Liberty and Justice By-Laws
Article I. Organization Structure
Section A. Name and Duration.
This Organization is named “Liberty & Justice Association” (or, "L&J").
Section B. Suspension of L&J or By-Laws.
Liberty & Justice or any other entity may not suspend Liberty & Justice or the By-Laws.
Article II. The Liberty and Justice Organization
Section A. Purpose / Objective.
We the People of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, being the authority from which government derives its authority as per Article 1 Section 2 and 25 of the Constitution for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, come forth to re-establish the republican form of government as guaranteed in the Constitution for the United States of America in Article 4 Section 4 and States Rights as guaranteed in the 10th Article of the Bill of Rights.
The objective of Liberty & Justice is to work toward the organization's purpose by providing an organizational structure that will:
1. Run a signature campaign to restore the Pennsylvania Council of Censors
2. Perform non-electoral political acts, e.g., referenda, and litigation;
3. Recruit members; helping them to hold Public Officials to their Oath of Office;
4. Educate the public on the Constitution for the United States of America and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
5. Raise and spend money to do its work; and Perform needed internal operations.
Section B. Organization Non-Partisan.
Organization shall forever remain without any political party influences.
Article III. Officers.
Section A. The term of office for the officers shall be three years.
Liberty & Justice Officers are the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, and Secretary.
Section B. Chair.
The Chair shall be elected by the members of Liberty & Justice from among its members. The Chair shall be eligible for re-election to one consecutive term. (He/she may also be elected to other terms, as long as no more than two (2) terms are consecutive.) The Chair shall preside at all Liberty & Justice meetings and decide all matters of order and procedure, subject to these Bylaws and Procedures unless directed otherwise by a majority of those Liberty & Justice members present and voting (providing a quorum is present). The Chairman shall appoint any committees found necessary to consider any matters properly before Liberty & Justice or to perform any of its duties with the approval of Liberty & Justice. The Chairman may also appoint a Parliamentarian, whose principle duty shall be to advise the presiding officer on questions of procedure.
The Chair recruits and incites Liberty & Justice Members to become activists, candidates, and donors. The Chair or his designee represents Liberty & Justice to the Press. The Chair represents Liberty & Justice to the public, as by statements in the Liberty & Justice Newsletter and Website. The Chair proposes the agenda for Liberty & Justice meetings. The Chair presides at Liberty & Justice Conventions. The Chair leads the Liberty & Justice delegation to national meetings of other Liberty & Justice groups, and represents Liberty & Justice at meetings of other groups. With permission of Liberty & Justice members, the Chair may delegate any of his/her responsibilities to another individual.
Section C. Vice Chair.
A Vice-Chair shall be elected by the members of Liberty & Justice from among its members, in the same manner as the Chairman. The Vice-Chair shall serve as Acting Chair in the absence of the Chair or when requested to do so by the Chair, and at such time the Vice-Chair shall have the same powers and duties as the Chair. The Vice-Chair, upon election by the members of Liberty & Justice, shall be considered the immediate successor for the Chair position once the Chair's tenure is complete. The Vice-Chair must, however, be officially affirmed to the position by election.
The task of the Vice Chair is to assist and inspire Liberty & Justice Officers, its Members, Working Groups, and Local and Topical Organizations, to work to achieve the Organization's Objective. The Vice Chair belongs ex officio to the Working Groups on Local Organization, Elections, Political Action, Membership, Outreach, and Fundraising. The Vice Chair reports monthly on his/her actions and on activities of his/her ex officio Working Groups.
Section D. Treasurer.
A Treasurer shall be elected by the members of Liberty & Justice from among its members, in the same manner as the Chairman. The Treasurer is custodian of the Liberty & Justice funds, and maintains required financial records. The Treasurer serves as Comptroller, ensuring that funds are received, spent, and reported in compliance with Law, the By-Laws, and Liberty & Justice directives. The Treasurer reports monthly to the Members through the Liberty & Justice website, with a summary in the Newsletter, the Organization's income, expenditures, liabilities, and obligations. At each regular meeting of Liberty & Justice, the Treasurer provides a full financial report, including all income, spending, assets, liabilities, and obligations of Liberty & Justice.
Section E. Secretary.
A Secretary shall be elected by the members of Liberty & Justice from among its members, in the same manner as the Chairman. The Secretary maintains the Membership Records of Liberty & Justice. Membership records include but are not limited to records of current and past members, people who contacted Liberty & Justice, donors, and volunteers, including names, addresses, e-mails, other contact information, and volunteer’s tasks. The Membership Secretary reports monthly to Liberty & Justice.
A Secretary shall take minutes of all meetings and also physically record by an audio recording device al meetings. The Secretary keeps the Minutes of Liberty & Justice meetings. The Secretary promptly forwards draft minutes to Committee members, makes corrections, seeks approval at or before the next meeting, and ensures that approved minutes appear on the Liberty & Justice Web Pages, accessible to all Liberty & Justice Members. The Secretary maintains a master calendar, electronically accessible to all Liberty & Justice Members, showing all scheduled future meetings of Liberty & Justice and of each Working Group.
Section F. Appointed Officers.
The Liberty and Justice Officers shall appoint a Newsletter Editor, a Webmaster, and may appoint a parliamentarian or counsel or any other position that may be required. The Liberty and Justice Officers may appoint representatives to appear and represent Liberty and Justice and its positions. An appointment may include an appropriate title or honorific. In appointing a Staff Member, the Liberty and Justice Officers must specify what the Staff Member is supposed to do, and may restrict or mandate how the Staff Member's tasks are to be performed. Staff Members are appointed for renewable terms of no more than one year.
Section G. Newsletter Editor.
The Editor edits and publishes the monthly Liberty and Justice Newsletter, including print or electronic editions. The Editor may recruit assistants. The Liberty and Justice Officers may direct that certain content be carried or not be carried in the Newsletter.
Section H. Webmaster.
The Webmaster is responsible for maintaining a complete record of passwords and other access data for Liberty and Justice web pages, wiki pages, domains registry accounts, and other electronic outreach aids. A copy of this record is supplied to each Liberty and Justice Officer and other persons as designated by the Liberty and Justice Officers on a monthly basis. The Webmaster is responsible for causing the Organization's web site, wiki pages, and/or other electronic outreach aids to be maintained and serve as effective outreach and support tools.
Section I. Removal.
The Liberty and Justice members and officers may by 2/3 secret ballot vote to remove an Officer or Representative from the Pennsylvania Council of Censors Committee. Such removal does not disqualify the person removed from re-election.
Section J. Vacancies.
If an Office becomes vacant, the Chair appoints an acting officer to serve until the next meeting of Liberty and Justice. The Liberty and Justice members then elect an acting officer to fill out the remainder of the original Officer's term. If the Chair becomes vacant, the Vice-Chair serves as Chair until the next meeting of Liberty and Justice.
Article IV. Membership
Section A. Membership Classes.
1. Membership. Members of Liberty and Justice shall have three classes, namely Voting Members, Associate Members, and Subscribing Members. Associate Members and Subscribing Members are not Voting Members. Voting Members and Associate Members must be legal residents of Massachusetts.
2. Voting Members. Voting Members are persons who have applied to join, are found to be eligible to join, have paid their dues, and who have provided Liberty and Justice with Minimal Contact Information, with the explicit understanding that the Minimal Contact Information will be supplied to every other Voting Member of Liberty and Justice. Minimal Contact Information consists of the member's name, a legitimate voting address, and a valid mailing address, if different from the voting address. At the Voting Member's option, the contact information may include email address, telephone, fax, or other contact information or numbers. Voting Members receive the Liberty and Justice newsletter and all other membership benefits, and are eligible to vote in Liberty and Justice elections and to hold office within Liberty and Justice.
3. Associate Members. Associate Members are persons who have applied to join, are found to be eligible to join, and paid their dues, but who have directed that their names and Contact Information are not to be made uniformly available to Liberty and Justice Voting Members. Associate Members receive the Liberty and Justice newsletter and all other membership benefits, but are not eligible to vote in Liberty and Justice elections and are not eligible to hold office within Liberty and Justice
4. Subscribing Members. Subscribing Members are persons interested in Liberty and Justice. On paying the membership fee as a correspondent, Subscribing Members receive a subscription to the monthly newsletter and such other privileges as Liberty and Justice may choose. Subscribing Members are not eligible to vote in Liberty and Justice elections and are not eligible to hold office within Liberty and Justice.
Section B. Dues.
Membership dues are set by majority vote of Liberty and Justice.
Section C. Verbal and Written Statement.
All Liberty and Justice Officers and Members shall take and affirm a statement of code of conduct, ethics and commitment to work toward the objectives and further the advancement of Liberty and Justice.
Section D. Membership Information.
Liberty and Justice will not share address or other membership information with other organizations without the explicit affirmative permission of the individual and a majority vote of Liberty and Justice. Voting Members may not transfer the names or addresses of Liberty and Justice Voting Members to people who are not voting members or to organizations that are not Liberty and Justice Affiliates.
Article V. Working Groups
Section A. Purpose and Structure
1. Working Groups. Working Groups exist to do work for Liberty and Justice.
2. Permanent Working Groups. The permanent Working Groups, other than Audit and Compensation, are specified in the Standing Rules. Except as otherwise specified, membership in each Working Group includes ex officio members, Liberty and Justice Members elected or volunteering to serve, and any other persons who volunteer and contribute in a positive way. Except as otherwise specified, the Facilitator of each Working Group is elected by the Liberty and Justice Officers.
3. Facilitators. Each Working Group has a Facilitator. The Facilitator seeks to ensure that her or his Working Group performs its duties. Facilitators chair meetings of their Working Groups; they report monthly to Liberty and Justice on Working Group activities. Facilitators have no executive decision-making authority independent from their working group.
4. Working Groups are expected to perform many activities without staging formal meetings under parliamentary procedure. Working Group meetings are called by the Group Facilitator or 25% of the Working Group's membership. The call to the meeting, which is to be sent except in emergencies at least two weeks in advance, includes the meeting location, time, date, identification of the principal agenda items, and supporting documents. Each Working Group chooses a Clerk to minute its discussion and decisions. The Minutes are forwarded as appropriate electronically to the remainder of the Working Group and to Liberty and Justice Members.
5. Liberty and Justice Officers may by majority vote to remove a person as a member, officer, or Facilitator of a Working Group.
6. Audit and Compensation.
a. The Audit and Compensation Working Group annually and in addition on request of the Liberty and Justice Officers review the Liberty and Justice financial records, and the financial records of the Working Groups, to ensure that they are complete, accurate, and properly reported to the Membership. It determines if moneys have been received and spent in accord with Liberty and Justice By-Laws, legal requirements, and fundamental ethical standards. It reports to the Membership and the Liberty and Justice Officers on irregularities, deficiencies, and deviations, and their causes, and recommends corrective measures.
b. The Audit and Compensation Working Group receives and reviews all proposals for paying persons and personal corporations as employees, consultants, or independent contractors. It receives and reviews all competitive bids from potential vendors. It recommends to the Liberty and Justice Officers affirmatively or negatively on each proposal or bid before the Liberty and Justice Meetings.
c. The Audit and Compensation Working Group is elected by and from the Liberty and Justice Members. No Officer of Liberty and Justice may be a member of Audit and Compensation Working Group.
Article VI. Local and Topical Groups
Section A. Purpose.
Local and Topical Groups are the foundation on which Liberty and Justice will attain its objective. Liberty and Justice supports local and topical organizations in Pennsylvania.
Section B. Affiliation
1. Affiliates. Liberty and Justice will offer affiliation to local and topical groups in Pennsylvania. A local group is an organization that supports Liberty and Justice activities in a geographic region of Pennsylvania. A topical group is an organization that supports Liberty and Justice activities centered on some issue or cluster of issues.
2. Eligibility. To be eligible for affiliation, a group must be working to move Pennsylvania in the direction of returning to Constitutional government, must not support anti-Constitution candidates for political office, and must not be a potential embarrassment if identified as an affiliate of Liberty and Justice. When offered affiliation, a local group is for the purposes of affiliation identified with a specific geographic area, but is not required to limiting itself to that area. A topical group must for the purposes of affiliation be identified with a specified list of topics, but may also deal with other topics. An area or topic may be identified with more than one local or topical group.
3. Approval. Affiliation is offered and approved by majority vote of the Liberty and Justice Officers. Liberty and Justice Officers may by majority vote revoke an affiliation, but before the vote is final the Affiliate shall be offered reasonable due process to defend or alter its actions or circumstances. Affiliates must send notice that they have accepted affiliation; they may revoke affiliation by sending written or electronic notice to the Liberty and Justice Chair.
4. Liberty and Justice Representation. Each Affiliate is entitled to send to the Liberty and Justice Meetings one Affiliate Representative, who must be elected, for a term of 1 year. Affiliate Representatives must be Liberty and Justice Voting Members
Section C. Obligations.
Each Officer and each Representative commits to working diligently for Liberty and Justice. Each Officer and Representative as a condition of continued Committee membership agrees to be an active member and sign a pledge to do so.
Section D. Restrictions.
- Spending. Liberty and Justice funds may only be spent after authorization by the Liberty and Justice Officers. Authorizations are by majority vote of the officers. There must be 2 signatures on a check, one by the Treasurer and one by the Chair. Liberty and Justice uses the calendar year as its fiscal year.
- Obligations. Liberty and Justice may not borrow money.
- Rules of Order. All Liberty and Justice Meetings are run under Roberts' Rules of Order unless specifically otherwise provided.
- Citizenship. Liberty and Justice Members, Officers and Regional Representatives must be citizens of the united States and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- Working Groups. Liberty and Justice Officers may create ad hoc Working Groups for specified purposes for a fixed term of not more than one year. The Liberty and Justice Officers may direct a Working Group to make a report to the Liberty and Justice Members and officers. A communication is sent to the Liberty and Justice Officers when a copy is sent separately to each member of the Committee.
Article VII: Conventions.
Section A. State Conventions.
Liberty and Justice shall hold at least one yearly convention for the transaction of the Organization's Business.
Section B. Notification.
Liberty and Justice Officers shall announce to all Liberty and Justice Members that a State Convention is being held, distributing the announcement of date, time, and place via: Publication in the monthly Newsletter, Posting on the Liberty and Justice Web Site, transmission to all open electronic mailing lists in the Commonwealth and appropriate electronic Groups and electronic mailing lists, and email to all Liberty and Justice Members and Liberty and Justice Office Holders having known email addresses. Notice shall be sent at least two months in advance of the Convention
Section C. Purpose.
The primary purpose of the State Convention is to conduct the Organization's business.
Article VIII. Liberty and Justice Meetings.
Section A. Scheduled Meetings.
Liberty and Justice will have face-to-face meetings once a month, on a regular schedule that it sets before the start of each year. At least ten days before each meeting, the Chair will mail a meeting notice to every Liberty and Justice member, and to the membership at large through the newsletter and the announcements list. The notice will include a substantive proposed agenda. The quorum for a Scheduled Meeting is 1/2 of the Officers.
Section B. Special Meetings.
Special Meetings are called by the Chair or by petition of 25% of the Members of Liberty and Justice. Special meetings must be held within four weeks of the day on which they are called. At least fifteen days before the day of each special meeting, the Chair will send a notice of each meeting to each Liberty and Justice Member. The notice shall include issues for which the meeting was called, which shall be the first items on the agenda. The quorum for special meetings of Liberty and Justice is a simple majority of the total membership, excluding from the count of total membership those members who did not attend a meeting in the past six months or who are known to be incapacitated.
Section C. Ballots.
1. Voting, Counting. Ballots are placed in a ballot box. When all envelopes have been opened, the Chair and such other persons as wish to watch will open the ballot box, count all ballots, and announce the outcomes. The Secretary and Chair may appoint assistants to help them with their tasks.
2. Ties, etc. If a tie in the final round or other ambiguous outcome occurs, a fresh election is held, using the original ballot.
Section D. Assent.
No person shall be said to have been elected, or allowed to take office, until he or she publicly states that he or she accepts the office.
Article IX: Amendments, External Relations.
Section A. Amendments.
1. All Articles of these Bylaws may be amended by a valid two-thirds vote of those Members voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on the amendment. Amendments may be proposed from the floor at the State Convention or by petition signed by at least 2% of the Organization’s Members and delivered to the Chair
2. Challenges to the validity of a By-Laws Amendment, either on substantial or procedural grounds, may be made for up to six months after the Amendment was nominally adopted.
3. If an amendment to these By-laws is proposed, that has the effect of changing the requirements for amending an Article, then the requirements for amending that Article must be met in order to amend.
4. An amendment takes effect when the vote passing it has been counted.
Section B. External Relations.
Liberty and Justice may accept or exchange affiliation with like-minded pro-Liberty groups outside Pennsylvania. Liberty and Justice may send representatives to organizations or associations of like-minded organizations outside Pennsylvania. Liberty and Justice may form, participate in forming, or participate in national associations of like-minded organizations from other states.
Final Section. Prior to the election of Liberty and Justice Officers, there shall be an Organizing Committee, which shall cease to exist when the Liberty and Justice Officers are elected. The Organizing Committee shall adopt By-Laws for Liberty and Justice. While it exists, the Organizing Committee shall have the authority assigned to Liberty and Justice, and shall have the authority to take those steps consistent with the spirit and intent of the By-Laws as needed to bring Liberty and Justice into existence. For example, it may grant affiliations, expand its membership, select officers, recruit members, activate working groups, and conduct the elections that will replace it. In first election Chair and Secretary will serve its full 3 year term and the Vice Chair and Treasurer will serve a 2 year term to allow staggering of election years.