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An Open Letter and an Open Invitation Sun, 6 Dec 2009

Dear Libertarians,

I would like to express my appreciation for the appointment to the position of Political Director for the LP of North Carolina. I was pleased to have a chance to meet a number of party members at the Executive Committee meeting of the LPNC yesterday.

I would like to let each of you know that I view this as a serious commitment and challenge. I believe this is an opportunity to make an important contribution to our community. I believe the LP offers our community a substantive alternative to the politics that have done more to limit our lives than protect our freedom to succeed, for ourselves and our families.

I recognize that I have been given a chance to make a substantial difference here, in our state. My success as the Political Director will be measured in such things as donations, volunteer and candidate recruiting, and electoral success. While we all know that no one person can do everything necessary to accomplish these things, one person can do everything in their power to provide the leadership and direction to inspire others to help achieve these things. What is difficult to achieve as individuals, can be achieved working together.

I want you to know that I will do my very best to draw together all of my life and professional experiences, everything I have learned about leadership and organization, and apply those lessons to work towards the goals of growing the LP, increasing voter education about the LP, and achieving electoral successes.

My first task will be to build a team of volunteers to help with various elements of the effort to achieve those goals. I will be looking for:

Campaign Finance Advisor

This person should be well versed in NC campaign finance law and reporting. This person would be responsible for being available to train our group, candidates, and those helping candidates in the proper handling of campaign finances and paperwork. Should be available to consult on the impact of reporting requirements on efforts we make to raise donations for candidates and the party. Would work closely with the Fundraising Coordinator.

Media Coordinator

This person would be responsible for keeping a record of meetings, in person or electronic. The ideal person would have some ability and computing power to help with creating, editing, and disseminating videos that we will produce during the course of meetings, events, and speaking opportunities. We will employ a number of configurations that may include the use of the Livestream and Ustream websites, Yahoo and other IM programs, Youtube, and others that may fit our needs. We will use a combination of live streaming and uploaded videos to record our activities, promote candidates and our party, and help train candidates and volunteers while minimizing the travel and expense strain for our people. This person should be able to assist with website creation and maintenance as a part of these objectives. This person should be ready to help craft creative ideas to use new/viral media to get our message out.

Candidate Coordinator

Responsible for recruiting and training candidates, as necessary, on the paperwork and regulations pertinent to their candidacy. Responsible for assisting candidates with paperwork and filings, as necessary. Responsible for coordinating our efforts with individual candidate???s campaigns. Responsible for researching and coordinating opportunities for candidates to speak and appear in public. This will include keeping track of debates and candidate forums, also to include finding venues for the candidates to speak, such as KOC, veteran???s groups, etc. Should coordinate with the Media Coordinator to make sure all events are recorded and available online. Be ready to help coach public speaking skills.

Volunteer Coordinator

Responsible for recruiting and training volunteers to support the group and the candidates. Will be primarily responsible for the planning and execution of events and activities requiring volunteer assistance. Will build a list of volunteers from different districts who can help with activities and events in various geographic areas. Will work with the Media Coordinator on media exposure and education activities that will require volunteer participation. Should be available to consult with candidates and their campaigns on their own volunteer efforts.

Fundraising Coordinator

Responsible for planning and executing fundraising activities. Should be creative and proactive in creating fundraising opportunities. Responsible for finding fundraising opportunities amongst the other activities and events planned by the rest of the group. Will work closely with the Treasurer to ensure compliance with pertinent laws, regulations, and reporting. Should be available to consult with candidates and their campaigns on their own fundraising activities and how to maximize their own opportunities.

This group will be about more than just trying to shape and direct our statewide energies. This will also be about providing a one stop resource for candidates and campaigns. A campaign customer service and technical support hotline, so to speak. We will help candidates and campaigns in several ways. We will offer training and whatever resources we can. We will advise them on strategies to help make their campaigns more effective. We will help provide a common point of information and contact to help campaigns share resources in any way we can to help minimize the cost of campaigning.

We will also endeavor to create an overall Libertarian campaign to raise awareness and education about the LP within the electorate. The overall goal is to build our ???brand???, increase LP voter registration, and compliment the campaign efforts of our various candidates.

I already have developed some low cost ideas to push these various goals, but I expect that collaboration will help further develop these ideas and create more strategies to achieve our goals.

What we begin to organize and build now, will benefit us next November and in 2012 in particular. If you would like to help by filling one of these positions, please contact me right away. If you know of someone, who you feel would be outstanding in one of these positions, please do likewise. We need people who are ready to take a deep breath, get energized, and make the next big push.

Particularly in a volunteer setting, getting started can be much like a car. It takes a big burst of energy to get moving, but much less to keep things in motion. That???s where we are right now. We need that burst to get organized and start to move things along. Once we accomplish that, the task will be much less difficult to sustain.

It takes a particular person to reject the familiar and find new ground for themselves. I believe this is the case for those who find the LP. I expect that, while our numbers are relatively small, we should have some of the brightest and most creative people right here, in our midst. We need only reach out to them and offer them an organized way to help and be part of the effort.

If someone has two hours to devote to their children???s youth group or to give blood, they have 2 hours to help change our political landscape. We just need to show them how they can make the most of that time spent. So let???s start collecting and focusing the talent and energy that is out there!

I will make myself available to anyone who wants help or wants to help. Much like a campaign though, the key is communication. Please feel free to contact me! Please volunteer!

Matthew Reeps
(704) 906-7231
Political Director
The Libertarian Party of North Carolina