US Diving = Dictatorship?
Did you know that the President of US Diving had his term of office extended for 2 more years by the law and legislation committee? A reliable source says that Bridget Hunter wrote the proposal and shepherded it through the committee. If you didn’t know that, it just happened at the last convention. If this is true, your vote at the next scheduled convention will not include the president and who knows what else.
The following is my opinion based on information I have obtained by talking with people who were there. It seems that those who were voted out of offices in past elections by the membership were appointed back into positions that keep the organization/committee under the control of the President of US Diving. Many of us expected the next convention as the place where all hell would break loose with regard to the election process. It happened this year within the Law and Legislation Committee and many haven’t realized that yet.
What happened at this year’s convention appears to be a misuse of power that took advantage of a trusting membership. All of this occurred at an abbreviated meeting which is when the information packet was given out. Normally people have a few hours before the meeting to read and digest the info but not this time. Since there were many distractions, which included focusing on certain items in the agenda, people didn’t seem to know what they had voted for until they were on their way home. Could that have been a pre-conceived plan?
I am definitely having a difficult time with this thought. The chairperson of the Law and Legislation Committee (Bridget Hunter) was appointed to that position by the President of USD. This appointee was able not only write the proposal but to appoint 1 other (Don Leas) to the committee with the approval of the President. The General Council (Bill Ferrara) was also on that committee (ex-officio) and he was appointed by and is responsible only to the President. There was one person elected to that committee plus athlete representatives. For these people it was their first time on that committee. It passed out of the L&L Committee by a 4 to 1 vote. Something doesn’t seem right. How can this Committee, most (3) appointed/approved by the President, come up with legislation to extend his term for 2 more years? How can people who were not elected by the membership be appointed into positions that give them the authority to write and pass proposals that cancel your right to vote for the President? They are running the show with what appears to be the President’s blessing. Maybe a better title than President would be Monarch or Dictator. Imagine what would happen if the Congress of the United States decided to extend the President’s term without the vote of the people or the electoral college. There would be a price to pay for that misuse of authority. Will there be a price to pay for this abuse? That remains to be seen. It does appear that a committee can suggest that a term be extended but not for the person who currently holds the office. That would mean that an election would have to be held and the next President would have the 2 extra years to serve … not the current office holder. Rudy Giuliani (New York’s Mayor) was a good example of this. Various factions wanted his term extended. It was not allowed to happen.
In my opinion, I can see all of this happen for the following reasons. The current administration fears that if there were an election at this time, the President would not have a chance to win. The assets and liabilities since he has taken over might shed some light on this thinking. Since 1998, USD’s assets and liabilities totaled around $3,101,737. As of the year 2000 they have dropped to about $1,789,608. Under this leadership USD has lost almost 1.5 million dollars. These losses have accelerated during his term continuing the trend set by his predecessor. This displays a bleak financial future. Our divers have not faired any better in competition under his leadership and the LRP. The divers I refer to are the Senior and International group. The LRP appears to be a bust. Finally there has not been an appreciable increase in membership. In 1998 we lost a lot of members and I don’t believe that under the current administration that the membership has increased back to the 1998 numbers. If all of these things are true, that may explain why the 2 year extension came a year earlier than the agenda called for. It appears to be a power struggle.
Could there really be some trickery going on? Bridget Hunter’s name came up in regard to another situation a year or so ago. Coaches that really read and understand the rulebook and codes contained therein, had problems with referencing some materials. For years there was a certain code in the book and then for some reason it vanished. No vote was ever taken that anyone can find or remember but yet a code in the rulebook suddenly (conveniently?) disappeared. That was brought to the attention of a few coaches after a previous convention. Another situation was that a rule/code pointed the reader to another section of the rulebook for additional clarification. Low and behold that reference wasn’t there. All that was there was the rule number but not the rule being referenced. Are these just coincidences or honest errors? Many think that there is a lot of lying and cheating going on which is thought to be a move to maintain tight control of the organization. My understanding is that Bridget was the editor of the rulebook at that time. Maybe this explains why she was appointed to the L&L committee by the President.
Since I am a lowly grass roots and junior coach, I look at this and wonder what these things have done for the betterment of diving in the United States. The answer from my perspective is that things have become even more complex and difficult if you want to coach an age group program under US Diving. With the loss of funds and potentially the loss of more coaches and programs, the costs for the coaches that remain will skyrocket. One coach told me that it will cost $300 for membership fees which does not include the extra time and costs to be certified. We may be talking more than $500 once all of the requirements are complete. As I see it, those that were disgruntled and just hanging on under USD may leave the organization after hearing what happened. This will further decrease the already declining membership numbers.
Questions come to mind that remain unanswered as yet. Do the actions of this administration, in this scenario, enhance the perception of an honest organization? Do any of these actions enhance the sport of diving?