USATF Board overturns 392-70 vote, will instead nominate Stephanie Hightower for IAAF Council

agip wrote:

does anyone have any view on whether this was actually a move that will help USATF?

The Board of Directors thinks it will, everyone else thinks it will not.

Whoever the candidate is USATF puts forward, they then have to be elected to the spot on the IAAF Council. Bob has successfully been elected to the Council many times, and in the last election (2011) was the most popular of the vice presidents, so he is the senior vice president.

I cannot emphasize enough, Bob Hersh is currently the second most powerful person on the IAAF Council.

Somehow the Board thinks Stephanie will better represent our interests.

A woman has never been elected to the IAAF Council proper. The only women on the Council are there because of a special women's vote. So IF Stephanie wins that vote and does get a seat on the council, she is rather unlikely to rise to a position of power within in.

Now had she waited until Bob retired and then been the nominee, I think she probably could have worked her way up and eventually attained some power.

But now, she has likely upset all of Bob's friends on the council and there is a very real possibility she won't be elected at all, not even in the women's election.

USA Track and Field having ZERO representation on the IAAF Council is a very real consequence of this.

And FFS, I am a woman and I don't support the racism/sexism/homophobia that exists within groups such as the IAAF. But you have to be aware of those things so that you can have the greatest chance of success. Stephanie has barriers to success within that group, and getting there by stabbing the #2 most powerful and popular person from that group in the back may very well preclude her from ever having a shot within the IAAF.

Why Would wrote:

Why would anyone have respect for Steve Miller?

Totally. He's a joker, a smoker, a midnight yoked.

thanks pvp

polevaultpower, can you fill everyone in on when/how the Board of Directors were given the power to over-ride the will of the constituents? From what appears (and no one likes to openly talk about it), the "divide" is racially provoked, with Stephanie appointing black people who support her. It's also evident that the sprinters are out of touch with the other event groups, including how to define the criteria for Tier Support (supporting primarily sprinters/jumpers).

Hightower will be termed out as USATF Pres. in two years and she wants a nice high level position to go to. This whole thing was manipulated from the beginning. Hightower is the master of politicking at the UASTF level. Hopefully, Bob Hersh, a Senior VP at IAAF, can convince them to ignore the USATF recommendation and keep him on.

As a sub elite this why I no longer have a usatf membership. I have about 4 comped entries each years I pay full price for because Im not giving any money to the USATF.

where can I get a reimbursement for my membership? I don't support people that behave like this.

Why Would wrote:

Why would anyone have respect for Steve Miller?

Accomplished guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Power was given to the board on a bylaw that was passed at the meeting. The Board needed 2/3 to override the member vote.

There is a way forward that I just posted on the track and field news forums. In short, someone needs to file a complaint with the USOC for non-compliance of the governing body. A national governing body's policy decisions must reasonably reflect the views of the members/athletes.

If you want to know more, leave an email.

Is there anything the track fan can do about any of this? Signs / flyers at Pre Classic? Contribute to a fund to get a banner plane to fly over? It feels like the athletes shoulder all the burden here and until there is more grassroots fan support, the USATF status quo will interpret silence as acquiescence.

j.scranton suggests that there is legal recourse. If you really want to make a difference, that's the only way it has much chance.

sumdude wrote:

thanks pvp

+++

j.scranton wrote:

There is a way forward that I just posted on the track and field news forums. In short, someone needs to file a complaint with the USOC for non-compliance of the governing body. A national governing body's policy decisions must reasonably reflect the views of the members/athletes.

If you want to know more, leave an email.

Good idea.

USATF's website, of course, is out of date.

Can someone list the current voting board members?:

Ha ha. New era, how are we going to keep up with a centralized doping scheme from Russia with an old school guy at the helm? Dumb 392 just did not get it!

This is an association the re-elected Teddy Mitchell

I rest my case.

Next?!

he name name wrote:

Contact info for board members can be found here. BroJos, hound them until they reply in earnest, please.

http://www.usatf.org/about/directory/info.asp?parent=&group=Board

of Directors

BroJo's will not make a statement , attack or expose the issues here. They want to keep in good standard with USATF. Agents , athletes are easy targets with no repercussion back to them.

They re-elected Theodore Mitchell

So....

Hahah so true!!! Hightower will be the wrath of a flock of angry birds. Even Goucher is chirping off about the situation.