Take Back the CAF

[dfenner]

There is one thing that fascinates me about all this. Steve Brown and the general staff have never answered this fundamental question:

What is the goal that you have for the CAF that you CAN NOT accomplish without getting your way in all this?

My question in the meeting was, “, "I want to know what IS IT that you want to do with the museum that you can not do under the 4 corporate structure that has worked beautifully until October, 2007 when Steve arrived. This fight for total control of it has cost the CAF over $100,000.00, really good guys kicked out, life long friendships destroyed, and Tami gone. I want to hear a $100,000.00 answer."

I did not get an answer. I have never gotten that question answered since the beginning. The museum board never got that question answered.

What we get is a laundry list of justifying why it’s ok if they control it, and some stuff about the 501 (c) 3 status which I don’t believe because the museum has its own identity with the IRS. We just never hear the goal that could not happen if they don’t have total control.

“When nothing else makes sense, what you have left is the answer.”
Powerful words to live by in this world of smoke and mirrors.

[Taylor Stevenson]

Well said, Diane.

Bill, Doug, young shep, Diane,
Great to see you all, as always. I'm sorry that I left early, but I had to play T-6

[RyanShort1]

There is one thing that fascinates me about all this. Steve Brown and the general staff have never answered this fundamental question:

What is the goal that you have for the CAF that you CAN NOT accomplish without getting your way in all this?

My question in the meeting was, “, "I want to know what IS IT that you want to do with the museum that you can not do under the 4 corporate structure that has worked beautifully until October, 2007 when Steve arrived. This fight for total control of it has cost the CAF over $100,000.00, really good guys kicked out, life long friendships destroyed, and Tami gone. I want to hear a $100,000.00 answer."

I did not get an answer. I have never gotten that question answered since the beginning. The museum board never got that question answered.

What we get is a laundry list of justifying why it’s ok if they control it, and some stuff about the 501 (c) 3 status which I don’t believe because the museum has its own identity with the IRS. We just never hear the goal that could not happen if they don’t have total control.

“When nothing else makes sense, what you have left is the answer.”
Powerful words to live by in this world of smoke and mirrors.

Diane,

What about the leases with the City of Midland. Doesn't that count for something? If HQ had to make some sudden changes, wouldn't that have been a problem?

Ryan

[dfenner]

Ryan, All I know is Tami O'Bannion had a very productive and solid relationship with the Midland/Odessa Permian Basin communities. Tami made sure the community was well represented by the museum by placing Barbara Davis, Luann Morgan and Andy Shaffer on the museum board years ago. These people are solid, extremely well respected citizens of the community. As for your specific question I don't know the details, don't need to know the details. As a CAF member I trusted Tami and her board and I leave the details to them. As with everything, it always boils down to who you trust.

[FG1D Pilot]

Ryan, All I know is Tami O'Bannion had a very productive and solid relationship with the Midland/Odessa Permian Basin communities. Tami made sure the community was well represented by the museum by placing Barbara Davis, Luann Morgan and Andy Shaffer on the museum board years ago. These people are solid, extremely well respected citizens of the community. As for your specific question I don't know the details, don't need to know the details. As a CAF member I trusted Tami and her board and I leave the details to them. As with everything, it always boils down to who you trust.

Diane, Some time you have to let this go. It's obvious that you are letting your emotions over come the facts. I wasn't there for the whole meeting but I did hear the lawyer, ( from court sworn testimony) explain how the IRS considered the museum as " a seperate but not independent" PART of the CAF. This was made extremely clear. As a board member when Steve was hired, I had no doubt that Steve was over all four parts of the CAF. The job description, that was presented to all of the board members at the time, was read in the meeting Friday, and all of the board members that were there, including the ones kicked out, admitted that they saw and agreed to it's message before we hired Steve. Steve gets there and the museum director decides that the museum must be independant.
If you remember, I asked "why did the museum hire a law firm instead of using members that would do it for free". What I didn't realise, until Friday, was that 2 free lawyers representing the museum in a meeting with the CAF lawyers were shown that seperating the museum would be in violation of IRS rules, State rules and the lease with Midland. The board held an "illegal meeting" without the required General Staff quorum requirements of the Museum bylaws, and voted to change the bylaws anyway. The museum volunteer lawyers probably decided that they wouldn't defend an undefendable stand. The cost was from the museum director hiring this law firm and the CAF had to cover the expense.

Your quote "As a CAF member I trusted Tami and her board and I leave the details to them. As with everything, it always boils down to who you trust."

I think you need to re-read that quote and you'll get the answer.
My take from the meeting, from the record of the sworn testimony in court:

1. The board had an illegal meeting without the required quorum.
2. Even after knowing that it would violate IRS rules, State rules and the lease with Midland, they voted to change the bylaws anyway.
3. When the CAF filed a court action to stop the board, the director hired a law firm to represent the museum without authorization.
My view is that the museum director signed the agreement and should be required to pay, but the CAF decided to pay it to get it over with.
I spoke to you for quite a while after the meeting by phone. You said that " the meeting was nothing but a lawyer stating a lot of legal stuff, they didn't allow for the human side of this". ( paraphrazing)

I said to you then and repeat now " The legal stuff was FACT, the human side is EMOTION" I spoke to each of the CAF members sactioned, except Floyd who I wasn't able to talk to before I had to leave, and Joe who I didn't care to talk to. The rest (including Floyd) I still consider friends that just are on a different side of an issue.

another quote of yours:
"My question in the meeting was, I want to know what IS IT that you want to do with the museum that you can not do under the 4 corporate structure that has worked beautifully until October, 2007 when Steve arrived. This fight for total control of it has cost the CAF over $100,000.00, really good guys kicked out, life long friendships destroyed, and Tami gone. I want to hear a $100,000.00 answer."

To answer that, I want to know "What is it that the museum wanted to change that has worked beautifully until October 2007 when Steve arrived?"

I hope you can get over this. Nothing you say can or will change anything. The meeting was very productive with the vast majority learning a lot. There were many emotional sides to this issue and in the meeting. All, but a few, said that they were willing to get on with it and let things heal.

Please Diane, for the sake of the CAF, which you claim to love so much, and for Hal who the CAF loves so much. LET IT GO.

[dfenner]

Oh yes Doug for sure, nothing worse than an emotional woman! Ha! Ha!

"If HQ had to make some sudden changes, wouldn't that have been a problem?"

It's much more reasonable to believe that the LOCAL MUSEUM BOARD REPS would never do anything to jeopardize local relationships. Matter of fact, it was guarding against any "sudden change" of the CAF General Staff that compelled the AAHM Board to take the actions they did!

The whole bylaws change hooplaaaa was simply to be able to count Joe Cowan as part of the CAF majority on the board. If Joe Cowan isn't CAF representation I don't know who is. It was not to allow aliens to swoop down from Mars and "steal the museum away from the members".

Again, I will certainly let the LOCAL MUSEUM BOARD REPS deal with the relations with Midland and Odessa. That would be their job.

Again, we are back to the basics of trust.

[dfenner]

Time out. The emotional woman is going to bed now. Good night everyone !

[FG1D Pilot]

Last time and I hope we can get on with the healing. In the last post I tried to write about the part of the meeting I attended and stated it as factually as I could, based on the court documents. I would like to add that both sides have had a lot of passion and emotion in this situation. Both felt they were doing this in the best interest of the museum and CAF. I believe I misspoke about the "Illegal" board meeting. The meeting was called properly, I believe, but didn't have the required quorum to change the bylaws. That made it an “illegal” action at a legal meeting. They did say, and it's in the minutes, that the vote was done "pending a legal review". That's the part that I disagreed with. There was plenty of emotion and I think the vast majority think it's in the past and I hope so.



The thing I saw more than anything was that many of the museum members there don't like the new CAF President; many didn't like the old one. I don't like everything he has done, but when we hired him, we ( board members) all promised to let him do his job as he sees fit and not micro-manage. That is tough for some to deal with. I think he has done a lot to get us going in the right direction. I just hope everyone gets on board.



As for Gordon, he was the one who spoke the most for the museum, gave testimony in court and was in the court records. He also took the brunt of the discussion and was the spokesman for the museum board. Even though I completely disagree with all of this, Gordon has done more positive for the CAF than just about anyone. I consider him a good friend.

Hope this ends it for good.

[bluehawk15]

So mote it be!

[SPANNERmkV]

I only wish there was a way to see that naught went away dis-satisfied.

Any Organization you join can get rent asunder by internal politics, destroyed by Hurricanes, burnt to the ground, or go broke through ill-advised priorities and there you have it.

All the above being said, at the end of the day the Commemorative Air Force is still the best organization I've encountered for someone wishing to take part in operating warbirds.

It might be more calm to be a member of a Foundation run by an owner/operator but I am still amazed at what a new member can experience and accomplish within the framework of the Commemorative Air Force.

Semper Fly

SPANNER

[B29B24crewchief]

Semper Fly!! Don!! Hoorah.
Dave

[dfenner]

“As for Gordon, he was the one who spoke the most for the museum, gave testimony in court and was in the court records. He also took the brunt of the discussion and was the spokesman for the museum board. Even though I completely disagree with all of this, Gordon has done more positive for the CAF than just about anyone. I consider him a good friend.”

My goodness Doug, that is so true. For all the good Gordon has done for the CAF - and was continuing to do as president of the museum board - to have this action taken against him by his peers is horrible. Same for all the guys and Tami.

Talk about emotion! You should have seen me the day Hal's certified letter of sanction came. Cried hysterically for 30 minutes..... then I got mad.

Speaking of Tami, I can not let this misconception go unanswered:

Doug said, “All you have said about accreditation is absolutely wrong.”

Doug, Tami is a Peer Reviewer for the Accreditation Commission of the American Association of Museums. The AAM obviously finds her credible. You are working towards accreditation for your museum. It is quite possible that Tami O’Bannion could be your on-site reviewer when your time comes for accreditation survey. (Wouldn’t that be a hoot!) I’d be watching what I say about the practices and standards she had in place the day she left us 24 years – to the day – of when she joined this happy ungrateful family.

Tami has also served on the Texas Association of Museums Council (board) for 12 yrs, and was President 2001 – 2003

I hope the CAF members are beginning to realize what we have lost when we allowed the juggernaut of power and unreason steam roll down the hill. Gordon knew it, Hal definitely knew it, he was the Chief of Staff who hired Tami 24 years ago. The entire board knew it. Bless you all for giving it your utmost fight to the end in the name of what was right, and what was the best for the non-flying half of the CAF.

Doug said, “By the way, The CAF museum's accreditation was just extended 8 years. How could that be if what you say is true.”

The accreditation extension was a blanket extension given to ALL accredited museums nation wide. It is not anything that has recently been accomplished since Tami’s departure in March. It is all here on the AAM website. All I did was google it.
http://www.aam-us.org/museumresources/a ... et-_2_.pdf

Also on the AAM website, you will discover that this 5 year extension was announced in March, not a week before – and on the same “On the Fly” - as the June 4th meeting. Wonder why we didn’t hear about it in March ?????? Could it be part of the MO ??????
http://www.aam-us.org/museumresources/a ... ention.cfm

Diane

Last edited by dfenner on Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[hahnej]

Grassy knoll, conspiracy theories, plot twists, the JFK assasintation, the BP oil spill, and the CAF.

Don't know and don't want to know all the details with the museum, but the CAF had/has to change going forward to survive. And I mean that by me being an ex-member twice.

I do wish the CAF all the best in operating warbirds in the future and want them to survive so my Grandkids can see Fifi fly. All I wanted to do was service/help maintain the aircraft in the local area I lived in. Both times I got sucked in to the staff/mgmt politics.

I think the CAF members that have flown and maintained the aircraft from the 80's thru today are getting where they can't do it anymore and mostly haven't trained a follow-on generation to keep it going. When things are going great you're not worried about it.

The aircraft are 25 years older and need more heavy, expensive maintenance and there's no personnel, facilities, or budget to do it. And with the cost of the HQ fees on top of that, you can't operate any twin engine or bigger CAF warbird and stay afloat unless you have a sugar daddy. And then the you have the politics bs.

[dfenner]

I know what you mean about the details. You don't want to know the details, and I wish I didn't.

[dfenner]

This forum fell silent after my last post in June, but the issues discussed here are far from silent or settled. Principled people never loose their principles.

The following is a statement by Graham Robertson, one of the kicked off elected general staff members and one of the 3 terminated from the CAF.

To All,

Bill Coombes began his statement with “This is a personality issue.” Not True. This is about honest and ethical leadership in the CAF. Period.

All of us have kept pretty quiet since Floyd Houdyshell and I were voted off the General Staff. Our attorneys told us not to make any public statements, nor put out any written statements. That was in effect a “gag order” – not put on us from a judge, but our own attorneys. I didn’t necessarily agree with it, but I did go along with it.

We have made some mistakes, no doubt about that. #1 – We hired Steve Brown without really knowing him and his background. We were in a hurry to find a replacement for Bob Rice. Had we – all of us on the (then) General Staff – known the circumstances of why Steve Brown left the EAA and some of his other business dealings – we would not have hired him. We trusted the Search Committee and their combined judgment. At the time, MOST of us were not aware that Neils Agather and Ray Kinney had told Steve Brown he was being hired to head all four CAF organizations – without ANY authorization to do so. Neils keeps telling people the General Staff voted on that and it was unanimous. THAT IS A BLATANT LIE! But he keeps spreading it, knowing it is absolutely false. Check the minutes of all the meetings and the recordings leading up to Steve’s hiring. That vote is NOT there, BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENED. Steve Brown was hired as President of the CAF only, not the CAF Museum, the CAF Foundation or the CAF Flying Museum. Since Steve’s hiring, the members of the General Staff moved heaven and earth to make Steve the head of all four CAF organizations – NO MATTER THE COST TO THE CAF - in effort, time, money or morale of the CAF membership.

Steve Brown was told he was hired to accomplish four (4) goals:

1. Raise funds from OUTSIDE the CAF – THIS HAS STILL NOT HAPPENED
Steve has introduced a few activities that each made a few dollars per event, but there has been no additional donations
to the foundation to endow the fleet or to reduce the inflated ANUAC. He keeps selling aircraft and instead of putting the
money into aircraft acquisition, he has doled it out to his ardent supporters in a few wings to help restore existing aircraft.
Restoring aircraft is the responsibility of the sponsors (or wings). Certainly HQTRs should help them raise funds, but NOT
at the expense of other aircraft. With few exceptions, he has alienated local support for the CAF in the Midland-Odessa area
by the way he and his wife have treated our (ex)supporters.

2. Increase the awareness of the CAF – Steve HAS done an outstanding job in this!

3. Increase membership – This has not happened, but I think it was an unfair job assignment. The President does not recruit
members, MEMBERS DO!

4. Balance the CAF budget – Steve has been here for almost three years and this still has not happened. He has moved
money from one CAF organization to another to give the impression he balanced the budget. Anyone who can read a
finance report can see this, as many already have.

In my opinion, the BIGGEST mistake we made was adopting the POLICY GOVERNANCE management system. We bought Bill Coombes pet project hook, line and sinker, then helped sell it to the membership. This management style may work well in private enterprise, where the management has command and control over its organization, but the CAF is unlike almost any organization in the world. Except for the paid staff, we are all volunteers, who believe in a common mission. We should have checked out HOW this system worked for other non-profit organizations first. Sure, we needed to change some things in our management, but the combination of Steve Brown and his-out-of-control ego AND Policy Governance was the greatest blunder ever made in the CAF. This is what has allowed Steve to do whatever he wants, with little oversight, except from his most ardent supporters. Whenever a few of us tried to place meaningful executive limitations on Steve, we were voted down. The first REAL red flag was his absolute unwillingness to work with Tami O’Bannion.

We, on the Board of Directors of the Museum, decided we would do all we could to protect the Museum and Tami. In 2008, even our current Chief of Staff MARK NOVAK voted to change the Bylaws of the Museum, then when confronted with his actions at the June meeting in Midland, he just stated “I didn’t know any better.” Evidently, what he did was OK then, but that was the excuse two of us were kicked off the General Staff and later three of us had our CAF memberships terminated. Then President (Museum Board) Gordon Stevenson attempted to be the go-between peacemaker with the General Staff and the Museum. Twice, agreements were made, then promptly ignored by Steve and Bill Coombes. Right after the last agreement, Steve printed a scathing article in Dispatch and Bill Coombes wrote a letter to every CAF member, with the same negative message about the Museum. So much for their word – it is without value.

If Steve had just worked with Tami, there would have been no continuing controversy. He – backed by others – wanted Steve in complete control and there was nothing, nothing they would not do to accomplish that, even if it tore the CAF apart. For that – if nothing else – Steve Brown should have been terminated and those supporting General Staff members should be recalled!! If the above actions are the best judgment of the current President and General Staff, it is certainly time for a leadership change.

I have never seen so much “spin” since the last presidential news conference. Steve keeps saying he balanced the budget for 2010. Again, not true. Before the end of that meeting, the (then) General Staff voted Steve a large pay raise (not unanimous as the minutes read) and he was told – again – to hire a PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISER, which he still hasn’t done. (Note: The last one Steve hired – an old friend – cost the CAF about $70,000 and she raised only $12,000 before she left.) So much for his balanced budget of 2010, although he still keeps saying it was balanced – another untruth.

Look at the paid staff that has quit, due to Steve’s leadership. All the corporate history – gone – for good. Several told him why they were quitting, but that was spun also. Call them up and ask them. They will tell you the truth.

I have just hit the high points here. There are many other examples I and others could quote – ask Joe Cowan, ask Gordon Stevenson, ask Floyd Houdashell, ask Dr. Hal Fenner or the ex-non-General Staff members of the Museum Board. Ask Barbara Davis, Luann Morgan or Andy Shaffer. They are all honorable and ethical pillars of the Midland-Odessa community and not afraid of telling the truth either. We all acted in the best interest of the CAF overall, not on any personal agendas, as others have and still are. That is a PROMISE I made to ALL the CAF members when I was elected to the General Staff, then re-elceted by the members. It was a promise I never forgot and never will.

I recently received a letter from CAF Headquarters, allowing me to apply to re-join the CAF. The letter stated I should explain what my qualifications are and to send in affidavits of why I should be allowed to rejoin. The letter continued that the Membership Committee and Steve Brown would decide if my membership would be re-instated. (Note: This is just another example of Steve’s ego. He should know neither he nor the membership committee can re-instate us. Only the General Staff can reverse a General Staff decision.)

This is just one more example of their spin tactics – just so they can say they did it. This will have to go back before the current General Staff – and they don’t meet until AFTER the general membership meeting in October. Again, it is obvious they do not want any of us speaking to the CAF membership at the meeting.

I URGE ALL CAF MEMBERS TO GET AN ABSENTEE BALLOT AND VOTE FOT THE MEMBERS NOMINATED FROM THE FLOOR, IF YOU WANT YOUR CAF BACK.

Graham Robertson