Bill McMillen Informs LPNY He Will No Longer Be The Contact For The Hotel At Which The LPNY Is Holding Its Convention

After receiving criticism for sending out an unauthorized Convention Registration mailing to all Libertarian Party members living in New York State that provided no option for delegates to register to attend the Business Session of the LPNY Annual Convention for free, LPNY Member Bill McMillen has now announced that on Tuesday, February 16, 2010, he intends to call the Hilton Garden Inn, where the LPNY Convention is scheduled to hold its Annual Convention on Saturday, April 24, 2010, to tell them he wants his name removed as the contact for the contract he signed as a member of the Capital District Libertarians on behalf of the Libertarian Party of New York. Unless immediate action is taken to communicate with the hotel and provide a new contact person, Bill McMillen's action may very well jeopardize the LPNY's ability to hold its Annual Convention at that hotel requiring it to start making new plans from scratch for a new location.

Bill McMillen sent out a mailing last week to all Libertarian Party members living in New York State without having obtained approval for the mailing from the State Committee nor did he or anyone else run the Convention Registration Fee Schedule by the LPNY State Committee for feedback. He came under criticism by Dr. Tom Stevens, LPQC State Representative, for apparently establishing a "poll tax" and "floor fee" for voting at the Business Session of the Annual Convention since no option was provided for an LPNY member to register for free to attend and vote exclusively during the Business Session. Dr. Stevens conceded that this was probably just an oversight and an error. However, he stated that it would probably now necessitate a refund to all those who pay $25.00 for the "speakers and business session" option but who only wished to attend the Business Session. Dr. Stevens also criticized the Convention Fee Schedule for charging registrants $50.00 if they wanted to partake in the "deli lunch" offered from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. before the business session commenced. He believed that price for a "deli lunch" to be a bit steep.

On Sunday, February 14, 2010, the State Committee was notified that even though Bill McMillen signed the hotel contract as a member of the Capital District Libertarians on behalf of the LPNY and therefore was not financially responsible, that he would nevertheless call the hotel on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 to tell them to remove his name and number as the contact for the event. The LPNY has been told that without a contact person, the Hilton Garden Inn will no longer hold and reserve the rooms we contracted for. The result will be that the Libertarian Party of New York will need to search for a new location at which to hold its Annual Convention in Albany, New York this year.

Since the Libertarian Party of New York authorized the Capital District Libertarians to contract for the convention location, the CDL must designate someone new to be the contact person for the hotel and must have that person substituted by Tuesday, February 16, 2010 if they intend to save the contract Bill McMillen has now placed in jeopardy by his impulsive ultimatum.