Dion, et. al. the item has been argued and will continue to be argued. As burtona says, term-limits exist at the ballot. I have run for EVP twice and DVP once all in the past 7 years. They EC brings out all their firepower and those here that are vocal find and dream up countless excuses why I should not be elected. The funny excuse is that I do not work well with the EC. For da_n sure I am not a yes-man like the EC usually is.

Go back in the members-only AMA web and read the records of the '79-81 era and you will find that Pres. Earl Witt and myself were constantly fighting the Ex. Director (then a voting member of the EC) and his yes-men on the EC. You see the Ex. Director had iron-fist control over the Treasurer (now EVP) and the FAI Pattern man, then a DVP, did not get his shirts and caps if he did not toe the mark. Another tidbit concerned some of the office soap-Opera stories so the ED was in control of several powerful EC figures.

Communications were difficult in those days. The ED blasted Earl and myself in the magazine, and of course it was 3 months before we could defend against his garbage. Too late to be effective.

Back to now, there are very few AMA members that want any real change in AMA. Even fewer are going to be a voting member, study the issues, contact the candidates and send a significant vote to the right place. A few years ago, 10,000 votes were reportedly sent back to AMA, rather than the auditor, which could have made a difference. True or not true, no one will ever know. I have as much confidence in AMA's paid auditors as I have in the AMA staff that hid my write-in votes back when AMA counted the votes. In that situation, Earl Witt found them and I was re-elected even though I had been left off the ballot by the nominating committee -- the other DVPs.

Earl and I made a lot of changes but not nearly enough. Yep I made some tracks and the EC will do everything they can to be sure that I never again return there.

Speaking of Leader Members and votes on Bylaws changes. Is anyone here so juvenile and/or naive as to think the current EC would ever chance a vote to change anything that takes from their power and distributes such power to the membership? If they should have a vote, it would be loaded and like many votes taken in my professional life they all came back 70% +/- 2% in favor of those that held the election, 26%+/-1% against with the remaining disqualified for various reasons. Forget it.

There is only one thing that could change things and that is for each and every member go get 10 others, they go get 10 others and so on to vote AGAINST the incumbent and for one of the 3 on the ballot. CHANGE the EC and demonstrate that the membership can be other than simpleton unconcerned morons fighting among themselves.

Oh well time to wake up and face what the EC already knows.