7 — Resolving the Crisis

The LAB Reform website chronicles serious problems in the governance of the League and our attempts to resolve these problems. We are extremely disappointed by the response (actually refusal to respond) by the board.

While we realize that some directors are incapable of recognizing their ethical lapses, we are dismayed that most of the other directors are intent to keep the problems secret rather than dealing with them. Indeed, some of these directors blame us for reporting misdeeds rather than confronting those who committed the misdeeds.

In the meantime, the League is in trouble. We often hear people tell us they feel their dues money is wasted, or worse than wasted, because of the scandals and because the League sometimes promotes bad cycling practices. Because the League has failed its members, membership is down and the budget is balanced only through substantial outsider donations.

What needs to be done now

Mike Greehan recently escalated the conflict by threatening LAB Reform leaders with a law suit [1]. We of LAB Reform have acted with restraint to give the board time to step in. So far, they have not acted. The board must stop Greehan before he causes further harm to the League and its members.

Mike Greehan must withdraw his threat of legal action against LAB Reform and reimburse us for the (so far modest) legal expenses that he has caused.
The board must guarantee that the election of 2006 will be completely fair and open. [2] This includes allowing all candidates on the ballot.
The board must pledge no interference in the election.
Reasonable election rules and ballot security measures must be used to prevent improprieties such as occurred during the 2003 election.
Note: In previous elections during the 1990s, the League had a well-established procedure for handling ballots securely. Other organizations (notably the Sierra Club) have similar procedures. It is to the shame of this board that it insists on re-inventing inadequate ballot security procedures with each election, when the organization already had, or could easily copy, adequate procedures.
LAB Reform must be allowed to have observers present to observe the count, inspect ballots and if needed, challenge ballots.
All candidates must have a fair chance to reach members for campaigning.
False and misleading accusations in LAB minutes made against LAB Reform must be corrected

Fully restoring the League as a members’ organization

The purpose of LAB Reform is to restore control of the League to directors whose loyalty is to the members. We have several goals:

Replace those directors who have acted inappropriately. In particular, the three remaining members of the “Terman Seven” (Greehan, Roskowski and Sparks) should resign for the good of the League.
Have ALL directors elected by the members. Appointments must be limited to temporary vacancies.
Restore the primary the purposes of the league: education about the best practices of bicycle operation and protecting cyclists’ rights.
Restore the League to financial health.
Build the membership, particularly among serious cyclists including cycling clubs.

Footnotes

[1] Since this was first written, Mike Greehan told us he did not actually threaten a law suit, only “legal action”. In any case, we stand by our conclusion that his threat of legal action was a blatant attempt to intimidate us and to stifle dissent.

We believe that this incident and then his denial of his threat is yet another example that shows Mr. Greehan is unsuited to be a member of the board.

[2] The 2006 election seems to have been free of scandal. Two of the three candidates we supported won. However, there is no guarantee that future elections will be “clean”. We must remain vigilant.

In addition, the Nominating Committee (chaired by Martha Roskowski) insisted on sending ballots with no security against vote fraud. We believe the reason for this is to pretend that the actions of the faction that interfered in the 2003 election are “normal” election procedures.

Please join us and help restore the BikeLeague to members.

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