Abuse of power in leadership
Lauren Louer
You haven’t heard from me in a while. But I can no longer keep
silent.
How much disrespect is too much disrespect?
How much tyranny is too much tyranny?
How much abuse is too much abuse?
As board members, only you have the power to decide this for the
organization and only you can decide for yourselves if our current
president is to continue to terrorize the board and the Saints.
Andy has violated many rules by emailing the members on March 3, the
Confidentiality Agreement being only one. His personal use of
privileged information (membership list) and his blatant disregard for
following any rules of order should by now have become clear to you
that he wishes to change the Saints into something it was never meant
to be. He is harming the good name and legacy of the Saints and I am
sure BJ is rolling in his grave by his actions. He is ONE person; you
are many.
I will not lecture you on parliamentary procedure (although as a
member of the bylaw group I am getting very familiar with those
rules). I will not lecture you on executive sessions abuse. I will
not lecture you on hidden agendas, improper use of coordinator
privilege (too many anecdotal stories of Andy’s lack of responsiveness
to CSO ushering requests, etc), lack of diplomacy or heavy
handedness. All I am asking is:
Take a stand.
Do not be intimidated.
Do the right thing.
Put the Saints back on the right track.
You know what to do. Please, for the sake of the organization, JUST
DO IT! Remove Andy from his position, remove him as coordinator of
CSO and let him know his style of leadership is unacceptable and will
no longer be tolerated.
Respectfully,
Lauren Louer
Carole Heiman Kezios
I am writing in response to a recent email I received from Andy Lingras,
specifically in regards to:
a) The use of the ClubExpress Email list by a Board Member for personal
reasons;
b) The proposed changing of the organizations status to a non for
profit without a charitable purpose
c) The creation of email addresses to conduct a very bizarre email poll
First and foremost, I am appalled by Andy Lingras' use of his power to send
a mass email to the membership regarding "his personal position" on the
mission of our organization. His admission of using this email list in such
a manner appears to be in direct violation of the Confidentiality Agreement
that the Board members were required to sign. Any current Board Member who
does not address this issue immediately should really be considered as
condoning the use of the membership list for personal gain by the violating
party, in this case, the current President of the Board, Andy Lingras, and
should be held responsible as if they, themselves, had violated the
Confidentiality Agreement.
And, since we feel that this email was completely in violation of the
Agreement Andy signed, we will not be responding to either poll, even though
we feel the current dues are completely fine as they are: they should
continue to include a portion for grants, and, in the event that
administration costs increase, the grant portion should never be reduced,
rather the dues paid to be a member should be increased.
I suppose that you may be surprised that two not particularly active Saints
members would be so angry about this action, but if you know our history
then it should not surprise you:
Basil and I have been a longtime members of the Saints who joined to support
the Chicago area theater community. Yes, seeing some great (and not always
great) theater is a bonus we get for ushering, although in recent years we
have not been ushering as frequently as we once did (due to family and
business obligations). And while we've always felt that the dues we pay to
be Saints are a great value: we have always believed that our membership was
in a Charitable Service Organization, and that we were contributing to the
theater community both through our volunteerism and through the financial
granting of awards.
We've never believe that being a Saint is just about ushering. We believe
that the grant portion of the Saints' work is an important element of our
membership and our actions clearly speak to this:
Over the years we have also personally made donations to the Saints'
auctions to raise additional money for grants. Our in kind contributions of
vacation weeks in the US and in Greece have raised a SIGNIFICANT amount of
money for the Saints. We could have just as easily given the same value in
cash to the theater (and have it be a tax deduction, which our auction
donations to the Saints were not) but chose to contribute via the Saints
because as long time members we wanted to support the Saints and the name
the Saints have within the Chicago theater community.
Basil and I are deeply saddened and shocked by the path the current Board
seems to be taking our organization and we are both hopeful that the most
recent email by Andy Lingras will be a wake up call to the general
membership to call for serious accountability on the part of the Members of
the Board of the directors, and the removal of those who violate both the
trust they have been granted by the members and the Confidentiality
Agreement which they have signed.
Like many people today, we have little time and money to spare, and we take
seriously the choices we make in contributing of ourselves, be it
financially or physically. We chose the Saints because of its history of
doing good for the theater community in Chicago. We have witnessed this
first hand, and we've been told this time and time again at the various
venues we have ushered at (and coordinated for). The impact our grants have
on the organizations who benefit from our grants is immeasurable, but my
understanding is that Andy does not usher (often, or at all?), so he would
not know about this impact.
We trust that you will weigh these matters very seriously and act
accordingly,
Best regards
Carole Kezios
Basil Kezios
312-867-7407