Flyfunston

I just want to remind everyone that nominations for this fall's Regional Director Elections are due by July 15, 2012.

To nominate someone for the election, you can log into the USHPA Member's Only section and click on "Member Forms". Then click on "Regional Director Nomination Form (Online)". That will take you to this page:

https://www.ushpa.aero/emailrdnomination.asp

Because you've been logged in, it will have all of your current information (Name, USHPA #, Phone #, email address, ...). You can then enter similar information for the person you want to nominate. Finally, you'll have to enter an "anti-robot" code, and that should submit your nomination. You should get an email message showing who you've nominated as well.

I think it's good for your club to discuss your Region's candidates right here in your own forum. But if you want to discuss things on a national level, I've opened a topic titled: "2012 USHPA Regional Director Elections" at:

2012 USHPA Regional DIrector Elections

Please discuss it wherever you like, but most importantly ... VOTE!!

Steve Rodrigues wrote:I'll second Bob's urging.

Thanks!!

Steve Rodrigues wrote:When people talk about USHPA being some out of touch big brother entity they need to be reminded that their Regional Director's sit on the USHPA BOD and they are USHPA! RD's are your pilot buddies that you choose to represent you and make decisions in your interest.

If that's true, then maybe you could direct us to the Director's voting records so we can tell which ones really are representing our interests ... and which ones are representing their own interests?

After all, if we don't know how our Directors are voting, then how do we know whose interests they're serving? How can we make an informed choice?

Steve Rodrigues wrote:Bob,
You know perfectly well that the USHPA does not keep voting records.

It's hard to get anything past you Steve!!

Steve Rodrigues wrote:Your question is an obvious tactic to shift this thread back to your agenda of getting the USHPA to record and post voting records.

Let's review this topic:

• Bob posts that nominations are due by the 15th. Bob doesn't mention Director voting records at all.
• Steve replies saying: "RD's are your pilot buddies that you choose to represent you and make decisions in your interest."
• Bob points out that we don't know whether they make decisions in our interests ... because we don't know how they vote!

I think it's pretty clear that you brought up the topic, Steve, by making the ridiculous (and unprovable) statement that Directors "make decisions in your interest". Checkmate.

Steve Rodrigues wrote:No offence intended, I'm just calling it like I see it so we don't try and BS each other.

There's been no "BS" in my statements, Steve, but your claim that USHPA has "valid (IMHO) logistic based reasons [for not publishing voting records]" is straight from the cow pasture. But since you volunteered to give us those "valid" reasons, how about if you post them right here? I won't even bother addressing the rest of your post at this time because I don't want to divert you from you explaining to us exactly why USHPA can't bother to conduct a roll call of about 30 directors when they make sweeping changes that affect the entire sport of hang gliding in the United States. Please explain that one for us Steve, and I look forward to you being "direct and to the point" ... as you've advertised.

Cheers to you as well!
Bob Kuczewski

Steve Rodrigues wrote:I have no intention of continuing a running debate with you. You are the champ at that and I just don't have the energy for it,

Hi Steve, It's not so much that I'm a champ at debating. It's more accurate to say that I choose the side that's hard to beat ... because it's the side that's right. When one guy argues in favor of open voting records for elected officials ... and the other guy argues against open voting for elected officials ... the first guy has a definite advantage.

Steve Rodrigues wrote:I'll try and get the latest reasons for the voting deal and get back to you.

I look forward to hearing it. The best I've heard so far is that it would take too much time. Try this ... call out about 30 names and 30 corresponding responses (Steve Rodrigues? Yes. Mark Forbes? No. Bob Kuczewski? Yes. ...). Assume that the person calling the roll has a list that they just check off with each reply. Time it and see how long it takes. It can easily be done in less than 2 minutes. Is that too much time to take to let the members know how their Directors are voting? Of course not. So anyone who uses the excuse that "it takes too much time" is covering up their real agenda - which in this case is to keep Directors from being accountable for how they vote.

But don't let me stop you from asking. Please write to Rich Hass (current President of USHPA) and ask him why USHPA spends thousands of dollars on each Board meeting, and yet can't spend a few minutes to let USHPA's members know how their Directors are voting.

Thanks in advance!!!

As an addendum, Bob wrote:P.S. Here's the email address for USHPA's president, Rich Hass ( richhass@comcast.net ) in case you or anyone else wants to ask why we don't have a record of how our Directors are voting.

Also, let me withdraw any harsh comments directed at Steve for now. It was Steve's initial statement that drew my attention:

RD's are your pilot buddies that you choose to represent you and make decisions in your interest.

I don't think that's accurate. I think it would be more accurate to say that "RD's SHOULD BE your pilot buddies that you choose to represent you and make decisions in your interest." Maybe that's what Steve was trying to say, and I apologize for any harsh comments if that was his intent. My main point is that we can't know if they "are" our buddies or not if we don't know whether they're stabbing us in the back with their votes or not. I hope Steve's inquiry into why we don't have voting records will be enlightening and maybe lead to a change.

Hi Steve,

I'm not trying to pressure you, but have you been able to contact Rich Hass (USHPA President) about why we still don't have a voting record for how our Directors are voting for us on the USHPA Board? It's been a week now, and I'm just wondering if you've sent an email or made a phone call yet.

Thanks in advance,
Bob Kuczewski

Hi Steve,

You wrote:

Steve Rodrigues wrote:I'll try and get the latest reasons for the voting deal and get back to you.

My post after that wasn't particularly confrontational toward you. In fact, I went as far as to say: "... let me withdraw any harsh comments directed at Steve for now. It was Steve's initial statement that drew my attention:"

I think that was a pretty nice olive branch.

You said you don't have a lot of resources, so let me save you some time by writing a rough draft to Rich Hass for you:

Proposed Draft Letter by Bob wrote:Hi Rich,

There's been some discussion on the Funston forum regarding voting records of Directors on the USHPA Board. You can read some of it here:

http://flyfunston.org/bbs/posting.php.html?mode=quote&f=5&p=3142

Bob Kuczewski says that he proposed something in 2009 called the "Accountability Amendment" which would have created a voting record for any issue when a Director asked to have the vote recorded. Is that true? He also said that he tried to have it added to the "Organization and Bylaws" agenda, but Dave Wills wouldn't allow it, and he claims that he tried to bring it up at the spring 2010 board meeting but Lisa Tate wouldn't allow it either. Is that true as well?

Rich, it seems to me that the members elect us to vote for them on the Board. But if the members don't know how we're voting on the Board, then how can they tell if we're doing what they would like or not? So I think something like this "Accountability Amendment" would be a good idea. Can we get it added to the agenda for the next meeting?

Thanks,
Steve

Just copy and paste that into an email to Rich Hass and modify it if you like. Then let us know what he has to say. It doesn't get much easier than that!!

Thanks in advance,
Bob Kuczewski

Steve Rodrigues wrote:My plate is full with issues in my own region and I don't have the extra resources to help those in other regions at this time. Please contact your own RD's with any further questions.

Steve,

Getting voting records of Regional Directors is a national issue, and it's also an issue that many of your own Region's members support.

With regard to contacting my own Directors, they are all controlled by the interests who want to keep voting secret. That's why I'm reaching out to you. I'm hoping you're one of the few Directors who still want to see USHPA controlled by its members. The voting record issue is your chance to tell everyone which side you're on. Please stand with those of us who want a more open and responsive USHPA. Please send that email message to Rich Hass and tell us how he responds.

Thanks in advance.

The Nominations are in ...

All of the USHPA Regional Director candidates recently got an email message from Mark Forbes containing this list:

Mark Forbes wrote:Here is the list of nominees for the upcoming election to fill the 2013-2014 term. ...

(I) means "incumbent".

1 Rich Hass (I)

2 Steve Rodrigues (I)
2 Jugdeep Aggarwal

3 Dan DeWeese
3 Bob Kuczewski
(Bill Helliwell is retiring at the end of this term.)

4 Ryan Voight(I)

5 No election this year

6/11 No election this year

7 Tracy Tillman (I)

8 Michael Holmes (I)

9 Felipe Amunategui (I)

10 Steve Kroop (I)

11/6 No election this year

12 Paul Voight (I)

Unfortunately, all Regions (except 2 and 3) are uncontested, so there's not much hope of improvement.

But on the bright side, there appears to be two candidates in Region 2, so let's see where they stand. I'll start with my favorite issue:

Steve and Jugdeep, can you tell us where you stand on publishing the voting records of USHPA Directors?

If you do support published voting records, what steps would you take to make that happen? For example, would you support the "Accountability Amendment" to the bylaws that I proposed in 2009?

Thanks in advance for any substantial replies!!

P.S. There's also a discussion on the national elections at: http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php.html?f=2&t=1093

On July 31st, I asked the two candidates:

bobk wrote:Steve and Jugdeep, can you tell us where you stand on publishing the voting records of USHPA Directors?

If you do support published voting records, what steps would you take to make that happen? For example, would you support the "Accountability Amendment" to the bylaws that I proposed in 2009?

Unfortunately, there's been no answer from either candidate.

Even more unfortunately, on August 2nd, Mark Forbes announced that Steve Rodrigues was retiring (not running again) at the end of his term (see message below). From my posts above, you might think I'd be happy that Steve has dropped out. I'm not. If we want to fix USHPA, we need to have candidates publicly debating the issues. One candidate gives us no debate ... and no choice. So I'd like to see Steve or any other candidate back in the race.

But once a candidate drops out before certain deadlines (due to publishing constraints?), it's difficult to get back onto the official candidate list published in a fall issue of the USHPA magazine (maybe October?). However, there is still the possibility of a write-in campaign. I would encourage Steve or anyone else interested to start such a campaign so Region 2 can have a choice ... and more importantly a debate ... about what needs to be fixed at USHPA.

Mark Forbes (on August 2, 2012 wrote:From: Mark G. Forbes, USHPA Elections Committee Chairman
To: USHPA regional director election candidates

1 Rich Hass (I)

2 Jugdeep Aggarwal
(Steve Rodrigues retiring at the end of this term.)

3 Dan DeWeese
3 Bob Kuczewski
(Bill Helliwell is retiring at the end of this term.)

4 Ryan Voight(I)

5 No election this year
6/11 No election this year

7 ***Paul Olson
(Tracy Tillman retiring at the end of this term.)

8 ***Michael Holmes (I)

9 Felipe Amunategui (I)

10 Steve Kroop (I)

11/6 No election this year

12 Paul Voight (I)

I've heard from Paul Olson and Michael Holmes so far. Nobody else.
Please get your campaign statement and your photo in today!
Reply-all will send it to everyone who needs it.

Thanks for volunteering!

Mark G. Forbes
USHPA Elections Committee chairman