Confidentiality and "Whisteblowing"
Secretary LNC
All the comments I am making below are as a result of things that Mr. Duque has publicly said. Members have wanted it addressed. This is all my view since he has chosen to drag me into this.
Mr. Duque is not a "whistleblower." Unless he is “blowing the whistle” on himself. Because all that stuff he released allegedly showing inappropriate conversations he was fully and gleefully part of HIMSELF and released other things apropos to NOTHING but hurting people. Nothing was culled, nothing was redacted, It was BEYOND IRRESPONSIBLE and this entire time he was sharing everything with his spouse. When married people are elected they have to keep a wall of separation on things they knew by virtue of their elected position. Yes that is a tough spot. Mr. Duque could have asked this body if he could have more open discussions with her and other regional chairs by having them sign an NDA. He never did that. Our chair eventually did that in order to answer their questions yet one has yet to sign an NDA but is still privy to everything from Mr. Duque. He never once took any of the steps that is required of a reasonably prudent director under DC non-profit corporate law. He had many options at his disposal. If he asked all these things and the LNC refused, then maybe we would be having a different conversation. But he did not.
That is beyond wrong. But taking him at face value that these are just a bunch of terrible confidentiality blowing conversations, he was fully part of it and waited well over a year to say a thing. That is not a whistleblower. That is someone turning on alleged co-conspirators. Turning on your compatriots doesn’t make you innocent. Guess who was NOT a part of any of that except as a topic of cruel comments? Me. I have not blown confidentiality. Everything in this email has been spread by Mr. Duque himself or on his behalf. Guess what else is NOT whistleblowing? Disagreeing on strategy and blowing confidentiality because you didn’t get your way and making ZERO attempt to redact things to protect innocent people because one is so eager for revenge.
But people are claiming that he revealed others were blowing confidentiality. Two things can be true at the same time. An investigatory committee has been formed regarding Mr. Duque's behaviour. I await that report. It is expected Saturday. I will vote for appropriate actions if warranted.
However, I am ALSO concerned about his allegations of other confidentiality breaches and I call upon the LNC to form another committee comprised of LNC members who are not accused of any major intentional confidentiality breaches to investigate.
I am not a hypocrite. I hold anyone and everyone accountable. And Mr. Duque grossly violated his duty. Have others? I will ask that question.
Most of the stuff he released was petty mean girl gossip. It was cruel and meant to hurt people - many people. A lof of it was very cruel things said about me. I am dealing with those issues privately with the people involved and if anyone is expecting public drama over that, you will not get it. It has nothing to do with Party business. No boards are expected to be BFF.
Mr. Duque just mere months ago complained that TOO MUCH was public - he wanted only making of motions and votes to be public (and perhaps some crafting of motions). That we should be making “secret sausage.” Those are his words. He never brought any of these alleged violations of confidentiality through proper channels to be investigated and was refused. That is the FIRST STEP. When the NH thing happened, I tried to get the LNC to do something about it FIRST. I invited them to interviews. I then asked them to review the interviews and investigate. They would not except for a few such as a few on this board and Joshua Smith. As far as these current allegations regarding confidentiality (in the past there were vague allegations from many of unknown leaks) I first learned of it when everyone else did. That is WRONG. He did previously have questions he wished to ask of our chair regarding staff decisions and instead of trying to rally support for a meeting (or noticing his questions for this meeting) to do so he ran off to the public and his spouse and released information about third parties he had no right to due grossly violating all ethics in my opinion. That is not whistleblowing. That is not even trying FIRST all of your avenues before blatantly violating your NDA. Because if actual proof of wrongdoing was brought to me through the proper channels, I would have done something about it. People disagreeing with you on decisions made is not wrongdoing. Getting petty mean revenge worthy of high school adolescents is not whistleblowing.
THEREFORE,
I call for a full investigation into all the confidentiality allegations made and not petty mean girl crap. Things that actually matter with regards to our duty. People are going to talk crap. Everyone does it. It is human and how people blow off steam and releasing private chats between best girlfriends that had nothing to do with our current LNC business like that just to embarrass and hurt the targets of the gossip is beyond uncouth and unprofessional and it is utterly EMBARRASSING and high school behavior that anyone on this body did such a nasty thing. I hope everyone is focusing on what matters and dealing privately to heal relationships over mean things said, as much as possible. I know I am. I have been privately given and accepted multiple apologies.
But I reiterate. If others violated confidentiality seriously (not some mistake here or there or engaged in other blatant and deliberate malfeasance), let's have an investigation. I am not taking the fall for anyone. If this had been brought to me I would have handled.
Now that I have called for such an investigation, I seriously doubt I will have anything further to say on this matter in the list. I may if something is critical. I will see everyone this weekend to handle these matters. I am in fact considering going off to the mountains for a much needed break before my travel.
Someone make the motion or make it this weekend. I will vote for it.
Mark Tuniewicz
Donavan Pantke
Mark Tuniewicz
Adrian F Malagon
Steven Nekhaila
Mark Tuniewicz
"Board members can discuss confidential information that has already been leaked and become public. This is because the information is no longer confidential once it has been made public. However, board members should still be careful about how they discuss the information, as they may still be liable for a breach of confidentiality if they discuss it in a way that is harmful to the nonprofit.
For example, board members should not discuss the information in a way that could damage the nonprofit's reputation or fundraising efforts. They should also not discuss the information in a way that could give an unfair advantage to a competitor.
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to discuss confidential information that has been leaked is up to the individual board members. However, they should always err on the side of caution and avoid discussing the information in a way that could harm the nonprofit."
With best wishes,