Hossfly

From the AMA Web site:

Election 2006 Results

Tabulated by the Certified Public Accounting firm of Brady, Ware, and Schoenfeld, Inc., the results were announced November 22, 2006.


District II

Dave Mathewson 773

Others 13


District IV

Bliss Teague 596

Others 14


District VI

Charlie Bauer 945

Others 34


District VIII

Jim Rice 832

Lawrence Harville 327

Guy C. Barber 218

Others 11


District X

Rich Hanson 1,429

Others 33

KidEpoxy

How many folks are in these districts?
How many votes were cast in these districts... 5k?

not what I would call good turnout.

YNOT

ALL RIGHT D8.

Congrats to the winners and a big welcome to Jim Rice.

Hoss, you have new people to keep in line.

PLANEGOBOOM

My Feedback: (1)

District VIII Thank you to all who voted.

This is Guy Barber, I would like to extend a huge thank you for all who voted in district VIII. Not just for me, but for Jim and Lawrence also. I want to publicly congratulate Jim for his being elected, and offer sincere condolences to Lawrence for sharing the loss with me. I know that Jim shows the passion that is needed to properly represent district VIII's constituency and I wish him well in his endeavor. Maybe next election we can have a better voter turn-out. I wonder, if the ballots were postage paid, would it have increased the total number of votes? Just curious.

Again, thank you all who voted.

Guy C. Barber
AMA 2532

littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

Great post Guy!

As for as a better turn-out with post-paid cards...sure the turn-out would be better but the results would likely be the same. Most don't care 39 cents about anything within the AMA...they just want a place to fly and see the AMA as a necessary evil. That perspective needs to change.... more than anything else.... but very doubtful it ever will. As long as people feel they have paid for the privilege there isn’t a need to do anything more.

KidEpoxy

While paying postage for ballots with one name would be a huge waste, let's just consider ballots that have choices.

The AMA doesnt have camps and partys with agendas in the voters eyes.
What I see is not like the Reps & Dems (&pothead 3rd parties), but just one giant party of incumbancy. I didnt really vote the issues, cause I didnt really see any champions of any contrtoversial issues campaigning the ama masses for change (for the better?) . I saw 3 kinda similar guys and voted for the one I chat with a few times a month.

I cant stand wasting money, so If this idea moves along, I'd say we shouldnt pay the postage on the One Name Ballots, but I wouldnt be opposed to the real ballots getting it.

PLANEGOBOOM

My Feedback: (1)

KE, I think that you hit the nail on the head stating that you didn't vote the issues because of not seeing any champions on controversial issues. The AMA restrictions regarding the length of a candidates' campaign statement is a real inhibiting factor when it comes to explaining someones' game plan... Everyone can promise the world, but unless they can detail how they are going to achieve their goals, their statement sounds pretty much like everyone else's. With the current restrictions it comes down to, unfortunately, nothing but a glorified popularity contest. I know, it sounds like I'm whinnnnnnnnning, I'm not. I just want to see if the rules regarding campaign statement length can be changed to allow someone to explain his of herself in detail. My original campaign statement draft was concise and fully detailed, but it was a total of approximately 3500 characters long, we were allowed only 1560. Needless to say, all candidates could only give a vague description of their agenda.

Guy Barber
AMA 2532

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

But everyone lived by the same rule.........

if thought out, quite a bit can be said in few words

Hossfly

Depends on what you consider controversial issues. I asked some questions here and Jim supplied some answers. Lawrence answered them very well and thus received my vote, even though Jim is very probably much better tempered to get something done -- should he really desire to -- in making some changes within AMA's currently off-the-cliff direction.
Guy never answered those questions, nor did he -- to best of my knowledge -- send any information to Club Officers and really active persons, especially in the greater Houston area. Therefore, Guy gave no one in this area any reason to suspect that he may have some great qualifications and desires.

That is a popular request, however laying out a strategy for accomplishment has two problems: 1. Incumbents will jump on your strategy and use it as their own idea, and when you lose the election so will they lose your idea/plans as they had no intention to do anything anyway. 2. The vast majority of the AMA membership are either, "not interested in politics" and/or inadequately sophisticated to comprehend strategy and/or the need for such. If they cannot vote for your objectives, then either your objectives are inadequate, or too complex for the average reader's mindset.
In other words only those with more daily "in the eye contact" have a chance of winning in today's elections.

Agreed however OTOH if you have a a most interesting diatribe, no one will pay any attention to what you have to say. In my last bid for ED, I purchased ads in RC Report, MAN, and Flying Models. I don't think it did one bit of good.
Unless you're on TV, what you have to say is not absorbed by any significant number of aeromodelers.

The non-stamped return makes no difference. Up until last year, the ballots were prepaid but mailed with the renewal package. Up to 10,000 went back to AMA and thus were destroyed. Also consider that the Auditor that counts the votes is paid by AMA.

The only thing that would make a difference in AMA elections is an informed AMA membership with concerns for the Sport / Hobby. There ain't enough such critters anymore to make a difference. Gone with the Wind as well as other great things. The current AMA Hierarchy has maneuvered to make the Clubs and thus the members into depending on the AMA for insurance and thus since AMA supplies nothing else, then there is no mention of anything else to the newbies which are now anyone with less than 25 years in AMA.

Still if one wants to run for something in AMA,remember as Calvin Coolidge said: "Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent." [>:]

Bob101

Maybe people would be more included to vote if they actually "knew" the people or maybe even heard of them. Look at my district - one guy elected posted above and he lives 1,000+ miles away from me. Think he's gonna stumble into my field anytime soon? Think he represents anything that might be going on in my area? Think he's familiar with our problems etc...come on - 1,000 miles away and I'm not even as far away as you can get and still be in the same district.

littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

That should have sent a resounding message.

Jim Thomerson

Well, Texas is big; however, Jim Rice lives in San Antonio. and no part of Texas is 1000 miles from San Antonio. I do expect you could get 1000 miles away somewhere in the district, so visiting members who don't travel to events is a problem. But there is always the post office, telephone and e-mail for communication. I recently paid for a stamp to mail in a club ballot where only one person was running for each office. [X(]

Hossfly

"1000 miles away" WOW, that is a new one. Since "RURAL" TX is not listed as a zip code or a town, and is obviously, by your measurements, somewhere outside the established boundaries of TX, maybe you could be so nice as to enlighten a peon like myself just where the _ell Rural TX is located. [>:]

KidEpoxy

ok, just 2 quick Rural jokes then the meat of the post:

Rural, TX? I thnk it is a bedroom community outside of Urban, Tx
Rural, TX? Last time I looked, the vast majority of Texas was rural.... I'm outside of a town with more deer than folks.

ok, I'm done.


I'll not get the No-MA soapbox out, but cut it down to just this:

What the heck is MA for, if not to give as many pages as it takes to the elections of the organization?
I keep hearing about the Requiredness of the magazine to get important club info to the members, and here we have a case of high importance, the chosing of our leaders- the only standard input members have to the club, and the frickin MA cant cough up a few pages for it? Oh, there were plenty of ads for ARFs, we wouldnt want to miss out on some more ads in the magazine, but we need to reel in the Statements of the Candidates- the only campaigning activity for many of them (IHO).

What is Mr Barber like?
Who knows, MA thought we needed to see more ARF Yak Ads/Foamie Ads more than we needed to learn about the candidates.

Nice priorities there MA.

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

Geeez...there you go...trying to mess up someones post by actually asking them to be factual!
sheesh

JorLRice

OK guys, I have been on vacation in Okla for Thanksgiving and have missed reading the posting here. I have answered Guy and Horace directly as they emailed me directly.

The election 'was' about who's name did you recognize or who's resume looked the best. Little to do with the meat of running the organization. But unless I miss my mark here, most of us would need to get to Muncie to know what should or could be influenced anyway. If I wasted a lot of space and time telling you how I was going to change FCC regs or FAA influence or get someone relieved of duties and it was impossible to do any of that, I would look and be stupid and you would then vote for the guy who said generic things. Your statement has to fit the required size and there is not opportunity to explain an issue or comment that becomes misunderstood by one or several. It is a one shot deal so you have to make it not too complicated, not easily misconstrued, grammatically correct and noninflammatory. If you want to make something happen----you have to get elected first!!! I wish I could tell you what I wanted to change but I don't know what I can change. I just know I want to try to make a difference and I want to attempt to make the District feel somewhat more friendly and close. That is tough with 16,000 members in over 300 clubs across 5 big states.

Voting continues to be about 10% of the membership year in and out all across the Academy. We can't get people to vote in State and Federal elections where their livelihood might be challenged so I think anything we try to do to get more to vote here will be frustrating at best and most likely exasperating. My mailings to clubs, District Volunteers and CD's was always about getting people out to vote as opposed to--vote for me.

While AMA does hire the accounting firm that counts the votes, I doubt that they would endanger their bonding in any way to have a flawed election in a small account such as AMA represents to them.

I really dislike argumentative and hostile environments and expect that I will always avoid them when there is a choice. This forum is generally argumentative and often hostile both toward one another as posters and almost anything dealing with AMA. AMA isn't perfect but it is ours and we need to and will work toward its improvement. It doesn't make me feel big to make someone look small and it aggravates me when someone tries to make me look small. Private conversations generally are productive because neither party is trying to impress a crowd, just trying to accomplish a mission the smartest and best way possible. I will post my AMA cell number and AMA email address when they and I become active.

My personal thanks to Lawrence and Guy for their fortitude that allowed them to step up and be willing to serve us all. It is easier to talk about than do the right thing and they were willing to do it! The campaigns, were not hateful or derogatory. Just straightforward and honest. Thanks to both of you and I will solicit opinions and support throughout my tenure.

If you voted in the election---THANKS! If you didn't but want to complain about something---don't. If you didn't vote for me that is fine, if I knew the other two guys better I might have voted for them instead of for myself as well. There is a lot to learn and do. I am on the task as we speak.

KidEpoxy

Thanx for stopping in & saying a few things, Jim


Guys,
If we dont act like jerks, perhaps we wont scare off the very folks we would like to hear from time to time. Besides, we have plenty of other threads to be hateful to each other in.

Bob101

My post was in reference to Guy Barber's post (who did not win) but his tag line indicates El Paso Texas which is indeed 1,000 miles away from the East Texas town I live in and there's another 100+ miles to go to get out of this corner of the state - and there's another state next door that's still in the same district. I used to live even further away in the district and it was indeed 1,000 miles from San Antonio where the guy who won lives.

Point being maybe they need to break up these huge districts so people might actually vote for someone they might have met or even likely to meet in their lifetime.

To me personally it does not matter. I renew my AMA membership each year for one purpose - to allow me to attend Joe Nall - and that's it.

Jim Thomerson

Bob101, your comment about possibly breaking up geographically large districts is interesting, and something which ought to be looked at. There have been some considerable changes in population distribution since whenever it was the districts were set up.

Bob101

I know to drive across District 8 from the NW corner to the SE corner is nearly 1500 miles....not sure how big geographically some of the other districts are. Like I said it really doesn't matter to me, but voter participation might go up if for instance someone from New Olreans, LA (District 8) didn't have a rep in New Mexico - that's a long way off. We had Sandy Frank as our VP. and he supposidly lived just west of Dallas (weatherford) and yet I never saw him mention anything in his column from AR or LA - only TX and NM. That's a lot of ground to cover - even electronically if you will.

PLANEGOBOOM

My Feedback: (1)

In regards to bob101, I think he needs to look into how the VP's of each district handle AMA's business in their expansive geographical areas. The odds of a district VP making a trip to every town, no less club in the district is kind of like expecting the President or the Vice-President of the United States of America visiting every town in the USA.. This is why there is a network of AVP's (associate vice-presidents) located across the district. These are the immediate liaisons between the individual or club and the VP of the district. Matters that require attention of the districts VP will be handled directly by the VP. Most matters though, can be handled by the closest AVP in the district. It is a proven method. A list of AVP's is available in the district's column located in the rear of the Model Aviation magazine. The list includes contact numbers, email addresses as well as the physical address of each AVP.
So, in short, it doesn't matter geographically where the VP resides, you can rest assure that you will have equal and proper representation by the AMA if all available resources are exploited.

BTW, in regards to your quote;

I have personally flown and driven from just about every corner of the state of Texas, and unless you do a serious amount of sight seeing, you can drive the longest corner to corner distance in 879 miles.

Guy Barber
AMA 2532

Brave Gary

My Feedback: (1)

Well said Guy. You can also find a list of AVP's on the District VIII web site at http://www.ama-dist-8.org/ActualIndex.html. There is a lot of other information available on that site as well. I will travel and I will try to spend AMA money wisely while doing it. When it is cheaper to drive, I will use my vehicle. When it is better to fly I will do that. I will try to visit as much of the District as I can and still remain married and in business. We have a lot of volunteers in the district who do many wonderful things for AMA. I also have many super volunteers who will watch my shop while I roam around the District and go to Muncie for meetings. I can't afford to wear out them or me in the 1st few months. I want to see everything and do everything but I am not naive enough to believe I can. I want to own every airplane that comes in the shop and though I have tried at times, I can't do that either. Another item on the web site is the monthly safety notes column. I have some feedback on those but not enough. I will appoint a new Safety Coordinator and need to know whether it is worth his time to continue that column. Some clubs put them in their newsletter and others read all or part at meetings. If we can help make any field or club or person safer, I am ready to do that.

I have had a very nice email from Guy and a phone call from Lawrence. Both are fine gentlemen and they represent what is good about our hobby and our organization. If you know either of them, shake their hands and tell them thanks for caring and volunteering to make a difference.

I spent Thanksgiving in Okla and it looks like I left before the ice age begins.....good luck to you guys. Bring in a chord of balsa for the winter and crank out some cool new spring flying things.

Sorry my son was logged in on my computer so I posted this under his name. It really is Jim Rice who did the post.