[pp.int.general] Update surrounding my term as Administrator of the Pirate Party

[Andrew Norton]

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I will respond to this clearly, and simply.

On 1/13/2010 6:46 PM, Ryan Martin wrote:
> There have been a lot of problems within the Pirate Party that exists in
> the United States.  I have been the administration officer at a time
> where there are more vacancies in officer seats than officers. A vote of
> no confidence was called, questioning my suitability on the day of my
> election, though no vote on the matter happened then and was dropped as
> a frivolous and personal attack.  I have received neither email or even
> ideas from most of the Pirate Party members who take control of
> meetings, and have been outright berated for performing tasks that would
> be applauded in any other volunteer.  It is apparent to me that the
> existing membership of the Pirate Party is not what I thought it was, in
> number and in focus. I feel that no coworkers exist within this group.

There has been no time over the past 3 years, where the number of actual
officers, has exeeded the positions. You are not alone in that. That the
US party membership was not what you thought it was, in number and
focus, is a clear example of your failings in leadership. Especially as
you have the only ability (since your latest website reset) to actually
count interest.

You have been sent emails, phone calls, SMS messages, facebook messages,
voice-mails, and even tweets. Deleting them, filing them as spam, or
otherwise ignoring them is a far try from not having received them. If
you have been 'outright berated for performing tasks that would
be applauded in any other volunteer' then you should remmeber that you
are not 'any other volunteer', but are the party administrator, and
should perform the tasks of that office first and foremost. That is the
problem.

> There is an insular and vocal minority that seems to be dictating the
> tone of the party, a tone I do not agree with.  There was a dubious vote
> to remove me from office once again. This reoccurs most times any party
> gatherings take place. This vote was not done appropriately and doesn't
> even meet the constitutionally mandated requirements such as requiring 3
> sessions. I have contested these allegations in the past, however, this
> time I have decided to go along with it.  I will be stepping down from
> my office and over the next few weeks, handing over the relevant logins
> and passwords I have in my possession. 

The votes were done appropriately, with international observers. They
read the documents, and ensured it met them. The 'vocal minority' you
refer to, is in actuality the entirety of the active membership that is
left. The last vote included the people forming the two state parties we
have forming. The most recent meeting involved those two, AND another
person starting a state party, and another running for state house in a
fourth state. None had good things to say about interactions with you.
One talked about stuff you'd promised that you couldn't possibly deliver
- - it would seem to be a recurring theme of yours.

In addition, there is no need for there to be weeks to hand over logins
and passwords. Write them down, hand them over. Should take an hour,
tops. That you want to do it over weeks looks suspicious, almost as if
you're trying to cover something up. Legally, the third vote was
December 29th, and you were out of office December 30th, at 12:01am EST,
as you were notified (with the notification also being copied to
multiple international reps). You have no legal, ethical, or other right
to still hold those access credentials, just as a fired employee has no
rights to hold onto keys of his now ex-employer.

There should be no reason at all, why you can not give Bradley Hall, who
was appointed Temporary Administrator 2 weeks ago (again, under
international observation), all the passwords, and account details
tonight. The only reason I could think why anyone would need to stretch
it over several weeks, is to cover up any misdeeds. You have already
sorted out a Google Doc with Bradley where you would be posting the
usernames+passwords. It is currently blank (I just asked Bradley). Fill
it in and get it over with. You did say on the 6th on this very list,
that "in anticipation of the vote of no confidence going through I have
started giving access controls to Brad.  This will take a few days, but
we will get there." It's been a week, and now it's a few more weeks?

> 
>  
> 
> As I spend the time to draft the documents and try to prepare the next
> volunteer or committee that will take over the responsibilities I
> currently have, I reflect a bit on the last 5 months and what I have
> learned.  I feel the concern that the Pirate Party doesn't have an
> concrete identity is somewhat justified now.  I assumed the Free Culture
> Movement was a social part of the Pirate movement. I assumed also that
> the DIY culture was an important group for the party, and I considered
> these metacommunities to be a part of the overall Pirate identity.  It
> is now obvious to me that here, at least, this is not so much the case.    
> 

You made assumptions, you didn't listen to anyone, you ignored people's
advice. In many ways it's of your own doing. Your associate and friend
described the pirate party members as 'a bunch of jackasses' and that is
how you treated us.



>  
> 
> A piece of the pirate identity that I feel is of some contention is the
> real application of the 'remix culture' that, for now, is in early
> ‘alpha stages’.  One example of this is the makerspace movement.  I see
> elements of coops, corporate workspaces, independent contractor
> relationships, and DIY cultural aspects being mixed together in ways
> that vindicate some of the Free Culture movements stances on creative
> community.  Additionally, I see this in the geocentric regional Burning
> Man communities, which seem to have penchants for all sorts of themed
> lifestyles, even if made somewhat easily available to the cultureless
> tourist.  These things are not only interesting examples but are
> possible recruitment grounds for Pirates who may or may not already be
> interested in involvement in municipal politics. I cannot fathom how the
> possibility of such a relationship being beneficial escapes any
> individual.  If these types of groups are not our constituency, then
> I've been under some very serious misconceptions.  I will note that I
> chose those examples because they are communities that I have approached
> officially, spoke with, and was met with resistance from party members.
> I know that I'm not alone in some of these assumptions, as approaching
> the makerspace community was an idea born from this list. It is hard to
> know what the 'majority' of us think, today.
> 

When the majority of your 'tour' is six places, 4 of them hackerspace of
a few dozen people at best, over a period of 3-4 months. Places you
can't really advertise at (and which, by law aren't allowed to endorse
the party anyway - non-profits are not allowed to endorse/support
political groups) while passing up events with tens of thousands of
students, it seems a bit off.


>  
> 
> The current situation is as bleak as the one I came into initially.  I
> am passing my information over to someone who wanted to be the
> promotions officer, who is, in turn, not sure they are going to be
> holding the administrator office position in a month.  Spending a lot of
> time trying to walk him through the emails and logins and ongoing
> discussions might very well be in vain.  The party will undergo, here,
> another complete reset, most likely as everyone scrambles at the
> disjointed pieces.  There isn’t even a concrete single method to
> communicate with all membership today, so it remains impossible to gauge
> action or even guess at will.  Right before I got involved, this reset
> appears to have happened as well, leaving us with 2 'official' groups
> (the US Pirate Party and the Pirate Party of the US) registered with a
> huge legal morass, implied by just ‘moving’ to the new legal title and
> IRS entry and transferring funds and assets over.   I will do everything
> in my power (involving a lot of typing, I assume) to create a log of
> what the admin needs to know, and hopefully things will move ahead
> quickly. On that note, I admit I am deeply concerned for the future of
> the Pirate Party.
> 

The name thing, as you well know (and have been told multiple times) is
due to a problem in the IRS security proceedures. Before the online
access codes arrived, the person dealing with it (Ray Jenson) lost his
home. IRS passwords can't be forwarded to another address. In order to
change the address, we need the password. To get the passwords, we need
the old address - it's a catch22. Worse, despite being in the same town,
they don't allow personal visits. The establishment of a new entity was
thus at the IRS' suggestion. To attempt to mischaracterise the facts
(again - this is about the 6th time so far in this email) is indicitive
of why the active membership hes felts you unsuitible for the position.
This isn't a 1-2 man operation. You can't lie/bluff/talk you way out of
things. The party stands for transparency, accountability, and records,
and those records give the lie to your claims (and would do more, if
most didn't get 'lost' shortly after you took office)

>  
> 
> I am relieved, frankly, that soon, I shall no longer be the single most
> important topic to the entire Pirate Party US / US Pirate Party. The
> Pirate Party brand was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal just
> days ago. Because all the internal struggles that the US Pirate Party US
> party has been dealing with, we have been unable to use this to our
> advantage at all, and I find THAT to be a shame.

There is a reason for this. The sum total of communication over the past
month from you, to the membership of the party, has been what emails
you've made here, sometimes cross-posted, saying how poor and victimized
you've been. You've not answered your phone, replied to emails, IMs or
anything else. You've not turned up for regularly scheduled meetings, or
even communicated with an email, to any of us.

You know what else? WE can't do anything, because it seems everything
needs YOUR approval. No-one can post anything to the front page, and as
you have said in an earlier email, you decided to take 2 weeks holiday
(I'd love to take a holiday, as would most of us I'd guess).

In short, you're the single most important topic, because you've left us
unable to tackle just about every other one.

> I will continue doing
> the volunteer work that I have been. I need not be an official officer
> to start a podcast, promote ACTA awareness, try to find people who might
> run for office, and so on. So, now, it is likely I will move to more of
> a content creator role for the next few months.
> 
> 
> I must add that I am touched at the sheer number of people who have
> contacted me to inform me that they support my actions and my efforts
> and hope to work productively together in the future. I can't think of
> much more I could ever ask for than that.  
> 
> 
> If you are in the US and are reading this, I would implore you to please
> become active in the party.  It needs your help.  It currently has  no
> leadership. This is certainly both the time and the place in our world
> for the Pirate Party movement, and I eagerly anticipate what happens
> next. Moving forward, I hope to work with many of you, and I know I
> shall see you again soon.
> 

I will summarize your last 6 months as the membership sees it:
Lost most of the records, redesigned website, hung around some
hackerspaces, made a single speech, got one newspaper article, pissed
off the active membership, disappeared for a month, got fired, refuses
to hand over passwords or communicate directly.

Is it any wonder that the last two votes have been unanimous to remove you?

I appologise to the members of the list who really don't care about all
this (as one person put it to me last week "I don't give a rat's ass
about the USPP. It bores me"). Ryan could have responded to the
membership personally, in a back-and-forth manner. Instead he chose to
utilize his 'poor poor pitiful me, being picked on' approach and post
this here. When a leader is scared to talk to his membership, as Ryan
clearly is, that should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know, including
that the leader knows he's in trouble.

Andrew
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