When I was in college, about 30 years ago, it was fun to fight amongst factions in student organizations. Unfortunately, none of the three groups I faction-fought in survived at my campus for long beyond my graduation in 1970. My own immature behavior was a major factor in the demise of my favorite groups.
Now I am a "grown-up", and am watching silently while my local Mensa group, Southern Nevada Mensa, does what I did as a student. Only it's much faster now! Many of the members have computers and Internet providers and can hurl e-mail grenades at the local online membership, cc-ing our previous RVC (Regional Vice Chairman Bob Cox), his replacement Barbara Lytle , and other interested persons.
Fellow members: If you want change, there will be elections in the Fall, when all of our elected officers must either run for re-election or stand aside. Far better to wait and "vote the rascals out" than to destroy Southern Nevada Mensa.
In the upcoming elections, I would support the (totally hypothetical) candidacy of former RVC Judy Dosse as our next President. Dosse, who has lived in Las Vegas a long time and had previously transferred her membership to whatever local group was hosting the AG, is now a bona-fide member of SNvM! Her unequeled national experiance and common sense are what we need to end this mess.
Published April 13, 2001, rev 4-28-01
Election update 8-8-01:
We can't even run an election! On 8/2/01, the sitting EXCOMM dissolved the Election Committee and appointed a new one . Complaints to National resulted in the National Ombudsman taking over the administration of the election; ballots to be sent to and counted in Salt Lake City. Opps, make that Arlington, Texas, home of the National Office.
Full Disclosure:
I am running for Treasurer on the Dolphin Slate, headed by Carole Moran for President (the Dolphin Slate was the same people proposed by the original ELCOMM. ) (we called our LocSec "President" until Sept, 2006).
(Timelines of the 2000 and 2001 elections.)
Results: The entire Dolphin slate was elected, many by large margins, me by 4 votes in preliminary results, but only by 3 votes in unofficial final results.
2002 election: The original Dolphin slate was reelected, with these changes: 2 members had had enough and stepped aside, being replaced with like-minded candidates, 2 other members switched positions to their mutual satisfaction; we all won, unopposed, against a half hearted, perhaps even nonexistent write-in campaign. The warfare is ended!
2003 election: The Head Dolphin, Carole, was burned out after two terms as President and retired. The new President ran, he said, to prevent any renewel of the 2001-style warfare, especially important since the 2004 AG will be held in Las Vegas during his term. The Election Committee nominated candidates included the 2 remaining original Dolphin Slate candidates (of the original 6, 2 were lost to bad health, 1 to burnout, 1 to old age)(I'm afraid we are a rather elderly local group!) and all won unopposed again.
2004 election: The warfare can now be said to be totally over! This year we have a new President, who is the same person who ran against Carole in 2001. I am now the only remaining member of the original Dolphin Slate on the EXCOMM: the "last Dolphin standing". Again all of the Elcomm candidates were elected unopposed.
2005 election: Another milestone: one of the fired 2001 ELCOMM members was elected to the EXCOMM. Only 5 days after the Election Party, the Election Chair, who was also Editor of Mind Bets since early 2003, died quite unexpectedly at age 57. Probable cause: 40 years of very heavy smoking+diabetes causes heart attack. (That is just my personal guess, but the guy from the Coroner's Office, a Physicians Asst, thought it was reasonable.)(The Editor was living with me.)(Personal note: The Editor had put in a great deal of time planning an RG. Her plans were soundly thrashed during discussion at the Election Party by three of the most active/influential members of SNvM. She did not seem to be depressed to me, but I'm sure she was very disappointed. I had never seen her so enthusiastic about a project she originated herself before.)(Personal note #2: IMHO, the Editor who died in office was the best Mind Bets Editor SNvM had in the years 1994-2005. I had bought for her, with my own money, MS Office 97 and MS Publisher 97; she was exceptionally good with computers as well as being creative.)
2006 election: I remained on the board, but by the (literally) narrowest of margins. The ELCOMM was unable to find candidates for 2 of the positions, but 2 petition candidates ran against me. In the vote I was tied with another candidate, and won in a coin flip. Approved were new by-laws which brought us into the mainstream Mensa world: the office of President was renamed "LocSec". Dolphin count : out of 6 originals, 2 are deceased, 1 has left the country, 1 has lapsed into inactivity, 1 is still active as the MensaPhone Administrator, and 1(me) is still on the EXCOMM.
2007 election preview (4-7-07) or The upcoming demise of Southern Nevada Mensa?: With roughly five months before the next election, the outlook is dim.... our LocSec is totally burned out after three consecutive terms; three of the incumbents (including me) cannot run for reelection(two of these have zero desire to run for anything anyway) due to term limits in the new by-laws; another incumbent is too sick to continue... with one position still vacant from the last election, there are five incumbents, only one of which might run for reelection, and of our 300+ members, only one has indicated any interest in running for office; NOBODY wanted to run for LocSec last year, so the incumbent agreed to run for an unheard of third term. What happens to the group if we hold an election and only two people run for six positions?? I might run for Asst LocSec/Secretary, but only if someone reliable steps up to run for LocSec; I have no desire whatever to be LocSec, besides, I am not qualified for the job. I am not a leadership type or a consensus builder: I'm basically a loner.
2007 election: Things went very well, despite my gloomy predictions above!
All six positions had candidates, and the man I had defeated for Treasurer in
2001 was returned to the EXCOMM as the new Treasurer. (Symbolically ending the
"Great Schism of 2001". I *think* he is the only member of the
"anti-dolphins" who is even still a member of Mensa. I voted for
him.)(The "anti-dolphins" were those who passionately supported the
position of the incumbent two-term President in 2001.)
SIGH! After only 2 days in office, the new Treasurer resigned for health
reasons. The new LocSec decided to appoint the person who came in 2nd in 2007,
and 3rd in 2006, who I think is a
Microserf
(No, he is a Day
Trader). Bummer. I was elected Asst LocSec, took office on 10-1-07, and
resigned in disgust on 12-25-07. (At about the same time, the Editor also
resigned in disgust.) I will not be serving in *any* capacity until the new
LocSec and the (appointed) new Treasurer have left office.
I have been a member of Mensa for 30 years, and in all those years, first in
West Michigan (1977-1994), then in Southern Nevada(1994-2007), I have never
seen poorer local group leadership than the 2007-8 SNvM EXCOMM.
Update 7-22-08: The appointed new Treasurer resigned in June, and the new
LocSec is not running for re-election. I have been appointed Treasurer for the
remainder of the current term, and will run for the office in the fall
elections.
2008 election: Another good election; 6 candidates for 6 positions; I was
elected Treasurer again. One strange thing: *nobody* at the Election Party,
including the outgoing LocSec, has ever even met the newly elected LocSec.
Strange!
Even stranger: After less than two months in office, the new LocSec resigned,
citing health and schedule reasons: the new Asst LocSec became LocSec. I never
met the resigned new LocSec.
Even stranger followup: After the one year term was almost three-fourths over,
and I was (seriously) thinking about what a good job the new LocSec was doing,
she emailed me to "direct" me to do something. I *hate*, I mean
really **hate**, being ordered around, especially by someone with zero
authority to do so, so when she persisted, and even screamed at me *hysterically* on the phone*, I
resigned as gracefully I could. I did *not*, thankfully, give in to my first
impulse, which was to address her as "Reichführer-SS"! Nor did I
give in to my second impulse, to call her the name of the woman who was
President 1999-2001. The highly respected, by me, man who served three
consecutive terms as CEO (twice as President, once as LocSec) of SNvM, accepted
appointment as interim Treasurer.
*Frankly, I think that screaming hysterically at a
fellow Mensa ExCom member rises to the level of an "act inimical to
Mensa". Grow up, Madam LocSec! Like me, you are over 60 now. We are not
ditzy teenagers anymore.
2009 election preview (8-20-09): As of today, only the current LocSec is seeking office. I expect that candidates will materialize soon. Although I do not respect the LocSec, I do not think she wants to preside over the dissolution of SNvM. (Someone warned of US Mensa's policy of dissolution and dismemberment of a group without a functioning ExCom on the group Yahoo list.)(By 9/09, the 2009 Election Committee had recruited a full slate of six candidates.)
2009 election: The full slate was elected. Only the (re-elected)LocSec and the (new)Communications Officer were on the previous ExCom. I have never met three of the six members, and never even heard of one. At least the new Treasurer is an experianced accountant, and a long time, very knowledgeable Mensan and former RVC, so the fate of SNvM is not wholly in the hands of the emotional LocSec. If the LocSec is a disaster, she will be term limited out for the 2010 election. (NOTE: We have finally reached the point where the majority of the ExCom has no direct knowledge of the 2001 faction fight; only one current member was directly involved.)
My hypothesis, mine alone, about the 2001 election
The incumbent President, a popular woman, had stepped aside. If she had run for re-election and formed a slate which would have included my opponent and the sitting Editor (for Communications Officer, who appoints the Editor), my opponent would surely have won, and the Editor running for Communications Officer would have had a good chance. Carole would still probably have won the Presidency, but she would have faced a divided Executive Committee.
Last revised 12-17-09