Barry,
I’m glad you provide the counter points to the arguments I have made against these changes to our bylaws. I think it’s important that the membership know that twelve of us did not sit in a board room 18 months ago with mal intent. These bylaw changes were not made with the intent of taking away member’s rights or excluding those members from the organization. It was not our intent, but the final red-lined document, which takes hours to fully decipher, does exactly that.
First, only 2% of the membership votes. How do these changes resolve that problem? Does the new makeup of the board tackle the apathy of the members?
No. Your argument says that the passionate 2% who take the time to vote should be silenced because unless everyone votes, nobody should. One of the compromises we reached was to maintain regional positions and maintain a member election. Unfortunately, we also came to bylaws that took away the rights of members to nominate themselves.
I agree that the organization may benefit from the ability to recruit and nominate members with specific skillsets. What I disagree with is that the members no longer have a way to disagree with the candidates we select.
Second, I know many people remember the attempted coup by the elites a few years ago. I personally don’t condone Jarrod Shoemaker running as a regional representative while still actively pursuing the US Olympic Team and receiving National Team support. And the members also disagreed and elected Mike Wein instead. Mike Wein is certainly not more popular in triathlon than a US Olympian, and yet the 2% who voted did not pick the “popular minority”. That is exactly how the system should (and does) work.
The bylaw changes don’t just restrict the positions that elites can run for. It changes the definition of “elite” in such a way that athletes who have no connection to the Olympic movement (think Jordan Rapp) would be ineligible to serve on the board. The Ted Stevens Act requires us to have a minimum of 3 athlete representatives to preserve the interest of USAT's position as a US Olympic Committee organization. This change would make USAT the first of these organizations to set a maximum – is that really following “best practices”?
The majority of our 300 elites are not and have never been in the Olympic pipeline. These are some of the most passionate members of our organization, including doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and business men and women. The bylaw changes restrict those members from representing member's interests now, and for a period of 10 years into the future. No other group is limited in this way.
Finally, I want to reiterate to the members reading this that the current board did not spend 18 months rewriting the bylaws in order to secure their own interests. I’m extremely proud to be on the board with a group of distinguished and smart individuals. We have race directors, executives, lawyers - even a professor of marketing. We have a competent board that was created by passionate members who wanted to make a difference in our sport. That board was nominated and elected by you! Under the current bylaws!
We followed the USOC recommendations to take a look at our bylaws, and it is true that they need updating; some spring cleaning to get rid of the clutter. But somewhere along the line we lost track of that simple goal and created a new document that cuts out the membership from the process. It is a well-intentioned attempt to maintain the quality of the board that we have. I’m not concerned that the current board will make poor or selfish decisions (they voted to eliminate their own positions!) – I’m concerned that when a future board does make poor decisions, we the members will have no recourse.
Thank you for opening this discussion. I hope that the members will vote in this election, and that after this election is over we can start focusing on creating a relevant organization that inspires more than 2% of its members to speak their opinion and be involved.
-Ben Collins
Athlete Representative
Ben Collins
Amateur Swimmer, Amateur Cyclist, Amateur Runner...
...Professional Triathlete.
It's not the length that matters, but what you do with it.
I’m glad you provide the counter points to the arguments I have made against these changes to our bylaws. I think it’s important that the membership know that twelve of us did not sit in a board room 18 months ago with mal intent. These bylaw changes were not made with the intent of taking away member’s rights or excluding those members from the organization. It was not our intent, but the final red-lined document, which takes hours to fully decipher, does exactly that.
First, only 2% of the membership votes. How do these changes resolve that problem? Does the new makeup of the board tackle the apathy of the members?
No. Your argument says that the passionate 2% who take the time to vote should be silenced because unless everyone votes, nobody should. One of the compromises we reached was to maintain regional positions and maintain a member election. Unfortunately, we also came to bylaws that took away the rights of members to nominate themselves.
I agree that the organization may benefit from the ability to recruit and nominate members with specific skillsets. What I disagree with is that the members no longer have a way to disagree with the candidates we select.
Second, I know many people remember the attempted coup by the elites a few years ago. I personally don’t condone Jarrod Shoemaker running as a regional representative while still actively pursuing the US Olympic Team and receiving National Team support. And the members also disagreed and elected Mike Wein instead. Mike Wein is certainly not more popular in triathlon than a US Olympian, and yet the 2% who voted did not pick the “popular minority”. That is exactly how the system should (and does) work.
The bylaw changes don’t just restrict the positions that elites can run for. It changes the definition of “elite” in such a way that athletes who have no connection to the Olympic movement (think Jordan Rapp) would be ineligible to serve on the board. The Ted Stevens Act requires us to have a minimum of 3 athlete representatives to preserve the interest of USAT's position as a US Olympic Committee organization. This change would make USAT the first of these organizations to set a maximum – is that really following “best practices”?
The majority of our 300 elites are not and have never been in the Olympic pipeline. These are some of the most passionate members of our organization, including doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and business men and women. The bylaw changes restrict those members from representing member's interests now, and for a period of 10 years into the future. No other group is limited in this way.
Finally, I want to reiterate to the members reading this that the current board did not spend 18 months rewriting the bylaws in order to secure their own interests. I’m extremely proud to be on the board with a group of distinguished and smart individuals. We have race directors, executives, lawyers - even a professor of marketing. We have a competent board that was created by passionate members who wanted to make a difference in our sport. That board was nominated and elected by you! Under the current bylaws!
We followed the USOC recommendations to take a look at our bylaws, and it is true that they need updating; some spring cleaning to get rid of the clutter. But somewhere along the line we lost track of that simple goal and created a new document that cuts out the membership from the process. It is a well-intentioned attempt to maintain the quality of the board that we have. I’m not concerned that the current board will make poor or selfish decisions (they voted to eliminate their own positions!) – I’m concerned that when a future board does make poor decisions, we the members will have no recourse.
Thank you for opening this discussion. I hope that the members will vote in this election, and that after this election is over we can start focusing on creating a relevant organization that inspires more than 2% of its members to speak their opinion and be involved.
-Ben Collins
Athlete Representative
Ben Collins
Amateur Swimmer, Amateur Cyclist, Amateur Runner...
...Professional Triathlete.
It's not the length that matters, but what you do with it.