Convention Update

An EXTREMELY limited amount of lodging and meal tickets are available for the convention. They will be processed on a first come, first served basis through the LPWI website. This will be your LAST CHANCE to get lodging and meals for the weekend! Order now on the convention page of the website here.

Critical Update to Convention Procedure

The LPWI Convention Committee will be requiring additional credentialing in order to vote at the convention. In addition to being up to date on dues, members wishing to vote at the convention need to provide proof of residence.

Acceptable Proof of Residence

All Proof of Residence documents must include the voter’s name and current residential address.
A current and valid State of Wisconsin Driver License or State ID card.
Any other official identification card or license issued by a Wisconsin governmental body or unit.
Any identification card issued by an employer in the normal course of business and bearing a photo of the card holder, but not including a business card.
A real estate tax bill or receipt for the current year or the year preceding the date of the election
Residential lease that is effective on date of registration (Not valid if registering by mail).
A gas, electric, or telephone service statement (utility bill) for the period commencing no earlier than 90 days before the date of registration.
A university, college, or technical college identification card (must include photo) ONLY if the voter provides a fee receipt dated within the last 9 months or the institution provides a certified housing list to the municipal clerk.
An intake document from a residential care facility such as a nursing home or assisted living facility.
A bank, or credit union statement, regardless of the type of account or any credit card statement.
An identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in this state.

Only a current and valid (unexpired but can be suspended or revoked) Wisconsin driver license or Wisconsin state ID card with the voter’s current name and address qualifies as Proof of Residence.

From The Chair

By Tim Krenz

April 3, 2025

This report marks my last in the LPWIre as Acting Chair. We did have an incredibly challenging past 11 months as a Party. We accomplished a lot in that time, most of it chronicled in my past reports, and some accomplishments we have yet to reveal at the convention. As we approach the annual members convention in a few weeks, it does not serve any purpose for anyone of any stripe, faction, or caucus (or of no faction or no caucus) to belittle, manipulate, or denigrate the problems that surfaced. Neither can we hide the hard solutions, or false solutions, that came upon everyone involved.

Honestly, on the Executive Committee (Excom) of the LPWI, people made mistakes, everyone, and on all the separate sides of the issue, concerning the actions of the preceding chair, his censure, and his suspension from office. I will let the records rest on everyone else, even those members who participated in the controversy outside of the Excom. I ask them to question their own actions in the light of their conscience and ethics. After all, following the original error(s), how did anyone’s actions and attitudes serve the LPWI, the interest of members, or the integrity of its message and growth??? How did any of it help the cause of freedom??? They might have, or they might not have. I do not know the answer. Better judges than I must serve sentence on other individuals and their roles.

No one else need apologize, as everyone acted in the good faith of a conscience and their sense of right. Yet, how in the end, and how we continue, to treat each other and those on the other sides of the controversy, will determine the future. In the past, the words used, the bitterness held, and the undignified way all treated their fellow Libertarians, should perhaps become the necessary impetus for unity and reconciliation.

As far as an apology, I made one mistake that everyone else made. In all the struggle, NO ONE on ANY SIDE thought of informing the membership directly, about the conflicts, and the resolutions; or that they at least had the recourse of pursuing the special convention. In the end, it might not have mattered. It might have just confirmed the suspension of the preceding chair. No one knows or can know. But even those on his side forgot to bring the matter up in general outside their circle. The Excom had become so narrow in its foresight, on all sides, with myopic channels. While everyone involved in any way made the same and exact mistake, it should have fallen to me to have thought of the obscure, and the necessary. To the members in mass, I do apologize for that lack of intellectual brilliance and wisdom.

(For an outside, journalistic view of the events surrounding the censure and suspension of the prior chair, please refer to this article https://medium.com/the-liberty-sentries/the-chaotic-developments-within-lp-wisconsin-2113684c4326 )

At our upcoming annual convention, during the April 26th business meeting, starting until finished at 9 AM (sharp), the LPWI has an opportunity for renewal, unity, a necessary refreshing, and a reboot and rotation of leadership and organization. Please, come and attend (see here for credentialing requirements to vote at the convention).

We work in a sausage factory named Politics. It gets gruesome in its process to succeed and it may get rather unsightly. The result, on the other hand, we hope turns out well, and at least something we can stomach. The partisanship in the nation, in all LP affiliates, and in the LPWI has to overcome itself. The LPWI, especially, has to do better than the average in the future. We aim resolutely to achieve our goal—to set Wisconsin free…. Many people want us; all need us to succeed. We cannot waiver.

To get ahead, we must move—Forward!! I hope to see you at the convention, and...

… “On, Wisconsin!”

Submitted, respectfully,

Tim Krenz

Acting Chair, LPWI

Executive Committee Candidates

As convention rapidly approaches, it is time to look ahead to the Libertarians who have decided to toss their hat into the ring for leadership positions. As of publication time, the following members of the LPWI have signaled their intent to run for ExCom positions:

Chair

Stephen Ecker, Reese Wood

Vice Chair

Bryce Thon, Aaron Kammer

Treasurer

Tom Patrowsky

Secretary

Tyler Danke

CD 1

CD 2

CD 3

CD 4

Kristin Walker

CD 5

CD 6

CD 7

Justin Fischer

CD 8

LPWI Convention April 25-27th

LPWI members can still attend the business meeting and purchase tickets for the Lagers and Liberty Pass. We will be tapping kegs of local brew to raise funds for the party and promote small businesses. Grab your business meeting tickets and the Lagers and Liberty Pass on the LPWI website. We have an exciting workshop planned for Saturday, hosted by professional development expert Jenn Gray! She is an instructional designer, operations manager, and systems strategist with over 15 years of experience in personal and professional development. Additionally, she has put many years into liberty-aligned campaigns, activism, and communications. Together, we’re going to brainstorm new ways the LPWI can reach, recruit, and make a difference in our lifetime.

Affiliate Report—LP of Polk County Members

By Tim Krenz

April 5, 2025

No one should feel daunted by the prospect of forming a county-level affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. Local activists can create and build an affiliate as complicated or as simple as they want. The difference depends on the purpose that activist want their affiliate to serve, the resources they want to devote or have, and the effort it takes to keep one going.

Most affiliates will choose the method of an official financial structure to conduct political-related work. This allows them to raise political money and spend it; and level of financial activity determines the reporting requirements to the State and Federal authorities. (Exemptions get granted for affiliates by the Government, who engage in minimum monetary activity if it meets certain benchmarks).

In the LP of Polk County Members, which Members of the LPWI organized in 2022, we took another approach. More informally, we chose not to create or do things that require either raising money (dues, fund raisers, etc.) or spend it, officially, as a political organization (paying for post office box, room rent, printing, etc.). If we don’t spend money, we don’t ask for it. Therefore, we don’t need to spend time and energy tracking property, maintaining bank accounts, and filling out more and more paperwork—an endless blizzard, sometimes, of wasteful white paper! No money? No reports! No reports? No government involvement or interference!

What do we do? First, we meet publicly, like in a restaurant. Everyone buys their own. We talk, we strategize, we invite guests, including local government people (who have shown up), we advocate, and we show ourselves more and more in our area. We have a loose structure, and we have LPWI affiliate status, for which we applied.

How do we do it? We use free stuff. Free emails, free web site hosting services. If necessary, we figure out a way to make things work—that don’t have to cost anyone money! If we ever did have large expenses to report, we would merely have to pay out of our individual pockets and submit a receipt to the LPWI state Treasurer, as an In-kind contribution. (On the in-kind contribution, we haven’t wanted to do it yet, so as not to make it a headache for the state Party Treasurer (!). But the option exists.

The main points here I want to make, rest in the fact that doing activism, as other informal groups have already done, does NOT have to get complicated, pricey, strenuous or stressful as it could get just to plant the flag of Liberty and libertarianism in a county as a Party affiliate.

The Party needs more county affiliates, of both types—financial or the “freedom” kind described. Anyone can do them! Will you?

Shop! Shop! Shop!

Ever dreamed of being a fasci-- fashi-- fashionista? YOU CAN BE ONE, by donning the Libertarian Party necktie! (Especially effective with the Libertarian Party hoodie!)

Want to air out all your edgy statements but not engage in a futile back-and-forth?

SAY IT IN BUMPER MAGNETS! Line 'em up on your 1998 Ford Taurus with mismatched panels and duct-taped mirrors, and watch the hippies stuck behind you IMPLODE!

Go on, take a peek!

The LP WIre is published monthly. Permission to publish has been given by the LPWI Executive Committee. Editor in Chief is Tim Johnson. The editor of this newsletter may be reached by email at [email protected]

This newsletter is intended for Wisconsin Libertarians and interested persons. Articles are welcome. Images are appreciated.

Libertarian Party of Wisconsin · WI 53702, United States