The 2008 PR Society Assembly in Detroit Oct. 25 was a fraud perpetrated on the general membership not only by the national board but by the Assembly delegates, all of whom are “wired” in one way or another.
It was bad enough that the board scheduled more than two hours of canned presentations plus a two-hour exercise in “strategic thinking” that would have insulted the intelligence of a third-grader.
Even worse was the acquiescence of the more than 200 chapter delegates in this charade. It’s easy to see why the delegates took a dive.
The bylaw passed in 2004 that let non-APRs into the Assembly had a huge Mickey in it. Non-APR delegates had to be board members of their local chapters.
This strengthened leader/staff control of the Assembly as the local “titled establishments” joined the “national establishment.”
The entire Assembly now is APRs or “leaders” of chapters/sections/districts. These are members “on the take” from PRS in terms of local, district and national titles, memberships on the 30+ national committees, etc. They are often desirous of even more titles that they feel enhance their resumes. They are mostly “status borrowers” rather than “status lenders” and are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.
Besides receiving titles, leaders get various budgets and expense accounts approved by national. The $571,000 spent on “travel” in 2007 also includes meals but there is never a breakout of “meals.” We wonder how much of that total is spent on staff and volunteer meals. Such a total should be readily available.
It’s no wonder the delegates sat there like bumps on a log and allowed themselves to be led around by their noses the entire day.
Not one delegate arose to ask why the board did not bring even one meaningful bylaw change before the Assembly after promising a year ago to provide a full slate of new bylaws.
We’ve asked about ten delegates to obtain the 136-page transcript of the Assembly that was delivered to Jennifer Ian at PRS h.q. a couple of weeks ago. All refused. Of course they did. They don’t want to hear anything more about the shameful Oct. 25 meeting in which they failed to represent their constituents. Rank-and-file members have every right to see what went on at that meeting.
We hope the nine new national directors will not wait until the end of January to exercise their powers including demanding the release of the transcript. They are now involving not only their own names but the names of their organizations in a dysfunctional, undemocratic system.
They are Gary McCormick, Scripps Interactive; Kathy Barbour, Mayo Clinic; Catherine Huggins, Western & Southern Financial Group; Gail Liebl, Travelers; Lynn Appelbaum, CCNY; Donald Kirchoffner, retired head of PA, U.S. Army; Steven Grant, National Education Assn.; Gail Winslow-Pine, Catholic Medical Center, and Deborah Silverman, Buffalo State College.
About the Author:
–Jack O’Dwyer has been writing on media, marketing, advertising and public relations issues for three decades. He owns a weekly newsletter, a monthly magazine and his other material can be found at www.odwyerpr.com.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The 2008 PR Society Assembly in Detroit Oct. 25 Was Window Dressing
