Bill Goichberg is Out Of Control

Bill Goichberg has been running amuck with announcements about the US
Championship without consulting or even informing the board and
certainly without any chance for deliberation or for a vote to be
taken.

When he decides to so something, he does not tell the rest of the
board. He simply posts it on the USCF Home Page. Once Bill Goichberg
posts something on the home page of the USCF website, it becomes a
fait accompli. There is almost nothing we can do about it. We
certainly cannot take it off the website. Only Bill can do that.

Here are some examples: In October, 2006, Bill Goichberg posted a list
of qualifying tournaments to the US Championship without board
approval.

Then, on December 27, 2006, Bill Goichberg posted a long list of
players who had qualified to the US Championship, not only without
board approval but also in the face of a deadline the board had given
him to secure a sponsorship deal by December 31, 2006. Bill did not
make the deadline. So, in short, Bill Goichberg told 28 players that
they had qualified to the US Championship, even though he had secured
no sponsorship and had no money to hold the tournament.

Now, on March 5, 2007, Bill Goichberg announced on the USCF Home Page
that patrons including Class C Players and even rank beginners could
buy their way into the US Championship upon payment of $50,000. At
least four threads critical of this decision were deleted and banned
from the USCF Forums shortly after they were posted.

Now, today, on March 8, 2007, just a few moments ago, Bil Goichberg
has announced sex-based slots in the US Championship, such as if a top
rated woman declines to play, the next woman down the list will be
substituted into the US Championship. Again, the board has never voted
on or even discussed this.

In short, there is simply nothing, nothing the board can do to stop
this, short of removing Bill Goichberg as president altogether, which
we have not been able to do because there is no agreement as to a
replacement.

As to why the board has not done more to stop this, we sometimes have
tried. On February 21, 2007, Bill Goichberg announced that the US
Championship would be held in Stillwater Oklahoma and that it would be
called the Frank K. Berry US Championship. Again, no vote had been
taking by the board. Interestingly, The Fake Sam Sloan had announced
this exact deal on rec.games.chess.politics a few days earlier, so The
Fake Sam Sloan knew something the board did not know.

Make no mistake: What Bill Goichberg sent to the board on February 21,
2007 was an announcement. It was not a proposal or a bid. It was
announced as a done deal.

I understand that Jerry Hanken, the architect of the deal, had written
it as a bid. However, Bill Goichberg had modified Hankens words to
make it a concluded agreement, not just a bid.

Here is the exact email sent by Bill Goichberg to the board on
February 21, 2007 at 9:15 PM and my response. Bill posts as
ChessOffice. Judge for yourself:



At 09:15 PM 2/21/2007 EST, wrote:


To: USCF Exec Board

This E-mail is confirm $50,000.00 donation from Frank Berry to be
used toward sponsoring the 2007 Frank K. Berry US Chess Championship.
..
The event is planned as a 9-SS May 15-23, 2007 to be held in
Stillwater, Oklahoma.
..
Details will be determined later by the Organizing Committee and the
USCF Executive Board.
..
Members of the Organizing Committee are as follows: Frank K. Berry,
Jim Berry, Jerry Hanken, Bill Goichberg, John Donaldson and Bill
Hall.
..
Frank Berry hopes to make an additional $150,000 donation, but only
the $50,000 has been delivered. If this additional donation does not
occur, Frank would like for the USCF to contribute $15,000 to the
tournament in order to make it a more prestigious event. If Frank's
additional donation occurs, part of the money would be for a US
Women's Championship to be held in Stillwater this summer.
..
The Organizing Committee reserves the right to add as many as 3 other
players to the May event.
..
signed
Frank K. Berry
Jim Berry
Jerry Hanken
2-21-2007
12:32 pm CST

Wait a second.

At the USCF Executive Board meeting on February 4, 2007, we passed a
motion that no decision would be made on the US Championship without a
vote by the board.

Now, here again, Bill Goichberg is announcing the US Championship
without a vote or even a discussion by the board.

I wonder if Frank and Jim Berry realize that they are stepping into a
political quagmire. There will almost certainly be a lot of opposition
to this plan among the membership and the players when this is
announced.

Also, the board has previously decided that from now on Bill Hall, not
Bill Goichberg, is to be negotiating deals for the US Championship and
that Bill Hall is to report to the entire board, not just to Bill
Goichberg. This is not being done.

Also, please note that one week ago the Fake Sam Sloan predicted this
deal including the exact amount that the Berrys were going to donate.

On Feb 14, 5:43 pm, on rec.games.chess.politics the Fake Sam Sloan
wrote:
Don Schultz has confirmed to me that Bill Goichberg has indeed signed
a $50,000 sponsorship package to hold the 2007 US Championship in
Stillwater, Oklahoma in exchange for a seat on the board for Jim
Berry. I oppose this deal. Donna Alarie, Beatriz Marinello, Joe Lux,
Mike Goodall and Leroy Dubeck also reject this deal.

Sam Sloan

The above was written by the Fake Sam Sloan, not by me.

It now seems obvious that the Fake Sam Sloan knew something that the
rest of us did not know.

The Real Sam Sloan

Bill Goichberg has already tried several times in various ways either
to stop me from taking office on the board after I was elected or to
remove me from the board after I took office.

Obviously, he has not been successful.

Even if he were to succeed, as long as he continues to run the USCF as
a one man dictatorship, there will always be people like me willing to
voice objections.

Sam Sloan