To all that really wants to here the truth and help AOPA and GA.
It is very sad that Marjorie has resigned as president but I feel I do have to clarify some misunderstandings as to the conduct of all parties. For a start Gary was never removed from his position as vice president a motion was put forward for this but not supported by the majority. There was then a motion to remove all the Executive to resolve the personal issues between them and allow the remaining directors to attempt to help resolve these issues, this clearly did not happen so nominations were then called for president, to which Marjorie was re-elected. 1st vice president to which Ron Lawford was re-elected, when it came to 2nd vice president Gary was nominated along with myself the end result being that Gary was defeated and I was elected in the position Gary was however elected as company secretary.
Please understand that we are only human and occasionally personalities clash, as with any other board of directors. One of the leading factors to the whole mess would be the lack of communication between the board members. There are many sides to a story and no matter what is said in respect to past conduct I believe that all parties did believe they were acting in the best interest of the members, no one ever wins when things like this happen and believe me there are casualties out of this, which is very sad.
As for the accusations that the board did not sanction Gary's actions again that is not true and again the lack of communication between the executive and directors plays a major role in this. Last night the board felt in majority that the positions held at that time should not change and that we should move forward, Marjorie felt that she could not do this and resigned her position. No one really knows whether or not the disallowance would have got through or not my understanding is it wouldn’t, what is known is we do have a letter from the minister that clearly states that he will consult with AOPA on strict liability issues that is where the dilemma starts devil you do devil you don’t either way we could loose, so as some of you may see things are not always black and white.
For those of you that know me personally you know I am not a person that lies or fabricates the truth to suit individuals needs there is so much to do to reclaim GA from the ashes and we all owe it to ourselves to make it work. Lets move on and learn from this the board has agreed to communicate better and consult as required. There are allot of people out there that would like to see AOPA fall I will give it my best to prevent this from happening.
Another factor here was I seem to remember a request from the new team to be allowed to get on with it, but some of you cant help but comment on every single issue that the board has done and even reporting AOPA to ASIC, if any of you really believe that any board member is corrupt then shame on you ASIC are there for real issues they are not to be used as a personal tool to get back at AOPA. I will not mention any one by name those who do this know who they are, I would like you to stop, I will now stick my own neck on the block if you have issues with what I am saying or AOPA please call me my personal number is 0408 637212 and I will promise to answer any questions you have about board conduct.
To conclude the board has not crumbled perhaps a hick up in fact I believe it will grow and become stronger over the next few months to say we are too busy disagreeing with each other is also untrue as you are all aware things in this industry change daily and we have to remain flexible and possibly change tactics on the run we are not always going to agree on all issues that is why we vote. Like most of you I struggle to work in this industry daily and you have my promise to attempt to make it better for all so I ask you once more help us make this work and my door is always open and I will listen. RB
