[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Code of Ethics on Ballot
- From: "Margery Golant" <mgolant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bruiser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'Showgsd-L'" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:10:21 -0400
The Board was faced with complex issues of a legal and factual nature in the
Hunte matter. If there were people on the Board who did not know who Hunte
was or what business he was in, that can only be due to the fact that there
was insufficient information provided to them, and insufficient discussion
of the issue, which even Kris has just confirmed with her email. The issue
was just too important to the Club and to the membership for it to not have
gotten full and due consideration. That is the role of leadership - to
ENSURE that important issues are handled as befits the importance of them.
The significance of the MANY letters from members and a Petition with more
than 300 names on it was never properly addressed, nor were these very
important issues discussed. That is WHY we have a Legal Affairs Chair - to
EXPLAIN to the Client - the Board - the legal significance of issues before
it. Board members are generally lay people and generally do not understand,
or fully understand, legal issues without explanation and discussion.
The exact same things show up time and time again during the tenure of this
administration - lack of information, lack of leadership, rushing to
conclusion of matters that should not be rushed.
I reiterate what I said last week:
"Sadly, those in a position of leadership on the Board, the President and
the Legal Affairs Chair, did not take any action at all to clarify these
issues for the Board members, to open them up to discussion or understanding
of what the options truly were. When the matter came before the Board in
January, there was no outside legal opinion obtained or presented regarding
the Board's options, there was not even any discussion of what alternatives
existed, what authority the Board had. The only thing that was ever said
was the repeated warning to Board members to obtain personal umbrella
coverage 'in case'. This was very misleading, and caused a number of Board
members to misunderstand what they could do and could not do. Had they
understood that there was no impediment to their voting no under the
circumstances, several of them would not have voted differently. As
everyone knows the process was redone and those who voted "Yes" reversed
their vote.
I can't help but remember back to Ginny Altman's term as President.
Whenever there was anything of consequence before the Board, Ginny would ask
the Board if it felt it had enough information to vote, and on all important
issues, she would ask for analysis and explanation by the then Legal Affairs
Chair, LaMar Frederick, and she usually suggested deferring the vote by at
least one quarter on the most significant issues to allow for additional
reflection by Board members and input from the membership.
For all those reasons, it is misleading to be guided merely by the NO and
the YES votes. At least some of the YES votes are attributable to a lack of
information by those who voted YES, which seems to me to be attributable to
a lack of leadership by those who could and should have provided it.
I hope this helps to clarify this very complicated situation. This is
probably the most important election ever held in the GSDCA. You have much
to consider, which is impossible to do in the dark."
If you have any questions or want to discuss further, please don't hesitate
to contact me.
Margy
-----Original Message-----
From: showgsd-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:showgsd-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of f.fasano@xxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 10:31 AM
To: bruiser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Showgsd-L
Cc: Elaine George
Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Code of Ethics on Ballot
Dear Elaine- the Board did have access to the letters from members and the
the membership chair advised of the petition signed by 10% of our members
before the vote- the club policy of inviting those complaining members to
speak was not followed. However, those voting knew the position of the
membership and unless you have a crystal ball or know something I don't
know, how can you say those voting for the person would have done anything
different. Did you talk to someone on the Board who said they asked any
questions of myself or Margy. Not all persons in a role of leadership got
the issue wrong in the first place. The cost should be on the shoulders of
those who did not get it- Kris
-------------- Original message from "Elaine George"
<bruiser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: --------------
> "The Hunte membership - As our rules are silent on criteria for
> membership, in this case, we rely on IRS code governing non-profit
> social organizations. We are a 501c7 organization which gives us the
> right to grant membership to who we wish as long as we do not
> discriminate based on race, color or religion. (www.irs.gov)"
>
> The Board meeting to consider membership was closed. Hunte was allowed
> to present his case in detail, and included rebuttals to statements of
> members who had objected to his membership.
>
> Hunte had been given the letters of objection, and posted quotes from
> the letters on his website, including mentioning the names of the club
> members objecting.
>
> Although Hunte was given the opportunity to present his case, those
> members who had written letters objecting were not given the opportunity
> to speak, and Board members were not given the opportunity to discuss
> the issue prior to voting. I consider this a serious violation of the
> rights of the membership.
>
> I do not fault some of the Board members who voted to approve Hunte's
> application at the January board meeting as I feel they did the best
> they could with the inadequate information given to them.
>
> After the board voted Hunte in, at the outcry of the membership, the
> Board leadership then recanted saying they did not follow the proper
> process and now must reconsider his application. This prompted the
> threats of lawsuit and ultimately put the Board in a position to agree
> to certain terms with Mr. Hunte. This cost us over $10,000 in attorney's
> and other fees and could have been avoided if the leadership of the
> board had taken their time and followed the proper procedures prior to
> and at the January Board Meeting.
>
> I feel this issue should have been tabled until the following meeting
> to provide the board enough time to poll the membership, research the
> consequences of approving or denying his membership application, and, if
> necessary, obtain outside legal counsel from someone licensed in the
> state of New York. If I am elected, the Board will not be put in a
> situation to vote on an issue without thorough discussion and sufficient
> information."
>
> The above is taken from a post recently on Showgsd-L from one of our
> candidates running for office. We do not have to put in our Bylaws or
> in our Code of Ethics, "To refuse to sell to commercial wholesalers,
> retailers and to reseach laboratories." The sitting Board simply was
> rushed into making a decision and come to find out not fully briefed on
> what they could or could not do and did not listen to the membership.
> What we do need is a Board that makes informed decisions and listens to
> the membership...plain and simple.
>
> - Elaine George
> Enchanted Vista, Home of:
> CH Rocknoll Ajax Nike Clayfield CD, Alkay's Black Velvet, CH Jerrwen's
> Southern Belle, CH Jerrwen's Georgiana HIC, and Cantar's Enchanted Monah
> Ali-I
> Member, GSDCA, ELPGSCD, CKC
>
>
>
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POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any
kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of
the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org
============================================================================
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org
============================================================================
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