| 8-27-12 Proxy War Heats Up; Have We Already Mathematically Won?! By NM Leland Fuerstman As usual, many important questions have been asked, and none have been answered. The slate of candidates, which has also been endorsed by VP Walter High (he could have cut and pasted Newsom's message...) continues to be suspiciously missing from the front page of their website. Nor have any of the candidates submitted a statement in their own words nor a recent image? And, if there are no by-laws governing the degree to which a person should be "legally" vetted, there certainly should be. On the surface, these candidates may appear to be perfectly honorable men; but down the line, an unscrupulous zealot may sneak in and take advantage of the position for his own gain... Qualifications notwithstanding, one of the candidates has only been a member of the NCCA for one month?! Another was given the responsibility of calculating and posting results of the now defunct "Grand Prix" but for some reason, did not get the job done... (Who knows, there may have been some miscommunication within their ranks...?) But, the candidate for Vice President of Scholastics could hardly do worse than the previous VP (who was also strongly endorsed by Newsom) whom I understand "never lifted a finger to do a thing" nor ever submitted a single report for website publication? Worse, after it was obvious to everyone that this person was completely ineffective, no effort was made by the administration to replace him? So, I guess, with no liaison to represent the NCCA, Newsom simply outsourced the annual scholastic championship to the same private promoter in Raleigh who conducted the event 2 years ago, Mr. Bill Clausen and his company, Chess Achieves. One would naturally assume that the VP of Scholastics would have negotiated a good deal to guarantee that the NCCA would received a fair portion of the profits! Apparently, that was not done. But, who really knows since no official accounting has ever been published. In the absence of that, since no effort was made to develop a scholastic program otherwise, for exactly what purpose does the Vice President of Scholastic's position exist? (except to insure an extra Executive vote...) Apparently, the 2013 Scholastic event was properly bid upon and awarded to Chess Achieves. However, some are concerned that a covert deal may have been struck for "future" events that the NCCA members have not been advised of, and must be honored by future administrations? For the newbies who are not aware, the very reason why I "renounced" my Life Membership 3 years ago was because of the apparent complicity of the NCCA administration with the organizer of the 2009 Scholastic Championship - as well as many other obvious violations of proper protocol and procedure. I was attempting to protect the "children" of the NCCA from profiteers who were not required to provide proper accounting of their events? And, the "good old boys" simply didn't appreciate my exposing them to the chess public... Incredibly, under Newsom's authority, the previous 3 scholastic events have been "farmed out" to relatively unknown promoters who have apparently made windfall profits!?? Yet, according to their own admission, the NCCA only collected a small percentage of that money, if any, from those events? Their reasoning was something to the effect of, "...we (the NCCA officers) don't have time to conduct the event ourselves and since someone volunteered to risk his own money, that person should be allowed to keep all of the profit." Let me remind you that last year's event required a $50 entry fee for over 500 players? A $1500 scholarship and about $600 worth of plastic trophies which were presented to every 7th child left the promoter with a sizable balance of more than $23,000 when you include the high fees charged for team rooms?? (The hotel "room nights" trade-off guarantees that the space for the event is FREE). Many members believe that such high entry fees and excessive profiteering, particularly when the NCCA received little from these events, is not in the best interest of our blossoming scholastic players nor the entire North Carolina chess community. Regardless, the President was responsible for the arrangement which was made with those promoters. Now, unfortunately, the situation has gotten completely out of control?? It was just brought to my attention, that even though various ovations have been made by the administration concerning a significant reduction in the Entry Fee for next year's event, to my amazement, the entry has actually been INCREASED to $69 at the site??? Such high entry fees are generally reserved for adult events which pay out many thousands of dollars!? Furthermore, according to the already published advertisement, the NCCA is not even officially affiliated with the event? It is sponsored by Clausen's chess company. So, how could it possibly be considered as the "Official NCCA Scholastic Championship?" Besides, a $129 hotel rate may cause some parents, who are having a hard time making ends meet, to shy away from allowing their child to participate? Considering the fact that Chess Achieves is a 501C3 Non Profit Organization which lists "many" benefactors, one would think that the entry fee could be significantly reduced! But, unfortunately, the opposite is the case... and, by the way, I read that a decision was made to increase the scholarship prize to $2,000 next year! What happened to that? Furthermore, I was recently told that there are at least 2 past champions who have still not received their scholarship money because they were "too young to enroll into college?" What?!? Their "parents" were the ones financing their chess careers with $50 entry fees, stupid! Give them their damn money!! But, why was it necessary to "give" this tournament away in the first place? We have plenty of available Organizers and Directors within our own ranks who could have, and should have done the job and made the profit for the NCCA. It just doesn't make sense... Even more disconcerting, is the fact that, though he claims that he communicated with many members and was only successful in finding the current list of inexperienced candidates, Newsom intentionally overlooked one of the most active and competent Organizers and Directors in the state; an Honorable "gentleman" from Asheboro, who has "worked his tail off" for this organization, for hardly any recognition and little compensation. (But, because this person participates at the CCC, he has suspiciously become persona non grata?) He would be the best Secretary/Treasurer the NCCA has ever had! In effect, in order to insure that no "friend" of NM LF is ever elected because of selfish and vindictive reasons, the best interests of the North Carolina Chess Association and all of it's members are ignored?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I am told that we now have in our possession 64 proxies, and the number is growing! Whether I actually show up at the intentionally inconvenient meeting on Sunday morning at 8:30 am remains to be seen. Though I have submitted $5 to the Sec/Treas to renew my membership, I have received no verification that I am officially a member. Furthermore, the shoddy design of the NC Open neglects to provide a prize for players with ratings between 2000 and 2099?? They are mixed in with the 2199 and below? ... an obviously negligent design? A player should not spend his entire life attempting to achieve the Expert level only to be basically neglected at his annual state event? Again, someone was asleep at the wheel when the tournament was designed? And, that begs the question, are these "mega" events really good for North Carolina players? Last year, the top North Carolina finisher and highest rated Senior Master in the state finished =16th-19th with 3-2 and won nothing? That allowed foreign GM's from other states, or countries, to walk away with the cash!? By the way, most of them received a Free entry and some received free hotel rooms; all paid for by you and your fellow NCCA members? In my opinion, "shear numbers do not a successful chess tournament make." And, considering the number of changes of round times, meeting times and other rules which have already been published this year, will GM's who bomb out of the Master's event be allowed to withdraw and play in the Open instead, further diminishing the chances for NC players to win money? Inquiring minds want to know... That having been said, some are speculating that I have endorsed a notarized copy of all of the "proxies" and assigned them to a special agent who is a member and will present them at the meeting. He will also make a motion that NM LF be officially considered as a member which should surely be passed, considering the number of proxies we may have by the end of the week!! Followed by that will be a motion that I be elected President! Other motions may be made to do away with certain policies which are currently in place which should have long been abolished; including the ridiculous policy of allowing "proxies" to be used for elections! Paradoxically, we could pass any motion we wish, since we have more proxies! Unfortunately, I fear that even though we will be prepared to provide all necessary evidence of these certified proxies, the NCCA will attempt to impose some "legal" reason for preventing me from again becoming a member. But, if the meeting is run according to parliamentary procedure using Roberts Rules of Order, that should be presented in the form of a "motion," which shall surely be overruled by our overwhelming number of proxies!!? So, I guess we're still in good shape! --- (rotflmfao) According to the math, it looks like I'm your new President! Hey, look, this was the exact system which was used 2 years ago. So, don't complain. I remain very concerned about the future of the NCCA. NM Leland Fuerstman |