Another convention has come and gone, and though I sit here typing a little more than twenty-four hours since it's conclusion, I can't help but echo the sentiment of one of my fellow Libertarians: "it feels like the convention was several months or lifetimes ago." In my experience over the last few cycles however, while we gather it's as though no time has passed. Our friends and colleagues from email, Zoom, and social media are all eager to embrace or shake hands and share their journeys and stories, celebrate each other's victories, and learn from each other's mistakes.
It wouldn't be a Libertarian convention without controversy, almost always in the form of some awkward and obsessive adherence to parliamentary procedure (there's a reason it's called the cult of RONR), and Sacramento did not disappoint. The venue was found to be unsuitable and under construction and, though a replacement was procured, the change came less than one hundred and twenty days prior, so it was decided that calling the meeting to order in the original location and adjourning to the new venue would satisfy our bylaw requirements. In what can only be described as a miracle, in a room packed full of argumentative individuals engaged in a standoff, the Libertarians of California were able to act normal and allow the process to take less than one minute.
We managed to finish the day off by amending, dividing, debating, and adopting almost all of the Bylaws proposals, leaving only one up for consideration on Sunday morning. Lengthy discussions of commas, semicolons, seasoning requirements, and whether Santa Cruz should be recognized as a Northern or Central County were on the table, while the controversial Mimosa Bar kept our hands full with refreshments.
Speaking of controversy, officer elections followed the final Bylaws proposal on Sunday morning, starting with the Chair race, which brought forth another awkward obsession amongst Libertarians:, the fabled NOTA (None Of The Above) vote. Sacramento County Chair James Just gave a much needed and heartfelt speech calling for the body, past leadership, and future leadership to take ownership over the current rift in the party, but whether it reached its most important audience will only become apparent as the year progresses. In the end, LPCA Vice Chair and Contra Costa County Chair Adrian F Malagon became the first Hispanic, native Spanish speaking Chair of the Libertarian Party of California, with 69 votes.
The rest of the positions went without much dispute, several elections finding ultra rare results of contrarian unanimity, but one in particular stood out because of the overwhelming support: Secretary Chris Edgar was reelected to thunderous applause. Alongside Mr. Malagon and Mr. Edgar, the newly elected Executive Committee members were Gary Alvstad as Vice Chair, Jason Regehr as Treasurer, Elizabeth Stump as Northern Area Coordinator, Matthew Butts as Central Area Coordinator, Garrison Ham as Southern Area Coordinator, Victoria Lapacek, Graham Brown, Tom Nichols, Craig Strachan, Trendalyn Hallesy, and Alberto Alvarez all for At-Large, and David Gorshe and Max Jiminez for Alternate.
Former Vice Presidential candidate Spike Cohen, founder of Black Guns Matter Maj Toure, comedian and author Lou Perez, Tuttle Twins creator Connor Boyak, and The Seasteading Institute President Joe Quirk all came in as speakers during the event, and announced Presidential candidates Lars Mapstead and Georgia Senate race disruptor Chase Oliver engaged in an off-program debate. New York Gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe served as auctioneer following the Gala Saturday night, where Maj Toure's table absolutely cleaned house. All of the speakers were available throughout the convention, presenting unique one-on-one or small group talks and Q &A opportunities, sometimes with several of them chiming in. The new ExCom were all also down in the lobby following their first official meeting on Sunday, celebrating and engaging with everyone, including the record 10 new Lifetime Members.
My personal takeaways are so much more difficult to transcribe, even the fact that I could participate on the level I did seems surreal and our growth in the organization since joining is nothing short of inspiring. As tradition holds, my friend Kelly Carden was the first person I saw upon arrival; I had the privilege of writing for his Kern County Supervisor campaign and he ended up getting appointed to his local municipal council. Matthew Butts, the man who DM'd me until I finally started participating (he tricked me into attending a meeting) in late '20 and officially as a member in early '21, has now taken a job recruiting members on a national level. My friend Tom Nichols ran for State Assembly this year, Michael Lema ran for Hayward City Council, Loren Dean is now Chair of Riverside County, Craig Strachan is Chair of Ventura, Garrison Ham is Chair of San Diego, and Shane Kiss is Chair of San Bernardino. How did we get here? I also had a wonderful time with former Chair Mimi Robison, former Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, his former Chief of Staff Boomer Shannon, and even convinced my wife to attend the reception on Friday night.
I wanted to be a part of the Takeover, and after Reno and Sacramento, this leg of the journey is complete. I'm proud of my involvement and the accomplishments of my peers, and though I joked that the Takeover was really the friends we made along the way, the truth is that our success will be defined by our actions moving forward. So, what do we have? A political party focused on liberty and actively fighting the tyranny of the State, if we can keep it.