I have a thought, why don't we, as a good cross section of the RC community, and concerned interest in AMA, come up with and submit a series of questions to the candidates (all three). Then post their (un-edited) replies and comments here for all to see and ponder.

Just a suggestion.

Jay L.

It's a long time to the election. All will be forgotten.

Besides I can write Brown's answers almost verbatim. Right now I have been in correspondence with him, initiated by him, and his dictatorial side is very apparent. The subject should have been decided by Sandy Frank who has not responded.

I worked with Mathewson on an "Ad-Hock" AMA committee last year. I have corresponded with him since he became a DVP.
I don't need to question him as I know which way his wind blows.

As for the BO, well I certainly have an opinion of what he might say. I am not interested in his blowing wind.[&o]

For the rest of you, Go get 'em!!

Marc (RCAdmin) threw out the possibility of some form of communication being made available here on RCU, and inviting the candidates to participate.

It seems to me such a mechanism would be preferable to a questionaire. On the other hand, the way we treat people, the candidates might hesitate to use such an opportunity.

In any case, it would seem that Marc should extend his thoughts/effort/opportunity to the candidates fairly soon.

How about it Marc?

Hi Marc,
You have an interest in exposure for RCU?
Readers of this forum see how some good could be done, in all ways?
Suggestion>the AMA election canidates are known, invite them to join RCU ib two or more ways.
One have this formum create a list of relavent questions. Ask the canidates to respond to them.
Ask the canidates to state their ablity and desires, etc. for AMA.
Finally, a possible debate between those running for same office.


Marc> for this to be an intelligent election and accomplish what is needed
considerably more than the 12% of the membership that voted last time
needs to be heard from.
Would seem that requires much action and attention by the media?
RCU is willing to help as it can?

Hal deBolt

Hal, All good intentions, but if any one of them read some of the posts with name calling, bickering and flat out insulting remarks. I would be hard pressed to see any one that would consider posting on any forum.
I don't think it will happen.
Sorry.

1st question for candidates:
Do you now have, or have you had in the past, a clinical diagnosis of Recto-cranial inversion?
That would eliminate a few right there.

Or in the case of some of the posters on these forums, opti-rectalitis.

Talk about self fullfilling prophisies!

Is THAT why you persist in making those kinds of posts?

JB, just for your edification.

This thread started out good, but has not taken long for it to deteriorate. This is why I believe that the candidates would be very hesitant to take part in these forums...

I have a question for all the candidates for AMA office.

What are you going to do to include more AMA members into your thought process about governing our organization other than just the Leader Members?

I had a phone conversaton two days ago with Dr. Sandy Frank, Dist VIII V.P. about this very topic and was told that 85% to 90% of the members dont want to be bothered with the everyday workings of the AMA. Is this true? We just want the insurance and the ability to fly at a sanctioned site without becoming involved?
Only 12 % of the AMA mambers voted in the last election, according to AMA records, quoted to me by Dr. Frank.

I was also told that only Leader Members get information from the Dist V.P. and only their opinions are considered. That is disgraceful to my way of thinking. As of yet I am not qualified to be a Leader Member because I have been back in the AMA for less than Three Years, but on the day my membership has its' third birthday I will submit my application so that I will have more of a voice in the AMA and I strongly suggest that each and every one of you do the same so that we may be heard and more closely represented.

JimRoss
AMA 778628

Jim

It's true that in most elections less than 15% of the membership votes. From personal observation, it is also true that about 85% of the membership has no interest in the operations of the AMA. If you don't believe it, put up a post in the clubhouse about the AMA, or go to another club and try to talk about AMA politics with them. You will either be ignored or run out on a rail.

The part about Leader Members being the only ones with input is bologna. That may be the way your D VP gets his input. Others are considerably more open to input from the membership at large. I know for a fact that members walk up to VP's at shows and I have never seen any AMA official ask what district they were from or if they were Leader Members. As a matter of fact, I recall that Basin Bum was able to get Sandy Frank's opinion and give to Sandy some observations when Dr. Frank was out here for the AMA Convention. I could be wrong, but, I do not believe BB is a LM.

If you read the threads here, you know that the D VP has the right to waive the requirement for three years of membership to become a Leader Member. Ask Sandy if he is willing to do so for you. It would be interesting to see how he treates the situation where one was a long time member, took an absense, and now wants to be a Leader Member.

Now, if you have a suggestion on how to increase the interest among the 85%, speak up and post it. The leaders of the AMA are open to suggestion. A lot of time and effort has been spent in the past and produced fruitless results.

J_R

A thought:

Maybe good percentage of the 85-90 percent are of the opinion that their thoughts do not matter to the EC. Maybe the AMA EC in the future needs to make an effort to "get back in touch" with the general membership.

Also, on the flip side, the club I belong to (as with other organiztions I have participated in) has a 20 to 30 percent participation in meetings and helping at events. Using this as a basis, I am sure that a good portion of the membership cares less what is happening at Muncie, unless if has direcet effect on how they fly their little toy airplanes. Then of course, if it effects them adversely, they will make more than enough noise that everyone will hear them.

Comments welcome,

Jay L.

J-R,
Just getting back into AMA after such a long hiatus leaves me a little less than up to speed on the goings on inside. I have always been put off by politicians who claim to know what I want and represent me without asking my opinion so I took a rather hard line about it and sent Dr. Frank an email reflecting my views. It was the next day when I got a phone call from him and we had a rather long conversation about my thoughts.
It was his words that led me to post the message about the Leader Members being the only ones who were listened to. I did not mean to inflect anything about other Dist. V.P.'s, only mine. Some of what he said made sense, from past experience with other organizations, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. It was also on his advise that I become a LM so my opinions could be heard. Now I find out that regulations prohibit that unless I have been in AMA for the past three years. I will ask him about waiving the requirement. I will never claim to know more than the next guy but I at least want to be heard before anyone decides for me what I want.

One way I know of increasing the 85%'ers involvement is for the 15%'ers to hound the horsehair out of them to get involved. That's the way it is in any organization. It will be up to us to get them off their butts and involved in this game. If not us, then who. They certainly won't do it willingly. I am just now beginning to get involved and I find it fascinating that one voice can be heard by so many. Imagine if each of us, instead of back biting and name calling, could invest about one hour a month to get others involved, how much better the cooperation would be and how much more our own opinions would be taken to heart.

So, here is my challenge to ALL AMA members.

Either get off your butt and belong to this organization and participate in it and its' workings or STOP whining about how you don't get heard and how your officers don't care about you. Write your VP, your president, your associate VP, and anyone else who you can think of and advise him/her how you feel.
Don't call names, sling mud, whine, or complain. Just let your thoughts be known.

JimRoss

Nice post.

I would add to it, contact any VP or HQ staff member where your input might be useful. I have contacted all except D 1 with mixed results, but, none have ever said not to contact them again. On major issues, it is not unusual for VPs to recieve as few as 20 or less contacts from AMA members.

Yes...RCU will have some mechanisms in place very soon for communication to take place with candidates who wish to participate. Stay tuned

Fantastic!

Jim,
If there are ANY problems in getting a Leader Membership, please drop me a line.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate that. I'm tired of not being heard or listened to. I guess I'll take the steps to get my name out in front of THEM and see what happens.

Jim Ross,

Nice post. Problem though. Your message reached exactly 1/2 of 1% of the audience you intended it for. Now, the burning question is what do we/AMA EC/ and AMA HQ do about getting the message out to the grass roots of the membership. Maybe if they realize their voice does in fact matter, they will actually give a SH**.

RCAdmin,

Thanks for taking action on this. I think it is very important for the candidates to have as much contact with the voting membership as possible in the upcoming election. THis will be a major step in the right direction.

Jay Lawless

What you(AMA EC - AMA HQ) do about getting the message out is to sit down and write an email and send it to every member who has a good email address. As far as the rest of the members, you type up a hard copy, print it out, and snail mail it. You mail out flyers, you post ads in the MA magazine, you write it in the sky if you have to. Take out radio ads, tv ads, magazine ads, etc. etc. etc. You do what ever it takes to get the word out to the general population. NUKE the excuses. Like MJ says, Just Do It! There is no one in HQ that needs me to tell them how to accomplish this task. All of the members of the EC know how to do it. First, they have to decide they WANT to do it and then it will happen. From my position what I see as the major problem with the AMA is APATHY. Lots of whiners and complainers and darn few DOers. I may be late but I am trying to do something about my problems. Now all the rest of you guys get off your butts and do what you already know needs to be done to get the word out. If you want more people to vote then tell them you want them to vote. Unless the apathy is what you want to be the norm. There should never be a new member that has to wonder if he is heard or even if anyone knows he exists. Within 30 days of signing up every new member should receive some type of correspondence from his Dist. VP welcoming him to the organization with information on how to contact AMA VP's and EC members if he has problems or concerns.
Our president told me today in an email that he was not in a paid position, he does it for the love of the hobby/sport. If he loves it so dang much why ain't he out there communicating with the members? I had to make a spectacle of myself to get a response from him.

I have been in management of major corporations for years and held superintendent positions over several hundred electricians on $200,000,000.00 jobs and I had no problem making my views known. I realize this is not on the same scale as the AMA but the same principles apply. If I had applied the same principles of management to my job I would have been fired instantly. My Project managers took no prisoners, you either produced or left. I didn't leave.

I apologize if it sounds like I'm blowing my own horn but I feel it's silly for me to tell people who are experienced how to get word out to people. Enough of my ranting and raving. Have a wonderful evening and may you always have a smooth headwind.

Like Arnold said, Ah'll Be Back.
James Ross

Jim

Good to see you fired up and interested.

To the thread in general:

Unfortunately I am pragmatic and believe all flag waiving is for naught. Sure making your desires known to those that represent you can be positive but beating the bushes for more voters is an exercise in futility. Let me explain. Those that desire or have convictions on issues WILL vote with or without prompts and all other voters garnered, through unbiased or equally opposed efforts, will tend to vote indiscriminately anyway. So in reality there really isn’t any net benefit to the outcome for just increasing the voter involvement. It is my contention that it is much more effective to give reasons as why to support a particular candidate than to enlist more voters.

I for one would like to see AMA elections kept on a positive note since I sincerely believe most that have served or those that will serve genuinely care for the hobby and for the betterment of all involved. Of course those that put the hobby before the AMA will get my vote. Hobby primary AMA secondary…my priorities… they will not change.

Edit; to clarify with an analogy: What is good for the goose is good for the gander…the hobby is the goose and the AMA is the gander…so extrapolate as needed. Just don’t care to defend my position on this one. If you have another opinion cool…but it is wrong BTW did you notice the smiley face

Disclaimer (seems appropriate here and elsewhere in this forum)
Your views may or may not parallel mine but the aforementioned is my opinion and NOT designed to disagree with anyone in particular but if your hackles get raised so be it.

I respect your opinion and believe you have the right to post it even if it differs from mine.
Howsomeever, I disagree with your belief in turning out more voters. Sure there may be some who would vote indiscriminately but even if ONE voter cast his vote after researching the candidates, we have accomplished a major task. There have been a number of times in US history where one vote decided an election. I can't quote specific incidents but I know I have read such before.

I believe it is up to US(members of AMA) to talk up our opinions at club meetings, fly days at the club, on the phone, and anywhere else we gather to pursue our hobby, and convince other less informed members or apathetic ones to get off their behinds and become involved in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in this case R/C flying and all its' various derivations.
Apathy is killing us and our sport and the Naysayers are the only ones benefitting from our lack of involvement.

Remember the Alamo(Rule9) I am from Texas after all.

Jim

I am sorry if it seems such but I was not disagreeing with you. I guess I am just not very good a conveying my thoughts on the forums.

Let me try again. I believe it is more important to sway voters to vote in a particular fashion and than to simply have more voters since that can be unproductive or even counter productive...in other words a crap shoot.

The one more vote theory that you suggest could have been negative as well as a positive. Anyway cannot prove a negative so I will not try. I would not enjoy our hobby taking some direction just because of a vote cast haphazardly...that’s all...and every effort should be taken to prevent such IMO.

Disclaimer (seems appropriate here and elsewhere in this forum)
Your views may or may not parallel mine but the aforementioned is my opinion and NOT designed to disagree with anyone in particular but if your hackles get raised so be it.

JimRoss

Although I have no idea what your discussion with Sandy covered, I will venture an educated guess that most of the input to the EC about what we want comes to them through the SIGs (Special Interest Groups). As an example, the JPO (Jet Pilot Organization) was instrumental in putting forth a set of rule changes. The actual membership of the JPO was small enough that it did not include the majority of turbine waiver holders, yet, the SIG knew the concerns of the waiver holders, along with the reality of their situation. They worked with and within the Safety Committee to come up with a set of rules that were palatable to enough of the EC to get their changes.

Most segments of areomodeling are represented by SIGs. If you have a particular interest where you want to have input, it might well be that you want to become a member of that SIG. Realistically, you have to realize that if 170,000 members were polled on any issue, it would have to take the form of specific questions with specific answers. There is not way all of the individual opinions could be taken into account. Any time a poll like that is done, many responders will take exception to the choice of answers, and even with the queries.

Although Sandy attempts to receive input though the Leader Members of his district, my guess is that very few participate, relative to the number of Leader Members in his district. The last time I checked, the count of Leader Members, nationwide, was about 3500. My guess is that number is decreasing. Most of the Leader Members were given that status years ago when it was part of being a CD (contest director). As the organization gets older and we lose those older members, I doubt that they are being replaced at the same rate as the loss. Over the years, the AMA has not taken advantage of the Leader Members any meaningful number of times. The future may hold something different, but, for now the SIGs are the ones with the input. The active members of SIGs really do have the expertise to give meaningful input, where the membership at large and even the Leader Members often do not.

Getting out the vote is an entirely different matter. The past three elections have proven that whining on the internet has no actual effect on the number of ballots cast, as shown in the election returns. Those that read forums like must get up from behind the computer and convey the message to the members of clubs. This is something that has not taken place in the last three years, if the election ballot totals are a meaningful reflection of results.

The AMA has changed things to make it easier to vote. Even the postage is now paid on the ballots. Campaign statements are on the web site, in Model Aviation, and included with the ballots. Apathy is, indeed, the problem. Personally, the last thing I want to see is indiscriminate voting by members. I would love to see an increase in voter turnout, but, only if the members were educated about who they are voting for. Anything else is just another way to insure the incumbents will be returned to office. It falls to the candidates to get their message out, to educate us to their visions and plans. Spending huge amounts just to get the vote out is not desirable, in my opinion. Bottom line, IMHO, you have to give the members a reason, and the education, to vote intelligently.