[SamKellner]

In a topic titled USHPA insurance and risk management:

Davis said

I understand why the USHPA wants secrecy. But secrecy at the USHPA has the same corrosive effect on us as secrecy in government. They may not like it, but that's the reality.

Then Dan says

Exactly. Anything but "All we can tell you is Its big, scary, and bad"

I hope, as a ushpa member, that Dan does not forget the position he's taking here.


Read more: http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.ph ... z2G1AuXYGH

[Bob Kuczewski]

Here's the email message that Mark Forbes sent to USHPA Candidates at the end of August

From: Mark G. Forbes <mark@mgforbes.com>
To: elections@ushpa.aero
Subject: 2013 USHPA election--instructions for candidates--DEADLINE September 9, 2013
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 23:30:31 -0700

Here is the list of nominees for the upcoming election. You're receiving this email because you're on the list. Following are your instructions for what to do next. (I) means "incumbent".

1 Mark Forbes(I)

2 Josh Cohn (I)
2 Patrick Hajek (I)

3 Corey Caffrey (I)
3 Rob Sporrer(I)
3 Alan Crouse
3 Bob Kuczewski

4 Ken Grubbs(I)
4 Charles Woods

5/CAN Josh Pierce

6/11/* David Glover(I)

7 No election this year
8 No election this year

9 Dan Tomlinson (I)
9 Larry Dennis
9 Hugh McElrath
9 Patrick Terry
9 Wayne Smith

10 Matt Taber(I)
10 Bruce Weaver(I)

11/6 David Glover(I)

12 No election this year

You have been nominated and have accepted the nomination to run for regional director. The next step is for you to provide some information for inclusion in the November issue of the magazine. This consists of two items: (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!)

1) A photo (of you, presumably) sized to 600 x 600 pixels, in either JPEG or TIFF format. We'd like to see your face, not an anonymous helmet.

2) Your statement for publication in the election issue of the magazine. This may include any pertinent information you care to provide regarding your qualifications, views on topics of interest or whatever else you think members in your region should know about you. Keep it down to 500 words or less. It's good to focus on things like how your life/work experiences will help us to manage our Association effectively, or how your particular skills can benefit pilots in your region and nationally.

Please submit these two items no later than September 9, 2013 for inclusion in the November magazine. Our production schedule demands that we cut off submissions and move forward to layout, so if your info is late it may not be included. Your photo and statement should be sent to these three people:

Magazine Editor, Nick Greece, editor@ushpa.aero
Program Manager, Beth Van Eaton, beth.vaneaton@ushpa.aero
Elections Chairman, Mark Forbes, elections@ushpa.aero

****-->You can just "reply-all" to this message<--****
when sending your info, and it will go to all three of us. If you need to send something in by snail-mail, contact me and I'll give you an address.

This year's election will be conducted electronically, instead of via paper ballots. It worked very well last year, and it was less hassle and expense than doing it on paper. We only had a couple of people who wanted to send in a paper ballot, and only one that was actually returned. Your bio will be printed in the magazine, along with your photo, and it will also be available as a link from the ballot page. Members will receive a mailing with a secure password link for voting on-line, and the option if they can't do so to obtain a paper ballot from the office.

There will be two email blasts to USHPA members who have valid addresses and have selected the "allow candidate contact" box on their membership record. The first of these will go out in late October, shortly before the November election issue arrives in mailboxes. The second one will go out in early December, a week or so before the close of balloting.

If you wish to include a statement to go out by email to the members in your region, send it to me, titled "<Your Name> Election Email" no later than October 10th, 2013. I'll collate the statements into a single bulk email and have them sent out from the office. I'll ask again before the December mailing.

You may also send snail-mail to members of your region. This is at your own expense, and USHPA can provide a set of one-time-use mailing labels for your mailing. A signed privacy agreement and payment of the cost of label production is required. Contact me if you want to do this, and I'll point you to the right people.

Ballots will be accepted until the close of business on December 15th, 2013. The ballots will be tallied after that, and final counts should be available a week or so later.

Just to repeat....the deadline is September 9. That's the weekend after next, so you've got a few days to get your campaign statement written down and have somebody take a decent picture of you. Helmets off, please!

Thanks for volunteering!

Mark G. Forbes
USHPA Elections Committee chairman

If you read through the details, Mark required our first email statement to be sent to him by October 10th. Today is October 20th, and they still haven't been forwarded on to the members yet.     

[Bob Kuczewski]

2013 Election

Mark Forbes (Election Committee Chair) had told all candidates that we had to have our email statements to him by October 10th (which I did). He said he'd get them out to the membership in a few days.

Today is November 8th (almost a month later), and I just got this via email (even though he dated it October 31st):

October 31, 2013
Greetings, Region 3 Pilots!

USHPA provides candidates running for regional director with the opportunity to send an email to members. These candidate statements are unedited and not an official position of USHPA, its staff, volunteers or officers.

Thanks for voting in our annual election!

Mark G. Forbes
USHPA Elections committee chairman.

Candidate Statement: Rob Sporrer

Elect Rob Sporrer for another two-year term as USHPA Region 3 Director.

Hello Region 3 pilots (Southern California & Hawaii). I'm nearing the end of my third term as a region 3 Director, and asking for your vote in the upcoming regional director election. Please take the time to vote.

Serving pilots and the free flight community is not a hobby, it is my life. I make a living as a paragliding instructor, and have worked to educate myself on the challenges hang gliders and paragliders face. I firmly believe participating in the decisions USHPA has made and is making will help move free-flight in a favorable direction.

All directors volunteer their time to serve the organization. I volunteer for action items, committee work, and new programs like the Wheels Up program helping those bound to wheels chairs to get up flying solo on paragliders. I am a very active participant on numerous committees and work groups aimed at helping USHPA achieve its strategic plan.

I've put in countless volunteer hours of work on USHPA projects; I have also volunteered two weeks of my time coaching the National Paragliding Team at the world championships in Mexico, Spain, and Bulgaria.

My biggest asset to our region is being in touch with the pilots. I spend a great deal of time with hang gliders and paragliders since I fly, teach, and run clinics all year long.

I have a broad scope, and have a great deal to contribute on many topics instead of being focused on one particular issue.

I promise to continue my efforts on your behalf if elected for another term. We have to work to keep our flying sites open and operating. We need to be proactively defending our rights as pilots, and integrate Mini Wing flying in a manner that preserves our flying sites.

I have the experience and knowledge to participate with the USHPA Board, and work together to make a difference. Thanks for taking the time to vote.

Tailwinds,
Rob Sporrer

Candidate Statement: Bob Kuczewski

Hello Pilots in Region 3. My name is Bob Kuczewski, and I am running for Regional Director because I want to return control of USHPA to the pilots.

A former USHPA insider once told me that USHPA was a "Regional Director's Club" paid for by the members. I think that's been true. Too many of our Directors have conflicts of interest and are only Directors so they can manipulate USHPA for their own benefit. Rob Sporrer fits that description, and he should be replaced. That's why I am asking for your vote and that's why I'm also endorsing Alan Crouse (you get to choose 2 directors on your ballot).

I could give many examples where Rob Sporrer has put his own interests ahead of the interests of our members, but I'd like to focus on the most important one: Open Voting Records for Regional Directors.

The basic principle of representational government is that we (the people) vote for representatives, and then we watch over their shoulders to see what they do. If we like what they do, then we re-elect them. If we don't, then we fire them. It's that simple.

But that only works if we can SEE what they're doing. In USHPA, that means seeing exactly how our elected Directors vote on the USHPA Board. That's when they make the decisions that the rest of us have to live with. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate publish voting records going back 20 years or more. Why won't USHPA do the same? ( see http://clerk.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov )

In 2009 and 2010, I pushed for an "Accountability Amendment" which would have opened up the voting records on the USHPA Board. Rob Sporrer was on the Board at that time and he refused to endorse that amendment and he refused to second my motion because he wants to keep our members from knowing how their own elected Directors have voted - including himself.

The bottom line is simple. If you want an open voting record for all Regional Directors, then mark your ballot for the two candidates most likely to support it: Bob Kuczewski and Alan Crouse. While you may not find "Open Voting Records" listed among Alan's top priorities, I have spoken to him and I believe he would support that issue if it came up for a vote. Neither of the other candidates (both incumbents) have been willing to make that commitment.

For more information on my other positions (National Pilots Forum, Fair Processes, HG/PG Committees, Open EC Meetings, Open Board Meetings, etc), please contact me by phone or by email or visit:

  http://ushawks.org/USHPA2013

Thanks for your time,
Bob Kuczewski
H4/P4, Aeronautical Engineer, Private Pilot, Former Region 3 Director
Phone: 858-204-7499
Email: bob@ushawks.org

Candidate Statement: Alan Crouse

Alan Crouse - Your "No Surprises" Candidate Hello Fellow Pilots!

I am an H4/P3 pilot who has been flying in Southern California since 2002. My 'day job' is in management, serving a variety of governmental and private agencies over the past 30 years with a background in computer science and management. The folks at Crestline and Soboba saw fit to have me as Treasurer (both sites, including currently at Soboba) and President (2 terms at Crestline). My membership dues support SDHGPA and SHGA. I am also the Treasurer for a national information technology group. Finally, I operate the Soaring Predictor http://www.soaringpredictor.info for southern California and beyond.

Being a USHPA Regional Director and Board member is a tough, unpaid position. Why would anyone, in particular me, want it?? Well, it has been my observation that this group is out there trying to do good things for our sport and making the same mistake over and over again. The Board is lousy at communications. Board meetings are held, decisions get made, THEN get communicated and the members go nuts. Can you say: Observers; 'Fly Safe' wristbands; Clubs not allowed to criticize USHPA (this one got rolled back); or (most recently) speed mini-wing restrictions? Every time the opportunity to see and comment on the proposal came after the fact.

Now I am not the only one concerned about this problem. In fact, our current President, Rich Hass, was key in getting the USHPA criticism thing reversed. But, these folks need help and that's what my platform is all about. If elected, I will:

-Establish an e-mail list through a standard service (ConstantContact, VerticalResponse, etc.) and include all instructors and club officers in our region (yes, I will be spamming you);

-Any other USHPA member in our region can opt-in to the list (yes, you too can vote for more spam);

-BEFORE each meeting, list members will get a preview of items on the agenda (there may be 'closed session' items on litigation or personnel issues that cannot be included);

-If an item comes forward that was not provided to the Board in advance, it gets an automatic "No' vote from me. If it wasn't important/critical enough to get the Board, it is not critical/important enough to vote on;

-After the meeting I will place how I voted on a website set up for our region. What other Board members do is up to them; you will know how I voted.

Staying with the 'no surprises' theme, I am not independently wealthy, and do not operate a hang gliding/paragliding business to write off expenses against, so I will accept the airfare and hotel expenses associated with Board meetings. I will fly SouthWest, stay the minimum number of days and provide receipts.

We have an awesome sport that has been a big part of my life for the past decade. With your vote, I hope to make its governance more transparent and accessible to the membership. "No More Surprises!"

Candidate Statement: Corey Caffery

My name is Corey Caffrey and I love flying. My first flying experience was when, as a one-month-old baby, my dad strapped my car seat into his single engine airplane and took me for a flight. I obviously don't remember that flight, but I'm pretty sure that's when I got hooked. Years later a friend of mine learned to paraglide, listening to him talk about the sport piqued my interest, and by interest I mean obsession. I was soon a P2, and by the end of my first year I had logged more than 250 hours. I was addicted, not just to paragliding, but to anything that flew. In my third year of free flight I learned to hang glide. Now I love to fly both hangs and para, and love the opportunities to fly that are created by being biwingual.

USHPA needs youth. I am not the candidate you should vote for to fight the same old tired battles. My desire to remain involved in USHPA is to create an organization focused on growing free flight and creating a positive impression of paragliding, hang gliding and speed flying in the public.

You should vote for me is because I am the ideal candidate to accomplish the 2 things we must focus on to grow and succeed as an organization.

(1) We must continue to grow the sport of free flight. I am currently the Director of Corporate Development at a tech/interactive advertising startup called SocialVibe. My focus at SocialVibe is to increase people's awareness of the Company through strategic partnerships with the biggest websites on the Internet (Facebook, Pandora & Zynga to name a few). I believe that my experience can be leveraged into opportunities to generate massive public awareness of our sport and ultimately drive new pilots into schools across the country.

(2) We must run the organization in an efficient and effective manner.

Prior to my career at SocialVibe, I was a finance guy, focused on the restructuring of distressed companies. When a Company is in a financially or operationally distressed state, it is imperative that the Company rallies around core values, and makes efficient and effective decisions to ensure any chance of survival. While USHPA is not a distressed Company, I do believe that now is a great time to truly evaluate the current state and direction of the organization and make the (sometimes) hard decisions that best position this organization to succeed into the future.

[SamKellner]

Alan Crouse statement

[Bob Kuczewski]

I just emailed my last 2013 USHPA Candidate statement to Mark Forbes with a copy to the other candidates and a few other observers:

Hello Mark Forbes (cc/bcc Region 3 Candidates and others),

Here's my candidate statement for emailing. Please retain the formatting as much as possible. In particular, I would like the web site link to be a clickable link in the email message. I know USHPA can do that because you do it in every message where you actually *want* pilots to visit a web site.

Thanks,
Bob Kuczewski
858-204-7499

========================================
Hello Fellow Pilots,

How long do you think you can fly (safely) with your eyes closed? Two seconds? Ten seconds? A minute? Close your eyes right now and imagine yourself flying in traffic or close to the terrain or in turbulence. How long can you keep your eyes closed before you start to get ... very nervous?

We are flying blindly when we elect Regional Directors without knowing how they are voting on the USHPA Board. Every Senator and every Congressman has a voting record, and that's what they have to defend when they come up for re-election. The USHPA Board (that includes Rich Hass, Mark Forbes, and most of the other Directors) have refused to publish their voting records for their members to see. They want us flying blind when we vote.

If you're a regular pilot who's not involved in USHPA politics, it can be hard to know who to support. Rob Sporrer has a nice smile and will shake your hand and tell you he's trying to protect your sport. But is he? How do you know? And most importantly, why won't he vote to publish his own voting record on the Board?

If you want a pilot's organization that really represents pilots, please vote for the two candidates most likely to work for open voting records on the Board: Bob Kuczewski and Alan Crouse.

You can read about my other ideas for USHPA at:

     http://ushawks.org/USHPA2013

Thanks for your time,
Bob Kuczewski
H4/P4, Aeronautical Engineer, Private Pilot, Former Region 3 Director
Phone: 858-204-7499 - Please call me directly if you like.
Email: bob@ushawks.org or bobkuczewski@gmail.com
========================================

[Bob Kuczewski]

Great News Everyone!!!!!!

Alan Crouse has been elected and Rob Sporrer is ... GONE!!

Here are the results of the regional director election
for the 2014-2015 term.

Region 1
Mark Forbes received 119 votes and was re-elected. Write in votes were received for John Kraske, Steve Baran, Tom Johns and Wade Holmes.

Region 2
Jon James received 102 votes and Josh Cohn received 92 votes. They were elected. Ed Youmans received 75 votes and Kimberly Phinney received 58 votes. Write in votes were received for Zac Majors, Ernie Camacho, Fred Morris, Chase Harriman, Eric Heinrichs, Wayne Michelson, Glen Zapien, Juan Laos, Lin Lyons, Brian Horgan and Chris Valley.

Region 3
Alan Crouse received 131 votes and Corey Caffrey received 121 votes. They were elected. Rob Sporrer received 116 votes and Bob Kuczewski received 59 votes. Write in votes were received for Rob McKenzie, Ken Baier, Max Marien, and (as always) Shilo the Wonder Dog. One paper ballot was received and is included in the above totals.

Region 4
Ken Grubbs received 111 votes and was re-elected. Write in votes were received for Chris Santacroce, Mark Denzel and Mel Glantz.

Region 5/Canada
Josh Pierce received 45 votes and was elected. Write in votes were received for Bart Weghorst and Bill Snyder.

Region 6/11/International
David Glover received 52 votes and was re-elected. Write in votes were received for Britton Shaw, Keith Smith, Nathan Wreyford and Riss Estes.

Regions 7, 8 and 12 had no election this cycle.

Region 9
Larry Dennis received 41 votes and was elected. Hugh McElrath received 29 votes, Dan Tomlinson received 20 votes, Patrick Terry received 17 votes and Wayne Smith received 5 votes. There were no write-in votes received.

Region 10
Matt Taber received 82 votes, and Bruce Weaver received 83 votes. Both were re-elected. Write in votes were received for Charlie Yowell, Luis Ameglio, Luis Rosenkjer, Mitch Shipley and Roland Sanguino.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Mark G. Forbes
USHPA elections committee chairman

[Bob Kuczewski]

I've run for USHPA Regional Director the last two years, and both years I've had mixed feelings about it.

If I were elected, I could continue my work to improve USHPA. On the other hand, there might be a conflict of interest with my position running the US Hawks. That might mean I might have to turn the US Hawks over to someone else during my term.

So while I would serve if elected, I'm always happier if my candidacy helps another worthy candidate win. In this case, I think Alan Crouse will be a much much better Director than Rob Sporrer. It's hard to know which of my 59 votes might have gone to Rob Sporrer in my absense, but if even half of them did, then that's what made the difference (Alan defeated Sporrer by only 15 votes, and Corey defeated Sporrer by only 5 votes). So it was very very close!!

The bottom line is that Rob Sporrer is gone AND I can continue to run the US Hawks without any conflicts of interest. That sounds like WIN - WIN to me!!!     

Thanks to everyone who voted!!!

[Bill Cummings]

Bob,
In the past when I have voted for a Regional director (RD) I have used the mail-in ballot. After completing the ballot and affixing the postage stamp I would leave the envelope to USHPA unsealed and put it into a larger envelope and mail it to the RD’s address that was getting my vote. (I think I only did this once.) A note to the RD gave him the okay to read my ballot, then seal, and mail it.
This was the most that I, as one voter, could do to give the RD a paper trail if he had any concerns of voting shenanigans further down the road from him.

It more than likely would not be enough evidence for the RD if he were to contest a vote other than if the tabulation revealed that he didn’t even get one vote.

With this unsealed vote to the RD went the unwritten implication that I’m endeavoring to be open with him and the hint being a wish for him to reciprocate.
(I also could have authorized him to change my vote if at the last minute he had to withdraw from the race.)

This last time I voted on-line. The difference this time is that the RD can’t know for sure, first hand, that my vote for him was even offered up. (As I said before it’s not much because I’m only one voter.)

To vote this time I used an access code unique to me alone. It would be real helpful for me to see that secret access code, recognized among the membership only by me, posted by USHPA under the RD’s name. That way I could trust and verify that my vote wasn’t lost, misplaced, deleted, or misdirected.

If the Hawks could get a system of voting like this I think it would go a long way letting members know that there are fewer cracks for votes to slip through.
TRUST AND VERIFY TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE.
What do you think?

[Bob Kuczewski]

If the Hawks could get a system of voting like this I think it would go a long way letting members know that there are fewer cracks for votes to slip through.
TRUST AND VERIFY TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE.
What do you think?

What do I think?

I think that having members with brains like yours Bill is what will make the Hawks better ... even before we've done anything with voting. Your idea of sending the unopened vote to the RD first is brilliant and extremely courteous to your candidate Director.

Regarding our ability to "trust" USHPA, I see huge holes. In a relatively recent election (within a few years), I voted for Dennis Duvall (one of our Hawks members). I pulled the ballot from the cover of the magazine and in the process, I ended up separating the ballot from the mailing label. No problem, I reattached them and sent in my vote.

When the votes were published, there were NO votes for Dennis Duvall. Hmmm...

As you point out, in most cases, we have no way of knowing whether our votes are being counted properly. But in this case, I KNOW that I had voted for Dennis, and yet there were no votes listed. So I knew something was up.

I contacted USHPA and I was eventually told that my ballot was discarded because it had been detatched (as I described above). Now you would think that receiving a suspected "fraudulent" ballot, that USHPA would contact me to let me know that either my ballot had been tampered with or it wasn't being counted. They did neither. In other words, they assumed it had been tampered with (declaring it invalid) but they didn't follow through to let me know that my ballot had been tampered with. That's an inconsistent reaction to getting a "questionable" ballot, and it tells me that USHPA elections cannot be trusted.

Regarding the US Hawks voting, I am inclined to have everyone post public votes (as we've done in the trial voting examples). It does remove the privacy, but it ensures that there can be no "hanky panky" because everyone can independently verify the votes.

Regarding the "secret access code" approach, there are failure modes there as well. For example, a malicious elections chair could give multiple people the same access code. So you (and ten other people) could look up that code and find it under the same Director's name. Each of you thinks that your vote has been registered, but you're all counted together as just one vote. There are ways to protect against this as well, but you can see that it gets complicated. Another failure mode of the "secret access code" is stuffing the ballot box. They can generate and post bogus codes (codes that were never given out to anyone!!) as if they were legitmate votes. How would anyone know if those bogus codes actually represented anyone unless everyone steps forward to claim their own codes (defeating the point of secret codes in the first place).

So again, I'm leaning toward open voting system where people are willing to publicly stand behind their votes. I think the US Hawks will be a better organization if our members feel free to speak out and stand behind what they believe. We should do whatever we can to foster that kind of courage and spirit. But I guess we can put that decision up for ... a vote.

[SamKellner]

Great News Everyone!!!!!!

Alan Crouse has been elected and Rob Sporrer is ... GONE!!

Congrats to Alan Crouse

Rob Sporrer is ... GONE!!
Rob Sporrer is ... GONE!!
Rob Sporrer is ... GONE!!