They were storing LISH passwords in the clear... Does it really sounds like they care enough to use some sort of multi-party brokered passphrase accountability system?

Not really, just more than one person as is implied in the grammar.

Edit: Theses "making an assumption" arguments are silly. It is good practice to assume the worst case, to assume the best in this situation is bad.

I'm impressed by your ability to extrapolate "in our heads" to mean whatever you wanted it to mean.