Rob Yates

Running For: Chair

About Rob Yates

still not a parsnip

Are you a dues paying, or life, member of the Libertarian Party?

Sustaining Member

Have you served previously on the Libertarian National Committee?

Will you please describe any experience you have making budgeting decisions for medium sized organizations?

I have led teams at work where I had budgeting decisions, and I have run committees and governance / reporting divisions at big banks where we covered hundreds of billions of dollars in credit facilities and assets.

How can the Libertarian Party set and stay within a budget, and what are the rough outlines of what that budget might look like?

Staying in budget is easy, we simply need to spend less than we bring in. The more difficult part if raising enough money to fund the many things we need to be doing to advance Liberty, and I have several fundraising projects planned to bring in one-time and recurring donors at a large scale.

When is it appropriate for the Libertarian Party to go into debt?

Rarely. To justify going into debt, the investment has to have a high likelihood of bringing in significant returns, subject to the scrutiny of a number of people in the party.

Can you name a large, successful convention that you helped to plan?

The Libertarian Party of North Carolina's 50th anniversary convention at Lake Lure in 2026.

Will you please describe any ballot access campaign you've helped to organize or supervise, and what the result was?

The LPNC has helped other third parties gain ballot access in NC, and those efforts were successful. It was all signature gathering for petitions. We are fortunate to have held ballot access for nearly the last 20 years, and the better part of 40 years.

Will you please describe any experience you have with database management?

I worked as the front-line communications person for an investment advisor, and served as the liaison between paying corporate clients and firewalled institutional adviser analysts. We had to keep a detailed and robust databased of all the clients, target issuers, and every contact we made with them.

Will you please describe any experience you have with social media account oversight?

I have managed several political social media accounts, for the LPNC, for several of our candidates, and for myself.

During your best year, about how much money were you able to fundraise for the Libertarian Party, for a state or local party, or for a campaign?

For the LPNC, I have been involved in efforts that have raised thousands of dollars, though, except for convention, my contribution were in organizing the events or helping build the collateral for the fundraising drives, not in direct fundraising activities. I am also part of the team on LP Allies trying to raise money to bring povertarians to national convention.

Can you name a time when you resisted the temptation to take on a project outside of your organization's core functions?

I have done this lots of times. Unless the return on investment is significant and will bolster an organization's core strategy, extraneous and superfluous projects are a waste of resources. There are certain times where the cost/benefit analysis looks different and projects of this nature might be worthwhile, but only when the organization is in excellent health in all other areas, and these sort of "icing on the cake" initiatives are worth the efforts.

Will you please describe a time when you were able to work with someone you didn't like or with someone who didn't like you? Do you tend to make people you work with angry?

I have often encountered abrasive personalities in my professional and political career. The question, for me, is not whether I like the person, but whether s/he can get the job done without being a detriment to the overall efforts. If the answer is yes, then my personal feelings are irrelevant. If the answer is no, then it is incumbent on leadership for the organization or the project to remove the problem person and find someone more appropriate.

When there are personality clashes, simple communication and conflict resolution techniques can go a long way in de-escalating clashes before they turn into conflict.

Is there anything else that would make you a good member of the Libertarian National Committee?

I am passionate and inspired to be a key cog in the wheel that brings Liberty back to this country and this world. I not only have professional experience building and turning around large organizations, but I have been successful everywhere I have gone. I am relentless and my resolve is intractable. I will never stop working to make the LP and Liberty the predominant political force in this country, and I have a plan to get us there.

Have you served previously in a Chair/Vice Chair capacity for an organization of about the same size as the Libertarian Party?

In my professional life, I have served in similar capacities for organizations much larger than the LP.

How do you define success when it comes to the Libertarian Party?

Ultimately, it comes down to electoral and legislative success, but the underpinnings of those are fundraising, registration, and volunteers.

What sort of messaging strategies and styles will make the Libertarian Party most successful, and why?

Bold Libertarian messaging to break through people's cognitive dissonance will always be most successful, but blanket messaging strategies will be counterproductive. We need carefully crafted and delivered targeted messaing to grow the party.