CAA is Listening

[jspotila]

The fact that the board is self-perpetuating rather than elected democratically by members has served to lock in place this inappropriate deference to management.

On that PR thread a few years ago I asked Jennie Spotila why the board was not elected. She responded that the board was told by a legal or tax advisor that it was more tax advantageous to not have members who could elect the board.

FWIW, I don't recall saying this to you Justin. I went through this entire thread and couldn't find where I said it, either.

When I became an Association Board member in 2006, the Board already had the structure of electing new Board members. That structure remained in place until the end of my term in 2011, and I assume it is still the case now. This had nothing to do with tax advantages. As far as I can tell, the boards of other ME/CFS organizations also elect new directors, rather than having a membership structure that includes broader elections.

The Association had a membership structure for many years, but the membership never elected the Board. And my recollection was that the Association dropped the membership structure because the move to emphasize online communications meant that one of the main membership benefits (the Chronicle) was becoming obsolete.