Mara Shlackman’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Sierra Fla. Chapter Suspension Is an Outrage

  Prior to the suspension, I represented my Group (the Broward County Group) at many Florida Chapter meetings, and served as Co-Chair of the Florida Chapter Legal Committee.  Also, I was an observer throughout the vote counting process for the last Florida Chapter election.  

  It is irresponsible of Robert Cox to make comments to the effect that "Floridians reported that factionalism ... had led to ... fixed elections."  The vote counting process I observed followed a protocol directed by National Sierra Club staff, and National Sierra itself investigated the election based upon a complaint submitted afterward, and upheld the results.  All ballots included in the final tally conformed to the election rules.  For Cox to repeat the lies of disgruntled members whose candidates did not win is simply slanderous, and that statement should be retracted.

  While I have not undertaken the statistical analysis that former Chapter Secretary Pedro Monteiro did regarding voting patterns at Chapter meetings, his statistics are consistent with my own personal observations.  When Legal Committee items came up for a vote at Chapter meetings, they uniformly received unanimous support.   Likewise, with very few exceptions, there was no dissension at Chapter meetings on political endorsements.  On numerous conservation issues that came up for a vote, there was broad consensus within the Chapter.  The claims of severe factionalism are highly contrived.  

  I do believe that this suspension is in part attributable to a series of disagreements between the Chapter and National, in which the Chapter advocated stronger environmental positions than National, such as on biofuels. The suspension is equally the result of the Florida Chapter's opposition to the growing corporatization of the Club and the diminished power of the grassroots activists in internal Club decisions.   The Clorox debacle is the latest episode, and exemplifies both the corporatization of the Club and the weaker environmental stances that result from that corporatization.   On Ouster of Sierra Club's Florida leaders stirs up a storm of controversy posted 1 year, 6 months ago 7 Responses