[Mldxcc] ARRL Code of Conduct and the Public Censure of N6AA

Bob Wilson, N6TV n6tv at arrl.net
Fri Dec 1 21:04:52 EST 2017


(Apologies for the repeat post to the NCCC Reflector.  I want to make sure
everyone in the Pacific Division is made aware of serious problems at the
ARRL in light of their recent actions.)

*Please send replies directly to me*, or start a new thread on a single
reflector; please DO NOT REPLY ALL to multiple reflectors.

I am hereby suggesting that financial support of the ARRL by individuals,
by major advertisers such as Elecraft, HRO, and DX Engineering, and by
organizations such as Yasme be suspended or reduced until the ARRL reverses
course, rewrites or rescinds the new Code of Conduct, and withdraws the
completely unwarranted public censure of Southwestern Division Director N6AA
<http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-publicly-censures-southwestern-division-director>
(which
they chose to publish just as he was leaving to operate the CQ WW CW at
A44A in Oman).

Many of you may not be aware of the other ARRL Directors and Vice Directors
that have had serious problems with the new ARRL leadership in recent times.

Summary:

   - Some time ago, West Gulf Director K5RAV upset ARRL CEO NY2RF, ARRL
   President K5UR, Hudson Division Director N2YBB, and ARRL Counsel W3KD, by
   revealing the existence of "behind the scenes compromises" regarding the
   Amateur Radio Parity Act.  No action was taken against K5RAV, because at
   the time there was no rule prohibiting his communications, but in response,
   the drafted the new and emasculating "ARRL Director and Vice Director
   Code of Conduct
   <http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ODV/ARRL%20Code%20of%20Conduct.pdf>,"
   which N6AA was later censured for "violating" merely by shedding light on
   its existence during the ARRL Forum at Visalia in April, 2017.

   - Southeastern Division Director K4AC was declared "ineligible to run
   for reelection" after many attempts to make the Board more transparent.  No
   clear explanation was given, other than they didn't like what he put on his
   QRZ.COM page (see Internet Archive
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20161221142026/https://www.qrz.com/db/K4AC>),
   and a new director ran unopposed.  K4AC responded by filing a legal
   misconduct grievance against ARRL Legal Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, because
   he has no license to practice law in the State of Connecticut.  The
   grievance was denied.

   - ARRL Atlantic Division Vice Director and volunteer counsel K3RF was
   recently declared ineligible to run for Director by the ARRL Ethics and
   Elections committee, because if elected, he would be forced to publicly
   support the Amateur Radio Parity Act (because of the new code), which is
   contrary to his legal client's best interests in a pending antenna case.
   In other words, they are admitting that the ARPA would be in conflict with
   the best interest of an amateur, though they don't dare say that publicly,
   so instead they made it impossible for K3RF to run for Director, with no
   public explanation given.

More details, with links, below.

In sum, a LOT of ARRL members are now are very upset with The League since
NY2RF replaced K1ZZ, and this is not good for Amateur Radio.  N6XI, W6PH,
WA6WZO and others have ceased financial support and removed the ARRL as
beneficiaries of their estates.  More to follow.

Clearly the recent censure and other actions of the ARRL CEO and Board have
done far more harm to The League than anything that N6AA said or did at
Visalia.  In my opinion, the new ARRL CEO NY2RF, the ARRL President K5UR,
Legal Counsel W3KD, and any director who voted in favor of the new Code of
Conduct or the censure of N6AA, need to be replaced as soon as possible.

73,
Bob, N6TV
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bob Wilson, N6TV <n6tv at arrl.net>
Date: Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 10:33 PM
Subject: Re: [NCCC] ARRL BoD Censures Southwestern Division Director N6AA
To: NCCC Reflector <nccc at contesting.com>


On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Bill Haddon <haddon.bill at gmail.com> wrote:

> The ARRL Ethics and Election Committee makes a yearly report, which, last
> year, was prepared in mid December and formally issued in January. Here is
> the reference to last year's (2016) report.  It contains the names of the E
> & E Committee members:
>
> http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Committee%20Repo
> rts/2017/January/13%20E_E%20Annual%20Report%202016%20final.pdf
>

Good find Bill.  A vague description of what led to the new Code of Conduct
is be found in that report.  Specifically:

"The Committee spent considerable time discussing the material contained in
a press release from a Director while analyzing the balance between our
members need to know and the propriety of protecting information during a
negotiation process. We found our By Laws and Guidelines both unclear and
in conflict and urge a review and possible rewrite of both for clarity.


The referenced director was from the West Gulf Division, David Woolweaver,
K5RAV, and what he published was this modest statement, here
<http://arrlok.blogspot.com/2016/04/west-gulf-division-newsletter-april.html>,
in April of 2016:

"H.R. 1301, the Amateur Radio Parity Act, has passed the House Subcommittee
on Communications and Technology.  Rep Greg Walden-R Oregon, W7EQI, is the
Chairman of the Subcommittee.  It now waits for a hearing before the full
House Energy and Commerce Committee.  *There have been two behind the
scenes compromises to the text of the bill made by the ARRL's Washington
group made up of ARRL's Chief Counsel Chris **Imlay, W3KD, and Mike
Lisenco, Hudson Division Director, N2YBB.*"

(emphasis mine)


Apparently the Board was upset by the revelation of the "behind the scenes
negotiation" with the HOAs, which they wanted to keep secret.  That lead
directly to the new Code of Conduct, demanded by NY2RF and N2YBB, and
written by Chris Imlay (I presume).

Another vague description in the E&E report:

"Certain specific campaign statements and actions by a candidate for
Director were challenged by an ARRL member and reviewed by the Committee.
The E&E Committee members found that the alleged actions and statements
were in violation of League election standards. A request for the removal
of the statements was extended to the candidate as well as an advisory to
refrain from those certain specific actions. The advisories were defiantly
not heeded and the candidate was declared disqualified. The former
candidate then requested a review by the full Board of Directors and the
Board exercised their option to decline the request. An applicable document
is attached to this report."


This director was Don Rehman, K4AC, runnning for reelection in the
Southeastern division.  The E&E declared him "disqualified," which means
the other candidate (apparently preferred by the board and president) ran
unopposed and replaced him.  Details of what statements they wanted removed
was never explained.

See https://arrlse.org/ for K4AC's side of the story.  Keep scrolling down
to follow the timeline.  K4AC kept making motions to make the ARRL board
more transparent, and to change the E&E committee from being hand-picked by
the ARRL President (K5UR), to being elected by the board.  Apparently those
in power didn't like that.

After being disqualified to run, K4AC filed a legal grievance with the
judicial grievance counsel of Litchfield, Connecticut, questioning ARRL
Counsel Chris Imlay's right to serve as ARRL Legal Counsel and negotiate
with the HOAs, when he has no license to practice law in the state of
Connecticut.  The curt reply from the grievance counsel is at the bottom of
the E&E report (briefly, "request for legal misconduct finding denied").

More recently, another director candidate K3RF, an ARRL volunteer counsel
representing a client on an antenna case, was disqualified from running for
Director, because, if elected, he would have had to comply with the new
ARRL code, which means he would have had to publicly support the Amateur
Radio Parity Act, even though he and his client strongly object to the
wording, and see it as adverse to their case.  In sum, if elected, his
forced statements of support would be in conflict with his client's wishes
to erect an antenna.  The E&E board solved that sticky issue by declaring
that he was ineligible to run, because if elected, he would have a conflict
of interest!  In other words, it's an admission that antenna cases are
adversely affected by the Amateur Radio Parity Act, contrary to ARRL public
statements.  They declared W3TOM the new director, with no explanation
given:

http://www.arrl.org/news/director-vice-director-elections-se
t-in-three-arrl-divisions

For the other side of that story, see:

http://epa-arrl.org/k3rfs-petition-to-run-for-the-directors-
position-in-the-upcoming-election-for-arrl-atlantic-division-denied/

In sum, the new ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF (no relation to NCCC member
N6RA), and the ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, have been dismantling
the ARRL BoD bit by bit, replacing Directors they disagree with whenever
the opportunity arises, making it more and more like a hand-picked board of
a for-profit corporation than a "non-stock membership association", the
legal definition of the ARRL.

I predict that their next move will be to find some excuse to completely
remove N6AA as Southwestern Division director.

Stay tuned.

In the mean time, there are five directors up for re-election next summer.
They all need to be replaced with candidates better able to represent the
wishes of the membership than the wishes of K5UR and NY2RF, especially ARPA
"negotiator" and Hudson Division director N2YBB.

73,
Bob, N6TV
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/mldxcc/attachments/20171201/bd7cdd95/attachment-0001.html>


More information about the Mldxcc mailing list