No Oversight Whatsoever
The UMCA Board of Directors election is over and I lost. While I accept that fact, there was some hanky-panky that went on which may have influenced the election and that needs to be addressed. I sent a letter to John Hughes asking him to do the honorable thing and resign. He called me to discuss it and during the course of the conversation he admitted to participating in a letter writing campaign to get his panel of candidates elected. We also discussed the sentence he added to Seana Hogan's candidate statement which may have had a negative effect on her chances. His brother had advised him to write a scathing editorial instead and he felt that was well within his rights to do. John Hughes also instituted a new policy regarding voting that potentially restricted the number of people voting (everyone had to have a signature on file). The real controversy in my mind is that John Hughes is monitored, supervised, managed, directed, etc. by the Board and the Board sets his compensation as well as renews his contract. By manipulating the election, he has stacked the Board with supporters.
I told him that I felt that manipulating the election and therefor deciding who your bosses were was equivalent to cheating. He informed me that there were no rules against it, but I could contact the Board and ask them to institute some new rules for the next election. He then asked for my help with a couple of things related to the UMCA at which time he was jamming me between a rock and a hard place. By saying No, he could say that despite what I say I was unwilling to back those words with action. By saying Yes, he could point to me as supporting him. I hate being manipulated like that, so I took his advice and wrote an email to the Board asking them to look into his conduct and to add a few rules to restrict his actions. Part of the problem with setting more rules is that people will look at them and ask where are the loopholes? What can I get away with?
He immediately replied to my Board with a..."I thought you wanted to work with me to build the UMCA but I guess you've changed your mind" letter.
The Executive Committee has decided that the weight of the issue requires a full Board Meeting to resolve. John Marino, one of the founder's of our sport, has asked to address the Board in the meeting, but he has been denied. I recently suggested that the Board record the call for podcasting later, you know, to show that everything was fair and balanced, but I'm guessing that they are going to come up with a dozen excuses why they need to meet in secret. (In my post, I hoped to avoid two of those issues by highlighting a free and easy solution). So, In my role as the Pyschic Cyclist (TM), I'm going to predict what's going to happen.
We'll receive a notice by email that after much deliberation the Board voted to uphold the results of the election unanimously. Chris Kostman will request the minutes of the meeting, which will arrive in two months and will look like this:
UMCA Board Meeting Held July --, 2007
by Teleconference
Present:
Everyone who agrees with John Hughes
Absent:
The one Board member who disagrees (she was given the wrong phone number, or date, or she might not have even been told when the meeting was)
Tom Buckley called the meeting to order.
A quorum was present.
Tom Buckley called for New Business
John Hughes addressed the Board regarding the recent election and some concerns brought by a vocal minority.
A Vote was called on the status of the recent election
The Board voted Unanimously to uphold the results of the recent election.
Tom Buckley made a motion to close.
Meeting Adjourned.
I don't trust the current Board members to adequately represent me. I don't feel they will give these issues the weight they deserve, and they won't listen to both sides of the story, which was why I requested that they record the meeting. The Board is meeting in the next couple of days, so we'll see.
