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Who Should I Vote For .... BOD

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I would like some input on which of the five remaining board of director candidates should receive my vote. Please give some solid reasons for voting for given candidates.

Please do not start slinging mud. The question is who to vote for not who to vote against.
 
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I would think any response that referenced a candidate would be considered campaigning.......and that is against the rules.

I would like some input on which of the five remaining board of director candidates should receive my vote. Please give some solid reasons for voting for given candidates.

Please do not start slinging mud. The question is who to vote for not who to vote against.
 
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I don't think the candidates can post but I see nothing wrong with other members posting their opinions. How else can we have any hope of knowing the candidates?
 

Steve Worcester

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I don't think the candidates can post but I see nothing wrong with other members posting their opinions. How else can we have any hope of knowing the candidates?

I can't answer that as I don't have insight to the rules nor process.
 
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I would think you could ask the question as to whether anyone on this forum knows any of the candidates and, if so, whether that person is willing to share the information. Replies to your question via PM so they don't get barraged with contacts if they choose.
 
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I'm sure I'm not the only one that would benefit from others insight or opinions. So far when I've asked questions from BOD, Bylaw committee members I have only received very general "let's all live in peace" answers. I would like to know what other members feel about the list of candidates and why they should receive a vote. That is why asked to not list reasons to vote against any specific candidate.

We have over 13,000 members of which depending on the survey anywhere from 400 to 6,000 read this form. Assuming a 25% voting population there will be 100 to 1,500 ballots cast. Are these ballots the result of coin tosses, darts or some knowledge of the candidate? I would like to see some positive discussion on those that will be leading AAW.
 
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Stuart, I understand where you are coming from with this question. I also understand that if 2 people express their opinion or reason why they voted for one or more of the candidates, there will definitely be "words" about their opinions.

Personally, I skimmed what each candidate said but........well, naturally they'll all make themselves sound like the one that should get elected. I do believe they are all good people and honest woodturners.

Aaron is funny and moves really fast.

Botho is a Canadian businessman, that might give the AAW a more international perspective.........maybe? I like his accent..... :rolleyes:

Tom has a lot of experience handling a stampeding herd of cats........ could be good, could not.

Pope made several posts during "The AAW Earthquake" so that gives you a pretty good idea what he believes and if he has enough patience. :D

New Mexico is a nice state and I have a son named John.......

Stan belongs to a club that places a lot of orders for my stoppers......he's got to be a nice guy! :D

See you next week at SWAT......... Texas is a nice country....er, state. :D
 
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From the BoD policy and procedures handbook, page 101: "Ban on campaigning. Candidates for election to the Board of Directors are prohibited from campaigning for that office either orally or with printed materials. This should not, however, preclude a candidate from answering questions that would serve to clarify his/her position on any issue relevant to AAW. A copy of this prohibition shall be sent to each candidate upon his or her acceptance into candidacy."

So, if questions to the candidates were posted on this forum, the candidates would be free to respond, in compliance with this policy.
 
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. . .
New Mexico is a nice state and I have a son named John.......

Don't forget that John (Ellis) dropped out of the election.

Good thing that I voted already, your list of reasons would make it difficult to decide :D

Betty Scarpino, editor, AW
 
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I have been keeping up with most of everything that has been going on in the last couple of months on several online sites. From comments, remarks etc, I started a list of who I would and would not vote for based on their comments. With that I also had another list of the ones that I had in the "I would vote for list" of any comments negative or positive of various people that they have been mentioned in the last months. This list was 3 part, yes, maybe and no. When I received my ballot I was not sure if I was right, but I went with a gut feeling for the those that I thought might have the same ideas or future goals that I have.

I do know that since June of this year and for as long as I remain a member I will be paying a lot more attention to all comments of everybody that might ever run for the board. For me there will be no more "blind" voting based on I recognize that name or I read their book or I saw their video. Everyone will either earn my vote through comments in public or I will exercise my right to vote for someone else.
 
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How many voted?

It would be very interesting and telling to know how many AAW members voted for BOD positions via paper ballots in the, say, the last two elections. I would be shocked if more than 25% of the membership voted. My gut feeling is that it is a lot less. I may be way off base, but I think all the average AAW member wants is a magazine, a symposium, to attend a local turning group, and a "leave me alone" attitude in their shop. Like the old adage - you get what you vote or don't vote for. Sad, very sad.

Dick Wilson
# 0040997

PS - again, does anyone have that info? Thanks
 
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hockenbery

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. I may be way off base, but I think all the average AAW member wants is a magazine, a symposium, to attend a local turning group, and a "leave me alone" attitude in their shop.
Dick Wilson
# 0040997

I have no recent figures but 20-30 percent is in the neighborhood for voting turnout.
Symposium attendance runs around 12 percent

The National AAW is much like most Local chapters in that a few people do most of the work. If you are in a local club, How many members? How many do the work?

In the AAW 13,000+ members, recent symposium attendance 1200-1600
100 members do most of the yearly AAW work
6-19 volunteer to run for the board each year
250 or so do meaningful volunteer work for the annual symposium.

I would also note that I have more information on AAW candidates than I have on candidates for local club officers.
-Al
 
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club officers

I would be curious to know how many clubs have more than one person willing to run for any office.
Some officers seem to stay in office "forever and a day" and frankly (the ones I know), do a great job.

Bernie #8625
 

John Van Domelen

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Thats how ours work

Our local club elections tend to be 'Russian' elections - one person runs for each slot.

This last time was rather extraordinary - we had 8 candidates running for 5 slots if memory serves.

Bernie - true what you say - the ones that cycle though our local board tend to do a great job.
 

hockenbery

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the vast majority of people who serve as local club officers or AAW board of directors do so out of a sense of giving back something to the AAW and or the local chapter.

Most all of them do a great job.
I'm thankful for our AAW leadership both Local and national.

My Question was whether you have more information on your local candidates or your national candidates?

I know in our local chapter the current president presents a slate to vote on. It is take it or leave it. Maybe there is one sentence of thanking the individual for running. I have never seen one write a paragraph. Sometimes I've had a personal relationship with the some of the canidates sometimes not.

-Al
 
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Al, aren't active club members usually pretty well known by the membership? I don't belong to a club but like all groups there are probably one or two that want to be involved in running the show. This doesn't mean they aren't good at the position but in some cases if they can't be part of the governing group they will not be happy and will end up leaving.

With the national BOD I imagine there is some bit of the wanting to be the one running things. This might be a good thing if it doesn't get carried to an extreme. The problem is we don't know the ones running nationally. They don't say much in their published statements and at least so far those that do know them aren't saying why they would make a good director.
 
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Al, aren't active club members usually pretty well known by the membership? ...

I suppose each club is different. Our local club is fairly large and I don't think we know each other all that well -- outside of our mutual shared interest in turning. We see each other once a month or so and most of that time is spent watching a demo. Conversations tend to focus on turning related subjects. Had I not served as an officer, I doubt most club members would know that I am a CPA. I certainly don't know the professions of most everyone else who's a member.

So, in my case, I definitely know more about the national candidates for office than I do about the local candidates.
 

hockenbery

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Al, aren't active club members usually pretty well known by the membership? I don't belong to a club but like all groups there are probably one or two that want to be involved in running the show. This doesn't mean they aren't good at the position but in some cases if they can't be part of the governing group they will not be happy and will end up leaving.

It varies. I've seen an unknown elected president. It is quite common for a relatively new member to be treasurer or secretary. For most clubs VP is the toughest job as it seem to be program director as well.

The local officers get to be better known once they are officers.

More information on the national officers is a good thing if you can devise an effective way to get it to the membership. The WEB just does not reach a lot of folks. A special e-mailing to members would reach quite a few.

We do a couple e-mails to all Florida members every year about 1000. This start out at about 800 with emails in the directory but a 100 or so get returned because the emails don't work (incorrect or changed). So these e-mail reach about 70 percent of the Florida members.

-Al
 
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I just checked the member directory for every town I've ever lived in. If members were listed I checked or spot checked the names. One hundred percent of those I checked have email addresses. I'm sure many are no longer valid but I think that shows a large percentage of the members can be reached by email. I don't think email should be used for direct communication but a message sent with a link to an AAW page with a brief description would probably be accepted by the majority. Something probably from Ed making an announcement similar to the one he made about the online journal. I don't know how it is done but he could probably include an opt out of future emails. An announcement in the journal could ask members to update their profile with a good email address or once again possibly an opt out box.
 
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Ah I'd have to say toughest job is the ED who also is responsible for the Newsletter, journal, but again, I was associated with a different organization.
 
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club officers and vision

Al,

I belong to several clubs and have met several club officers and club members. We get together for hands-on and meetings but rarely socialize outside of the club.
While I think I know who to go to for help with some problems, I have no idea of what their visions are for their club (other than to get more demos and younger members but not many ideas of how to go about it).

I think there is not much info in the candidates statements (which is better than nothing) but I do not see how their previous business life prepare them for "herding cats".

Perhaps there should be a list of 10+ questions, or hypothetical situations that all candidates would have to post their replies to as a way of better understanding who to vote for.

Bernie #8625
 
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Stuart

I sent my ballot in last week. I will vote for only those candidates who were not on the BOD during the recent and ongoing fiasco.
Dick Wilson
#40997
 
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Sorry to disagree Al -- the toughest job is the newsletter editor. Been there; done that.



I did the newsletter for our organization for about 15 years. At first it was difficult, but after a few months I finally got the officers to get their monthly reports to me on time. If they were late with their report, I inserted in their report area, "No Reports from So and SO because his report was not received by the deadline". That "motivated" them to do things at my speed, not theirs. After a few times of being left out, everything was easy, everybody learned to be have their reports in a few days before the due date.
 
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We do a couple e-mails to all Florida members every year about 1000. This start out at about 800 with emails in the directory but a 100 or so get returned because the emails don't work (incorrect or changed). So these e-mail reach about 70 percent of the Florida members.

-Al

Oh Al, some of us just blocked you to spam here in Florida:D

just Kidding
 
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