During the last election, the district 5 results were as follows:

Name Votes
Jim McNeill 2065
Manny Sousa 804
Ton Stillman 1985
Total 4854

With the total members in D-V eligible to vote - aprox. 20,000 this is a very weak showing. What I would like to know is if a straw poll was requested today by the EC of the AMA, who would you vote for.

RCU doesn't like my confuser, so plug one in for answer 4. TS and NoT a D-5 member.

As of 4:50 pm, there are 8 votes for Tony and zero for Jim.
Interesting progression!

Wait until more guys get home from work and sign on....I'm dying to see how this works out... Exit poll? Count another for Stillman... Wait, Uncle Jim got a vote (guess he DOES read the bulletin boards)

I think what this poll will determine is that the majority will be for Tony Stillman.

However, there is a large following for Jim that may not be internet users and this is where we will need to get the word out.

The biggest problem in trying to unseat an incumbent is the fact that he is the incumbent.

Think about the process. The ballot is received along with the renewal notice. It is set aside for "further study". Most will go in the trash after the election. For those that do not, the member reads the "campaign statements". Those are uniformly nice. Because he thinks that the AMA is an insurance company, and nothing more, the member choses the incumbent and sends the ballot off.

You have a huge battle educating enough people to vote, much less for whom to vote. It is going to take a tremendous amount of work from those that support a non-incumbent to get him/her elected. It is going to take more than the folks on this forum talking to two or three people. It is going to take effort. Speaking in front of the club, handing out flyers, and talking to anyone that will listen at the field are some of the things that will help. The candidate himself must be as visible as possible, for as long as possible, before the election. Sitting back and doing it the way it has always been done will not get the desired results.

In the election two years ago, some 10,000 or so ballots were sent to HQ instead of the auditors. I know this sticks in the craw of some, but, I always suspected that anyone that did not read the directions on how to vote probably voted for the incumbent anyway.

RCU could have been a big factor. It is not, and apparently will not be. If you look at the number of people that read the threads in this forum, it is probably in the range to 200 people. (Take the hit numbers for threads that are not replied to, so you get no duplicate hits). Apparently Marc has lost interest in changing the AMA because the rules are not to his liking. He probably made a good business decision.

JR

Dear Fellow RCU'ers:

The PIPE Here again...and in a thread here at RCU, specifically at http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...045&forumid=59 , about the undeserved problems that the current District I AMA VP caused yours truly a good many years ago, LONG before he was in his present "office" within the organization...and I'd have to wonder that, just like "Dumb Don" Krafft did to myself, if one Mr. McNeill caused at least a few RCers enough problems to likewise leave the hobby (I did-for 15 years) as I had to, so I wouldn't have a nervous breakdown over something that is SUPPOSED to be fun!

I have told the truth about what happened so long ago in the spring of 1986 in that other thread here...and I'd have to wonder, what WILL it take to remove people like the AMA District I VP from an office they really do not seem to belong in...term limits-or something MORE legislatively drastic and draconian???

I know I'm not from District V...I'm a New Englander...but where New England IS where a similarly behaved personage to Mr. McNeill seems to be "permanently ensconced" up here (much to our detriment, I'm quite certain) as the AMA District VP...perhaps it IS time for term limits to allow newer, and likely more qualified people, to occupy those offices.

Just my two cents' worth...

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!!

Was Mr. McNeill at either Perry or Toledo this year?

Jerry

I doubt it. Those events are centered around model airplanes.

Are Perry or Toledo near antique malls? Were there any photo ops for important or very important or very, very important people?

Were any of our EIGHTEEN AVPs at Perry this year?

PIPE muses:
Natural entropy. Many political critters have to leave office in a pine box...

Pipe wonders:

"and I'd have to wonder, what WILL it take to remove people like the AMA District I VP from an office they really do not seem to belong in...term limits-or something MORE legislatively drastic and draconian??? "

1) District I will have to come up with a candidate first. Kind of reminds me of the joke about the blond the kept praying to win the lottery . . . . finally God spoke to her, "Honey, you have to help me out here a bit . . . buy a ticket."

2)Once you have a candidate on the ballot then you have to stir up the members in your district to get off their butts and vote. Once a challenger surfaces the incumbent will (if he wants to stay in office) make sure all his cronies mark the ballot. He may even get one of them to also run to water down the vote. Pluralities are much easier to win than majorities. Then you will always have those that vote for the incumbent because they recognize the name or picture.

Your district I VP may just be holding the job because no one else has stepped forward to accept it. He has run unopposed at least since 1989 - as far back as I have looked.

Red S.
AMA 951 Leader Member
District V