From: (Sam Sloan)
Date: 22/07/03 13:52 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

Irony of Tim Hanke's Victory

Does anybody else find it ironic that Tim Hanke campaigned for office
on an anti-corruption campaign and, upon winning the election, demands
more money for himself than any previous candidate has ever demanded.

Apparently, he believed his own campaign platform, that Executive
Board members and other insiders are stealing money from the
federation. He decided to run so that he can steal some of that money
too.

Clearly a case of projection. Hanke feels that others have done what
he wants to do himself.

Mr. Hanke wants his round-trip airplane ticket from Boston to Los
Angeles to be paid for by the USCF, plus he wants his hotel bills and
meals for a week to be paid for by the USCF, all this so that he can
"hit the ground running" when he becomes a member of the board.

These items combined will cost the USCF about $1500, money which the
federation does not have.

Just to explain: At the conclusion of the delegate's meeting in Los
Angeles on August 11, there will be a meeting of the new Executive
Board. This meeting will traditionally last two days. This means that
Mr. Hanke will be entitled to receive reimbursement for that ONE NIGHT
in the hotel. He will also be entitled to be reimbursed for his air
ticket back to Boston from that meeting.

However, instead Mr. Hanke wants a round-trip ticket and he wants the
USCF to pay for one week at the hotel plus meals so that he can attend
the various committee meetings and learn about them. These meetings
will take place under the outgoing Executive Board and Mr. Hanke can
attend only as a spectator. Mr. Hanke is definitely not entitled to be
reimbursed for his expenses in attending those meetings, assuming that
he decides to attend them.

Here is what Mr. Hanke has posted on this subject:

From:Tim Hanke )
Subject: Advance Delegate Motion 03-31
Newsgroups:rec.games.chess.politics
Date:2003-07-18 12:29:47 PST

The frigging process as it stands now is far from reasonable.

This morning I talked to Barb Vandermark, Frank Niro's assistant. I
asked her (among other questions) when I would hear anything official
from USCF about my election to the Board.

She said my election wouldn't be official till the Delegates ratify
the election. This won't happen till just before the new Board meets
on August 11. Obviously I will have to buy plane tickets to L.A. weeks
before that, if I am to get any kind of reasonable price and arrive on
time for the meeting.

But wait, there's more. Because I won't be a Board member till the
Delegates ratify the election results, USCF (per USCF President John
McCrary, whom Barb consulted) won't pay my expenses before that date.
Till August 10 or so, I'm a non-person as far as USCF is concerned.

Problem is, all the USCF committee meetings (Financial Committee,
Bylaws, etc.), where the real work gets done, are scheduled for
*before* the Delegates meeting. So if I want to participate in any of
the real work of the USCF's annual meeting, I will have to pay the
cost of several days of hotel & meals.

This does not exactly encourage me to attend the committee meetings
and hit the ground running, fully-informed and knowing all the key
people, when the new Board finally meets.

Meanwhile, all the members of the lame-duck Board are fully covered
for their expenses throughout the committee meetings, even if they
will not be on the Board any longer when the Board actually meets Aug.
11.

To me, this is all frigging ridiculous. I am fully prepared to give up
my hard-earned vacation time to help the USCF, but I was expecting at
least to get reimbursed for major out-of-pocket expenses. As a working
person, my time is money; I am also giving up my family vacation.

Tim Hanke


Sam,

In common with Alanis Morisette, you seem to be exhibiting extreme difficulty
with the meaning of the word: "Irony"...

Talking about Morisette's hit song "Ironic", the Irish comedian, Ed Byrne [who
I am about to paraphrase liberally] observed:

'The song should be called: "Unfortunate"

'A traffic jam when you're already late'...

....that's *not* ironic, that's just *unfortunate*.

Now, if your job was to design road traffic systems, and you were driving to a
conference in a particular town, to deliver a paper extolling the success of a
traffic system which you had designed *for that town*, and you got stuck in a
traffic jam *in that town* which *made you late*, *that* would be ironic..."

People voted for Hanke *because* they *know* that he's *bigoted* and
*forthright* and *pushy* and *completely insensitive* and *deliberately
disingenuous to the point of lying, frequently* and *utterly unapologetic*, not
to mention that he *owns many guns*.

The British historian, Simon Schama, memorably described the Victorian British
Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, as: "...the attack dog of the Tory Party..."

Hanke is the nearest to a Disraeli that the USCF can muster. The USCF's voters,
apparently, have had enough of too many wishy-washy Gladstones... That's not
"irony", it's "pragmatism". It's also "democracy".

A little ways back there, Sam, you correctly observed that I have stated
repeatedly that, as a Brit, I have *absolutely no interest* in USCF politics.

This is completely true.

Before you protest that this post is inherently political, I should point out
that its purpose is neither to endorse Hanke (heaven forfend).nor to pass any
sort of judgement on the USCF, nor its electoral process, nor its voters.

Rather, it has simply been to point out to you that your lack of understanding
of the meaning of: "irony" is matched only by your lack of understanding of the
meaning of the word: "fact", your lack of understanding of the meaning of the
word: "responsible", your lack of understanding of the meaning of the word:
"journalism", your lack of understanding of the meaning of the word:
"sociopathic", your lack of understanding of the meaning of the word: "loser",
your lack of understanding...

Understand?

Mark