It is interesting to note that the Board of Directors does not feel that
LACTNET is an "appropriate venue for discussion of association issues," but
it nevertheless uses this venue to communicate to those members who are
LACTNET discussants/lurkers.

That being the case, I am following their lead in offering my reaction to
this letter.

1) It is gratifying that the Board of Directors has recognized the serious
concerns members have brought to its attention.

2) While the actions of the Board of Directors may not be illegal, I
question whether they are "legally defensible" insofar as their actions are
in direct violation of the governing rules of ILCA, which pertain to ALL
changes having to be voted on by the membership.

3) Continuing with the current ballot may not be illegal.  I do believe
that such an action is unethical insofar as it disenfranchises members from
expressing a COMPLETE ballot on those changes that have been made WITHOUT
membership approval.

4) Furthermore, I consider the actions of the Board to be morally
indefensible.  This may not be something that can be required by a court of
law, but I would like to ask all ILCA members if they are comfortable with
morally indefensible actions for which they were given no opportunity to
express their opinions and/or to act on those opinions.

5) I fear for the continued existence of ILCA in the face of actions by the
Board of Directors in moving forward with a ballot that is so seriously
flawed.  I am sure that this was an inadvertent oversight.  However,
continuing to move forward with acceptance of the flawed ballot suggests
something far more serious than an invertent oversight.

What is wrong with simply saying, "Hey, folks.  We are very sorry. We
goofed. We are going to fix it by starting over with a ballot that is
COMPLETE and thus in complete compliance with our own bylaws sections which
specify what must be voted up or down by the membership.  Please bear with
us."  I am sure that ILCA members would have been understanding of such a
statement. Instead, we get a letter (or at least those of us on LACTNET
do--will ALL members receive such a letter, since some are not members of
Affiliates, and others are not on LACTNET?) that says something entirely
different.  In fact, it suggests to me that at least some members of the
Board of Directors are so ego-involved in the original ballot that they
refuse to accept responsibility for having goofed to begin with.

How do other ILCA members feel about that letter?



"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.com/~kga/lactation.html
LACTNET archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html