The last election of the Board was done irregularly.
The new election process, notwithstanding Holland's letter, is
suspect.
A man named Gilmore was terminated from one or more positions, and
requests to get an explanation from MVPA have been ignored.
Requests for copies of the Assn. By-laws have been ignored.
MVPA management has not been responsive to what you consider
reasonable
requests for explanations or answers.
Most of you love your hobby, and want a strong Assn., but would prefer
to work to improve the current situation, rather than start a new
competing organization.
Here is what I suggest you do. Perhaps you have done some of this
already.
Create a "Shadow Board" of some of you who know and trust each other.
You need an organization and some leadership. Start that way at first
and move to a regional set of officers/Board Members.
Create a Web Page and a mailing list for the movement. Both can be
obtained at no cost from various sources.
Interview Mr. Gilmore and get his complete side of the story, and
publish it on the list and on the Web Page. How come none of you are
copying
him? Doesn't he have E-mail? Is he concerned, or has he moved on?
Put your objectives on the Web Page, so everybody can see what you are
trying to do.
You old timers must know the current Board members. Are they all
crooked and arrogant? Seek them out and see if you can get them to
talk to you. They have less at stake than the paid staff who
apparently
are protecting their power and empire. A 10-2 vote indicates they are
not all in management's control.
See if you can get them to resign in protest, or if not, put pressure
on management to be more responsive. Get one of them to slip you a
copy
of the by-laws.
Let management know what your objectives are, but not your plans
or tactics.
Use this list to advertise your new list, and solicit members.
Print brochures and fact sheets and pass them out at shows or rallies.
Picket the next MVPA meeting, and prearrange with TV to cover the
picketing.
Consult an attorney (hopefully there are some among you) so that you
don't cross the line between legal protest and facts versus libel.
If after all this, they are still non responsive with at least some
honest communication, not to mention some meaningful reforms, then
you have to start a campaign to hurt them in their budget, either by
reducing their income, and/or by increasing their expenses.
If they are truly arrogant, selfish, and perhaps dishonorable, you
will have to hurt them financially for them to change externally. They
may never really change inside, and you may have to move to replace
them or start a competing organization.
My guess there is only one, perhaps two individuals who are ego or
power driven, and they will be ruthless when you really start to
threaten their empire. You probably will be at this effort for more
than a year, and it won't be easy.
An advertisement is a good idea, but I think premature. Unless you
do the steps above, I believe they will ignore an ad, just the way
they are ignoring you now. So you spend the money for an Ad (What
would it say? An open letter appeal? A pseudo petition? A list of
accusations?) And then what? With no organization or leadership to
have people rally around, the ad is as easy to ignore as your comments
are on this list. They have made a decision to ignore you as
individuals, and Holland's letter has already labeled you as "certain
individuals", thereby discounting your concerns.
As stated above, I am a newbie, I have not taken sides. You who have
been most vocal in the past few days may very well be simply a few
disgruntled discontents. I have no way of knowing. But if you have
valid complaints, and the Assn. management is corrupt, you will have
no success unless you get organized and act, as opposed to just
talking about it.
Bob.
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