Political Division Update/Openings
LPKS sincerely thanks Al Terwelp for his volunteer work as Political Director since May 2021. Al has been very involved in the party for well over a decade and his experience this past year and half has been invaluable to the many newer volunteers in our Operations Team.
Al stepped down as Political Director for the time being and was planning to transition to Legislative Director with a planned reorganization and expansion of our Operations Team.
Since Al has been Political Director we saw large LPKS participation in special and regular legislative sessions. LPKS, in coordination with Frontier Peace, introduced and secured a hearing on Defend the Guard legislation. We held a rally at the State House to support Defend the Guard. We submitted official LPKS testimony on legislation to legalize medical cannabis and ban no knock raids to name a few. Elected officials in the State Capitol building noted there sure were a lot of Libertarians here this year!
Thank you for everything Al!
LPKS is expanding and formalizing the Political Division within the Operations Team. We are seeking volunteer applications for some of these roles!
The Political Division will report to the Vice Chair and will be headed by a Political Director. The Political Division will be divided into an Activism Division, Campaigns Division and Legislative Division. Each Division will have a Director position. Please see the Job Descriptions below for more information on these important roles.
Our Operations Team was founded with a team of three people in 2020 and has grown more than three fold since. We must continue to grow as a party and continued growth of our Operations Team infrastructure will help facilitate continued growth. We have filled the Political Director and Campaigns Director roles. We are seeking volunteers for the Activism Director and Legislative Director. If you are interested in one of those two roles or if you would like to volunteer within one of the mentioned divisions, please email our new Political Director, Matt Clark.
LPKS Political Division Job Descriptions
Political Director - This role is currently filled by Matt Clark.
This role will report to the Vice Chair.
The Political Director is responsible for the direction and coordination of the LPKS Political Division. The Political Director shall propose goals to the Executive Committee on an annual basis and maintain a plan to achieve those goals. These will be referred to as the LPKS Political Goals. The Political Division will include an Activism Division, Campaigns Division, and Legislative Division with each division having a Director. Each Director will coordinate volunteers to achieve the Political goals of the Libertarian Party of Kansas.
The Political Director shall coordinate and assist the Political Division to advance LPKS goals in regards to:
- Ballot Access
- Candidate and Election Strategy
- Candidate Recruitment
- Campaign Training
- Proposing or Opposing State Legislation
- Policy Positions
- Lobbying
- Engagement beyond voting
- Lecture and Education
Activism Director - This role is currently OPEN.
This role will report to the Political Director.
The Activism Director will develop and maintain LPKS relations with issue driven activist organizations in Kansas to further the Political Goals of LPKS. The Director will oversee Activism Coordinators who are responsible for no more than 1-2 activist organization relationships. Focus will be on engagement beyond voting, including lecture and education on specific issues.
The Activism Director or his/her coordinators will
- Attend activist organization meetings
- Promote the LPKS position on issues activist organizations are involved with
- Coordinate with activist organizations on public events supporting their cause such as rallies, webinars, phone banking and canvassing
- Coordinate with the Legislative Director and activist organizations on relevant legislation and associated in person or written testimony
- Coordinate with the Campaigns Director in creating or sharing issue specific talking points, data, and/or expertise from the activist organizations that can be used by candidates and their campaigns
- Recruit LPKS volunteers to advance the shared goals of LPKS and activist organization
As we look to fill out the political division positions, this a short list of potential organizations the Activism Division could work with further.
- Defend the Guard
- Rank the Vote Kansas
- Kansas Coalition for Sentence and Prison Reform
- Fire It Up Kansas
- Kansas Cannabis Coalition and Chamber
- You Are the Power
- ACLU
- American Legion
- VFW
- Kansans for Health Freedom
- BLM-local chapters
- Midwest Innocence Project
- Team Roc
Campaigns Director - This role is currently filled by Dan Gaeddert.
This role will report to the Political Director.
The Campaigns Director is responsible for managing and implementing the LPKS strategy for ballot access, candidate and election strategy, candidate recruitment, and training in order to further the Political Goals of the LPKS.
The Campaign Director and his/her assistant will:
- Monitor changes to ballot access laws and implement a ballot access retention strategy.
- Maintain and expand campaign and candidate training. This includes but is not limited to the LPKS Candidate Handbook, online training events, and in person training events.
- Provide support to candidates and their campaigns.
- Recruit candidates for partisan and nonpartisan office.
- Implement the LPKS candidate and election strategy. (ie: where to direct party resources, run anyone vs targeted races, etc.)
- Coordinate with the Legislative Director on ballot access laws and legislation important to or affecting candidates.
- Coordinate with the Activism Director on creating or sharing issue specific talking points, data, and/or expertise from the activist organizations that can be used by candidates and their campaigns
Legislative Director - This role is currently OPEN.
This role will report to the Political Director.
The Legislative Director and his/her assistants are responsible for proposing or opposing legislation, developing and maintaining policy positions and legislative lobbying in order to further the Political Goals of the LPKS.
The Legislative Director and his/her assistants will:
- Develop and propose legislation.
- Develop opposition or support for legislation.
- Submit written and in person testimony on legislation.
- Solicit and coordinate testimony from LPKS membership.
- Monitor ballot access laws and coordinate with the Campaigns Director on achieving ballot access.
- Develop policy positions.
- Lobby the Kansas legislature.
- Coordinate with the Activism Director to solicit assistance and expertise from activist organizations on issues in the legislature. Assist coordination with activist organizations on rallies, lobbying, webinars, etc…
If you are interested in either the Activism Director role or the Legislative Director role, please email our new Political Director, Matt Clark.
By: Matt Clark, Political Director