[amsat-bb] Who Let THIS Info Out?

[David Swanson]

Jeff,

Like Patrick I have no personal beef with you. We've gotten along in the
past, and while I think you're on the wrong side of this current political
divide, I consider our disagreement professional rather than personal.
However your posts in this thread are simply not grounded in reality.

In President Coleman's letter the reason for engaging lawyers was perfectly
clear: Director Stoddard (at the time a volunteer) was accused of harassing
other AMSAT volunteers. Director Thompson (at the time holding no official
position) was running for a BoD position while holding numerous blatant
conflicts of interest. Director Thompson had also just absconded with Slack
license keys that belonged to AMSAT Engineering, hijacked the former AMSAT
Facebook group by removing administrator privileges of other directors and
volunteers, and accused directors and volunteers of harassment. Director
Thompson and Director Stoddard ran in 2019 on a platform of 'Screw ITAR,
Screw NDAs' - which is a paradigm shift in the way AMSAT has always done
business, and would likely directly impact the ability of AMSAT to work
with launch partners. Bruce Perens (holding no position at all) made
numerous legal threats on Twitter towards volunteers and directors while
supporting Director Thompson and Director Stoddard in the 2019 election.
And the list goes on, and on, and on.

The point isn't about who hired a lawyer first, it's who picked the fight
first. The current scenario of hostility and threats we find ourselves in
is 100% the fault of Director Thompson, Director Stoddard, and their
surrogates. The action taken by the AMSAT directorship to secure legal
counsel is unambiguously a defensive tactic, and was long overdue, for all
of these I've listed and more. When I first found out AMSAT had hired
lawyers to deal with the hostile parties my first reaction was 'Bout dang
time'.

-Dave, KG5CCI

On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 3:19 PM Jeff Johns via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

> Joseph, you most certainly have the right to your opinion just like
> everyone else does. As I stated, the President admitted in his letter to
> the membership that lawyers were hired in an attempt to shut-out Michelle
> and Patrick. This is a fact. These lawyers were hired in violation of
> bylaws. This is a fact. I feel quite certain that anyone who had that
> happen to them would feel the need to defend themselves which is what
> Michelle and Patrick did. Are you saying that, as Directors, they shouldn’t
> have let us, the members know what was occurring? Why should they just stay
> quiet while bylaws and Washington DC corporate code were broken?
>
> I’m glad that they have been transparent and have exposed what so many of
> us suspected was occurring within the clubhouse. The legacy incumbents do
> treat it as their clubhouse. Many members feel that way as I also receive
> ‘off the list’ emails.
>
> There is quite a division within AMSAT right now. That’s obvious. This
> division seems to stem from the way legacy Directors have been
> managing/mismanaging the organization. Because of this, many members have
> become disillusioned and upset. Some not renewing memberships. Some no
> longer donating. Many members feel that AMSAT has fallen behind others in
> our quest to keep amateur radio in space. Because of this, several of us
> have decided to run for a spot on the Board. No doubt all of us running
> will receive some votes. Some more than others but whomever wins they will
> need to realize that there will be those with opposing views. Howie, Bob
> and I are willing to listen to the opposition and consider their views.
> Obviously they legacy BoDs aren’t because they hired legal counsel in an
> attempt to shut out Michelle and Patrick.
>
> We need this cloud removed from AMSAT. As long as the legacy BoD members
> maintain power, the cloud will remain. Can you imagine what donors must be
> thinking when they have seen the reports (validated by the President’s
> letter) of misspending? Remember, the first letter the President published
> stated that “AMSAT denies false allegations”. The President did NOT say the
> allegations were false. It was semantics and when he figured out that a lot
> of members knew this he attempted to fix this with a second later but, once
> again, never denied the allegations. This is what has brought the dark
> cloud to AMSAT. If there was no fire, there would be no smoke to form the
> cloud over AMSAT. The fire must be extinguished. This can easily be done by
> electing me, Howie and Bob.
>
> Once again, I appreciate the volunteer work you do and appreciate your
> opinion. All I ask is that you also respect the opinions of others. Trust
> me, there are a lot of people who have different views about the BoDs than
> you do. Have a great weekend, it looks to be a nice one here which means it
> will be great weather for going outside and making satellite QSOs.
>
> Jeff WE4B
> http://we4bravo.com
>
> > On Aug 7, 2020, at 2:17 PM, Joseph Armbruster <
> josepharmbruster at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > Jeff,
> >
> > Based on the responses that I have received off the list, I really don't
> think that's the case by any stretch of the imagination.  Falsely
> representing AMSATs relationships with other organizations is not going to
> benefit AMSAT (or the individuals if they decide do go elsewhere)  And, if
> you look at some of the individuals who have made an effort to chime-in on
> the -bb and then look at the -bb history to see how often those specific
> individuals take their time to do so... that says something.  The reality
> is, AMSAT has good relationships.
> >
> > I'm not going to play this whole old-guard, new-guard game, because it
> goes against everything my prefrontal cortex tells me to do, but at the
> same time I am also not going to stand by and remain silent while the
> 'old-guard' is badgered, until someone gives me a good, technical reason to
> do so.  So-far, from the -bb, i've learned that Bruce Perens made it 26
> letters easier to pass an FCC exam (high five) and Michelle and Patrick are
> busy stirring up legal issues for AMSAT.  All I can say about that is,
> AMSAT never needed to hire an attorney against me personally or anyone else
> that I have known since 2008... That says something.  Oh, not just me, but
> tons of other people.  People who built stuff, worked late, got angry at
> each other, kicked, screamed, almost had our fingers cut off, burnt, eyes
> almost poked out, etc... but, still seemed to have fun and get stuff done.
> I will say this, from what I have seen of Patrick and Michelle (-bb and
> other observations), they seem like extremely involved people and appear to
> have a substantial amount of time on their hands to coordinate.  Patrick
> seems like he's done tons from an outreach standpoint and Michelle seems
> like she'd be a wonderful PR kinda person.  But based on the legal letter
> being propagated to the -bb and other comments out there, their place is
> absolutely not on the board.  I think I met Michelle once at the Baltimore
> or Orlando symposium, i'm not entirely sure, maybe she remembers.  From a
> practical standpoint though, I think everyone has a place and could
> positively contribute to the group, but the way this is being done is not
> right to me.  This "fight against the old guard" is entirely fabricated and
> appears to be created for political purposes and unfortunately, it's
> damaging.
> >
> > With respects to the public council letter sent to the -bb, that just
> shows that for whatever reasons, they are unable to handle issues behind
> closed doors.  Handling issues like this should be done professionally to
> preserve the integrity of the organization.  That is a huge issue for me.
> It's obviously being done more for political pandering / show than for
> substance, hence the posting to the bb in the first place... And yes, you
> can say blah-blah-blah about bylaws and claim whatever you want about the
> 'rule of law' and whatever.... but, laws are there for a reason and think
> for a minute about how many other AMSAT members and engineers have
> contributed, helped out and never put AMSAT through any legal issues or
> threats, for anything...   This is all unfair and not something I want to
> see individuals on the board doing.  I want to see the engineering stack
> taken to the next level.  A pile of work went into developing the stack
> that went into suitsat/arissat/fox/etc... none of that should be taken for
> granted and that level of effort should not be diminished.  Oh, and lots of
> those in the 'old-guard' made that happen... but that's always conveniently
> left out.  It seems like everything that's politically been going on since
> 2018 has been counter to making AMSAT productive, at least politically.
> Jeff, I don't really trust anyone you are recommending.  Trust is extremely
> important to me.  People do not trust groups... they trust individuals.
> And, trust is earned, on an individual basis, not demanded through legal
> council letters.  If you can't get a BOD to work with you, you're the
> problem.  Just imagine what will happen with external groups.  Are they
> going to get threatened with a legal council letter too?
> >
> > Remember, a loose cannon can point every direction.
> >
> > Joseph Armbruster
> > KJ4JIO
> >
> >
> >> On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 12:35 PM Jeff Johns via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> > and some use that as a method/means of intimidation or
> >> > suppression of speech.
> >>
> >> As admitted by the President in his infamous letter, it was legacy,
> incumbent BoDs that were the first to seek legal advice by conspiring to
> shut-out Michelle and Patrick in a manner which goes against AMSAT bylaws.
> Do you not think that Michelle and Patrick had the right to defend
> themselves against this action? Not only were they defending themselves,
> they were defending the bylaws of the Corporation. We need more BoDs like
> them that are willing to standup to the old guard and meet their bullying
> with equal action. Sadly, many AMSAT members know they will be made a
> target if they speak out against the old guard or have new ideas and
> opinions. This must change or we will only have more of the same. I don’t
> see Michelle or Patrick ‘running off’ any volunteers. In reality, they are
> trying to change the culture of AMSAT and make it more welcoming for ALL
> volunteers, not just those that are blessed by the old guard. To help
> continue this work of change that Michelle and Patrick have started members
> can vote for me, Bob and Howie. Otherwise, we will end-up with the same
> old, same old and the same culture of cliquish behavior by legacy
> incumbents.
> >>
> >> Jeff WE4B
> >> http://we4bravo.com
> >> _______________________________________________
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> Opinions expressed
> >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
> of AMSAT-NA.
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> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
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>