The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

2005 will become known as the Year of the USCF Election Fraud. Every
election contains false statements by the candidates. However, this
year and this election sets some sort of record for outrageously false
and fraudulent statements. A flyer handed out in support of the
so-called "team" of four running as a slate this year contains false
statements about each of the four team members, Steve Shutt, Randy
Bauer, Elizabeth Shaughnessy and George John. Here are some examples.

Randy Bauer

The flyer states: "He is a current board member who was part of the
team that turned around the USCF=81fs finances."

FALSE: Randy Bauer was first elected to the board in August 2004. By
then, the USCF's finances had already turned around. Randy Bauer had
nothing, absolutely zero, to do with turning around the USCF=81fs
finances. It was Bill Goichberg who turned around the USCF=81fs
finances. Bill Goichberg was fired for doing this. For fiscal year
2003-2004, ending May 2004, the USCF returned a significant profit,
after eight consecutive years of losses. This was while Bill Goichberg
was running the federation and before Randy Bauer got on the board.

Elizabeth Shaughnessy

The flyer states: "She is a current Executive Board member who has also
played an important role in saving the USCF financially."

FALSE: Elizabeth Shaughnessy was also elected in August, 2004 and had
nothing to do with saving the USCF financially, so this statement about
her is false for the same reason.

The flyer continues: "As an architect, she is the liaison between the
board and the architects to insure that the new USCF headquarters
building stays on budget."

FALSE AND MISLEADING: Elizabeth Shaughnessy is not a practicing
architect. She makes her living teaching chess to children. It is
possible that she has a degree in architecture, but she has not worked
as an architect for many years, if ever.

This statement is noteworthy because it constitutes the only instance
when there is any mention of the fact that the team running for
election plans to build a new USCF building. The membership is being
kept in the dark about these plans and the costs thereof.

The flyer also states: "She is former President of the Berkeley School
Board which she helped save from bankruptcy." I do not know anything
about this other than the fact that she was not reelected to the
Berkeley School Board. I would like to find out more about this.

Not mentioned is the fact that Elizabeth Shaughnessy is barely
a1600-strength chess player and she might be doing a disservice to her
students by trying to teach them chess.

GEORGE JOHN

The flyer states: "He has over 25 years of software development
experience. We need at least one Executive Board member with extensive
software expertise to oversee the continued modernizing of the USCF=81fs
software systems."

WHAT A CROCK: If there is one person we do not need to hear any more
from it is George John. The last time he had any power in the USCF he
nearly bankrupted the organization. This is the same bankruptcy that
the same flyer says that Randy Bauer and Elizabeth Shaughnessy saved us
from. George John has a lot of nerve to run again. The last time he ran
was in 2001 when he ran as the candidate of the Redman Gang. If he had
not been defeated then, the USCF would likely be out of existence by
now. It was George John=81fs false claims to be a software expert which
brought about the firing of Michael Cavallo and brought us US Chess
Live and the spyware it contained. This led to the loss by the USCF of
over one million dollars. These massive financial losses must be laid
directly at the feet of George John.

It is an amazing and noteworthy fact that while George John claims to
have worked for 25 years in software development, he cannot point to
even one item of computer software he has worked on or developed. Turns
out that his main software project was setting up a spreadsheet for a
used furniture store.

We have a software developer. His name is Mike Nolan. We neither need
nor want any more interference from George John. If Mike Nolan needs
any help, the USCF is blessed with a large number of members who are
legitimate software developers, but who do not go around proclaiming to
everybody what experts they are. We do not need George John around to
bother us with his false claims of expertise and his offers to "help".

The flyer also cites the many years George John has been involved in
chess (mostly as a chess dad). Perhaps it should mention that his chess
rating has risen to 1345.

STEVE SHUTT

The flyer states: "He ... has been one of the team that brought the
USCF back from the brink of insolvency."

FALSE (BUT FOR A DIFFERENT REASON)

Unlike Randy Bauer and Elizabeth Shaughnessy, Steve Shutt was on the
earlier board but he VOTED AGAINST all the measures put forth by
Beatriz Marinello and Timothy Hanke which they now credit themselves
with saving the USCF from insolvency.

Throughout 2003 and 2004, Steve Shutt consistently voted against almost
every measure put forth by Beatriz Marinello and Timothy Hanke, until
late 2004 when Steve Shutt abruptly switched sides and joined their
"team". Why Steve Shutt did this remains a mystery.

Most importantly, on August 20, 2003, only a few days after being
elected USCF President, Beatriz Marinello walked into the USCF offices
in New Windsor and fired 17 long serving staff members. Immediately
thereafter, Harold Winston, an attorney and chairman of the USCF
By-Laws Committee, informed the board that this act had been illegal
because the USCF President does not have the authority to fire anybody.

Thereafter, the Board met on August 25, 2003 and took a vote to ratify
and thereby make legal the acts of Beatriz Marinello in firing 17 staff
members. The vote was 5-1 in favor of Beatriz. The one person who voted
against Beatriz was Steve Shutt. This can be seen from looking up the
minutes of that meeting, which are on the USCF website at
http://www.uschess.org

THE LARGER ISSUE

To its credit, this flyer comes out and states what we already knew,
which is that these four are running as a slate. The USCF Executive
Board consists of seven members. Thus, a group of four can impose their
views on the remaining three. This has led to disaster in the past. In
August 2000, the Redman Gang-of-Four took power and nearly bankrupted
the USCF in just one year. Had they not been defeated in the August
2001 election, the USCF would likely not be in existence now. The way
the Redman Gang operated was that the four gang members met and decided
on the future course of the USCF, leaving the three other board members
out of the discussion. Then, when the board officially met, the
meetings served only to rubber-stamp the decisions already made. The
three outside board members simply had no say.

The Redman Gang no longer exists. All of its members are now either
dead or retired from chess, except for Redman himself. However, the new
gang threatens a repeat of the same situation. If the self-proclaimed
team of Bauer, Shaughnessy, Shutt and John is elected, the outside
board members will simply be locked out of any decision making process.

There are five other candidates: Bill Goichberg, Greg Shahade, Robert
Tanner, Joel Channing and myself. Each of us are independent from each
other. Frankly, I know nothing about the views of Greg Shahade, Robert
Tanner and Joel Channing, except that I do know that all of them are
independent and are not likely to be members of any group, team or
slate seeking covert control of the USCF. I urge the USCF membership to
vote for any four of us and to reject the candidacies of the so-called
Marinello "team".

Sam Sloan

wrote:
The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

snip rant
There are five other candidates: Bill Goichberg, Greg Shahade, Robert
Tanner, Joel Channing and myself. Each of us are independent from each
other. Frankly, I know nothing about the views of Greg Shahade, Robert
Tanner and Joel Channing, except that I do know that all of them are
independent and are not likely to be members of any group, team or
slate seeking covert control of the USCF. I urge the USCF membership
to vote for any four of us and to reject the candidacies of the
so-called Marinello "team".

You've made my decision easy Sam. I'll vote for those you are against and
won't vote for the ones you are for.

Didn't you earlier call Goichberg, Shahade, Tanner and Channing the "good
guys" slate.
Why yes, look what google found.

"Sam Sloan" wrote:
The "Bad Guys" slate consists of:
George John
Steve Shutt
Elizabeth Shaughnessy
Randy Bauer
The "Good Guys" slate consists of:
Bill Goichberg
Greg Shahade
Joel Channing
Robert Tanner

wrote:

All,

[SNIP]

For many years Sam Sloan has made comments similar to those below. I
have responded to them previously at length. IMO, they have little to
do with reality. If anyone would like me to respond again, I will do
so.

At no charge, I have written two online software programs for the USCF
which can be accessed from the USCF Website. Copies can be found at:

http://www.georgejohn.bcentralhost.c.../perfrate.html

http://www.georgejohn.bcentralhost.com/tca/ktable.htm

For more information about the slate I am running with please see
http://www.USChessSuccess.com

Best regards,

George John


GEORGE JOHN

The flyer states: "He has over 25 years of software development
experience. We need at least one Executive Board member with
extensive
software expertise to oversee the continued modernizing of the
USCF=81fs
software systems."

WHAT A CROCK: If there is one person we do not need to hear any more
from it is George John. The last time he had any power in the USCF he
nearly bankrupted the organization. This is the same bankruptcy that
the same flyer says that Randy Bauer and Elizabeth Shaughnessy saved
us
from. George John has a lot of nerve to run again. The last time he
ran
was in 2001 when he ran as the candidate of the Redman Gang. If he
had
not been defeated then, the USCF would likely be out of existence by
now. It was George John=81fs false claims to be a software expert
which
brought about the firing of Michael Cavallo and brought us US Chess
Live and the spyware it contained. This led to the loss by the USCF
of
over one million dollars. These massive financial losses must be laid
directly at the feet of George John.

It is an amazing and noteworthy fact that while George John claims to
have worked for 25 years in software development, he cannot point to
even one item of computer software he has worked on or developed.
Turns
out that his main software project was setting up a spreadsheet for a
used furniture store.

We have a software developer. His name is Mike Nolan. We neither need
nor want any more interference from George John. If Mike Nolan needs
any help, the USCF is blessed with a large number of members who are
legitimate software developers, but who do not go around proclaiming
to
everybody what experts they are. We do not need George John around to
bother us with his false claims of expertise and his offers to
"help".

The flyer also cites the many years George John has been involved in
chess (mostly as a chess dad). Perhaps it should mention that his
chess
rating has risen to 1345.

[SNIP]

wrote:
The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

2005 will become known as the Year of the USCF Election Fraud. Every
election contains false statements by the candidates. However, this
year and this election sets some sort of record for outrageously
false
and fraudulent statements. A flyer handed out in support of the
so-called "team" of four running as a slate this year contains false
statements about each of the four team members, Steve Shutt, Randy
Bauer, Elizabeth Shaughnessy and George John. Here are some examples.

Randy Bauer

The flyer states: "He is a current board member who was part of the
team that turned around the USCF=81fs finances."

FALSE: Randy Bauer was first elected to the board in August 2004. By
then, the USCF's finances had already turned around. Randy Bauer had
nothing, absolutely zero, to do with turning around the USCF=81fs
finances. It was Bill Goichberg who turned around the USCF=81fs
finances. Bill Goichberg was fired for doing this. For fiscal year
2003-2004, ending May 2004, the USCF returned a significant profit,
after eight consecutive years of losses. This was while Bill
Goichberg
was running the federation and before Randy Bauer got on the board.

Elizabeth Shaughnessy

The flyer states: "She is a current Executive Board member who has
also
played an important role in saving the USCF financially."

FALSE: Elizabeth Shaughnessy was also elected in August, 2004 and had
nothing to do with saving the USCF financially, so this statement
about
her is false for the same reason.

The flyer continues: "As an architect, she is the liaison between the
board and the architects to insure that the new USCF headquarters
building stays on budget."

FALSE AND MISLEADING: Elizabeth Shaughnessy is not a practicing
architect. She makes her living teaching chess to children. It is
possible that she has a degree in architecture, but she has not
worked
as an architect for many years, if ever.

This statement is noteworthy because it constitutes the only instance
when there is any mention of the fact that the team running for
election plans to build a new USCF building. The membership is being
kept in the dark about these plans and the costs thereof.

The flyer also states: "She is former President of the Berkeley
School
Board which she helped save from bankruptcy." I do not know anything
about this other than the fact that she was not reelected to the
Berkeley School Board. I would like to find out more about this.

Not mentioned is the fact that Elizabeth Shaughnessy is barely
a1600-strength chess player and she might be doing a disservice to
her
students by trying to teach them chess.

GEORGE JOHN

The flyer states: "He has over 25 years of software development
experience. We need at least one Executive Board member with
extensive
software expertise to oversee the continued modernizing of the
USCF=81fs
software systems."

WHAT A CROCK: If there is one person we do not need to hear any more
from it is George John. The last time he had any power in the USCF he
nearly bankrupted the organization. This is the same bankruptcy that
the same flyer says that Randy Bauer and Elizabeth Shaughnessy saved
us
from. George John has a lot of nerve to run again. The last time he
ran
was in 2001 when he ran as the candidate of the Redman Gang. If he
had
not been defeated then, the USCF would likely be out of existence by
now. It was George John=81fs false claims to be a software expert
which
brought about the firing of Michael Cavallo and brought us US Chess
Live and the spyware it contained. This led to the loss by the USCF
of
over one million dollars. These massive financial losses must be laid
directly at the feet of George John.

It is an amazing and noteworthy fact that while George John claims to
have worked for 25 years in software development, he cannot point to
even one item of computer software he has worked on or developed.
Turns
out that his main software project was setting up a spreadsheet for a
used furniture store.

We have a software developer. His name is Mike Nolan. We neither need
nor want any more interference from George John. If Mike Nolan needs
any help, the USCF is blessed with a large number of members who are
legitimate software developers, but who do not go around proclaiming
to
everybody what experts they are. We do not need George John around to
bother us with his false claims of expertise and his offers to
"help".

The flyer also cites the many years George John has been involved in
chess (mostly as a chess dad). Perhaps it should mention that his
chess
rating has risen to 1345.

STEVE SHUTT

The flyer states: "He ... has been one of the team that brought the
USCF back from the brink of insolvency."

FALSE (BUT FOR A DIFFERENT REASON)

Unlike Randy Bauer and Elizabeth Shaughnessy, Steve Shutt was on the
earlier board but he VOTED AGAINST all the measures put forth by
Beatriz Marinello and Timothy Hanke which they now credit themselves
with saving the USCF from insolvency.

Throughout 2003 and 2004, Steve Shutt consistently voted against
almost
every measure put forth by Beatriz Marinello and Timothy Hanke, until
late 2004 when Steve Shutt abruptly switched sides and joined their
"team". Why Steve Shutt did this remains a mystery.

Most importantly, on August 20, 2003, only a few days after being
elected USCF President, Beatriz Marinello walked into the USCF
offices
in New Windsor and fired 17 long serving staff members. Immediately
thereafter, Harold Winston, an attorney and chairman of the USCF
By-Laws Committee, informed the board that this act had been illegal
because the USCF President does not have the authority to fire
anybody.

Thereafter, the Board met on August 25, 2003 and took a vote to
ratify
and thereby make legal the acts of Beatriz Marinello in firing 17
staff
members. The vote was 5-1 in favor of Beatriz. The one person who
voted
against Beatriz was Steve Shutt. This can be seen from looking up the
minutes of that meeting, which are on the USCF website at
http://www.uschess.org

THE LARGER ISSUE

To its credit, this flyer comes out and states what we already knew,
which is that these four are running as a slate. The USCF Executive
Board consists of seven members. Thus, a group of four can impose
their
views on the remaining three. This has led to disaster in the past.
In
August 2000, the Redman Gang-of-Four took power and nearly bankrupted
the USCF in just one year. Had they not been defeated in the August
2001 election, the USCF would likely not be in existence now. The way
the Redman Gang operated was that the four gang members met and
decided
on the future course of the USCF, leaving the three other board
members
out of the discussion. Then, when the board officially met, the
meetings served only to rubber-stamp the decisions already made. The
three outside board members simply had no say.

The Redman Gang no longer exists. All of its members are now either
dead or retired from chess, except for Redman himself. However, the
new
gang threatens a repeat of the same situation. If the self-proclaimed
team of Bauer, Shaughnessy, Shutt and John is elected, the outside
board members will simply be locked out of any decision making
process.

There are five other candidates: Bill Goichberg, Greg Shahade, Robert
Tanner, Joel Channing and myself. Each of us are independent from
each
other. Frankly, I know nothing about the views of Greg Shahade,
Robert
Tanner and Joel Channing, except that I do know that all of them are
independent and are not likely to be members of any group, team or
slate seeking covert control of the USCF. I urge the USCF membership
to
vote for any four of us and to reject the candidacies of the
so-called
Marinello "team".

Sam Sloan

First, you continue to put forth that we lost $1,000,000 between August
of 2000 and August of 2001 during the Redman administration. Please
back up this figure as it seems wrong by a lot.

Second, you make suppositions and state them as facts ie George John
would have run us into bancruptcy had he been elected.

Third, Bill Goichberg administered a scaled down USCF after cuts in
personnel were made to save money and the outsourcing of B & E had been
decided. He was responsible for only the vendor not the decision.

Fourth, its seems that Goichberg and Schultz were President and
Vice-President when most of the losses were incurred.

Cavallo was fired because he spent over $150K on a software program
that didn't work and would never work. He was also responsible for
pledging "all of the USCF assets" as collateral for the $400K line of
credit that he maxed out and made no payments on in over a year. That
money had to be borrowed from the LMA. Blame that on Cavallo, Schultz
and company.

Try using facts instead of opinion to support your position and maybe
you would gain a bit of credibility.

Nat Breitner

wrote in message
oups.com...
The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

2005 will become known as the Year of the USCF Election Fraud. Every
election contains false statements by the candidates. However, this
year and this election sets some sort of record for outrageously false
and fraudulent statements. A flyer handed out in support of the
so-called "team" of four running as a slate this year contains false
statements about each of the four team members, Steve Shutt, Randy
Bauer, Elizabeth Shaughnessy and George John. Here are some examples.

Randy Bauer

The flyer states: "He is a current board member who was part of the
team that turned around the USCF?fs finances."

FALSE: Randy Bauer was first elected to the board in August 2004. By
then, the USCF's finances had already turned around. Randy Bauer had
nothing, absolutely zero, to do with turning around the USCF?fs
finances. It was Bill Goichberg who turned around the USCF?fs
finances. Bill Goichberg was fired for doing this. For fiscal year
2003-2004, ending May 2004, the USCF returned a significant profit,
after eight consecutive years of losses. This was while Bill Goichberg
was running the federation and before Randy Bauer got on the board.

I've previously refuted Sloan's weak analysis of the Damiano Defense, and
this isn't much more difficult. Sam fails to note that I served on the
Finance Committee during the budget turn-around year and provided input on
the budget developed for that year as well as other financial issues that
assisted in the USCF turnaround. Sam also fails to note that I had
considerable input in developing the current year's budget -- a budget that
continues the progress made the previous year in aligning expenses with
revenue.

I will continue to support conservative budget practices that do not
"balance" the budget by inflating revenue estimates. That is the budget
game practiced by past regimes, some of whose members Sloan supports. If
you want an honest, credible budget and a decent shot at maintaining budget
surpluses, stick with the incumbents, not the Sloanistas.

Randy Bauer

I'm not running on a slate, anything said otherwise is false.




Randy Bauer wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

2005 will become known as the Year of the USCF Election Fraud. Every
election contains false statements by the candidates. However, this
year and this election sets some sort of record for outrageously
false
and fraudulent statements. A flyer handed out in support of the
so-called "team" of four running as a slate this year contains false
statements about each of the four team members, Steve Shutt, Randy
Bauer, Elizabeth Shaughnessy and George John. Here are some examples.

Randy Bauer

The flyer states: "He is a current board member who was part of the
team that turned around the USCF=81fs finances."

FALSE: Randy Bauer was first elected to the board in August 2004. By
then, the USCF's finances had already turned around. Randy Bauer had
nothing, absolutely zero, to do with turning around the USCF=81fs
finances. It was Bill Goichberg who turned around the USCF=81fs
finances. Bill Goichberg was fired for doing this. For fiscal year
2003-2004, ending May 2004, the USCF returned a significant profit,
after eight consecutive years of losses. This was while Bill
Goichberg
was running the federation and before Randy Bauer got on the board.

I've previously refuted Sloan's weak analysis of the Damiano Defense,
and
this isn't much more difficult. Sam fails to note that I served on
the
Finance Committee during the budget turn-around year and provided
input on
the budget developed for that year as well as other financial issues
that
assisted in the USCF turnaround. Sam also fails to note that I had
considerable input in developing the current year's budget -- a
budget that
continues the progress made the previous year in aligning expenses
with
revenue.

I will continue to support conservative budget practices that do not
"balance" the budget by inflating revenue estimates. That is the
budget
game practiced by past regimes, some of whose members Sloan supports.
If
you want an honest, credible budget and a decent shot at maintaining
budget
surpluses, stick with the incumbents, not the Sloanistas.
=20
Randy Bauer

curtains= Greg Shahade for those that don't know.

"curtains" wrote in message
ups.com...

I'm not running on a slate, anything said otherwise is false.


I did not suggest that you were.

Randy Bauer



Randy Bauer wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
The Year of the USCF Election Fraud

2005 will become known as the Year of the USCF Election Fraud. Every
election contains false statements by the candidates. However, this
year and this election sets some sort of record for outrageously
false
and fraudulent statements. A flyer handed out in support of the
so-called "team" of four running as a slate this year contains false
statements about each of the four team members, Steve Shutt, Randy
Bauer, Elizabeth Shaughnessy and George John. Here are some examples.

Randy Bauer

The flyer states: "He is a current board member who was part of the
team that turned around the USCF?fs finances."

FALSE: Randy Bauer was first elected to the board in August 2004. By
then, the USCF's finances had already turned around. Randy Bauer had
nothing, absolutely zero, to do with turning around the USCF?fs
finances. It was Bill Goichberg who turned around the USCF?fs
finances. Bill Goichberg was fired for doing this. For fiscal year
2003-2004, ending May 2004, the USCF returned a significant profit,
after eight consecutive years of losses. This was while Bill
Goichberg
was running the federation and before Randy Bauer got on the board.

I've previously refuted Sloan's weak analysis of the Damiano Defense,
and
this isn't much more difficult. Sam fails to note that I served on
the
Finance Committee during the budget turn-around year and provided
input on
the budget developed for that year as well as other financial issues
that
assisted in the USCF turnaround. Sam also fails to note that I had
considerable input in developing the current year's budget -- a
budget that
continues the progress made the previous year in aligning expenses
with
revenue.

I will continue to support conservative budget practices that do not
"balance" the budget by inflating revenue estimates. That is the
budget
game practiced by past regimes, some of whose members Sloan supports.
If
you want an honest, credible budget and a decent shot at maintaining
budget
surpluses, stick with the incumbents, not the Sloanistas.

Randy Bauer

"George John" IMO, they have little to
do with reality. At no charge, I have written two online software programs
for the USCF which can be accessed from the USCF Website. Copies can be
found at

What are those programs for? Who can use them? what is their value? You
sound like a real ****-heel, and just another scumbag looking to rob the US
Chess organization.

Anyone that gives away their "valuable" work in order to get elected seems
like a dishonest little ******* to me.

Stop robbing the US Chess members. Get a Job. Go Away.

"Randy Bauer" I will continue to support conservative budget practices
that do not "balance" the budget by inflating revenue estimates.

You sound like a real Bull**** Artist. Get A Job. Stop robbing the US Chess
Federation. Stop being involved. All of you *******s have collectively run
it into the ground. You have kept it barely alive by selling your buildings
and moving into the middle of nowhere, Tennessee, and you act like this is a
major accomplishment. You people are either frauds, criminals, or
incompetents. You all need to be fired, and the US Chess Federation should
be put into some kind of receivership while the District Attorney prepares
Criminal Indictments.