Village Idiots Run the Retired Agents Assn.

Five years ago, the Former Agents Association Board of Directors had a President who actually had courage and vision. That President and his BOD got complaints from their FAA members who were amazed that FAA had three convicted felons as members. So the BOD proposed bylaws changes. In May, 2005, at a BOD meeting in Iowa, the former Treasurer announced the results of the voting. The members voted to exclude future felons.

Then in March, 2008, the same former Treasurer (who later became President) sent an email to all current BOD members, as well as to many other members, announcing the felony guilty plea of Richard T. Race (by name), formerly of the U.S. Department of Defense, OIG, the department’s #1 law enforcement officer! The email included a national news story about the plea. The former Treasurer/President certainly wanted members to know about this felon and he expected the current BOD to remove the felon from FAA, as required by the by-laws. Why that former Treasurer/President did not send a private message to the BOD is unknown. Why the BOD did not act quiety and immediately to remove the felon from the membership list and lesson any pain to the felon is unknown.

The FAA Region 1 Director forwarded the former Treasurer/President’s message to the Region 1 State Directors, getting the message out to at least 600 FAA members. It is unknown why the other three Regional Directors did not forward the message, given the national scope of the news story.

As a result of the national news story, FAA members were badgered by neighbors, relatives and local law enforcement officers who wanted more information about this former USSS ranking official.

Because not all members had seen the national news story and because some of the Regional Directors purposefully acted as choke points, the former Treasurer/President’s alert message did not get distributed to the entire membership. No one on the BOD alerted the FAA membership about this situation. They should have used the member’s- only, on-line message board, but they did not.

The former Treasurer/President’s email served notice to the current BOD basically to remove the member. Yet, absolutely no action was done by the BOD. Why not?
Why did the current FAA BOD refuse to
a) enforce the by-laws;
b) support the will of the members; and
c) eject the member who committed the felony?

During February, 2008, the felony guilty plea was entered to which all rights to appeal were forfeited. Given this matter involved an extremely high ranking, Federal Government, law enforcement official who admitted his guilt during his plea, why did the BOD not act?

They might claim that they did not want to act too quickly and that they wanted to be kind. BS!! In February, 2008, all the required facts for exclusion were on the table. No other information was required. The sentence that followed was of no consequence to a need to expel, but this BOD did not.

The BOD tried to ignore the topic, even though the membership trusted them to obey and administer the by-laws.

The BOD will claim they showed compassion to the felon’s family by not acting. Again, immaterial. The nation's ranking law enforcement official broke three major felonies, and plead to one. The guy broke the law and must face all consequences and not be something the BOD has any discretion in deciding.

This FAA Board one more time showed its incompetence and caused more harm to the felon and his family than was necessary by permitting this to linger.

Months after the plea, national news story, and the former Treasurer/President’s email, an FAA member posted a simple question on the FAA private message board. Why was this felon still a member?

Immediately, the BOD’s self-appointed apologist launched a personal attack on the member who asked the simple, direct question. That member then experienced hostility by the BOD for asking a simple question.

Only because that member showed courage and kept asking the basic question did the BOD a few weeks ago remove the felon’s name from the membership list.

This BOD did not change the effective date of the removal of the name. The BOD did not notify the membership that a removal had been made, nor the reasons for the delay, nor even the name of the offender!

The BOD’s inaction was unprofessional, reprehensible, and worthy of contempt by the entire membership. This BOD one more time attacked the messenger and did not address the issue. Is this BOD worthy of Trust and Confidence? Hardly.

For insight why this current FAA BOD did not act can be found in a separate message on leoaffairs about the Lack of Leadership. Some former ranking USSS officials wrote letters in behalf of the convicted felon that effectively kept the felon from doing any jail time. He faced a possible nine months in the slammer as a first offender. They mobilized to help a friend, not full knowing how bad the offenses were. The felon’s offenses included structuring. That alone meant the felon faced a maximum five years and a $250,000.00 fine, not a minor offense in anyone’s book.

The August 2008 Board of Director meeting minutes of the retired agents association show that 495, of the 2,500, members had not paid their dues for the 2008 to 2009 year that started on July 1st. That's nearly 20% of the membership. That's the largest drop in membership in the entire history of the association.

The association's by-laws state that memberhship renewals are due by September 1. Why didn't the board automatically drop those members on September 1?? The by-laws require that.

Wake up members: Here is one more example of how the Ship of Fools Board of Directors totally ignored the requirements of the by-laws, totally spat in the face of members who voted them to be worthy of trust and confidence to follow and obey the by-laws, voted and approved by the members. Instead, this group of "leaders" shoots from the hip and begs scrutiny by the IRS for failure to follow by-laws.

Instead, this Board of Directors, without permission of the membership, has chosen to keep the members on the rolls past the exclusion date of September 1, even though the members probably do not want to be associated with this group of clowns anymore. Why not? This Board raised the dues to $75.00 per year, up from $50.00, without giving any reason why the increase occurred other than the lame "Well we have not raised them in awhile so we think it would be good". Good? For whom? Oh that's right. The Baord Members got themselves a FREE trip (free food, airfare and per diem) to Hawaii for the annual association meeting. And their "cover story"?!: So that members could see them in action at a Board meeting. Really?! This year, at Hawaii, only ONE former board members attended the current Board's meeting. One!

The idiocy continues. This Board decided to delay printing the annual membership list in their feeble attempt to beg members not to leave. So those older dues paying members who rely on current information are penalized for the printed list to come out in December...because the Board does not have the spine to enforce the rules.

To Voice of Reason:
Spot on! You hit the nail on the head. This Board, this group of cowboys, cannot find their way to the restroom. This Board of Directors continues to refuse to follow almost ALL of the By-Laws.

It is so bad that they put together a committee of only two persons (Mr. Bluster, the President, and his cronie, Mr. Hypocrite) who have spent more than a half year writing completely NEW By-laws. Why? Can't they follow the by-laws that worked for more than thirty years by the guys before them? Answer. NO. They refuse to read or follow the by-laws to they are re-writing them to fit their whims.

This Board violates the current By-Laws by requiring all Board committees to submit reports after each meeting. Members deserve to see the proposed changes, before the changes are put out for a vote.

To the Board: When are you going to wake up and follow the By-Laws?? :?:

[worfusa2008]

A "Regional Director" telephoned me to ask why I had not renewed my membership. After taking a few seconds to compose myself, I told him:
1. I cannot travel.
2. Even if I could, I don't play golf.
3. $50, now $75, was too much to pay for a magazine which appeared to be focused mainly
on photos of has-been supervisors schmoozing at conferences and telling each other how
great they are/were. I rarely saw any photos of old "hump" street agents.
4. The free trip to Hawaii on my dime was "the straw that broke the camel's back".

Am I bitter? Nah! Knowing who is in charge, I expected nothing less.

Recently the president of AFAUSSS posted a message on Oldstar which stated in part "when posting messages on the Oldstar be civil, no profanity, nothing in poor taste and no personal attacks will be tolerated. Respect, Integrity and Humility are qualities to be remembered when posting on Oldstar". Since that posting numerous personal attacks have been made on selected members following their postings on Oldstar. Those making the attacks are personal friends/associates of the president or other members of the BOD and no action has been taken regarding their actions. The president also indicated a new link will be added to Oldstar to notify our website administrator of inappropriate postings. It would be very helpful if the president or BOD identified the website adminstrator. Most members are under the impression there is not one. The president recently forced a member to remove a picture of a confederate flag which the president could not even correctly identify. The flag was posted on a thread which related to The Civil War. It is a shame to see such a fine organization run into the ground by the idiots on the BOD. Yet they think everything is fine.

[Carl Shawver]

Disillusioned Member, I understand your frustration and in the past I would have counseled patience and forbearance on your part, but the fact is that the leoaffairs message board was created by two police officers who had the announced purpose of providing a forum for officers to anonymously vent their frustrations regarding the management of their agencies.

I do counsel you to read the Terms Of Use of this board before becoming a regular poster. There are things that can cause your messages to be removed if they violate the terms.

If you are going to be a regular poster I suggest that you register a screen name. It facilitates dialog between regulars while still preserving your anonymity. However, to visit some of the "officer only" areas of the board it is necessary to prove your identity as a current or former law enforcement officer. In this case you can still use a screen name, but a one-time contact with Mod 1 is required. Note that the moderators of the leoaffairs board have never disclosed the identity of any poster, whether registered or completely anonymous. This is the case even after an attempt was made to force them to do so by one agency which went to the courts. The leoaffairs owners prevailed in local court and in the court of appeals.

So, I encourage you and others to register a screen name and become regulars. Perhaps on this board we can accomplish some of the things I have tried to establish elsewhere: interesting posts on a wide variety of topics, civility in discussion, and mutual support.

This board is for both active and retired Secret Service personnel, sworn and unsworn. Also be aware that unaffiliated people may also participate, again either as registered users or anonymously - so as our name implies, let's keep our secrets secret. Most specifically, no postings regarding private information about USSS protectees.

I've spent a good deal of time on the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office board because I also retired from that agency. My experience has been that in the main people have been able to disagree without being disagreeable. The exception may have been during the period leading up to the vote to expel the union, but that is in the past.

I'm confident that the mods on this board will be tolerant of free speech as long as the Terms of Use are not violated.

058, Voice of Reason, Maverick One, Worfusa 2008, and Disillusioned Member:

Ya'all sound like you've got it all figured out. Except for a few specifics like:

1. Dues hadn't gone up in something like 13 years, would you agree or not that it was time for a raise?
2. AFAUSSS dues are less than the vast majority of other like organizations
2. Didn't hear anyone complaining about the Board of Directors traveling to KC last year or Memphis next year.

With all of the above being said, the 5 of you should take the bull by the horns and run for the Board of Directors on a slate. Then the AFAUSSS membership would either vote you worthy of trust and confidence or not? Buster

quote="buster1" 058, Voice of Reason, Maverick One, Worfusa 2008, and Disillusioned Member:

Ya'all sound like you've got it all figured out. Except for a few specifics like:

1. Dues hadn't gone up in something like 13 years, would you agree or not that it was time for a raise?

Not necessarily. It could mean that they were too high to begin with. Some of the things used to justify the increase, like printing the newsletter in color, were covered by contributions by advertisers so they didn't represent an increase in operating costs. There are other examples - this is just one.

2. AFAUSSS dues are less than the vast majority of other like organizations

The others may be overpriced too OR perhaps they actually do more for their members.

2. Didn't hear anyone complaining about the Board of Directors traveling to KC last year or Memphis next year.

You don't discern the difference in a comparatively local trip to mid-America and a overwater trek to a vacation destination island in Hawaii? Incredible! But not surprising.

With all of the above being said, the 5 of you should take the bull by the horns and run for the Board of Directors on a slate. Then the AFAUSSS membership would either vote you worthy of trust and confidence or not? Buster

Ah yes, the last refuge of someone who realizes their position is actually indefensible. Go on the offense.

You refer to the five. I take it you aren't counting the hundreds of members of the retiree's association who simply didn't pay their dues to renew their membership. If the board keeps it up there will be a need to raise dues again to cover the loss of revenue.

One of six or more

In answer to your three questions or 1, 2 and 2 - whatever?

1. Most members are not questioning the amount of the dues as you seem to indicate. Members are quelstioning the need to do so and the lack of explanation for taking such action.

2.Most AFAUSSS members could care less about the dues in organizations to which they do not belong, anymore than members of those organizations care about our dues.

3. Your statement in this question proves the point others are making. Was it a coincidence the dues were raised prior to the conference in Hawaii where the BOD members freeloaded, If the need to raise the dues was so urgent why was it not done prior to the conference in Kansas City where the BOD members paid their own way? I doubt many members will volunteer to run for the BOD after these idiots ruin the organization.

It appears to me since the head huncho of FAA started his censorship of the FAA message board that postings on that forum has nearly dropped to zero. I see that the two main posters aren't making many postings anymore. That is probably due to the personal attacks to their postings from various members led by certain members of the BOD. A once great organization is going to h... in a handbasket because of the idiots running it.