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To All Present, Past, and Future Members of AOF
As you can see from Hydroracer, an election will take place in AOF that is vital to the life of AOF.
Please take this election seriously. I was the Executive Director of AOF for many years and I am sure that during that time I probably made a lot of you sick with my promotion of the Federation. I just couldn’t help myself, because being involved with the inner workings of AOF, I could see so many advantages. I just wanted to shout it to the world. I finally came to realize that AOF was just one of the great organizations for boat racing out there. We have the giant, APBA, the innovative NBRA, the grounded blue collar AOF, and many many wildcat or “independent” (more than you might think) boat racing organizations out there. AOF is just best at what it is, not what the others are.
I retired as AOF Executive Director a few years ago, and have tried to stay out of politics. This election has brought me back, if for nothing else, but to give my opinions.
First, my kudos to all who have been involved in the government of AOF. It is a thankless volunteer job. I know each of the officers and have great respect and admiration for them. Some have given it there all. In my opinion, some have not.
The day-to-day activities of the organization are to be run by the President and Executive Director, and run according to the AOF mission statement. For whatever reason, I do not believe that the business of AOF has been conducted to the best of it’s potential. Without going into detail, I know for a fact that there hasn’t been a legal election for 3 years. There hasn’t been enough communication. Some members have been treated so badly by the present Executive Director, that they even stopped payment on all funds to AOF after an Eastern Championship. Points were not accepted for some races. Records that were set in AOF had to be fought for. I mean, letter after letter sent to try to get a record accepted by the national office, and yet today, the records are not acknowledged on the AOF website.
There has been such shoddy record keeping (in my opinion anyway), that I have heard from people who say they got a membership card and they hadn’t joined for 3 years. Others have told me that they joined, and either their check was never cashed, or that they never received a card.
Literally no one received a ballot for voting by October 1 as the rulebook states any of the last 3 years. And to top it off, how do we get in contact with the AOF national office. Where is it? As far as I know, it has been changed 3 times, at least. OK, the Executive Director moved. How hard is it to send out a notice of a new address? Or, how hard would it have been to set up a PO Box or something with all mail transferred to that? No one should have to track down the office of AOF. The President informed me that if there was a problem, why wasn’t he informed? How do you find his number. Oh, yeah, I know, it’s on the quarterly newsletter---NOT.
Several of those who did call him, including me, did not get a return call. And believe me, if there is a fan of the AOF President, it is me. I love him. He is a great guy. Sometimes great guys don’t make great presidents.
With no legal elections, there has also not been a legal national meeting for the last 3 years. How did anything get done with no legal meeting? What is a legal meeting? A legal meeting is one in which all members were informed when and where it is being held. There are AOF Directors who have not had a vote for 3 years. Does the present Administration or Executive Director ever read the rulebook? Before a nationals or national meeting can be approved, ALL of the Racing Commission has to have a vote to approve it. Hey, no one ever disapproves of it, because no one else wants to do it, but those are our rules.
What about this year, I hear from Hydroracer that AOF is having a nationals in Moses Lake and a national meeting in Moses Lake. How come the Racing Commission did not approve them, and are they legal? Just some food for thought, and Oh, well, the points haven’t been counted correctly for the last 3 years anyway, so what does it does it really mean to be a high point, record holder, or national champion in AOF these days anyway.
In the last few weeks I have had some conversations with several members of State Line of Spokane. This is a very active club with several AOF officers as members. They are my friends and I have lots of respect for them. However, a lot of the country, including myself, felt that there was a conspiracy by these officers to “take over” the organization. In our eyes, all we saw was that they were running the show and everyone else was being ignored. After speaking with them, I now have a whole different perspective. It seems that they were under the impression that no one else in the country cared enough to contribute. What they did not know, is that the rest of the country was getting absolutely no response from the national office, or for that matter couldn’t even FIND the national office! This was all the fault of poor or lack of communication from the AOF national office.
Let me ask anyone in AOF to list the present AOF officers, or better yet, list the AOF Racing Commission. My guess is that 9 out of 10 cannot do that. Let me go a little bit further and ask on what page of the rulebook are the election dates. My guess is that in the last 4 years, 9 of 10 haven’t even gotten a rulebook! What, if anything, may I ask has our Executive Director been doing? Carl Staron took it upon himself to send an application to all of the Lifetime Members and Hall of Famers in AOF so that he could update his records. Guess what, he had no problem getting returned applications from them. (99% responded). Why did our national office have so much trouble with communication?
To be a good leader in AOF one must first understand the organization, and believe in it. Leaders then have a first responsibility to AOF, not their local club, or their own agenda. Our leaders need to look at “what is best for AOF as a whole, not just what is best for their region or club. That is probably one of the most difficult aspects of being a national officer. But, it is imperative.
The present and new officers are going to find themselves in that position a lot in the next year if AOF is to get back on track. We have finally established that there is a problem. From those that I have talked to, there is a willingness to fix the problem. Now it is time to put all personal and regional agendas aside and be NATIONAL officers thinking only what is best for AOF.
None of us can lose sight of the fact that AOF is a national organization and all must work together to keep AOF alive.
Remember this, where else can a club go to put on a week end race for around $500? If AOF dies, so does the non-profit standing and the insurance, the sanctions, history, etc, that goes with that incorporation.
I am pleased that we have guys like Bobby and Carl who are stepping up to the plate in this public forum to announce their intentions. Heaven knows what would have happened if they had sent their resumes to the national office. My guess is that you wouldn’t have even heard they were running. That has been the story for the last 3 years.
Way to go and good luck to AOF
Connie Payn, RETIRED AOF Executive Director
As you can see from Hydroracer, an election will take place in AOF that is vital to the life of AOF.
Please take this election seriously. I was the Executive Director of AOF for many years and I am sure that during that time I probably made a lot of you sick with my promotion of the Federation. I just couldn’t help myself, because being involved with the inner workings of AOF, I could see so many advantages. I just wanted to shout it to the world. I finally came to realize that AOF was just one of the great organizations for boat racing out there. We have the giant, APBA, the innovative NBRA, the grounded blue collar AOF, and many many wildcat or “independent” (more than you might think) boat racing organizations out there. AOF is just best at what it is, not what the others are.
I retired as AOF Executive Director a few years ago, and have tried to stay out of politics. This election has brought me back, if for nothing else, but to give my opinions.
First, my kudos to all who have been involved in the government of AOF. It is a thankless volunteer job. I know each of the officers and have great respect and admiration for them. Some have given it there all. In my opinion, some have not.
The day-to-day activities of the organization are to be run by the President and Executive Director, and run according to the AOF mission statement. For whatever reason, I do not believe that the business of AOF has been conducted to the best of it’s potential. Without going into detail, I know for a fact that there hasn’t been a legal election for 3 years. There hasn’t been enough communication. Some members have been treated so badly by the present Executive Director, that they even stopped payment on all funds to AOF after an Eastern Championship. Points were not accepted for some races. Records that were set in AOF had to be fought for. I mean, letter after letter sent to try to get a record accepted by the national office, and yet today, the records are not acknowledged on the AOF website.
There has been such shoddy record keeping (in my opinion anyway), that I have heard from people who say they got a membership card and they hadn’t joined for 3 years. Others have told me that they joined, and either their check was never cashed, or that they never received a card.
Literally no one received a ballot for voting by October 1 as the rulebook states any of the last 3 years. And to top it off, how do we get in contact with the AOF national office. Where is it? As far as I know, it has been changed 3 times, at least. OK, the Executive Director moved. How hard is it to send out a notice of a new address? Or, how hard would it have been to set up a PO Box or something with all mail transferred to that? No one should have to track down the office of AOF. The President informed me that if there was a problem, why wasn’t he informed? How do you find his number. Oh, yeah, I know, it’s on the quarterly newsletter---NOT.
Several of those who did call him, including me, did not get a return call. And believe me, if there is a fan of the AOF President, it is me. I love him. He is a great guy. Sometimes great guys don’t make great presidents.
With no legal elections, there has also not been a legal national meeting for the last 3 years. How did anything get done with no legal meeting? What is a legal meeting? A legal meeting is one in which all members were informed when and where it is being held. There are AOF Directors who have not had a vote for 3 years. Does the present Administration or Executive Director ever read the rulebook? Before a nationals or national meeting can be approved, ALL of the Racing Commission has to have a vote to approve it. Hey, no one ever disapproves of it, because no one else wants to do it, but those are our rules.
What about this year, I hear from Hydroracer that AOF is having a nationals in Moses Lake and a national meeting in Moses Lake. How come the Racing Commission did not approve them, and are they legal? Just some food for thought, and Oh, well, the points haven’t been counted correctly for the last 3 years anyway, so what does it does it really mean to be a high point, record holder, or national champion in AOF these days anyway.
In the last few weeks I have had some conversations with several members of State Line of Spokane. This is a very active club with several AOF officers as members. They are my friends and I have lots of respect for them. However, a lot of the country, including myself, felt that there was a conspiracy by these officers to “take over” the organization. In our eyes, all we saw was that they were running the show and everyone else was being ignored. After speaking with them, I now have a whole different perspective. It seems that they were under the impression that no one else in the country cared enough to contribute. What they did not know, is that the rest of the country was getting absolutely no response from the national office, or for that matter couldn’t even FIND the national office! This was all the fault of poor or lack of communication from the AOF national office.
Let me ask anyone in AOF to list the present AOF officers, or better yet, list the AOF Racing Commission. My guess is that 9 out of 10 cannot do that. Let me go a little bit further and ask on what page of the rulebook are the election dates. My guess is that in the last 4 years, 9 of 10 haven’t even gotten a rulebook! What, if anything, may I ask has our Executive Director been doing? Carl Staron took it upon himself to send an application to all of the Lifetime Members and Hall of Famers in AOF so that he could update his records. Guess what, he had no problem getting returned applications from them. (99% responded). Why did our national office have so much trouble with communication?
To be a good leader in AOF one must first understand the organization, and believe in it. Leaders then have a first responsibility to AOF, not their local club, or their own agenda. Our leaders need to look at “what is best for AOF as a whole, not just what is best for their region or club. That is probably one of the most difficult aspects of being a national officer. But, it is imperative.
The present and new officers are going to find themselves in that position a lot in the next year if AOF is to get back on track. We have finally established that there is a problem. From those that I have talked to, there is a willingness to fix the problem. Now it is time to put all personal and regional agendas aside and be NATIONAL officers thinking only what is best for AOF.
None of us can lose sight of the fact that AOF is a national organization and all must work together to keep AOF alive.
Remember this, where else can a club go to put on a week end race for around $500? If AOF dies, so does the non-profit standing and the insurance, the sanctions, history, etc, that goes with that incorporation.
I am pleased that we have guys like Bobby and Carl who are stepping up to the plate in this public forum to announce their intentions. Heaven knows what would have happened if they had sent their resumes to the national office. My guess is that you wouldn’t have even heard they were running. That has been the story for the last 3 years.
Way to go and good luck to AOF
Connie Payn, RETIRED AOF Executive Director
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