Libertarian National Committee: Former Party Chair Angela McArdle Misused Donor Funds to Pay Domestic Partner
94-page report details how McArdle misled the board on conflicts of interest involving her domestic partner who received $114,000 from party contracts since August 2023.
Last night, the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) held a special meeting where they voted to release a 94 page report from the Special Investigatory Committee established after I revealed the former Chair had concealed payments to a Delaware company incorporated by her domestic partner.
In addition to the report from the Special Investigatory Committee, the LNC passed a resolution calling McArdle unfit to represent the Libertarian Party (LP).
“Whereas the Special Investigatory Committee finds that former Chair Angela McArdle violated her fiduciary duty to the Libertarian Party by concealing conflicts of interest and misusing donor funds, be it hereby resolved that the Libertarian National Committee deems Angela McArdle unfit to serve on the Libertarian National Committee, as an affiliate leader or as a candidate representing the Libertarian Party.”
Third Party Watch has the full text of the resolution as well as how each LNC member voted.
Freedom Calls LLC-What the Report Found
McArdle executed a contract with a company her domestic partner created on behalf of the LP and personally approved some of the invoices. She misled the board and called her domestic partner, Austin Padgett, a “volunteer liaison” with the company.
They also found documents that appear to conceal the ownership of the LLC including invoices (which list “Peter” as the contact in an offer letter to the LNC) and a W-9 form with a signature that does not match Padgett’s signature.
They found no actual contact between Freedom Calls LLC and the LNC.
Not only did McArdle fail to disclose the Freedom Calls LLC conflict, on 08/07/2024, she instructed the LNC Secretary to remove Padgett from her list of potential conflicts even though he was the incorporator and sole proprietor of Freedom Calls LLC
These actions give rise to the appearance of an intentional violation of an internal policy that was adopted by the board due to McArdle’s previous hiring of Padgett. It also appears to intentionally mislead the LNC and membership by stating there is no longer a conflict related to Padgett.
The report states that McArdle did not respond to requests for an interview and failed to produce documents to determine if Freedom Calls LLC paid employees.
How much money did Freedom Calls, LLC raise for the party?
The report claims that Freedom Calls LLC was paid $49,600 by the LP but only managed to raise somewhere between $0 and $2,468.57.
McArdle Used Party Resources to Help Mises Caucus
The following texts were sent out from the party’s text banking account in an attempt to help the Mises Caucus, a factional caucus within the Libertarian Party, which she took over as Chair of last week.
Text #13: What: California LP Convention When: February 22-23, 2025 Where: Embassy Suites, 1345 Treat Boulevard, Walnut Creek CA 94597 If you're interested to attend, please respond by answering the ff: 1. Are you interested in running for a position on the state excom? 2. Do you have transportation? Can you pay for hotel room? Visit https://ca.lp.org/2025-convention/ to get more information. Thank you. Have a great day!
Text # 14: What: California LP Convention When: February 22-23, 2025 Where: Embassy Suites, 1345 Treat Boulevard, Walnut Creek CA 94597 To be eligible to vote at the state convention, you must do the following before Sunday, Nov 24: Become an LPCA $25 member (ca.lp.org/join). Sign the Pledge (checkbox on the membership page) Be registered Libertarian. (https://registertovote.ca.gov/) Change your voter registration at sos.ca.gov
McArdle misled LNC member and California state party Chair, Adrian Malagon about who was paying for and sending the text messages.
By Sunday, 11/24/2024, McArdle claimed she had a caller make 300 calls. The Kixie audit verifies the use of the #13 and #14 templates to send 361 calls and SMS messages between 11/20/2024 and 11/23/2024.
Swing Vote Strategist LLC-What the Report Found
McArdle misled board member, Kathy Yeniscavich after I revealed payments from the party’s joint fundraiser with RFK Jr. were going to an address associated with McArdle.
Background On 07/11/2024, the Executive Committee voted to form a Joint Fundraising Committee (“JFC”) with TK), the Presidential campaign for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. A Joint Fundraising Committee, known as the Kennedy Victory Fund (“KVF”), was formed and filed a Statement of Organization with the Federal Elections Commission on 07/19/24. A number of state affiliates and PACs also joined the KVF.
On 12/05/2024, Jake Porter posted on X, “I wonder who operates the “Swing Vote Strategist LLC” that received $12,000 from the Libertarian Party’s Kennedy Victory Fund for “fundraising consulting.” A review of KVF’s FEC filings revealed that Swing Vote Strategist (“SVS”) was one of the expenses paid by the KVF before distributing funds to the participants.
Board Action and Response: LNC members began asking McArdle questions. They either received misleading responses or no response. Yeniscavich messaged McArdle on 12/10/2024 asking if Swing Vote Strategist LLC (“SVS”) is Austin’s LLC? She replied, “Probably an address error. I will look into it tomorrow. I need a day off.”
On December 28th, I released the report proving the Swing Vote Strategist LLC company was incorporated by Austin Padgett.
In addition to her failure to disclose the potential conflict of interest, McArdle took actions that obfuscated her involvement with Swing Vote Strategists. During the month Porter posted about Swing Vote Strategists, she led some board members to believe that Padgett was working for the KVF. It took over a month to determine that she was being paid for KVF work through SVS.
Invoices and Payments
Evidence confirming that it was McArdle and not Padgett doing business with the KVF as SVS was found in McArdle’s lp.org email. Several invoices for SVS were sent from McArdle’s lp.org email address to the KVF
The Kennedy campaign chose to continue the contract with Swing Vote Strategist after McArdle resigned as Chair.
Unbeknownst to the LNC, TK chose to continue the contract with SVS after McArdle resigned as LNC Chair due to an apparent misunderstanding by TK. Sanders stated that the work was not specific to McArdle’s role as LNC Chair. The SIC became aware of the continued relationship during a review of McArdle’s lp.org email. Those emails revealed that she continued to interact with the KVF, affiliates, and PAC participants in the KVF, and TK, at least through March 2025. FEC reports demonstrate that the final KVF payment to SVS was in March 2025.
In at least six such emails, all which appear to be responses, McArdle continued to represent herself as LNC Chair in her signature block after she resigned from the LNC, in emails sent on 02/10/2025, 03/04/2025, 03/05/2025, 03/25/2025, 04/07/2025, and 04/24/2025. These emails were between TK staff and the TK attorney advising on the KVF.
Rescue the West-What the Report Found
McArdle also used her position as Chair to raise money for another organization she co-founded, Rescue the West, which promoted the Presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and RFK Jr, while the Libertarian Party had its own nominee, Chase Oliver. I broke the Rescue the West story last year which later made it into a Substack post, but it never gained the traction as the two undisclosed LLCs did.
A review of available financial documents reveals that McArdle raised a total of $1,234,811 through Rescue the West, of which $458,811 was from individual donors on the Give, Send, Go fundraising platform, and $776,000 from the KVF and PACs supporting Kennedy’s platform, including AV24, MAHA Alliance, and the Make America Healthy Again PAC.
We do not know how much of the money, if any, from the Kennedy organization donations to Rescue the West made it to McArdle or Padgett personally.
Other Items
The report is large and detailed. I only touched upon some of the most important findings.
The report also found:
McArdle hired a neighbor on behalf of the party
A website contract didn’t benefit the party and there are some potential conflicts surrounding it
The committee investigated possible conflicts of interest regarding board member Pat Ford and McArdle for establishing separate FEC filing entities that received money from the Kennedy and LNC joint fundraising committee.
What’s Next?
Legal action: The SIC carefully considered the facts and evidence set forth in this report to determine whether it would be in the best interest of the LNC to pursue legal action based on the matters investigated. The SIC also consulted with LNC Counsel, who consulted with the LNC’s counsel in Vest v. McArdle, the derivative lawsuit pending in D.C. Superior Court, regarding this issue. The SIC concludes that the LNC may have a viable claim or claims against McArdle, Padgett and Freedom Calls LLC based on the facts and evidence available. For example, the SIC has concluded that the transactions with Freedom Calls LLC – in which the LNC paid Freedom Calls LLC a total of $49,600 – may be void or voidable pursuant to D.C. Code § 29-406.70, because McArdle did not disclose material facts relating to her financial interest in those transactions, and because the transactions were not fair to the LNC, among other reasons. The LNC therefore may have valid grounds for seeking restitution of the funds paid to Freedom Calls LLC.
Beyond the legal merits, the SIC was obliged to consider several additional factors that impact the LNC’s interests. First, the LNC’s Directors and Officers insurance policy provides coverage for the LNC’s defense when legal action is initiated against the LNC or its directors or officers, but does not cover the litigation costs of claims the LNC may pursue as a plaintiff. The LNC thus would have to pay those costs. Second, it appears the cost of pursuing a claim or claims for restitution of the funds paid to Freedom Calls LLC would exceed $49,600 – the maximum damages the LNC could reasonably expect to win. The litigation therefore would likely result in a net loss to the LNC, even if the LNC prevailed. Third, the outcome of litigation is never certain and there is a reasonable possibility the LNC would not prevail, or would be awarded less than the maximum damages claimed. Fourth, even if the LNC prevailed, further litigation – at additional cost – could be required to enforce and collect on the judgment, and collection ultimately could prove impossible if the defendant(s) were unable to make restitution.
Based on the foregoing, the SIC has determined that, although the LNC may have a viable claim or claims for restitution, litigation to pursue such action is not in the LNC’s best interest, primarily because the financial cost would outweigh the potential gain, leading to a net loss for the LNC. The SIC therefore recommends that the LNC not pursue any legal action for restitution if it is to be paid for from the LNC’s general funds. If the LNC and/or general membership feel strongly about pursuing restitution, and a donor or donors are willing to make sufficient contributions to a legal fund, the LNC could potentially initiate legal proceedings. Also, the LNC could search for an attorney who would take its case on a pro bono basis.
The investigatory report provided a lot of details and has given me more information that I need to investigate and has opened some new leads in a few areas related to RFK Jr’s influence over the Libertarian Party.
I was only able to touch upon some of the biggest findings in this report. The full report details the many efforts McArdle used to mislead the board on her conflicts of interests. My instincts were right to follow the money, and the report completely vindicates my previous findings.
Didn't she announce she wanted to run for Chair again? Can she be permanently banned from the Libertarian Party?
I wish there was another button to click besides "like." Sad here in Denver. My husband Leif Smith and I were friends with Dave Nolan. Leif was in Dave's living room when Dave came up with the idea of the party–and we knew many of the party's early adopters. I can think of a couple of people, in the decades I have been around the liberty movement, who were outright crooks, but they were not Libertarian Party officials.
Of course, conventional political parties have a history of corruption going back decades. (I am a native Chicagoan and can assure you that every outrageous story you have ever heard about either major party in the Windy City and Illinois is true.)
Thanks very much. Building trust starts with transparency. I hope the board members think long and hard about what they did to contribute to this mess, meaning neglecting their oversight responsibilities.