For those who are interested, attorneys on all sides have weighed in, and it appears no one can do anything to stop the petition. MANY want to stop it. there is no group, on any side, that hasn’t made at least one attempt to stop it.
why? most have the same basic reason. they are afraid of what will happen if the owners of this mercedes benz have the right to actually drive the car they purchased and now own. simply put, a lot of people are deathly afraid of this, because it would not only allow you and i, the owners, to control the rules under which this federation runs, it makes us the ONLY group who can change the rules.
by rules, i’m speaking in broad strokes. rules of competition, stuff like that, stays in the hands of those whose task it is to refine how events are run.
but the bylaws of the corporation, these would be ours and ours alone to change or keep.
i might also add that while a variety of people have tried to stop this petition, i fully expect that you’ll see that a majority of all those on all sides of this issue will in fact come out in support of it, and i’ll be reporting on that one way or the other.
that said, one thing is clear as a bell to me in all this. this is the one bite at the apple. there is no possible way there will ever be a second petition. the FIRST thing a new board will do is write out of the bylaws the right of the members to effect change in the federation by means of a petition and a direct vote. after this, the ONLY voice you’ll have in this federation is in the board member for whom you vote, and the current board was contemplating increasing terms of office to 4 years instead of the current 2. this would mean your vote would be rendered essentially meaningless, and your federation would’ve been taken away from you by 11 people and a national office staff which feels they know what’s better for you than you do.
now, you have a chance to OWN the federation you own, and to have that right in perpetuity.
going forward, i’m going to start a series of separate threads, on term limits, one year terms, the process of bylaw change, regions, election procedures, etc., all the separate issues this petition covers. then those of you who’re interested can discuss them all individually, and i hope to at least tell you the rationale behind my and lew’s thinking.
by the way, i’m in colorado springs right now. if anyone has any question they’d like me to ask the national office staff, or our former E.D. steve locke, with whom i expect to see today, pipe up.