[amsat-bb] AMSAT-NA, another perspective

[Michelle Thompson]

We were denied access to corporate records and communications from the
first day of our terms.

We commissioned a formal legal demand letter and sent it to
AMSAT's secretly hired law firm.

Two days later, Joe Spier resigned.

Clayton Coleman was (duly) elected in a short emergency meeting.

Clayton Coleman restored access to communications, and some additional
records were available. He called the first (and only) regular board
meeting of the year, and we heard some reports, made some motions, and
kicked off some plans. This was nearly 5 months into our term.

The biggest step forward at this meeting was Clayton agreed to end the
business relationship with the secretly hired law firm. That spigot was
off.

Things actually looked like they were improving.

No followup since then. No regular meetings since then. No resolution on
who actually signed the checks. Could we recover the money?

When the rest of the board finally angrily revealed they really did know
all about the secretly hired law firm all along, and it was ok with them
that the lawyers were used specifically to make our lives harder, and when
some of them decided to run for another term, we decided to speak up.
That's all we can do.

If members want another year of zero board meetings because the incumbents
really hate Patrick and Michelle asking inconvenient questions about
unauthorized expenses, then members will return the same people to the
board.

Every month, Patrick and I will still be going through the financials
carefully and asking questions. That's an essential part of the job.

If members want a functional board that publishes minutes and can show
progress, collaboration, and decision-making, then please vote for people
that will help do that: Robert McGwier, Howie DeFelice, and Jeff Johns.

Thank you for the opportunity to answer.

-Michelle W5NYV




On Mon, Jul 13, 2020 at 10:06 AM Russ Ramirez via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> I have been a member on/off since 2012. I have never been removed from this
> AMSAT mailing list, but have not always been able to log into the AMSAT.org
> web site. In spite of this, I have renewed my membership, typically at
> Hamvention (until this year, but did so online), and made extra purchases
> to support the work of AMSAT.
>
> I definitely echo the message of Hans BX2ABT. Not everyone is bad, but
> unfortunately too many are not good either.
>
> When reading over each point of view of this ongoing dispute, it is not
> very clear what started this dispute. In a statement in response to
> allegations of financial mismanagement, Clayton wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *AMSAT's corporate records give a full accounting of all expendituresand
> are provided to its Directors upon request, in compliance with ourgoverning
> documents and law of the District of Columbia (D.C.) Ouroffice remains
> closed due to COVID-19, where those documents reside.Furthermore, AMSAT
> complies with IRS rules for 501(c)(3) disclosure ofpublic financial
> documents, such as the Form 990 available on theAMSAT website  *
>
> The above statement is either wholly true, or gray, because making a
> statement like this which is completely false would be illegal.
>
> Michelle, you have claimed that you (and Patrick) were denied access to
> financial transaction records upon your written request. Can we simply
> focus on *what* specifically started this whole thing?
>
> Russ Ramirez
> K0WFS
> _______________________________________________
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> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
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