"samsloan" wrote
Are you sure about this, because you have just put your finger on the
button?

Chess Cafe bought the USCF's books and equipment business in 2004, by
making by far the best bid and guaranteeing to pay a minimum of
$250,000 per year.

By mid-2005, they were far behind in their payments and refusing to
pay unless the USCF agreed to re-negotiate.

Finally, the USCF Executive Board agreed to forgive the indebitedness
of $150,000 and signed a new deal under which Chess Cafe guaranteed to
pay only $100,000 per year.

Naturally, the companies that were outbid by Chess Cafe are angry
because they were prepared to pay more than Chess Cafe ultimately paid
under the final renegotiated contract.

This all happened in the year BEFORE I was elected to the USCF
Executive Board.

So, now you are saying that the USCF Board could be sued for mis-
management and even charged with criminal activity.

Is that correct?




Anything is possible. You should have known that decisions made by the
board are subject to scrutiny. The board minutes should reveal the thought
processes made in the decision to continue the contract with that entity.

Someone defaults on a contractual agreement, and what they bought should
have been repossessed at a minimum, and/or legal actions taken against them
to collect on that contract.

There has to be absolutely solid reasons to renegotiate under such
circumstances, and, there has to be absolutely solid reasons as to why the
Board went with that entity in the first place and why the Board continues
to do business with that entity after such behavior - and - given the fact
that there are other competing entities that are willing to do what should
be the same thing at a much more favorable financial benefit to the
Organization. The minutes should reveal why the Board rejected those other
proposals.

THAT is your fiduciary duty to the members - to act in their (not your) best
interest.

If the members decide that they were "damaged" by those decisions and
actions (or lack of actions) the Board members, Officers, and key employees
are at risk of being sued.

If you are - or were - one of those people, consider seeking legal advice.
Part of that legal advice may be to quit airing things in a public forum, as
they might be used against you in court.



Chess is a game - being on the Board is not.




--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia