2004 USCF Executive Board Election

Dear USCF Member,

As you may be aware, due to the resignations of two Executive Board Members the
USCF will hold a special election for two one-year terms to the USCF Executive
Board.

If ever the USCF needed effective board members, it's now. When you are talking
about a single year term one should not consider participation on the executive
board as a reward for years of chess service, a way to get celebrity/benefit
for oneself or ones institution, an item to be bought, or just something to add
to ones resume or memoirs.

The Executive Board has the principal responsibility for fulfillment of the
organization's mission and the legal accountability for its operations. Board
members therefore hold the key to organizational accountability and are its
guardians on behalf of you -- the membership. This means that the Board is in
charge of establishing a clear organizational mission, forming the strategic
plan to accomplish the mission, overseeing and evaluating the plan's success,
hiring a competent executive director and providing adequate supervision and
support to that individual, ensuring financial solvency of the organization,
interpreting and representing the membership to the organization, and
instituting a fair system of policies and procedures for human resource
management. The Board in essence directs, oversees, and measures how the
mission is accomplished. Right now, to be effective in my opinion, the Board
needs people with experience in the above disciplines who are willing to roll
up their sleeves and pitch in.

I'd like to offer my assistance to the Board, and become a candidate for one of
the single-year terms to the USCF Executive Board. Since the Board represents
the interests of the membership, I will need to align myself with your
direction about what is important for the USCF. Therefore I'd like to hear from
USCF members about their issues, concern, ideas, priorities, as well as what
you feel is of value regarding your organization.

I encourage USCF members to ask questions of the candidates and post the
answers so the issues can be discussed. I'm somewhat of a regular here as I've
been posting about chess issues on Usenet since 1994 and before that on the
Leisure Linc. I now tend to drop into rgcp about once a week and I have the
newsgroup filtered so I may miss some things. Thus it will more reliable to
contact me through email. Please feel free to email me with your comments and
questions. I'll be glad to just listen or provide you with my current
perspective on any of the issues facing the USCF.

I hope to complete my nomination process shortly and then as a candidate see if
you think I would add anything helpful to our Executive Board. To find out more
you can visit my developing web page at http://members.aol.com/betteruscf/ .

Regards,
Wayne Praeder

Good luck Wayne,

You might want to remove your rose colored glasses. There's lots of
missing "shoulds" in your post here. I have a question for you. What
do you intend to do or believe should be done to halt the decline of
USCF adult regular members?

What do you think a fair dues rate should be for the major classes of
membership. Is your goal to put USCF on life support first and then
work to restore it vigor?

Without a book and equipment business and without a stable base of
adult members, how can USCF generate the needed capital to operate over
the next several years.

As only a single Board member, what difference would you be able to
make realistically speaking in an organization that has had 6 different
Presidents and 9 Executive Directors or leaders since 1995? Does this
indicate to you that the problems are too great for single individuals
or even Boards of 6-7 people to solve effectively?

While your promise not to use the position to innure benefits to
yourself if elected, what will you do to prevent the other various
people who have done and continue to do exactly that if elected?

Thanks for running. I hope you and Bauer win. With you, Bauer, and
Hanke on the Board, you might even be able to bring some sanity to this
turkey.

Best Regards,

Bruce

Over the years, Wayne Praeder has been providing a wealth of useful
information about the USCF, much of what I have put on my website.

However, nobody that I know has ever seen him, and he apparently has
never played in a USCF rated tournament.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12887461

I am concerned that none of the declared candidates for the coming
election have ever attended a USCF meeting of any kind, other than
myself. Prior to OMOV, anybody who ran for election first came to a
few USCF delegate's meetings before running for election.

This past election we had two candidates who had never been to a USCF
meeting. Now, we have four candidates, including Mr. Wayne Praeder,
who have never attended a USCF meeting.

I think it is disturbing that people try to get elected to the USCF
Executive Board without first bothering to learn about the
organization.

Sam Sloan

On 17 Mar 2004 23:56:09 GMT, (WPraeder) wrote:

Dear USCF Member,

As you may be aware, due to the resignations of two Executive Board Members the
USCF will hold a special election for two one-year terms to the USCF Executive
Board.

If ever the USCF needed effective board members, it's now. When you are talking
about a single year term one should not consider participation on the executive
board as a reward for years of chess service, a way to get celebrity/benefit
for oneself or ones institution, an item to be bought, or just something to add
to ones resume or memoirs.

The Executive Board has the principal responsibility for fulfillment of the
organization's mission and the legal accountability for its operations. Board
members therefore hold the key to organizational accountability and are its
guardians on behalf of you -- the membership. This means that the Board is in
charge of establishing a clear organizational mission, forming the strategic
plan to accomplish the mission, overseeing and evaluating the plan's success,
hiring a competent executive director and providing adequate supervision and
support to that individual, ensuring financial solvency of the organization,
interpreting and representing the membership to the organization, and
instituting a fair system of policies and procedures for human resource
management. The Board in essence directs, oversees, and measures how the
mission is accomplished. Right now, to be effective in my opinion, the Board
needs people with experience in the above disciplines who are willing to roll
up their sleeves and pitch in.

I'd like to offer my assistance to the Board, and become a candidate for one of
the single-year terms to the USCF Executive Board. Since the Board represents
the interests of the membership, I will need to align myself with your
direction about what is important for the USCF. Therefore I'd like to hear from
USCF members about their issues, concern, ideas, priorities, as well as what
you feel is of value regarding your organization.

I encourage USCF members to ask questions of the candidates and post the
answers so the issues can be discussed. I'm somewhat of a regular here as I've
been posting about chess issues on Usenet since 1994 and before that on the
Leisure Linc. I now tend to drop into rgcp about once a week and I have the
newsgroup filtered so I may miss some things. Thus it will more reliable to
contact me through email. Please feel free to email me with your comments and
questions. I'll be glad to just listen or provide you with my current
perspective on any of the issues facing the USCF.

I hope to complete my nomination process shortly and then as a candidate see if
you think I would add anything helpful to our Executive Board. To find out more
you can visit my developing web page at http://members.aol.com/betteruscf/ .

Regards,
Wayne Praeder

What a crock!

This would be similar to a requirement that whoever ran for Congress should
have stopped off in Washington DC and watched them "in action." Yawn, what
a waste of time.

I don't need to have attended a USCF meeting to understand its challenges.
I can read a balance sheet and a cashflow statement.

Randy Bauer
I am a candidate for the USCF Executive Board


"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
Over the years, Wayne Praeder has been providing a wealth of useful
information about the USCF, much of what I have put on my website.

However, nobody that I know has ever seen him, and he apparently has
never played in a USCF rated tournament.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12887461

I am concerned that none of the declared candidates for the coming
election have ever attended a USCF meeting of any kind, other than
myself. Prior to OMOV, anybody who ran for election first came to a
few USCF delegate's meetings before running for election.

This past election we had two candidates who had never been to a USCF
meeting. Now, we have four candidates, including Mr. Wayne Praeder,
who have never attended a USCF meeting.

I think it is disturbing that people try to get elected to the USCF
Executive Board without first bothering to learn about the
organization.

Sam Sloan

On 17 Mar 2004 23:56:09 GMT, (WPraeder) wrote:

Dear USCF Member,

As you may be aware, due to the resignations of two Executive Board
Members the
USCF will hold a special election for two one-year terms to the USCF
Executive
Board.

If ever the USCF needed effective board members, it's now. When you are
talking
about a single year term one should not consider participation on the
executive
board as a reward for years of chess service, a way to get
celebrity/benefit
for oneself or ones institution, an item to be bought, or just something
to add
to ones resume or memoirs.

The Executive Board has the principal responsibility for fulfillment of
the
organization's mission and the legal accountability for its operations.
Board
members therefore hold the key to organizational accountability and are
its
guardians on behalf of you -- the membership. This means that the Board
is in
charge of establishing a clear organizational mission, forming the
strategic
plan to accomplish the mission, overseeing and evaluating the plan's
success,
hiring a competent executive director and providing adequate supervision
and
support to that individual, ensuring financial solvency of the
organization,
interpreting and representing the membership to the organization, and
instituting a fair system of policies and procedures for human resource
management. The Board in essence directs, oversees, and measures how the
mission is accomplished. Right now, to be effective in my opinion, the
Board
needs people with experience in the above disciplines who are willing to
roll
up their sleeves and pitch in.

I'd like to offer my assistance to the Board, and become a candidate for
one of
the single-year terms to the USCF Executive Board. Since the Board
represents
the interests of the membership, I will need to align myself with your
direction about what is important for the USCF. Therefore I'd like to
hear from
USCF members about their issues, concern, ideas, priorities, as well as
what
you feel is of value regarding your organization.

I encourage USCF members to ask questions of the candidates and post the
answers so the issues can be discussed. I'm somewhat of a regular here as
I've
been posting about chess issues on Usenet since 1994 and before that on
the
Leisure Linc. I now tend to drop into rgcp about once a week and I have
the
newsgroup filtered so I may miss some things. Thus it will more reliable
to
contact me through email. Please feel free to email me with your comments
and
questions. I'll be glad to just listen or provide you with my current
perspective on any of the issues facing the USCF.

I hope to complete my nomination process shortly and then as a candidate
see if
you think I would add anything helpful to our Executive Board. To find
out more
you can visit my developing web page at
http://members.aol.com/betteruscf/ .

Regards,
Wayne Praeder

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 04:36:08 GMT, "Randy Bauer"
wrote:

What a crock!

This would be similar to a requirement that whoever ran for Congress should
have stopped off in Washington DC and watched them "in action." Yawn, what
a waste of time.

I don't need to have attended a USCF meeting to understand its challenges.
I can read a balance sheet and a cashflow statement.

Randy Bauer
I am a candidate for the USCF Executive Board

Certainly the ability to read a balance sheet and a cash flow
statement are important and useful qualifications which have been
lacking in some prior USCF administrations. For example, when Tim
Redman was president we found out that not only did Redman not know
how to read a balance sheet, but he did not even know what a balance
sheet was! Similarly when that self-procroclaimed master of business
administration George DeFeis was Executive Director, we found out that
he too did not even know what a balance sheet was.

You are certainly qualified in that area. However, in my opinion, to
serve on the board you need more. You need a plan, a program or an
idea. So far, you have not told us yours..

So, what is it?

I am also concerned about your view of USCF business meetings in which
you state, "Yawn, what a waste of time." The people who attend these
meetings are intelligent and dedicated people who have devoted a
substantial portion to their lives to chess. They usually have
valuable and important information to provide. It is also to be noted
that this is a membership organization and they are members. If you
feel that listening to the wishes of the members is a waste of time, I
suspect that you might find better things to do rather than serve on
this board.

Sam Sloan

Sam Sloan

Subject: 2004 USCF Executive Board Election
From: (Sam Sloan)
Date: 3/17/2004 11:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

Over the years, Wayne Praeder has been providing a wealth of useful
information about the USCF, much of what I have put on my website.

However, nobody that I know has ever seen him, and he apparently has
never played in a USCF rated tournament.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12887461

I am concerned that none of the declared candidates for the coming
election have ever attended a USCF meeting of any kind, other than
myself. Prior to OMOV, anybody who ran for election first came to a
few USCF delegate's meetings before running for election.

This past election we had two candidates who had never been to a USCF
meeting. Now, we have four candidates, including Mr. Wayne Praeder,
who have never attended a USCF meeting.

I think it is disturbing that people try to get elected to the USCF
Executive Board without first bothering to learn about the
organization.

Sam Sloan

And I consider it a huge plus.

John Fernandez

"However, in my opinion, to serve on the board you need more. You need a plan,
a program or an idea." (Sam Sloan)
===============
Sam, I can't say I've ever seen any unique plan, program, or idea of yours.


RSHaas

"I encourage USCF members to ask questions of the candidates and post the
answers so the issues can be discussed."
(Wayne Praeder)
=============
You and Bauer seem to have the "right stuff." But the both of you are
coming in at a time when Chess HQ is being knocked down to a barebones
operating status. Neither of you can have much of an impact because there is
so little left with which to work.
Nevertheless, what are you going to do to rehabilitate adult chess? How
would you enhance and enrich our chess experience?
If you do intend to listen to members, here's a little tip from an
ex-member: $49 is well within my budget but I nevertheless regard it as an
abusive asking price for membership. However, the current $38 offer to expired
members seems tempting. The $11 difference isn't much of a savings but it does
remove much of the perception of abuse. The lesson here is that many of us
feel that we've been abused.

RSHaas

On 18 Mar 2004 06:58:54 GMT, eepmeep (John
Fernandez) wrote:

Subject: 2004 USCF Executive Board Election
From: (Sam Sloan)
Date: 3/17/2004 11:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

Over the years, Wayne Praeder has been providing a wealth of useful
information about the USCF, much of what I have put on my website.

However, nobody that I know has ever seen him, and he apparently has
never played in a USCF rated tournament.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12887461

I am concerned that none of the declared candidates for the coming
election have ever attended a USCF meeting of any kind, other than
myself. Prior to OMOV, anybody who ran for election first came to a
few USCF delegate's meetings before running for election.

This past election we had two candidates who had never been to a USCF
meeting. Now, we have four candidates, including Mr. Wayne Praeder,
who have never attended a USCF meeting.

I think it is disturbing that people try to get elected to the USCF
Executive Board without first bothering to learn about the
organization.

Sam Sloan

And I consider it a huge plus.

John Fernandez

John "Know it all" Fernandez can well say that because he too has
never attended a USCF delegates meeting or Executive Board meeting.

At the 2002 USCF Delegate's meeting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, John
Fernandez although he was entitled to enter the room as a delegate
stood just outside the meeting hall button-holeing delegates as they
came in and out. He distainfully stated that he did not want to waste
his time listening to what the delegates had to say. Instead, he
wanted them to waste their time listening to what he had to say.

Sam Sloan

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 04:36:08 GMT, "Randy Bauer"
wrote:

What a crock!

This would be similar to a requirement that whoever ran for Congress should
have stopped off in Washington DC and watched them "in action." Yawn, what
a waste of time.

I don't need to have attended a USCF meeting to understand its challenges.
I can read a balance sheet and a cashflow statement.

Randy Bauer
I am a candidate for the USCF Executive Board

I think you misunderstand the nature of the position you are running
for.

If you are elected, you will be expected to attend four meetings of
the USCF Executive Board during the next year. Each meeting will last
two or three days. Your airfare and hotel expenses will be paid to
attend these meetings. You will have one vote on the seven member
board, so in order to get anything passed you will need the votes of
three other board members.

If you are elected, in all likelyhood you will also be elected the VP
of Finance, because we need somebody to fill that position and you
seem to be well qualified. I will certainly vote for you.

However, since your comment about these meetings is "Yawn, what a
waste of time" I do not see how you can expect yourself to attend four
of these meetings per year. At least, at the annual delegates meeting,
we can expect to see real fireworks and hope for a fistfight or two.
At the Executive Board meetings, which are true love affairs, at least
you will find a cure for insomnia.

Is this really what you want to do?

Sam Sloan