Subject: Willis matter report: responses from "Browne team"
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 00:01:57 -0400
From: "James W. Lark, III" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Organization: Dept. of Systems Engineering, University of Virginia
To: Steve Givot <givot@softwarena.com>, Thomas Knapp <tlknapp@free-market.net>,
Michael Gilson De Lemos <mg4u@oasis.net>, Joe Dehn <jwd3@dehnbase.org>,
Steve Dasbach <SteveDasbach@hq.lp.org>, Carl Milsted <cmilsted@earthlink.net>,
Elias Israel <eli@promanage-inc.com>, Jim Turney <JimTurney@lpva.com>,
Scott Lieberman <scott73@best.com>, Jim Dexter <jimdex@inconnect.com>,
Ken Bisson <kbisson@usa.net>, Mark Nelson <lpiachair@home.com>,
Lorenzo Gaztanaga <DiazVivar@aol.com>, Deryl Martin <dnc@multipro.com>,
Jim Lark <jwl3s@virginia.edu>, Daniel Wisnosky <stigmata@skylink.net>,
Lois Kaneshiki <lois@nb.net>, Daniel Karlan <DanKarlan@compuserve.com>,
Mary Ruwart <Mary@ruwart.com>, Mike Dixon <mdixonlp@earthlink.net>,
Richard Schwarz <hogweed@pop.mail.rcn.net>, Ed Hoch <edsway@sprynet.com>,
Greg Holmes <mag97@home.com>, Mark Rutherford <RUTHERFORDLAW@prodigy.net>,
Tim Hagan <t.hagan@usa.net>, Ben Scherrey <Ben.Scherrey@ga.lp.org>,
Mark Cenci <mcenci@mindspring.com>
CC: "Lark, Jim" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>, "Hall, William" <HALLWW@wnj.com>
Dear colleagues:
I have included the responses received from members of the Browne
for President campaign teams concerning their knowledge prior to April
21, 2001 of improper actions by Mr. Willis (or others) in this matter.
In addition, I have included sample letters of inquiry. (I have also
included a response from 1996 Vice Presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen.)
All of the responses to the inquiry messages have been written and
transmitted by e-mail, except for the oral statements of Harry Browne
and Michael Cloud.
Note that in order to save space, in most cases I have included only
the material actually written by the respondent; I have not included the
copy of my e-mail message to them unless they have interspersed their
response within the text of my e-mail. If you wish to see the entire
message from a given respondent, please let me know and I shall send it
to you.
-----
Geoff Braun:
Subject: Re: Help with the Willis matter inquiry
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 06:35:45 -0700
From: Geoff Braun <Me@geoffbraun.com>
To: James Lark <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Mr. Lark,
I received your message.
Sincerely,
- Geoff Braun
--
--
Harry Browne:
Mr. Browne informed me during a telephone conversation on June 20 that
he would not cooperate with the inquiry.
--
--
Michael Cloud:
Mr. Cloud informed me during a face-to-face conversation on July 15 in
Houston, Texas that he has not been accused of any improper activity,
that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that he did not
wish to participate with the inquiry.
--
--
Jo Jorgensen:
Subject: Re: Help with the Willis matter inquiry
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 10:16:44 -0400
From: Jo Jorgensen <JoJ@acsinc.net>
To: James Lark <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
References: 1
Jim -
Thank you for your note - nice to hear from you.
As you may or may not know, I was never a very integral part
of the campaign. They sent me
fax sheets on where I was to go or what time I was to be on a radio
show, and that was about it. I
played no part in the decision-making process and was not involved in
behind-the-scene issues.
I hope this matter can be worked out quickly to everyone's
satisfaction.
Again, thank you for writing. I wish my schooling allowed me
to be more active in the LP
at this time, but I'm trying to finish the doctoral program this
December, ahead of schedule.
- Jo
--
--
Stuart Reges:
Subject: Perry's violation of LNC policy
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 21:17:44 -0700 (MST)
From: Stuart Reges <reges@cs.arizona.edu>
To: Steve.Dasbach@hq.lp.org, Nick.Dunbar@hq.lp.org
CC: jwlark@virginia.edu, givot@softwarena.com, DanKarlan@compuserve.com,
jwd3@dehnbase.org
I just thought I'd send a quick note to those of you who know me to let
you know that I did not find out about this until two days ago. John
Famularo had hinted to me that he had something on Perry, but it was
difficult to tell what to make of his vague comments.
I've spent much of the past two days arguing with Harry Browne and
others on the American Liberty Foundation list about how best to respond
to the current controversy. As you can tell from Perry's 20-page
letter, Perry and Harry are focused on the policy itself and Perry's
decision to violate the policy for what he believed was the good of the
party.
I've told them that I think the more upsetting behavior was the lack of
candor on their part when Hornberger made a big deal about it. Even if
I believed Perry that what he did was the right decision back in 1995
and 1996, I can't accept the fact that they continued to keep it secret
while so many of us defended him against Hornberger. I also think that
Perry has to accept the consequences for his behavior. Even if I
thought that violating the policy was the right thing to do (and I
don't), I still think Perry had the responsibility to admit what he'd
done and accept punishment when it became a major issue AFTER the
campaign. The party was not in danger of falling apart then.
I probably feel more sad than anything else about this situation. I
think that almost everything Hornberger has alleged is not true, but now
that a small part of it has turned out to be true, it will be difficult
to easily dismiss his other charges.
I reconciled the bank accounts and prepared the FEC reports for both
Browne campaigns, so I know a lot about where the money went. They
tricked me by sending payments to Perry through Jack Dean's consulting
firm, but I doubt that it amounted to much money. Perry was not bought
by the campaign and neither were Sharon, Bill Winter or David Bergland.
The huge payments that Hornberger rambles on about were not bribes. I
have the receipts to prove that if necessary for the current campaign
and for
the previous campaign if the headquarters still has my vendor files from
the 1996 primary.
I had informed Perry that I didn't want to work for the new foundation
and now I'm even more determined not to work for the foundation. My
boyfriend works for them doing the data entry, so I'm somewhat caught up
with the foundation anyway, but I won't be accepting any pay and I'm
trying to do as little as possible.
I don't know if any of this will affect my work on the LP database. I
had told Nick Dunbar last year that I wanted to get out of the business
of consulting for the LP and he managed to keep me out of it until
recently. Even before this controversy hit I was considering not
charging for my most recent help because whatever sum I'd get isn't
worth the appearance of conflict.
I can assure you all that I have never lied to the LNC and I have kept
my work for the campaign separate from my work for the party. I mention
this mostly because some of the wild speculation that's flying around
might lead people to accuse me of wrongdoing. I have over the years had
access to both the Browne and LP databases, but I have never compromised
either organization's data. The last thing I'd do (and, frankly, the
last thing that Perry or Harry would request) would be to give the
campaign or
foundation access that they haven't contracted and paid for.
For the record, I can tell you that I don't have any insider information
on who knew about this secret and when they found out. All I know is
what Perry has shared with all of you.
--Stuart
--
--
Example of inquiry message:
Subject: Inquiry into the Willis matter
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 22:49:19 -0400
From: "James W. Lark, III" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Organization: Department of Systems Engineering, University of Virginia
To: Harry Browne <HarryBrowne@harrybrowne.org>
CC: "Lark, Jim" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
References: 1
Dear Harry:
I hope all is well with you and Pamela. As you know, former
Libertarian Party secretary John Famularo distributed information to
members of the Libertarian National Committee at the April 21, 2001 LNC
meeting which indicated that former LP national director Perry Willis
had violated LNC policy while serving as national director.
Specifically, the information suggested that Mr. Willis continued to
work for the Browne for President campaign before the 1996 national
convention after being informed at the August, 1995 LNC meeting that
subsequent work for the campaign must receive prior approval by the LNC
chairman. Shortly after the April 21 LNC meeting, I contacted Mr.
Willis to ask him about the information provided by Mr. Famularo. On
May 11, Mr. Willis issued a statement indicating that he had indeed
violated LNC policy concerning work for the Browne campaign and
concealed the violation from the LNC; he also provided his reasons for
doing so. Mr. Willis statement is available as a PDF file at
http://harrybrowne.org/policy.
For various reasons I believe it is appropriate for the LNC to
investigate the matter involving Mr. Willis and his actions. I am
writing to ask you whether you have any information concerning this
matter that you believe pertains to improper actions by Mr. Willis or
other people, and to request that you share any such information with
me.
I have enclosed some questions for your consideration. I shall be
very grateful if you would take the time to answer these questions as
honestly and accurately as you can. Please note that the main purpose
of my inquiries is to determine what happened so that we can take action
where necessary to ensure that similar problems do not recur. It is my
intention to assemble the information obtained during this process and
prepare a report for the LNC. Thus, you should assume that any
information you provide to me will be available for public scrutiny.
Also, please note that LNC members are free to draw whatever inferences
they choose should you fail to answer the enclosed questions.
Please provide to me whatever information you have as soon as
possible. The report is supposed to be presented to the LNC at our next
meeting, which will take place on August 25-26, 2001. I would like to
make the report available to my LNC colleagues as far in advance of the
meeting as possible.
Allow me to offer the following comment as someone who considers you
a friend and who greatly appreciates the work you have done for liberty;
I hope you will not consider my comment to be impertinent or
insulting. It is very important for both you and the Libertarian Party
that you answer the questions I have enclosed, preferably in the form of
a public statement. In my opinion, the ongoing controversy concerning
whether L.P. employees improperly assisted your 1996 campaign continues
to cause damage to the Libertarian Party. In the aftermath of Mr.
Willis' statement of May 11 and your e-mail to former national chair
Mary Gingell of May 15, I believe you must answer these questions
honestly and clearly for the record.
Thank you very much for your kind attention and help in this
matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions
or comments. You are welcome to contact me by mail (P.O. Box 274, Free
Union, VA 22940), e-mail (chair@lp.org), or telephone (434 973-5958).
Best wishes to you in all your endeavors. I look forward to hearing
from you soon.
Take care,
Jim
James W. Lark, III
Chairman, Libertarian Party
-----
Questions:
1. Were you aware at any point before the April 21, 2001 LNC meeting
that Perry Willis had continued to perform work in some manner for the
Browne for President campaign prior to the 1996 presidential convention
after Mr. Willis had been told at the August, 1995 LNC meeting that
subsequent work for the campaign must receive prior approval of the LNC
chairman?
2. If your answer to question 1 is yes, please indicate how you became
aware of this information and provide your best estimate of the date
when you became aware of this information.
3. If your answer to question 1 is yes, then were you aware before April
21, 2001 that the work by Mr. Willis referred to in question 1
constituted a violation of LNC policy?
4. If your answer to question 1 is yes, then were you aware that Mr.
Willis had concealed the work referred to in question 1 from the LNC?
5. Do you have any information about any other L.P. employees (past or
present) who performed work for the 1996 Browne campaign (or the
campaign of any other candidate for nomination) prior to nomination?
More generally, do you have any information about L.P. employees (past
or present) who performed work for the campaign of any candidate for
president (or vice president) prior to nomination? If so, please
provide this information.
6. During the May 23, 2001 meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Libertarian Party, L.P. secretary Steve Givot suggested that answers to
the following questions be sought:
A. What payments were made by the Party to Jack Dean or any firm in
which he was involved in 1995, 1996, and 1997? What were the dates,
amounts, and stated purpose of each such payment?
B. What payments were made by Mr. Dean or any firm in which he was
involved to Mr. Willis during 1995, 1996, and 1997? What were the
dates, amounts, and stated purpose of each such payment?
C. What payments were made by Mr. Dean or any firm in which he was
involved to any L.P. employee other than Mr. Willis during 1995, 1996,
and 1997? What were the dates, amounts, and stated purpose of each
such payment?
Do you have any information pertaining to questions A, B, or C? If so,
please provide this information.
-----
-----
Example of follow-up message:
Subject: Inquiry into the Willis matter
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 14:27:14 -0400
From: "James W. Lark, III" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Organization: Department of Systems Engineering, University of Virginia
To: reges@cs.arizona.edu
CC: "Lark, Jim" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
References: 1
Dear Mr. Reges:
I hope all is well with you. Last month I sent you an e-mail
message in which I requested your help concerning the Perry Willis
matter. Specifically, I asked whether you had any information
pertaining to
Improper conduct by Mr. Willis or other people, and I requested that you
share any such information with me. As of today, I have not received a
response from you. (I have enclosed a copy of my message below.)
I write again to request your help in this inquiry. Please provide
any information you deem pertinent in this matter to me at your earliest
convenience. Please note that if you have already prepared comments
about this matter, perhaps in the form of postings to e-mail lists, you
are welcome to send that information to me. In any event, I would
greatly appreciate it if you would acknowledge receipt of this message.
I realize that responding to my request may require a nontrivial
investment of time and effort on your part. However, I believe for the
good of the Libertarian Party it is appropriate to determine what
happened in the matter involving Mr. Willis. As part of this process, I
must contact people such as you and request assistance. Allow me to
emphasize again that my request for information in no way implies a
belief or suspicion that you have done anything improper.
Thank you very much for your kind attention and help in this
matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions
or comments. You are welcome to contact me by mail (P.O. Box 274, Free
Union, VA 22940), e-mail (chair@lp.org), or telephone (434 973-5958).
Best wishes to you in all your endeavors. I look forward to hearing
from you soon.
Sincerely,
Jim Lark
James W. Lark, III
Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
University of Virginia
Chairman, Libertarian Party
P.S.: A story about the Willis matter and the inquiry appears in the
July, 2001 issue of LP News. The on-line version of the story is
available at www.lp.org/lpnews/0107/willis.html.
-----
Subject: Inquiry into the Willis matter
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 21:40:00 -0400
From: "James W. Lark, III" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Organization: Department of Systems Engineering, University of Virginia
To: reges@cs.arizona.edu
CC: "Lark, Jim" <jwl3s@virginia.edu>
Dear Mr. Reges:
I hope all is well with you. As you know, former Libertarian Party
secretary John Famularo distributed information to members of the
Libertarian National Committee at the April 21, 2001 LNC meeting which
indicated that former LP national director Perry Willis had violated LNC
policy while serving as national director. Specifically, the
information suggested that Mr. Willis continued to work for the Browne
for President campaign prior to the 1996 national convention after being
informed at the August, 1995 LNC meeting that subsequent work for the
campaign had to be approved by the LNC chair. Shortly after the April
21 LNC meeting, I contacted Mr. Willis to ask him about the information
provided by Mr. Famularo. On May 11, Mr. Willis issued a statement
indicating that he had indeed violated LNC policy concerning work for
the Browne campaign and concealed the violation from the LNC; he also
provided his reasons for doing so. Mr. Willis' statement is available
as a PDF file at http://harrybrowne.org/policy.
For various reasons I believe it is appropriate for the LNC to
investigate the matter involving Mr. Willis and his actions. My LNC
colleagues and I are especially concerned whether other people were
aware prior to April 21, 2001 of Mr. Willis' violations of LNC policy.
Thus, I am contacting several people to request their assistance with
this investigation. In particular, I am writing to ask you whether you
have any information concerning this matter that you believe pertains to
improper actions by Mr. Willis or other people, and to request that you
share any such information with me.
I have enclosed some questions for your consideration. I would be
very grateful if you would take the time to answer these questions as
honestly and accurately as you can. Please note that the main purpose
of my inquiries is to determine what happened so that we can take action
where necessary to ensure that similar problems do not recur. It is my
intention to assemble the information obtained during this process and
prepare a report for the LNC. Thus, you should assume that any
information you provide to me will be available for public scrutiny.
Please provide to me whatever information you have as soon as
possible. The report is supposed to be presented to the LNC at our next
meeting, which will take place on August 25-26, 2001. I would like to
make the report available to my LNC colleagues as far in advance of the
meeting as possible.
Allow me to emphasize that my request to you for information in no
way implies a belief or suspicion that you have done something
improper. Indeed, I suspect that almost all of those I shall contact
about this matter have done nothing improper. Thus, I hope you will not
consider my request for information to be impertinent or insulting. If
by chance you have done something improper in this matter, or if you
know of improper actions by others in this matter, then I urge you for
the good of the Libertarian Party to provide this information. It is
important to ascertain what happened in this situation and take the
appropriate corrective action as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your kind attention and help in this
matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions
or comments. You are welcome to contact me by mail (P.O. Box 274, Free
Union, VA 22940), e-mail (chair@lp.org), or telephone (434 973-5958).
Best wishes to you in all your endeavors. I look forward to hearing
from you soon.
Sincerely,
Jim Lark
James W. Lark, III
Chairman, Libertarian Party
-----
Questions:
1. Were you aware at any point before the April 21, 2001 LNC meeting
that Perry Willis had continued to perform work in some manner for the
Browne for President campaign prior to the 1996 presidential convention
after Mr. Willis had been told at the August, 1995 LNC meeting that
subsequent work for the campaign must receive prior approval of the LNC
chairman?
2. If your answer to question 1 is yes, please indicate how you became
aware of this information and provide your best estimate of the date
when you became aware of this information.
3. If your answer to question 1 is yes, then were you aware before April
21, 2001 that the work by Mr. Willis referred to in question 1
constituted a violation of LNC policy?
4. If your answer to question 1 is yes, then were you aware that Mr.
Willis had concealed the work referred to in question 1 from the LNC?
5. Do you have any information about any other L.P. employees (past or
present) who performed work for the 1996 Browne campaign (or the
campaign of any other candidate for nomination) prior to nomination?
More generally, do you have any information about L.P. employees (past
or present) who performed work for the campaign of any candidate for
president (or vice president) prior to nomination? If so, please
provide this information.
6. If you have worked as an L.P. employee, did you receive any payments
during your service as an employee from the Browne for President
campaigns of 1996 or 2000? If your answer is yes, please provide a list
of the dates of the payments, the amounts paid, and the stated purpose
of each payment. Did you receive any payments during your service as an
employee from firms that served in some type of contractor capacity for
the Browne for President campaigns of 1996 or 2000, such as Dean, Spear
& Associates or Optopia? If your answer is yes, please provide a list of
the dates of the payments, the amounts paid, and the stated purpose of
each payment.
7. During the May 23, 2001 meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Libertarian Party, L.P. secretary Steve Givot suggested that answers to
the following questions be sought:
A. What payments were made by the Party to Jack Dean or any firm in
which he was involved in 1995, 1996, and 1997? What were the dates,
amounts, and stated purpose of each such payment?
B. What payments were made by Mr. Dean or any firm in which he was
involved to Mr. Willis during 1995, 1996, and 1997? What were the
dates, amounts, and stated purpose of each such payment?
C. What payments were made by Mr. Dean or any firm in which he was
involved to any L.P. employee other than Mr. Willis during 1995, 1996,
and 1997? What were the dates, amounts, and stated purpose of each
such payment?
Do you have any information pertaining to questions A, B, or C? If so,
please provide this information.