti-Kennedy partnership resolutions would be two of the biggest items at the meeting, the turnout was a bit expected. Those who wanted to see a possible Texit referendum passed were disappointed, but those who were upset by our national party’s leadership making deals with an opposing candidate and violating their own party’s bylaws were happy that our disapproval can be expressed by a fair vote from our own state party’s executive committee of officers and representatives.
Thank you for the update.