Is it about me or the membership?

Dear Ellen Fox and ATU Members,

                The first thing that I would like to address is an apology to Ellen Fox. On Sunday February 6^th, 2011 I had sent our ATU757 president an email. In this email I had stated “Additional note: I just received a call from a member who had signed my filing. This member claims that Ellen Fox had contacted him in regards to his signing of this filing. This member then said that she thought he was a nice guy and now is very upset with him and he is no longer considered a friend. This tells me that Ellen is going down the list of members who signed my filing and retaliating against them for doing so.” When I asked the member if I could get a copy of this message he told me that he had already deleted and was not able to get me a copy. In talking with him I got the impression that Ellen had questioned their friendship because of him signing my filing. This upset me and I became concerned that Ellen was addressing the members that had signed my filing so I added the above statement to my email to Jon Hunt.

                On Monday February 7^th, 2011 I see Ellen’s blog and she had posted her comments that she had made to this member. In reading her comments I see that all she was doing was questioning the signing of the filing and was just showing concern. Ellen had said nothing inappropriate in her communication and she was only responding to this member because of her shock of that member signing it. I had wrongfully created the image that Ellen was contacting all members who signed. I want to thank Ellen for posting her communication and clearing this up to me. I must very publicly state that I am sorry for wrongfully creating that image.

                For the past four (4) years Ellen and I have allowed negative pressures grow between us. This pressure has created such a conflict between us that it is difficult to find a resolve. It appears we have lost our focus of the membership as a whole and have put ourselves in constant defense mode. Any little statement made from one or the other sparks another fire. I have to admit that this is very unhealthy for Ellen, our membership and I to have to continue to live through. There is a point where this pressure needs to be released so that we can get out of our defense mode.

                Today I had a very productive meeting with Jon Hunt about these pressures and the effects it is having on Ellen, the membership and me. Jon and I first addressed a letter he had sent about my filing. We agreed that this letter could have been handled in a better matter and that there were some corrections that should be addressed. We also agreed to count the letter as something of the past and that it is better to focus on ways to find resolve without hurting the membership. Though the direction I was taking for resolve is with in my rights as a member it would be asking the membership to spend a good chunk of money to hear out the case than require a judgment to be made. When all is said and done, who wins? In reality, no one! In actuality, the membership loses.

                This membership is my family and it is my goal to want the best for all not just me. I commented to Jon Hunt about how is follow through and follow up is very weak. I do understand that Jon has a very full plate and with close to 5,000 members it is very easy to get overwhelmed with each member’s needs. Today during an executive board meeting Jon gave me an hour and a half of his time to talk with me about the current events. So I deprived our membership from our president for that amount of time to talk about a member on member issue rather than him working with officers to resolve membership issues. Though each member is important it is our duty to do our best to help the officers help our membership.

                To continue to defend the past and keep bringing the past to the membership is doing nothing but creating divide. It is to our advantage to focus on current and future issues that are affecting our membership and how we are going to improve the lives of everyone. I was impressed to see Ellen’s posting showing her communication with Gene to clearly show she was not retaliating. Again I am very sorry that I defensively jumped to conclusions and stated that Ellen was retaliating against members who signed my filing. My goal in this communication is to ask for a clean slate and to start fresh. For all members to do their best to learn the facts as best as they can and to understand that you are a big part of this membership and without you we are nothing!