OFF THE WALL
Found this online this AM~
Gypsy
http://www.bigbendbikersforfreedom.com/2010/07/abate-of-florida-from-brotherhood-to.html 7/8/10 ABATE of FLorida, from brotherhood to totalitarian regime
little is known about how ABATE of Florida really works as those in power go to great lengths to keep the general membership from knowing to much.
By opening membership to any who can come up with $25.00, motorcyclist or not, without any expectation that the potential member will actually do anything, insures that the membership will quickly have among it's membership many who have no intention of actually doing or knowing anything. It's pretty much a no brainer.
We are aware of members who hold office in chapter(s) who to the best of my knowledge have never taken pen to paper to write a legislator. In fact we have even heard one Vice President of a chapter state that. "they were not about the politics, that they were in it primarily for the "brotherhood!" Strange comment from an officer in a "political" organization.
We are also aware of member(s) who either hoped to use ABATE as a stepping stone to patching out with a "club" or settle for ABATE membership as they are not "club" caliber.
Of course that does not extend to all ABATE members as there are many who are serious and sincere about what they believe the mission to be. However, although ABATE of FLorida consistently states that they are not a "club", the hierarchy operates in a very club like manner.
It is somewhat of an unwritten policy that ABATE business is not to be discussed with other organizations and financials are not to be printed in chapter newsletters (that dictate was in fact a written policy at one time). They are somewhat secret. In fact the President/lobbyist of ABATE of Florida, James D. Reichenbach, once threatened to sue a Chapter president and ABATE of FLorida, because a chapter (Whitesands Chapter, Panama City area) printed his salary in their newsletter.
The chapters contention was that many of it's members and/or non member supporters did not go to state meetings and had a right to know what they were paying for or supporting. It is not unusual for a not for profit organization to make the salaries of their directors public and many can be found online for anyone to view. The chapter felt the need to take such action in their newsletter as the minutes of state meetings published in the states newsletter, "The Masterlink," are often sanitized beyond recognition. The chapters action in any other organization would be referred to as "Transparency".
The other MC like characteristic that ABATE of Florida engages in is "claiming of territory". All to often the President has claimed in the legislature and in public that "ABATE of Florida" is the only motorcycle rights organization in the state of Florida and at times certain members have tried to encourage other organizations to get involved in certain activities, but only if done so under the "ABATE" name.
Threats and intimidation are often used against anyone who would go against them. Although physical intimidation has been tried, the most frequent tactic is to threaten to "sue". Another tactic is threats to utilize the members of ABATE to engage in harassment.
Some people are actually intimidated by these threats thinking that ABATE of FLorida has a more active membership and more power than they actually do.
First, using the politically non active chapter vice president as an example, a significant number of members are not really going to do anything other than ride motorcycles, drink beer, chase tits and pretend they are one percenter's. Unfortunately by doing so they demonstrate disrespect for true 1%'s.
Second, there is a significant number of members who do not support the tactics used by the state president/lobbyist and his "do boys".
So what you end up with is a fractured organization that becomes more impotent and irrelevant as time goes on.
As most know by now, the current Board of Directors has been elected to another term. What many do not know however was how close the election was and how the bylaws of the organization are skewed to insure the status quo.
Before we go into the mechanics of how the current by laws work (which as we have witnessed are often violated by the president himself at his convenience) following is a breakdown of the most recent election that has been provided to us by an unnamed source:
I received the following from a ABATE officer about the election The entire state board voted the same, 12 votes leaving the board unchanged. There are 32 chapters with Indian River missing the meeting and Caloosahatchee only had one delegate so only one vote. Here is how the chapters voted. Alachua 2 frankie 2 frenchi 2 mudder 2 karen Big Bend 2 doc 2 dan 2 mud 2 bob Black Creek 2doc 2 dan 2 mud 2 bob Brevard 2 frankie 2 frenchi 2mud 2 bob Caloosahatchee 1 doc 1dan 2mud 2bob Daytona Bch 2frankie 2frenchi 2mud 2bob Duval 2frankie 2frenchi 2mud 2karen Estero River 2frankie 2frenchi 2mud 2bob First Coast 2 doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Forest 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Freedom 2frankie 2dan 2mud 2karen Gator Alley 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Gulf Coast 2frankie 2dan 2mud 2bob Hillsborough 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Independence 2frankie 2frenchi 2dan daniel 2bob Inerstate 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Lake 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Nature Coast 2doc 2dan 2mud 2karen Orange County 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Palm bch 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Peace river 2doc 2dan 2dan daniels 2bob Polk 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Putnam 2frankie 2dan 2mud 2bob Seminole 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Southeast 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Southermost 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Southwest 2frankie 2frenchi 2mud 2karen Sumter 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob Treasure Coast 2doc 2dan 2dan daniel 2bob Vintage 2doc 2dan 2mud 2bob West Coast 2frankie 2frenchi 2mud 2bob Karen Caraway got 10 votes for masterlink editor Bob VonBulow the incumbent got 51 votes plus the entire state boards 12 votes Dan Daniel got 12 votes for Sgt at arms Mudder the incumbent got 49 votes plus the state boards 12 votes Frenchi Moorland got 16 votes Dan Fish the incumbent got 45 votes plus the state boards 12 votes Frankie Kennedy got 22 votes Doc the incompetent got 39 votes plus the state boards 12 votes (if you notice Doc won by the smallest margin of all races) With the way they let the state board vote anyone running against an incumbent on the state board would need a minimum of 22 of the 32 chapters just to break even and thats simply not fair. Giving the state board 12 votes requires the challenger to get 6 of the chapters just to start out even, in affect one would need 23 of the 32 chapters to actually win. If this information is correct then it should be fairly clear how any opposition is clearly hamstrung. Should any chapter delegate get sick or die on the way to a meeting, then half the votes of the chapter are not counted.
In other words those individual members have had their vote taken from them.
The other consideration is, as ABATE of Florida loses chapters, as they have in the past couple of years, for any reason, including but not limited to a board decision to attempt to shut a chapter down, then the vote becomes even more skewed in favor of the sitting board. A sweet set up indeed.
Also, this writer has been present in past state meetings where it has been stated the legislative representative of a chapter is not bound by the chapter. That the legislative representatives position requires that they have more knowledge regarding certain issues and that there may be times will have to make a decision based on knowledge available to them and not necessarily the chapter.
In fact we have witnessed the Florida ABATE president engage in this very action on the floor of the legislature in his role as lobbyist, i,e. vote exactly opposite to how the organization directed him to vote.
However it has been experience that leaves us with the opinion that the State organization in general is not well informed on the how or what practices the lobbyist actually engages in while at the legislature.
We have since learned from a source that because of the inequities of the current system that certain members and/or chapters will be proposing a by-laws change relating to how elections are held.
We hope they are successful in this endeavor. We also hope that they are aware that reportedly, the main reason Whitesands chapter decided to pull out of the organization is because after their constant attempts to find out "where does the money go" they were consistently denied the floor at state meetings.
It would appear that any issue to be brought up before a state meeting must be submitted in writing and approved prior to the the actual meeting date. Of course there are parliamentary ways to get around this. Unfortunately we have witnessed the board throw bylaws and parliamentary procedure out the window when the boards power is threatened.
Most notably at a state meeting in Okahumpa, Florida a few years back when three chapters were pursuing similar issues. In fact this writer was cornered and threatened after the meeting.
That was a few years back, yet the attempts at intimidation continue, this writer was once again threatened in Daytona this year by the ABATE president as the ABATE President apparently thought this writer was on his "territory." Fortunately this writer is aware that ABATE of Florida can not "claim territory."
It may be considering the ABATE of Floridas affiliation with NCOM/Aim they are attempting to take a page from playbook that led to the American Motorcycle Associations distancing themselves from NCOM back in the early days. When it was learned that it truly is all about the money for some who claim to represent the concerns of the motorcyclists. Our suspicion is that ABATE President is fortunate that NCOM is financially able to insure that their puppet is only seen in a positive light when it comes to matters of press should it chose to operate in such a manner. >We don't know what the ABATE member from GULF COAST chapter understood about his rights after the ABATE of FLorida President subsequently laid hands on him at the campground in Daytona. It seems that incident is no longer mentioned!
We wish the concerned members of ABATE luck in there endeavor and hope that we can report progress. However to all members we must emphasize: ABATE of Florida can never be a Brotherhood, fellowship or rights organization as long as any member is allowed to bully, intimidate or threaten another member. You do not need a by law to keep that from occurring! You need balls!
