Letter re Lobbying (Not Discussion)

[oldecapecod11]

We have been told comments in the Forum concerning Lobbying will be ignored by the bored directors and so be it.

A copy of my letter to our leadership follows. I will be glad to discuss any aspects of it outside this forum be it PM or e-mail.
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LOBBYING FOR Hall of Fame Senior Candidates

My answer to this question was, at first, "No" but I realized the reasons for that were not based on the merits of the issue.

Instead they were formed by the weakness of our leadership and the lack of integrity and openness that has been displayed -
and actually flaunted - during the entire forum transition.
Therefore, it would not be fair to deny support of qualified candidates while we attempt to right a vessel in dire threat
of foundering.

I also felt the three basic needs for "lobbying" are people, commitment, and money.

People - Earlier, it was stated that our Membership was "about 400" and that we experience an approximate 70% renewal rate.
The leadership chose to defy the By-laws and not post the Budget as required.
When they finally did, we see that Membership is actually 277 - considerably less than 400.
Have we lost 120-odd members since June?
Or, are we still to lose an additional 30% - or 81 approximately - reducing our number to less than 200.
How loud will 200 voices be - or even 277 - in open support of a senior candidate?

Commitment - How many of the members will actively petition for the candidate?

Money - With the needless excessive costs of the Coffin Corner, is there capital enough to launch a campaign.
(Postal rates are scheduled to increase in 2015. Cost-cutting methods and suggestions were submitted to leadership and ignored and the reason for mysterious expenditures has never been divulged.)

So, with these negative factors, my thought was: how can we lobby - successfully?
What is the sense to lobby otherwise?

But then I think: Who will lobby if the PFRA does not?
The players? Their deeds are interred with their bones.
Their families? Most would not know where to begin?
Their teams? Some of the franchises no longer exist and those that do have other agenda to put forth - often agenda
for a still-living and more-recently retired player that might still have a fan base.

No! It is left to us - the PFRA - the only legitimate research organization that does not owe allegiance to a team
or promote statistics for the pure sake of statistics.

Do we have the people? At first, I wondered; but... We do!

We all know of Ken Crippen - just as does the rest of the football world - more importantly, just as do the members
of the Senior Committee.
I haven't always agreed with Ken but he has helped me a great deal more than he has ever ignored me.
In fact, other members that I have talked with say the same thing. Ken does this. Ken does that. Ken did this. Ken did that.
I don't know about all those things.
I do know as ONE person he did a better job with the web site in his spare time than seven are doing scurrying about
in the dark.

And Ken is not our only major asset. We have Bob Gill and Ralph Hickok and Mike Moran and t.j. troup and John Turney -
people whose voices have been heard and could be heard again if they were to become passionate about an issue.
There are probably others whose skills have not been demonstrated in our forum and some whose have like Matt Reaser
and Don Shipley.
And we have others like Tod Maher whose website is known around the world and more that we would like to see join
and become part of a big push.
There are a number of visitors who have yet to become Members but could add tremendously to our efforts.

So... we have the people to make lobbying effective.

If we develop a good strategy and get some of these people to commit, there is no end to what we might accomplish.

And, if done effectively, we will not need money. In the age of e-mail and rapidly advancing technology, we can get
our message to so very many through the efforts of so very few.

The question is not: Should we do it? The question is: How should we do it?

We already have the machinery in place.
What we need is to determine what percentage of the membership supports the candidacy of a particular individual.
We have the tool for that: The forum - or better - a forum for Members Only (as has been suggested by many.)

It cannot be done in secrecy - where cajoling and soliciting and maybe even threatening voters takes place.
And it cannot be done for the eyes of the world.
When the Membership has established a candidate, then a united front can be presented:
The PFRA supports Joe Toe, or whatever digit is applicable.

And once Joe is named, every possible effort should be made to show the football world that the PFRA supports the right stuff.

Mind well... if we do not, some newly-formed group will come along and hitch their wagon to the Hall of Fame star and we will continue to watch our numbers dwindle.

Remember; there are three types of people in the world:
those who make things happen, those who watch things happen,
and those who scratch their heads and say "What happened?"

Come out of the closet; drop the cloak of secrecy; and show the world sterner stuff.

Rosie the Riveter said it best: "We can do it."

In closing this notice in SUPPORT of LOBBYING, I formally request copies of any and all messages concerning this matter although, based on the statements made, they should be forthcoming without specific mention.

Thank you.

In Sports, Sincerely,

Signed

cc: many

[James]

I totally agree. We should do something...