From: Ken Widelitz [mailto:kwidelitz@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2018 12:02 PM
To: k5ur@arrl.org
Cc: ARRL Board of Directors and Officers
Subject: Note to Members from Rick Roderick, K5UR
Dear Mr. Roderick,
Your note of January 15, 2018 is disingenuous, misleading, devoid of facts and itself consists of much misinformation.
Most disturbing is your implication that because none of the proposed revisions of the Articles of Association and Bylaws “… has yet been addressed by the Board of Directors” it is improper and a mischaracterization for members to comment on the proposals. Yet later in your note you state “ARRL member input is welcome on all such subjects.” It is at this point, prior to the BOD discussion, that members can and should give their input. How do you reconcile those two conflicting statements?
You go on to state “… other equally and erroneous and false statements have been made with respect to completely unrelated issues …” What are those statement to which you are referring? Why are they erroneous and false? An argument such as yours requires details, not blanket statements unsupported by facts.
You state that criticism that the “… ARRL operates under some “cloak of secrecy” … is unfair and undeserved.” Yet later in your note you state “Unfortunately, it was necessary for the Board to take the highly unusual action of publicly censuring one of its members recently.” You state the Board “..took action to protect the organization’s integrity based on the information presented…This is not a procedure that any nonprofit organization would conduct publicly.” While the procedure may be conducted privately, the reasons for results should be public. It strikes me that the reasons are not “personnel” as has been stated by a couple of directors, but rather “personal.”
You state “that it is not fair to members, or to the representative Directors who have yet to evaluate them collectively, to have the proposals mischaracterized or misrepresented.” You fail to state what proposals have been mischaracterized or misrepresented and in what way. Again, your proposition requires details, not blanket statements unsupported by facts.
Quite frankly, you note only serves to underscore the need for the campaign which not only is well-intentioned, but accurate.
Ken Widelitz, K6LA