Because the
mid-March ABC mailing that contains the Board of Directors ballot and
questionnaires was delayed, I’ve taken the list of nominees from the ABC
website and copied it below. The Board election is especially important this
year because of two controversial issues that will be decided by the current
BOD and implemented, or not, by future directors – issues we’ve discussed to
death on Facebook and the Boxer email lists in the last few months. If you feel
strongly about these issues one way or the other, you need to read the BOD questionnaire
that was filled out by each nominee. (If
you’re an ABC member, log in to the ABC website, click on “INFORMATION,” then
on “SECRETARY REPORT” and finally on “March 2013.” If you’re a member club
member, write to me at vzboxers@gmail.com,
and I’ll send you a copy of the questionnaires.)
The first issue
is one that – if approved by the BOD – would mean that ABC members could no
longer nominate judges for the ABC Specialty, Futurity or Regional. The ABC
President has proposed an ABC Judges Selection Committee (JSC) comprised of the
five unelected zone directors, who
would accept suggestions, NOT nominations, from ABC members and winnow those
suggestions, no matter how many, down to three (3) names. If as an ABC member you don’t want to be
completely disenfranchised by this proposal, you need to vote for the Board
candidates who pledge to protect your rights and privileges. And then hold them
to their pledge.
The 12
people listed below have been nominated to fill four (4) open positions. After
reading the Board questionnaires on the ABC website, I conducted my own little
informal survey: Two (2) of the nominees specifically stated that they were
opposed to a judges selection committee that takes rights away from the
membership; only one (1) nominee said she was in favor of it. A number
of the other candidates said they believed, as one candidate put it, “No significant policy decisions affecting
the Members should be made without first consulting them if at all possible.”
IMO, that’s just a gentler way of saying no to this very unpopular proposal. Again, before you put an “X” in the box next
to a candidate’s name, read his/her Board questionnaire and see where s/he
stands on this issue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stephanie
Abraham Thomas Latta
Steve
Anderson Betty
Mentzer-Cope
Mary Frances
Burleson Jeff Phillips
Ann Gilbert Virginia (Ginny) Shames
Marilyn
Grayson Korinne
Vanderpool
Jeannie
Hoffman Judy Voran
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The second
issue is one we’ve been batting back and forth since 1998 – moving the ABC to
the center of the country so that our National specialty show is
accessible to western ABC members and exhibitors, too, not just those who live east
of the Mississippi .
On this one, I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone who tried to fly a dog to
the 2012 ABC in Kentucky that in the last few years, new airline regulations
and policies have made it practically impossible and prohibitively expensive to
fly dogs, especially boxers (a “snub-nosed” breed), anywhere. Knowing that,
what the officers and BOD are in effect saying to the western half of the nation
at this point is, “Frankly my dears, we don’t give a damn!”
Entitling
this blog “THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION
OF THE YEAR” really isn't hyperbole. There really is a big split between
the ABC leaders who believe in transparency and are responsive to the general membership and those who support secrecy and think they know better than the majority of the membership how the ABC should be run. These new Board members will determine whether the ABC becomes a more, or
less, democratic organization; and whether the elected leadership listens to
the membership or not. Read those questionnaires!
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