"BRAVO ZULU" Larry

Reno reunion

Will there be an election for Assn. Officers during the reunion.
Bill Woidyla
Original member first reunion

An interesting question, Bill.

"BRAVO ZULU", Bill.

Regarding your query about "an election for Assn. Officers during the reunion" - I commend to you the following excerpt from the By Laws of the USMC/Vietnam Helicopter Association:

III. Members

A. Qualifications and Rights of Membership

1. Classes and Qualifications

This corporation shall have two classes of members, designated as follows: Class A members (“STAFF WIENIES”), which shall be voting members, and Class B members (“SQUADRON PUKES”), which shall be nonvoting.

Accordingly, friend, as a fellow “Class B member"; I suggest that our questions might be:

1] Will the USMC/Vietnam Helilcopter Association Board meeting in Reno be open to "SQUADRON PUKES"?

4] Will the current “STAFF WIENIES” entertain nominations for our Association Officers from nonvoting “SQUADRON PUKES”; if so, for which "STAFF" billets?

https://www.popasmoke.com/notam2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3506

The Answer

As Larry and Bill both knew when they set up this question, the answer lies in the Association By Laws. For the benefit of "you inquiring minds", Section IV is quoted below.

IV. Election of Directors

A. Nomination.

The chair of the board, or the president if there is no chair, shall appoint a committee to select qualified candidates for election to the board at least 120 days before the date of any election of directors. This nominating committee shall make its report at least 60 days before the date of the election, and the secretary shall forward to each member, with the notice of meeting required by Sections IV and V of these bylaws, a list of all candidates nominated by committee under this Section.

Any one Class A member may nominate candidates for directors by a notice, signed by that member within 11 months preceding the next time directors are to be elected, and delivered to an officer of the corporation. On timely receipt of a notice signed by the required number of members, the secretary shall cause the names of the candidates named on it to be placed on the ballot along with the names of those candidates named by the nominating committee.

B. Nominations From the Floor

If there is a meeting of members to elect directors, any member present at the meeting in person or by proxy may place names in nomination.

C. Solicitation of Votes

The board shall formulate procedures that allow a reasonable opportunity for a nominee to communicate to members the nominee’s qualifications and reasons for the nominee’s candidacy, a reasonable opportunity for all nominees to solicit votes, and a reasonable opportunity for all members to choose among the nominees.

D. Use of Corporate Funds To Support Nominee.

Without board authorization, no corporate funds may be expended to support a nominee for director after more people have been nominated for director than can be elected.

E. Voting.

Only Class A members may vote for election of members to the Board.

Now before the howls of " that's unfair" and "you're undemocratic" start, please remember that our founding father, Roger Herman, purposely wrote the provision that only Class A members may vote into the by laws. He did so because of his experience with other veterans organizations where differences, some political and some personal, among members led directly to crippling the group's effectiveness. Moreover, he shrewdly anticipated that most members would not have the time to devote to the day to day running of the organization, and therefore decided that voting should be the reward earned by those who do the work. As wise a student of human nature as Roger is, I doubt he ever thought the day would come when a rump group of embittered members with an extreme political agenda would work to undermine the purposes of the Association.

Now I don't know, Larry and Bill, whether that answers the question or not. I do know that the Association will continue be run, as it has since its founding, in accordance with the by laws. It seems to me that those who have a problem with this have two choices: either get in step or resign.

This thread is now closed to debate. If you desire to comment, please do so via e-mail to the appropriate Association officer.