Infighting at USA Shooting

[Greg Derr]

Saw an online edition of a NY Times story about USA shooting leadership and lawsuits from and against athletes. Too bad. I lived through the separation from the NRA and it took years for USA Shooting to get strong. Has anyone heard of this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/sport ... .html?_r=0

[ghillieman]

Absolutely absurd behavior. Looks like USA Shooting BOD needs term limits too!

[Mike M.]

Lovely. I wish I could say I was surprised, USAS seems to have no transparency at all in its leadership. I've no idea how they are elected...and have been a member for over five years.

[PCU]

More info at:
http://www.usashooting.org/news/2015/10 ... nt-request

[john bickar]

PCU, thanks for that link.

Lots going on here. Not sure how much I can or should say about it on a public forum (not that I know much).

[shaky hands]

The fights are so bitter because the stakes are so low?

[john bickar]

The stakes aren't low for the athletes.

[shaky hands]

Who are those 38 athletes/officials who added their names to the original 6? They hardly prefer to remain secret now.

[Accuracy Counts]

Boards are meant to oversee an organization . . . why is the CEO sitting on the board? There are term limits in the by-laws, but they are not followed. Another board member has been on the board for 20 years without the required two year break. Shame on these 3 members of the executive committee - our athletes should be focused on the Olympics, not legal proceedings.

[Dan Ide]

I was on an Air Force Team back when the break with the NRA happened. No I never fully understood the details but the competitors meetings at the National Championships got loud and vehement. As usual, it was and is the competing athletes that pay the price of disorganization. Thanks Gregg for highlighting this. Maybe everybody should move to the CMP.

[Thomas Monto]

USA Shooting Clarifies Declaratory Judgment Request

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (October 5, 2015)
On September 4, 2015, USA Shooting Board members Robert Mitchell, James Lally, and Gary Anderson filed a lawsuit in Colorado State District Court on behalf of USA Shooting, naming Walton Eller, Jason Turner, Brett Tecklenburg, Mary Weeks, Joshua Richmond, and Janet Raab as defendants. The defendants and others have characterized this action as one by which USA Shooting has sued athletes.

The lawsuit filed in Colorado is not against the athletes. The action is asking the court to decide a dispute initiated by the defendants.

The persons named in the suit initiated a grievance, along with others who signed that grievance, seeking to partially nullify the results of the March 16 Board of Directors elections. An effort was made to have that grievance submitted to binding arbitration, but after much effort an agreement could not be reached with the grievers on the terms for arbitration.

Therefore, a filing was made with the Colorado Court asking it to decide the election grievance issues, since no other independent method of resolution was agreeable. This court action will permit an independent tribunal (i.e., the court) to hear the parties and decide the issues raised in the election grievance. The persons who initiated the election grievance are named as defendants in the court action because the Court needs to have jurisdiction over them in order to have them be parties to the court proceeding, to allow them the opportunity to answer to the Court and have their arguments heard.

Again, this is not a suit against the athletes, but a method for the parties to the election grievance to be heard by a neutral court of law.

[shaky hands]

But how about the reported in NYT article efforts by USAS to retaliate against Colonel Tecklenburg? Were those efforts also purely declaratory?

[jhmartin]

These docs are not "private" just hard to find.
Important Grievance and Section 10 Complaint docs here:

http://www.vc4hss.com/__USAS_Sec10_Complaint/index.htm

[shaky hands]

Many thanks. This is just one side of the story, of course, but quite compelling. In any case, what an icing on a distinguished career of Gary Anderson.

[Accuracy Counts]

U.S.A. Shooting has taken the rare step of filing a civil lawsuit against all four of its athlete representatives and two other board of directors members in a dispute over management and transparency at the national governing body. Some of our country's top shooters have joined the section 10 complaint filed with the USOC . . . The athletes claim that Anderson, Mitchell, and Lally, who seem to feel that they are not restricted by the term limits in the USAS bylaws, are "unresponsive to athletes’ views and independent voices in violation of Olympic bylaws." These are a few of the 38 shooters:

Glenn Eller, 4 time Olympic athlete and gold medalist, double trap
Matt Emmons, 3 time Olympic medalist, prone and 3p smallbore
Vince Hancock, 2 time gold Olympic gold medalist, skeet
Amanda Furrer, 1 time Olympic athlete, 3p smallbore
Lance Bade, 3 time Olympic athlete and bronze medalist, trap
Jason Turner, Olympic bronze medalist, air pistol
Josh Richmond, Olympic athlete, double trap
Keith Sanderson, 2 time Olympic athlete, rapid fire pistol
Eric Uptagrafft, 2 time Olympic athlete

Matt, Glenn, and Vince have already secured 2016 Olympic Team nominations!

[Westporter]

Sad. Another classic example of an organization that starts out with the best of intentions and then ultimately takes on a life of its own instead of focusing on the reason for its existence in the first place.

[jhmartin]

http://www.vc4hss.com/__USAS_Sec10_Complaint/index.htm
New docs posted

[shaky hands]

Wow, just wow!

1. Those USAS executives seeking "declaratory judgment only" have no reservation about demanding that the complainants pay their legal fees.
2. USAS main argument seems to be that some of the complainants are Board members and, therefore, are equally responsible for the mess the executives created.
3. There are no answers to specific allegations, only a general denial.

That USAS brass is surely composed of some tough if dull nuts.

[john bickar]

http://www.vc4hss.com/__USAS_Sec10_Complaint/index.htm
New docs posted

Thanks for posting these. I have some reading to do.

[Accuracy Counts]

A GoFundMe page has been setup to support Jason Turner, 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist in air pistol, to fight the lawsuit brought against him and 5 others by Anderson, Mitchell, and Lally. I think he needs all of our support in this. No donation is too small to support the athletes.

https://www.gofundme.com/A4USASCompliance

I am curious . . . never heard of board members not being protected from personal liability in connection with their duties on the board, especially from expenses incurred from legal fees. Many would argue not permitting indemnification or only allowing when a small executive committee approves it makes board members powerless, in which case why have a board.