krueger@topaz.decus.org (04/26/91)
As a current member of the Board I feel I should add my two cents here as well. As one of two Board members who voted against the Bylaws and was responsible for the CON Statement in the ballot package I have to say that I am probably too upset with the Cover letter and the lack of respect shown by LDEC to make a considered response. LDEC took their role as impartial moderator and used it to place a cover PRO statement into the ballot. They start out by introducing the items in the packet and don't even take the time to tell people what they are voting on. They treat the PRO, CON, Concepts statements and BYLAWS with equal weight, therefore confusing the electorate. They go on in a seperate paragraph to call out the Concepts Document as if that were the item we were voting on. They know as well as anyone that the Concepts Document is non-binding on the Board and is not being voted on. Total lack of integrity in my opinion. Obviously adding their endorsement to that of the Boards, without allowing any other unit to state a preference is an abuse of the trust placed in them by the current bylaws and by the current Concepts document. Never has LDEC abused power in this way before. Finally the last paragraph and its call to "Place the long term welfare of the Chapter ahead of immediate and partisan concerns", when put in context with the previous support statement makes this letter the most partisan in the package and one of the most disappointing happenings in a long 18-month series of deceitful politics. If someone is having trouble seeing why this is the wrong action for LDEC to take, consider how it would look if LDEC could include a paragragh after each candidates name in a Board election giving their perceived pluses and minuses for each candidate. This amounts to the same kind of misuse of power. This action by LDEC makes the President's refusal of my request for $20,000 for a mailing to the membership from the CON side even more unfair and disappointing. If this is the kind of Leadership we can expect after the change in the BYLAWS, than we all have much to fear. Sandy Krueger