On Jul 11, 2020, at 2:57 PM, Brad Smith via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Rememnber, the new members were duly elected and then discriminated against because the board didn't like the fact that they won. So, they were given a "junior' status, which is not what we elected them to be. That is dirty pool. Very unethical. Brad KC9UQR
This really is the crux of the matter. Dues paying members elect a certain number of board members each cycle and if the other board members “refuse” to work with or acknowledge the new members (or choose to prevent them from receiving access to corporate information that they are entitled to receive, etc) then the entire process of voting seems a pointless exercise - as does any reason for being a dues paying member.
Anyone can chase satellites without ever paying a dime, more do than don’t.
And despite what you think you know, it’s impossible for the general “membership” to really know what’s going on here.
“Just trust us” never feels like a good answer even if it’s sometimes right. Leaders may be telling the truth or lying through their teeth. We have no way of knowing for certain who is telling the truth here. Making up your mind will require choosing sides and dividing members in the process and that’s not comfortable for anyone but it’s what’s happening at the moment.
I’d like to know why the President resigned? Surely a couple of blog posts didn’t break his will? Since I’m forced to speculate maybe he saw a peck of trouble coming and wanted out of the role, but I don’t know for certain, do I? And given the timing of all this, I’d also like to know if this is related to the recent ARISS divorce from AMSAT? I have no reason to believe it is - but I have no reason to believe it isn’t.
I’m just as curious why K6BP shows up on an annual basis to tell us who we should vote for? So far as I can tell, he's not an active satellite enthusiast and has very little to say about this facet of the hobby until election time when suddenly he reveals our numerous BIG problems and proceeds to tell us who we should vote for to fix those problems. He seems like an interloper to me, but again, I don’t know. Hell, he might actually own AMSAT for all I know?
Bottom line: throw everything written here in the dumpster and make one simple change. Require members of the BoD to publish a list of potential BoD members that they are going to refuse to work before every election. I’m no longer interested in wasting time voting without that advance guidance.
Jeff, KE9V AMSAT 28350