To each their own. Personally, I think if one is going to offer controversial statements on a forum, one should post one's real name.Originally Posted by RV8505
To each their own. Personally, I think if one is going to offer controversial statements on a forum, one should post one's real name.
Jeff Point
RV-6 and RLU-1 built & flying
Tech Counselor, Flight Advisor & President, EAA Chapter 18
Milwaukee, WI
"It All Started Here!"
On another note, since you volunteer in aircraft parking, live in the local area, and as you have stated repeatedly being somewhat dissatisfied with the direction of the EAA, do you have any knowledge of or could you shed some light on the rumor that some rogue members are planning a aircraft parking protest / slow down during Oshkosh. If so what is the exact point of that and why Jeff?
Last edited by RV8505; 07-29-2012 at 06:05 PM.
I would certainly hope that is nothing but a rumor...as I would expect such an action would create a backup while Many planes are trying to land at the same airport in a short amount of time... dangerous situation.
From the text comments attributed to Rick Beebe:
The full EAA Board of Directors continues to be listed, along with biographical information for most, at http://members.eaa.org/home/eaa_board.html
That is a legitimate question, and one that I have been asked more than once in the last week or so, and I think it's an important one (even if you phrased it in a baiting way) so I'll tell you what I know. To my knowledge (and frankly I would have heard) there is absolutely no plans by the parking volunteers to conduct any sort of slowdown, work stoppage, strike or whatever you want to call it. My area is Homebuilts, I cannot speak for N40, Warbirds or Antique/ Classic, however I have friends in these areas and if something was afoot, I think I would have heard.
I'll also state this publicly- if there were such an action planned, I would be very much against it and would do what I could to prevent it. Yes, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the current leadership and the direction they are taking us. However there are right ways and wrong ways to express this dissatisfaction, and damaging the convention and hurting individual members through a work stoppage is not the right way.
Jeff Point
RV-6 and RLU-1 built & flying
Tech Counselor, Flight Advisor & President, EAA Chapter 18
Milwaukee, WI
"It All Started Here!"
Sorry, not the best qualifications for determining BOD selection. Anyone with $900.00+ can become a lifetime member and 20 years membership is arbitrary and not at all significant for performing accountabilities of a BOD.
BOD's are carefully selected and vetted by any current organization CEO( NFP, publicly traded or private) to support the vision, agenda and direction of that CEO. Given the current structure of EAA and its voting procedures and qualifications, what is the opportunity to be a dissenting voice? The voting structure/covenants within EAA's constitution needs to be ammended first and foremost before membership can affect desired change with respect to BOD selection. Good Luck!
It is significant! Think about it. What I'm talking about is vested interest. The thing is with that $900.00, twenty years membership, points for volunteering or a combination there of, you have a vested interest in the direction of the organization. In essence it taps the core vales of the EAA. As it is now, a non flying resident of Oshkosh that buys a membership to attend the airshow and has very little interest in the EAA has the same voting rights as you. There are many more of them then us. I believe it would be much easier to administer and make organizational changes with a dedicated core of EAA members.
I disagree with that statement.
The purpose started out as simply an idea to elect people to the board that were thought to better represent the homebuilder community. Nothing wrong with that, just some members exercising their rights in a membership organization. The initial idea was to (as a group) figure out who they wanted to vote for.
Then someone wondered exactly what the mechanism would be for a group of like-minded people to cast a group of votes. The obvious answer seemed to be via proxy. After all, that's how the current EAA leadership gets to cast votes for people who are unable to attend the annual meeting.
Since there were rumors that the last time this had been tried all the proxies were rejected by EAA because they did not conform to the proper standard, someone thought the group should ask EAA for a blank "blessed" proxy form so that there was some assurance that the collected proxies would be counted. That led to an entire month of time passing, with no one from EAA seemingly able to approve or locate a simple form. First, the EAA lawyer was required, then the EAA Executive Committee was required, and in the end, that still did not produce a form from EAA that was "pre-accepted." Finally, in frustration, the members who were interested in casting votes just copied the existing proxy that assign the voting rights to the EAA leadership and changed the appropriate fields. This got some tacit approval from EAA, but there was still no definitive statement that these would be accepted as legal proxies.
At this point, the "movement" adjusted it goals slightly. In addition to trying to cast a group vote for those they thought would best represent the group, and new goal was to see if the proxy process is broken, or if a group of like-minded individuals can exercise their rights in voting for who they want to represent them. That part remains to be seen.
As part of the process of trying to squeeze an approved proxy form from EAA, it was discovered that the EAA by-laws, minutes to the Board meetings, minutes to the Executive committee meetings, and several other key documents were impossible to find. These documents were thought to be very important for members of the EAA to be able to review, since that would give them some insight into how the EAA is run, and also which board members were looking out for any particular group's interests. With this information, a member can see if a board member voted for or against the things a particular group of members cared about. So the goals were adjusted a little bit more to try and get EAA to be more transparent in it's governance. After all, as a voting member, you want to make sure the people you are voting for have your best interest in mind, right? In this internet age, making these documents available to members should be no harder than creating a "governance" section on the EAA website that members can access anytime they are interested.
All this controversy came about because a group of members wanted to exercise their rights in a membership organization. They were trying to work within the organization to make changes, not against it. That turned out to be an extremely difficult task that revealed the lack of transparency in the way things are currently run. Obviously, changes like this are not made overnight, so a multi-step process was outlined:
Step 1. Collect proxies and see if they can be used by a group to cast votes for "preferred" candidates.
Step 2. If that was successful, see how board members can be nominated that are preferential to the group for next year. If not successful, find out why.
Step 3. Work with the EAA to make the governance more transparent to the members. Realize this may not happen until said group has enough members on the board to force a change.
This initial group happened to be a group of homebuilders, but the same thing could be done by a group of warbirds, antiques, aerobatics, or others. Over time, the board would begin to more represent the groups that were organized and voting in a block. This is a way to make sure the EAA is going in the direction the membership prefers.
So, the initial push was to get proxies, because that is what can be done now, and before Oshkosh this year. The other stuff will take longer and require more work over a span of several years.
The main goal was well-defined: More transparency in EAA governance. Everything else were just ways to get there.
Last edited by FloridaJohn; 07-18-2012 at 04:34 PM.
Hi Everyone,
I am the individual who volunteered to represent the group of VAF members initially, as well as anyone else who would like to participate in the election this year. This thread was brought to my attention by a friend of mine, so I apologize for not joining in earlier.
FloridaJohn did a really nice job of providing the complete history up to this point. He also identified the turning point that riled up the VAF members and that is simply the ability to participate in an election.
There are a number of policy issues that are debatable among EAA members. Some of those are even embedded in this thread such as the 20 year requirement. The thing about policy is that it can be debated until the sun goes down and no one will ever win the discussion. There are reasonable merits on both sides of any policy debate and those are better left in the hands of the Board of Directors. The reality is that we, as EAA members, simply can't write (or re-write) policy in a way that is convenient to each of us.
However, as members of the organization, we all (well almost all - you have to be 18 years old) have the right to participate in the election of the Board of Directors. So it's our responsibility as members, both satisfied and dissatisfied, to elect board members that we believe will best serve our needs as members of the organization. Any policy decision can be debated publicly but it can (and should) only be made by the BOD members that we elect to represent us.
Today, EAA members have 3 choices to participate in the election:1) They can simply not participate; or
2) They can assign their vote to the leadership team of EAA; or
3) They can show up in person and vote for the specific candidates they believe best represent their interests.
The fourth option is missing and that is simply allowing all EAA members (who can't attend in person) an opportunity to cast their own voting ballots electronically.
I will attempt to put it in the simplest terms....... If an EAA member's vote is valuable enough to assign to the leadership team, or if a member's vote is valuable enough to be counted when they attend the meeting in person, then ALL member's votes are of equal value and should be accounted for at the time of election.
I should stop right here and not put blame on Mr. Hightower for this either. This hole in the voting membership is something that pre-dates his arrival at the helm of EAA. He should, however, be made aware of the inequity of votes that does currently exist. No EAA member's vote should count more than any other member's vote, and today there is discrimination between members who can attend in person and those who can not.
To ease the minds of many of you, we aren't going to have enough proxy signatures to impact this election in any way, shape, or form. However we will have enough signatures to express concern about these inequities and shine a spotlight on a key issue that all EAA members should be concerned with.
With regards to the proxy forms, you should know that this isn't a great position to be put in. However I know it's the right thing to do and I promised my peer EAA members that I would represent them at the annual meeting. I'm a man of my word and will represent them in a reasonable and professional manner. I am hopeful that others who choose to attend the meeting will do so in a respectful manner too.
On a side note, none of you should let this collection of proxy forms overshadow your time at AirVenture. AirVenture is our event. It is our opportunity to meet other members, to make new friends, to learn about the latest developments in aviation. As birds of a feather, it is our opportunity to flock together and we are fortunate to have such a terrific place to do it. The business meeting on Saturday isn't the highlight of the show and it shouldn't be something everyone is focusing their eyes on. So go, have fun, relax, and be a kid for a week. I'm planning on enjoying myself catching up with old friends, making new ones, and hanging out with airplanes.
Hopefully that explains what the proxy collection effort is about and how we're campaigning to bring all EAA members the freedom to participate in a truly democratic election.
Thanks,
Phil
Last edited by Phil; 07-19-2012 at 07:37 AM. Reason: typo and spelling error
My history with EAA goes back about 40 years.
I was told that the proxy came into use after Paul nearly lost an election. So that is the legacy left by Paul.
Mr. Hightower is not to be blamed for the past, but the future is another matter.
A total removal of this proxy system is required (replaced with direct member vote only) to restore my faith in EAA. If that is possible.
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