[amsat-bb] AMSAT Leadership Explanation ...

[Michelle Thompson]

The unauthorized expenditures have been admitted to.

Months of attempts to call a board meeting and address it internally have
been made.

This failed.

Legal advice was sought. We proceeded carefully, and documented what we did
along the way.

This worked.

Patrick and I are in the clear.

The officer and employee who signed these checks are not.

They claim the entire board knew about it.

There are no records of this contract. It was not disclosed to us when we
joined. Adding in denial of access, we have problems only an election can
solve.

Unlike other things we do, this isn't rocket science.

Speaking up to give members a chance to get a functional board, before an
election, is simply the right thing to do.

I didn't select the weekend the nominations to the board were announced.

Preferring I resign instead of allowing a large amount of unrepentantly
unauthorized spending to continue is a mistake. Understandable though. This
is upsetting. Please try not to shoot the messengers too many times.

Members should get real value out of the membership. They should not have
to pay for secretly hired law firms. Especially for such trivial and easily
resolved reasons.

Criticism isn't an existential crisis. Unauthorized spending definitely is.

If members agree with spending their money this way, then they will vote to
return the same people to their jobs.

I have faith in great potential for improvement. There are candidates that
will follow the law and the bylaws and were willing to step forward.
Robert, Howie, and Jeff.

We are fortunate to have a choice. This year it makes a big difference.

Michelle W5NYV



On Sat, Jul 11, 2020, 00:52 Alan via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> I read the recent allegations by Directors Stoddard and Thompson of
> improper
> behavior on the part of some AMSAT Officers and Directors with concern, but
> also caution. Concern, because nothing remotely similar has occurred in the
> 30+ years I have been a Member and sometimes Board Member. Caution, because
> the nature of the accusations and particularly the timing during a holiday
> week in the AMSAT election cycle had all the hallmarks of a cynical
> political hit. That is now the most plausible explanation. If they believed
> the serious allegations to be true, it was irresponsible not to have
> brought
> them to the attention of the Members before now. These accusations were
> either carefully crafted for maximum political effect, or to put the most
> charitable face on it, represent genuinely honest concern but egregious
> errors in judgement by the accusers.
>
> I call on Directors Thompson and Stoddard, in light of these unwarranted
> accusations, to apologize publically to both those they have so grievously
> misrepresented, and to the Members for the harm they have caused AMSAT. It
> would be honorable to resign because of how badly they have broken trust
> with the organization and its Members. Lacking that, at a minimum they
> should pledge not to seek reelection. If as they claim they represent a
> vision with wide support, surely they can find genuinely qualified
> candidates to replace them without their baggage.
>
> Hopefully AMSAT Members will consider carefully which current Board
> candidates have either expressed support for these failed Directors, or
> been
> endorsed by them. There are other, better, proven candidates.
>
> Alan Biddle
> WA4SCA
> Past Board Member and Corporate Secretary
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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!
> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>