Bob Kuczewski's 2010 Region 3 Recall Statement (February 27th, 2010):

Fellow Region 3 Pilots,

My name is Bob Kuczewski and I've been fortunate to know many of you through my flying. As you may know, I've focused my Directorship on representing pilot interests at USHPA because I believe that USHPA begins with YOU. If you look at the issues I've tackled, you'll find two common themes: fair representation for our members and accountability to our members. Here's a short list of the items that I've worked toward during my first year in office:

The "Accountability Amendment" - In the fall of 2009, I began working on the Accountability Amendment to make it easier for our members to see how their own Directors are voting on the Board. The Board of Directors is the ultimate authority at USHPA with one exception: you. Each of you, as voting members, holds the final authority over each Regional Director. You are the boss. But how can you be a good boss if you don't know what your own Directors are doing? I would like to see all Directors' votes on the Board be published after every Board meeting so you would know exactly who voted for each and every change in our organization. This goal may have to be tempered with practicality, but to the degree possible I will work to open up the voting on our Board so our members can see what we're doing and exactly who is doing it. This does not make me popular with the rest of the Board, but I don't work for the Board. I work for our members. I work for you.

Open Executive Committee Meetings - The Executive Committee (EC) is made up of 4 Directors who essentially run USHPA between our 2 annual Board meetings. It's well known that 2 Board meetings per year is far too few, and we've had problems resulting from the Executive Committee making decisions without input from the other members of the Board. For that reason, I'd like to establish a policy that ALL Directors are welcomed (and encouraged) to attend the monthly EC teleconferences. I believe that would help USHPA make better decisions.

Fair Representation on Boards and Councils - This was one of the issues that originally brought me to leadership at USHPA. Our association consists of pilots from two sports: hang gliding and paragliding (I fly both). The relative numbers in those sports have varied and will continue to vary. But USHPA must ensure that members of both sports are treated fairly and can get fair representation whenever possible. This has not been the case in the past at some of our sites, and I've been working to fix that over the last 3 years (long before I became a Director).

Flying is Job One - USHPA has many facets: Board, Officers, Staff, Magazine, Regulation, Competition, Ratings, Instruction, Site Preservation, and many others. I view all of these facets as supporting cast members in USHPA's number one goal: to keep our members flying. Any time USHPA fails in that primary mission, it has failed all of us. When USHPA allowed its own Director (David Jebb) to bar pilots from flying at one of our most famous sites without any valid reason and without any due process, USHPA failed us. USHPA failed David Beardslee when he was banned for life. That was wrong, and one of my most important goals is to ensure that USHPA never fails another one of our pilots again - ever. It doesn't matter how nice the magazine is. If our pilots can't fly, then USHPA has failed us. This is an area where Bill Helliwell has already let us down. Bill was on the SDHGPA Board when David Jebb banned Beardslee and Bill did nothing. That's inexcusable, and that's why I cannot support Bill Helliwell as our Regional Director. Directors must stand up for their pilots. That's Job One.

There's a lot more that I can add, and you'll find more information at my original 2008 campaign web site: http://torreyhawks.org/r3 (which has been updated for this recall election). I will say that this recall sets a bad precedent because it means that 10% of any Region can force an expensive (~ $10,000) and divisive election on the other 90% of that Region. Mark Forbes wrote:

"As the Elections chairman, I'm the one who gets to deal with people asking about recalls and so on. There have been an assortment of such inquiries, starting the day after BobK was announced as having won election as an RD." - Mark Forbes

In other words, this recall election was initiated by the "sore losers club" before I even took office as Regional Director. Furthermore, I will be up for election this year anyway, and there's nothing so pressing that would justify all this expense and effort. So please take the time to mark your ballot against this frivolous recall and for more control of USHPA by our pilots. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Bob Kuczewski ( 858-204-7499 bobkuczewski@gmail.com Please call or write any time. )