CANCEL FCA MEMBERSHIP

Al DeLaro is over our region as well, I believe..I'm already "out" over such shenanigans, although it's gotten better here for a few reasons I'd discuss off line....

Hard to buck the 'status quo' at National and this isn't the first Region to have problems like this....

Is the email "going public"???

 

Might be time to "Lawyer Up"......there's some attorneys here with Ferraris who you'd recognize....

If you want to audit financials, that's what it will take....

 

I will not be renewing with the club if that is the case.

 

If FCA allows this crap to happen, count me out.

Bob Z.

 

+1 why waste your money on a membership when no one is going to renew!!!

 

count me in as well

 

David, Adrian and I got into this together. So I guess we will get out of it together!

 

SPEAKING AS MODERATOR, do not post emails here without the permission of both the originator and recipient.

 

If David goes, I go. The F-club doesn't mean s**t to me.
It's the wonderful people I have met and whose company I enjoy. The one who made that happen is David Scott.

 

Guys, I have confidence the Club will do the right thing, despite a historical reluctance to get too involved in regional affairs.

All of this that is going on can't be blamed on the Club but on specific people who unfortunately (mis)represent FCA.

Let's see what the outcome is before letting the mess hurt the Club and its ability to serve the members any more than the collateral damage that results naturally from turmoil like this that turns people off.

 

I guess it's good that Charles has you on his side...
By the way Mike, how did you vote... YES for David to go or NO for him to stay... Just curious...

 

good question... I would like to know as well.

 

Great question that deserves an answer.

 

Because I'm warning as moderator about not violating FCHAT POLICY about posting emails, you need to know how I "voted"? I don't see the connection. I'm able to separate my Moderator responsibilities from my personal bias... and in fact I "check in" with other mods and with Rob when something isn't clear as far as actions to take. I actually asked other mods and Rob to look in on this thread early on. If I do a moderator action that isn't consistent with FChat policy, complain to Rob.

I didn't participate in the vote poll in the other thread. I did post in the "David Appreciation" thread.

It sounds like you're asking for my opinions, and I don't mind sharing them, but you'll probably get more to read than you expected. I've been in the FCA for almost 20 years... I've been more than just an "event attender" for about 11 years. I've organized events, I've been a State Chapter President, and I've been a Regional Director (superceded by Bob Snow and Charles Claussen since then). I've served on the FCA National Board. My personal opinion is consistent with FCA policy at the National and Regional level. It's not only a good idea, but *important* to rotate out leadership. It's also important and required that leadership at all levels follow the rules and policies of the club. The rules and policies are in place for good reasons, including trying to avoid past problems, keeping the insurance companies and attorneys happy, and keeping in good graces with the I.R.S. Honest mistakes happen and we should learn from them. If they're repeated by an individual despite being told "don't do it again", it's not much different than any of you who work for someone else, answer to a management board or to stockholders, or are married... you're going to be in trouble, and eventually you'll be replaced.

I like David. I like David's enthusiasm. I enjoy David's love of the marque. I enjoy the opportunities to spend time with him at events. In fact, if my old-man memory is working, I actually apointed him in to his current position (recognizing that he was an eager volunteer as well). The issues we had at the time came about because we didn't have training material for his position (or mine either) and it was mostly "real time" training as things came up. David made mistakes not out of malice, but out of being over-eager in combination with me not doing a good enough job of training him.

That was then... several years have past and if he's repeatedly not following some of the rules that he has been told to follow and that all the other Southeast Chapter Presidents follow, or specific directions from the Regional Director as long as the R.D. is being consistent in how he directs all of the Chapter leaders, that wouldn't be acceptable. I'm *thankful* that it's not my decision anymore as to how many chances a State Chapter President gets or what constitutes the point where the R.D. appoints someone else to the position. I've done that back in my day... positions were replaced or rotated out when I was R.D. for a variety of reasons, and sometimes those reasons included not meeting expectations. I think I did a good job at the time with the people and transitions to keep the club improving and moving forward during my tenure. Per our bylaws, the R.D. position is an elected position, but some of his "cabinet" (including the State Chapter Presidents) is appointed... appointed positions that are expected to be supportive. Supportive doesn't mean always agreeing with whomever you answer to, but still be supportive in action when you can't change his or her mind. The Region isn't run as dictatorship, but it can't run in anarchy either.

Being R.D. is *not* an easy job. I did it for four years. It wore me out!

Is FCA perfect? No. That includes National, the Southeast Region, and every other region that has PEOPLE as members (Groucho Marx: “I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member&#8221. I'm sure that more participation and help in actually running the club would be appreciated by those that are trying to do their best with it now... and ALL of them will be rotating out at some nearterm point consistent with FCA policies and practice, so new blood is definitely needed.

Leaving the club by cancelling one's membership over a here-and-now issue -- regardless of how it is resolved -- rather than looking to the long term, would merely be "reactionary" rather than "well considered", in my opinion. This too shall pass. In a few years, the ENTIRE leadership landscape across FCA will change, including the SE Region, as it always does. Being in a leadership position is NOT an entitlement anywhere in the organization; we're all short timers and we know it when we take the jobs; and we don't get to decide to stay another year or two or until we accomplish what our own priorities are. Just like many other areas of real life, we don't set our own rules... our organization does or the people up the chain do.

 

I do have a question here, and, while I am not an FCA member, I do quite a bit in our GA area with the drives we run, most often lead them, typically provide the routes and such and work closely with TomSpirot...........so most of my driving companions are FChat members here. (So my question is fair game here)

Question is, what exactly are these rules that are referred to? The ones that could/would possibly cause all this drama...Not that I am interested in a list of 100 rules, but the ones that we are talking about over history...in general. (The thou-shall-not kinda rules)

 

I'm pretty sure the FCA is a club and not a corporation, but either way, the elected leadership reports to the members (or stockholders), not the other way around. If the American people wanted to let presidents remain in office for 50 years, they have every right to amend the constitution to say that. If the FCA members of South Carolina want to keep their local leadership in place, what exactly does the FCA gain by going against the will of the members. It seems to me, based on this thread, that they have more to lose...

 

Actually it is an IRS-recognized tax exempt entity and managed in compliance with the government's rules and requirements under 501(c)(7)

 

+1000

 

I appreciate Mike's response, and he was very easy to work with and he is right about the FCA. You can see from the post and all the drama, for which I am embarrassed, but also thankful for in the way of support, that due to the FCA I have made many friends.

An email was sent out from Charles Claussen to our members yesterday, making it seem as though I was blatantly giving out our South Carolina membership list to any marketer, sponsor, and even could have been interpreted that I was selling this list to anyone who had an interest in obtaining it. The truth is that I provided the list of membership once, at our members request, at my first Christmas party at Ristorante Divino's to our members to foster and grow friendships. The RD only knew about this because I told him that I had done this, not knowing that this was apparently against FCA guidelines. Perhaps common sense could have prevailed? I considered it a directory. The list had names, address, and email so they could email each other. From the reaction, I think mainly from Charles, you would have thought I had killed someone. I never gave it out again.

The truth is there are no FCA Chapter President guidelines, Standard Operating Procedure, or By Laws for South Carolina, or for many of the Chapters. This is going to be rectified in the not too distant future. The regional by laws do not allow the RD to just summarily dismiss a Chapter Head. This is a personal dispute that came to a head once the RD was notified that I was filing a grievance against him with the FCA National Board.

As for continued violations, that are touted as egregiously crimes and misdemeanors, I can assure you this is total BS, and many people know it. By the way, there is only one person in this dispute who was recently reprimanded, and it was not me. I am not a naive kid who is just full of enthusiasm, although I would say that the enthusiasm is one of my best traits. Have I made mistakes? I am not perfect, and I suppose I have done some things that are not to the RD's liking. I will never forget the time when Charles was chapter head, he said "You've got to stop doing so many events in South Carolina, you are making me look bad". Charles has no sense of humor, he was not joking when he said this as some of you may be assuming.

What ever happens, stay the course, keep your memberships. The FCA does have good people at the top, who care about how we are treated on the local level. It is my opinion that what happens here, and at every state level, is paramount to the overall health of the FCA. If members are not happy, they don't renew, and new members don't join.

These issues will be resolved soon, in one way or another. In a few weeks, I along with two of our local SC members will be attending the FCA national meet to enjoy what the FCA is all about. This will be my sixth national event in a row, something that not even the past RD's can say they've done. My goal is to attend every meet, and to have as many people possible from the SC Chapter attend as well. These events are simply Mega, to borrow a word from Allan McNish. Brian Tracy says that Life is about creating as many positive experiences as possible, and I have tried to follow this simple philosophy with the FCA. Overall, the FCA has been very positive for me, and all the members in our Chapter, regardless of this dispute.

Let's put an end to this public display until this can be resolved by the people who matter, the FCA leadership. I believe the truth will prevail.

 

Well said. Power corrupts...absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I don't know either party, but I did not appreciate the email...and the tag line that is highlighted in yellow that disclosure is strictly prohibited is bunk. We put that on government documents because of the sensitive nature of some of our communications...and we can follow-up with fines or arrest. The FCA SE Director is not a political/government position, so I can disclose, copy, or distribute anything I want...FCHAT Policy may not allow it, so I won't do it here.

But instead of sounding like law, it sounded like a threat. I don't think canceling my membership would really do much, and it's a national membership that does some cool things. But I think the email should be sent up to National with a list of members who are not happy about the situation, or even just receiving the email.

If the FCA SE Director doesn't like this, he is free to forcibly remove me and refund my money.

 

So.....it's an "entity"? And the new intials are "FEA"?

 

Which is a social club.