Who in the hell should I vote for and why? I’m in the Central Region. My wife and my ballots are depending on feedback from this forum. Thanks.
I got mine yesterday as well and have been pondering the exact same question, I’m in the central region as well. One point I saw on another post this morning, is you hear a lot of why I shouldn’t vote for some people but not much for why I should vote for another.
At this point it seems like there are a few that are getting into the act just to change things and bring some new blood to the board. Kind of like Arnold and Jessy Ventura did in their respective States. Maybe the protest vote is the way to go in this one and see if it shakes things up enough to get the attention of the masses to get involved a little more for the health of the sport in total.
“Who in the hell should I vote for and why? I’m in the Central Region.”
i will tell you what i’d do.
first, the most important issue is the petition, more important than any single candidate on the ballot in any region. if you have any questions, or issues, or gripes, with the petition i’m happy to answer them. as one person (a regional federation president) put it to me in an email today, after understanding the petition, “I changed my vote . I was literally on the way to the mailbox and slit open the tape and changed it.”
otherwise, i would appeal to the following ethic. board members come and go. what makes the system work are processes that function as they should, chiefly the system by which we elect our board and by which we’re represented. the petition fixes all this. however, one must also consider those running for the board, and the honor, or lack thereof, that they’ve shown to these processes.
i’m a “big tent” kind of guy. when i resurrrected the united states triathlon series, i was running QR at the time. we put together what was then a 12-race series across the country, and i invited all my competitors, softride, ironman, kestrel, all of them, to come and expo at these races. why? because i’ve never felt that kestrel or orca or cervelo were my competitors. my view was that lay-z-boy, RCA, and lays potato chips were my competitors. there were a LOT more potential QR customers sitting in front of the TV doing nothing than were riding kestrels.
but let’s say you’re a big tent guy, and you’re fond of saying, “what binds us is much greater than what divides us.” what is it that binds us? the fact that most of us are caucasian? or that we speak english? aren’t there more important things than that? is it because we’re americans then? and if so, what makes us americans other than passports that say we are?
when you consider questions like these, and you find out how basic and foundational are the issues of free and fair elections, that you (well, i) have to realign concepts of what matters.
well, shit, sorry for all the civics. bottom line, bill burke would read what i’ve written above and these ideas wouldn’t make a dent, based on the vitriol he allows (or foments) on this forum through his business partner JJ waguespack. that leaves lew kidder and jack weiss.
if you like what’s in the petition lew and i co-authored, then realize lew was the major author. if you don’t like the petition, best not to vote for lew (or me, if you’re in the west), because those are the sorts of things lew and i believe in.
if you like the fact that among all those who WON elections, and had nothing to gain, jack weiss was the single person who stood up and said, “these elections were wrong, and ought to be invalidated, because the processes were subverted,” then jack weiss is that man of honor, and he’s built up a big credit in my book.
that leaves at-large. i’ve had lots of problems with steve locke ove the years. but he never messed with the idea of secret ballots and free and fair elecions. (plus, he knows an awful lot about our federation.) therefore, locke is either a very good candidate for board member, or the lesser of two evils, depending on how cynical you are. either way, it’s locke over gattis.
Even though I will not vote for Jack Weiss, I do also applaud him for standing up to the election tactics of last year knowing it would throw him into the ring again with the possibility of losing. This being said I think Lew Kidder is the stand up guy in this region with no ties to anyone except the membership. After studying everything, he will get my vote if that means anything to anyone.
Bob Sigerson
Thanks for the feedback. I’m definitely yes on the petition, and I guess I’ll vote for Lew, even tho I’m pretty sure he was mean to me one time on this messageboard not to mention he went to UM. Oh well, if does it again, I can vote against him in only a year, right?
“I’m east. Any input there?”
haven’t a clue. you’re on your own. tell me when you find the real deal out there.