Howard is merely following SCCA policy...control of the news. This is
SOP for any national official; we've run into it before when John and I
published SFR's The Wheel. Don't get mad at Howard for being the
messenger. As with most club publications, the club wants only good news
printed, and supportive letters. Nothing negative, please. Like, who
should get all heated up over a hobby?
From Howard's (and SCCA's) point of view, the objective is to grow
the club and provide places for its members to play, following some
general direction from the BoD. I think they're doing just that.
Pylon, which is independent of SCCA and any other club, is a place
to put arguments, and it would be neat if some of you folks would send
some of your ideas to us for "print" in its pages. We dare you to put
some of these good thoughts into ink. :-)
--Pat Kelly
North American Pylon
Jay Mitchell wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>
> >We do indeed
> >need safety nazis to keep this sport safe.
>
> Yep. I'm with you all the way on this one.
>
> >And as far as Howard Duncan is concerned, I was not attempting
> to
> >ridicule or belittle him. His letter to the editor speaks for
> itself.
>
> For the same reasons that political activity is not allowed in
> the workplace for civil service employees, I feel strongly that
> it is inappropriate for a full time SCCA employee to become
> involved in anything that resembles a political dispute.
> Policy/strategy decisions SHOULD be made by our elected
> representatives and then implemented by the club's paid
> employees. Taking an advocacy position for/against any major
> changes in club policies creates a potentially strong
> conflict-of-interest situation for an employee. I realize that
> there are precedents in SCCA that run counter to this principle,
> but I submit that they are extremely bad precedents and should be
> reversed.
>
> >An open exchange
> >of opinions and ideas is what is key.
>
> I've never seen/heard/read Howard say anything positive about any
> public forum over which he couldn't exercise some degree of
> control. My impression may well be mistaken, but every time I see
> something from Howard in print, I get the feeling he wishes that
> team.net and NAP would just go away.
>
> Jay
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