Rather than popular elections at bi-annual national conventions; under this proposal each member of the LNC would be chosen by people within a state party. By default, each State Chair would be the LNC representative; but each state party can choose a different mechanism.
At first, the idea of a 51-member LNC may seem unreasonable. “They will never be able to accomplish anything,” critics say. But in reality, they have only a few yet critical tasks to accomplish. And any of their meetings can be held electronically. The LNC would actually be responsible for only 4 tasks.
Hire (and fire) the LNEC
They have the ultimate authority over the LNEC who actually runs the party, day-to-day, and act as the check-and-balance against a poorly functioning LNEC. This has three key advantages:
- The LNEC gets paid to do the job, and can do the job full-time or part-time based on the prerogative of the LNC. If they don’t do the job, they can be fired. If an LNEC member decides to move on, they can put in their notice.
- The LNEC will be people tasked by the LNC to accomplish tasks, which means the LNEC will all have the same direction, increasing efficiency toward a set of goals and reducing (or eliminating) the sometimes-embarrassing public-facing discourse.
- The LNC can ensure that all goals are current and follow the needs of the party today, rather than leadership being stuck on any particular mandates from conventions 2 or 4 years prior.
Undo/veto anything that LNEC does.
A critical part of any governance – whether a state or an organization – must have accountability to those within the organization. The 51-member LNC would have the ability to undo anything the smaller LNEC does. While this is expected to only occur rarely, it is an important check-and-balance against runaway boards.
This function replaces the duties of the current Judicial Committee, reducing party bureaucracy and resolving the concern of scope and supremacy where co-equal boards exist.
Holds an “up or down” vote on the Annual Budget
Today, the Annual Budget process is generally driven by staff asking for particular resources for the projects the national party leadership want to accomplish. This basic premise does not change.
The LNEC would prepare a budget and present it to the LNC. The LNC would vote, up-or-down, without amendments, on the presented budget. If the LNC rejects the budget, the LNEC would be tasked to try again. The LNC ultimately controls the budget.
Consider any affiliation or disaffiliation of state parties.
No one ever wants to disaffiliate a state party, and no one wants to have a state party without an affiliate. That means something has gone seriously wrong. In the unfortunate case that a state should be disaffiliated, or in the case that a new group has petitioned for affiliate recognition in a state without an affiliate, the LNEC would bring the information to the LNC. The LNC would deliberate and vote on the matter, and only if 2/3rds or greater of the other states agree to it, would a state affiliate be affiliated or disaffiliated.