GPM, Day One, Part Deaux

Well....hmmmm...uhhhhh...yeah. This has been an interesting day of chili politics. Here's a rundown of what occurred after we went back for the round table discussions, the Texas GP Caucus and the lively GP/RR meeting:

Okay, we have seven people running for the BOD. Of the seven, six agreed that CASI needs to work on it's image, it's advertising, and it's communication. There was one lone candidate who really doesn't see what the problem is and I quote, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Nice.

Fortunately, the people I feel will be elected to the BOD really do see a lot of opportunities for CASI to improve in the areas that have caused so much friction and internal bickering for a while, like the lack of communication, the disregard for what much of the membership have to say, the complete lack of promotion and dedicated funds to advertise CASI. Thank God there are individuals who want to make CASI a better organization run by a group of people dedicated to working hard and trying to mend a lot of the broken lines of communication between the Board and the membership. To those people, I say thank you for wanting to do a good job. To the individuals who think nothing needs to change and really don't know why you have to be bothered with questions about issues the membership feels are important, thanks, but no thanks.

Something else that I feel matters a lot to CASI's success is the position of the Executive Director. The ED is charged with keeping the lines of communication open between the Board and the membership. To sum up what the current ED said to our table today, "the ED represents the membership to the BOD." Really? When? How? I cannot stress how important it is that the person in the position of communicating to and for the Board and membership, then this person MUST be someone who can pass the communication along REGARDLESS of their personal opinion about the issue at hand. If the person in the ED position cannot be objective, then they don't need to be in that position. We need someone in that position who is going to listen to all of the feedback and pass it along; not just the feedback they think is worth sharing. Most of us are told that issues they want brought before the BOD are to be sent to the ED to be distributed to the rest of the Directors. Tell me, what kind of person do you want determining what gets brought to the BOD's attention and what doesn't? And, how long do we put up with being shut out and ignored when we keep pushing an issue to get some sort of resolution? There are a lot of great people working on the Board, and I believe they want to bridge the gap between the BOD and the membership. We need every tool and person available to make it work, right? That includes the ED as well.

I'm tired...so I may sound like I'm rambling or not making a lot of sense. It wouldn't be the first time, right? We don't have wine glasses, so Gary and I are drinking wine out of plastic cups :) There are so many other things I want to just completely rant and rave about (saying no gives CASI a black eye..ugh..please), but aside from that small slip, I'm going to take the high road. Now more than ever I realize how much I love to cook chili and how little I enjoy the politics of CASI. And yes, I realize that I qualify as a Chili Politic-er, Enabler, and Contributor by writing about CASI on this blog. Still, I'm only human and I have to have some sort of an outlet for all of the crap that I observe...and also participate in! I can only put my pancreas through so much abuse before I have to stop drinking away my problems and start bitching them away! Thankfully there are a whole bunch of great people out there and Gary and I get to cook with them! And...a lot of them are here this weekend so I get to visit with them as well. Speaking of which...the lovely Delora Goin, my Charlie Robison stalking partner, has just shown up. Gotta go, peeps!!!

Kelly