Sunday, May 26, 2013

Post-Convention Edition: Voter Intimidation and the NYSYR CINO


From an emailer:

The Chair of the Westchester County YRs (Matt McCarrick) publicly endorsed a candidate (John Doyle) during his county report. He was the only chair to do so.

Two teenage YRs in his delegation voted for Meredith Belle (the only real candidate running for any NYSYR office) and had their votes voided and changed to John Doyle.

Members of the new old board were aware of what happened and promised to do something nothing.




From several credible sources:

The new Chair In Name Only (CINO) Diana Sepulveda, has had her status as a member of the Governing Board Executive Board Board of Directors revoked through a bizarre amendment to the NYSYR's constitution.

Under the new provision the 6 members of the Governing Board Executive Board Board of Directors will be the Vice-Chair, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, YRNF Committeewoman, and YNNF Committeeman.

This effectively neuters the Chair making her a CINO.

This amendment went through the Rules Committee and passed without any debate/dissent from anyone. It makes us at the Watch wonder if anyone trusts the new CINO to lead the group. (We don't)

We are told that the proponents of the amendment pushed for this to force the NYSYR to be in compliance with a third governing document (an incorporation document) which is not posted on their website. For the record, the updated constitution is still not posted even though other updates touting the newly elected selected officers have been made.


There will be more to come on this as we work to secure a legible copy of that document and explore the legitimacy off all decisions/elections made in violation of it prior to stripping the Chair of their vote on the Governing Board Executive Board Board of Directors.

We believe that the NYSYR Bylaws are still in violation of the incorporation document since there are still many references to a Governing and Executive Board in it which includes more than 6 members.


Stay tuned.


16 comments:

  1. Bar Room LawyerMay 26, 2013

    Bylaws:

    VIII. DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE: Any dispute over the identity of any officer, outcome or validity of any election of the NYSYR or of any member, shall be resolved in accordance with the following dispute resolution procedure:

    A. Any aggrieved party to such a dispute may initiate proceedings under this Article by filing a written complaint with the NYSYR Chair by mailing such complaint in writing to the NYSYR Chair with a copy to the NYSYR General Counsel. Any such complaint must be postmarked no later than thirty (30) days following the incident, election, or other event from which the dispute arises.

    B. If the dispute pertains to the NYSYR Chair, the complaint shall be filed with the Vice Chair and the General Counsel by mailing such complaint in writing. Any such complaint must be postmarked no later than thirty (30) days following the incident, election, or other event from which the dispute arises.

    C. No later than fourteen (14) days following receipt of any complaint filed in accordance with this article, the NYSYR Chairman (or Vice Chair in a dispute involving the Chair) shall appoint a Committee to investigate the dispute and make a final decision. The Committee shall be composed of five (5) members; two (2) of which shall be appointed pursuant to a recommendation by the Complainant, and two (2) of which shall be appointed pursuant to a recommendation by the Respondent (or Respondents collectively). The other four members, acting jointly, within fourteen (14) days following the date on which the last of such members is appointed, shall appoint the fifth member. If the four members do not agree on a fifth member with such time, the NYSYR Chairman shall immediately appoint the General Counsel as the fifth member, unless the General Counsel is a party to the dispute, in which case the NYSYR Chair shall appoint the immediate Past Chair of the NYSYR; if the immediate Past Chair is no longer an active member of a duly chartered Young Republican organization, the YRNF Chair shall appoint any current NYSYR elected officer.

    D. The five (5) members of a Committee appointed pursuant to subsection (c) shall select by majority vote, within five days of the date on which the last of the Committee members is appointed, a Chair of the Committee, who shall preside at all meetings of the Committee, based on a majority vote of the Committee. Within five (5) days of appointment, the Chair shall send notice, by certified mail, to the members of the Committee of a hearing to be held by the Committee within thirty (30) days of such notice. Any such hearing shall be held within the county in which the dispute arose, or within Albany County or the counties surrounding Albany County if the dispute involves the NYSYR or any Officer thereof, as determined by the NYSYR Chair if the complaint was filed pursuant to subsection (a). A majority of the members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of conducting the hearing.

    E. At any hearing held pursuant to subsection (d), all parties to the dispute shall be permitted to appear before the Committee and present evidence, including oral and written testimony, in accordance with procedures approved by a majority of the members of the Committee. Audio or video recordings of any such hearing shall be permitted at the request of any party to the dispute, and shall be made a part of the hearing record. The Chair of the Committee shall designate a member of the Committee to take minutes of the hearing and to preserve all evidence presented, which shall be included in the hearing record. The entire hearing record shall be made available to any Member of the Committee no later than thirty (30) days following a request therefore.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bar Room LawyerMay 26, 2013

    F. The Committee shall issue a final decision, in writing, and shall send such a decision to all parties to the dispute and to the NYSYR Chair (or First Vice-Chair a dispute involving the Chairman), no later than sixty (60) days following the conclusion of the hearing. A minority of the members of the Committee, in whole or in part, may issue a dissenting opinion. A final decision of a Committee appointed in accordance with this Article shall be binding on all parties unless appealed in accordance with subsection (g).

    G. Any party to a dispute aggrieved by a final decision may appeal such final decision, in whole or in part, by filing a written appeal with the NYSYR Chair. Any such appeal must be postmarked no later than thirty (30) days following the date on which the final decision is issued. An appeal of a final decision relating to a dispute involving the NYSYR or any Officer thereof shall be decided by majority vote of both the NYSYR Executive Board and the members of the NYSYR at the next duly called meeting thereof.

    H. No later than thirty (30) days following a decision of the NYSYR Executive Board any party to the dispute may request arbitration by the American Arbitration Association (hereinafter “AAA”) under the rules of the AAA. The hearing record shall be made available to the AAA. In such arbitration the losing party, as determined by the AAA, shall be responsible for all cost imposed by the AAA, unless otherwise determined by the AAA. Any final decision, or ruling, of the AAA shall be binding on all parties and enforceable in any Court of competent jurisdiction within the state involved, or the District of Columbia if the dispute involves only the YRNF. The party initiating arbitration shall be responsible for making an initial deposit in an amount required to initiate proceedings by the AAA, but all parties shall be required to share equally in the incremental costs imposed by the AAA unless otherwise determined by the AAA.

    I. All officers of the NYSYR, members of the NYSYR and all officers of the member clubs, as a condition of accepting and holding office, elected or appointed, in their respective organizations, agree to be bound by these provisions and any officer, elected or appointed, refusing to participate in such proceedings or to accept the result of any final decision arising in accordance with these provisions shall automatically forfeit any office or claim to such office.

    J. Until a pending dispute is finally resolved in accordance with the procedures established by this Article, any Committee on Credentials shall give due deference to the presumption in favor of any member and the officers thereof as duly recognized at the preceding NYSYR Convention convened in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and By-Laws of the NYSYR, but may take into consideration the outcome of any relevant dispute which has been finally resolved in accordance with the procedures established by this Article subsequent to the preceding NYSYR convention.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 26, 2013

    Diana still gets a vote on the Governing Board and the Executive Committee. We didn't change the voting membership of either body. We just specified corporate directors. If you had asked someone, we could talk about this stuff like adults.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please explain how that makes sense? Why would a secretary be a "corporate director" and the chair wouldn't be?

      Incrementalism is at work here. If Diana and her faction are too dumb or naive to see what is coming then shame on them.

      And as for the adult comment, that is even more laughable. The NYSYR is filled with childish, immature, RINOs, that couldn't tell you what the 3 branches of government are or which decade the World Wars were in. Trust us here- we have asked and we know this to be fact.

      After reading the above comments by the Bar Room Lawyer we hope that other NYSYR individual members consider pursuing the remedies granted by the Bylaws. We suspect some of our contributors will.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 26, 2013

      Hey Watch, call out the real culprits.

      Ed Lass is from which club? He is the one that pushed to make the chair irrelevant after his friend Scaringi gave him the order. They should have acted like adults instead of taking things personal.

      Scaringi is ultimately to blame for all of this but it is hard to hate him since he isn't that smart and really isn't much of a republican anyway.

      The saddest characters in this drama are the ones running around pretending to be allies of the new chair. Where were they when she was removed from the newly discovered THIRD BOARD OF WHATEVER?

      But much like Scaringi, Sepulveda isn't that smart and not much of a republican anyway.

      And what was done to Meredith was amazing. Where were all the "good guys" on this one? What will be done to ensure this never happens again?

      Crickets....

      Delete
    3. Email us!

      Looking for the EL connection in all this.

      Delete
    4. Oh yeah, consider this asking like an adult. Feel free to email or comment. Time to do things out in the open. Your organization has done things behind closed doors for far too long.

      If you continue to operate that way- and we think you will- then we will post what your fellow NYSYRs leak to us or what we can find through open sources.

      Good day.

      Delete
    5. AnonymousMay 27, 2013

      The amendments did not create a "Board of Directors" or "third board of whatever." The corporate directors have no new voting powers outside of the existing governance model. And we all agree that the existing governance model needs an overhaul, but it's better not to rush the big decisions.

      The Chair isn't a corporate director because the Chair is called the CEO elsewhere in the governing documents.

      Delete
    6. It's my understanding that Scaringi was a supporter of Belle during the election. Is this the case?

      Delete
    7. You are correct sir.

      Scaringi associated Doyle with Diana and other undesirables from south of Rockland. Backing Belle was his way at getting back at them.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousMay 26, 2013

    LOL

    LOVE THE LITTLE DUCKS.

    ONLY THING WATCH, THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE ANY BLACK ONES! LMAO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not the case. There is at least one black NYSYR that attends this "meeting/fundraiser" nonsense. Though, it's true there is a minority outreach problem in the NYSYR.

      Delete
    2. Prove that with a picture.

      The only "black NYSYR" we know of is only half black.

      No Asians
      No Jews (Ortho)
      No Muslims
      No Blacks

      1 or 2 Hispanics (though that number could be 0)

      And about 3 or 4 women.

      The rest are all white/male/Christians.

      Delete
    3. I saw her at the Staten Island meeting. I think she gave the report for one of the counties. There are at least 2 Asian (males) that are part of the Manhattan YR club . One of them was present at the lunch portion of the meeting/fundraiser (I didn't see him at the morning meeting)

      Delete
    4. Let us be more precise.

      Of these NYSYRs how many are Asian, Black, Non-Christian, or Muslim?

      Officers

      Chair
      Diana Sepulveda
      Kings County

      Vice-Chair
      Cory Custer
      Saratoga County

      Treasurer
      John Doyle
      Suffolk County

      Recording Secretary
      Anthony Reinhart
      Richmond County

      Corresponding Secretary
      Nicole Russo
      Nassau County

      National Committeewoman
      Kellie King
      Westchester County

      National Committeeman
      John Greene
      Putnam County

      Capital Region Vice Chair
      Kevin G Murphy
      Saratoga County

      Eastern Region Vice Chair
      Sean Rogan
      Suffolk County

      Mid Hudson Region Vice Chair
      Joseph Joy
      Orange County

      North Country Region Vice Chair
      Alicia Sirk
      Clinton County


      Cabinet

      General Counsel
      Kevin Reverri
      Dutchess County

      Chief of Staff
      Brian Maher
      Orange County

      Finance Committee Chair
      Meredith Belle
      Westchester County

      Rules Committee Chair
      Stephen Thompson
      Richmond County


      Please remember that we contend that the NYSYR board(s) are the "club."

      Because an Asian NYC YR happened to come to a fundraiser/meeting doesn't mean you can claim him. LOL

      Delete
  5. RINO HunterJune 18, 2013

    Check your email. YR Next has an interesting gripe with YD/YR Now.

    ReplyDelete