Standing directly behind Eade to the right is the delegate from Mongolia
"Dear USCF Member:
I am writing to inform you that I have filed an ethics complaint against perennial candidate Sam Sloan, because of his libelous statements published in the June issue of Chess Life. This latest example of false allegations on Sloan's part comes as no surprise. He libeled all of the USCF's representatives to FIDE during his last campaign. At the subsequent annual meeting the delegates commended our performance, and expressed their regret over the scurrilous attacks leveled against us.
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Standing directly behind Eade to the right is the delegate from Mongolia |
It is doubtful that this was the first or the last time that Schultz has provided Sloan with such information. Aligning himself with Sloan like this demeans not only Schultz, but the entire USCF political process as well. If Schultz will stoop to this level, how low will he go? Don't allow him to take the organization down with him. Withhold your vote.
I am voting for Beatriz Marinello, and writing in Steve Doyle's name. I urge you to do the same. Please be aware that a 37 cent stamp may be insufficient postage for the mail-in ballot.
Sincerely,
James Eade
6/10/03"
My response follows:
Jim Eade states that I libeled him in the June Chess Life. In fact, my statement in the June Chess Life does not mention his name. However, if the shoe fits, wear it, and in this case it does.
In the June Chess Life, I wrote: "We must end special deals for political insiders. For example, a recent scandal has arisen because the FIDE Zone President for the USA demanded and received a special deal under which his scholastic players got to join the USCF for only one dollar. This was illegal and wrong. If I am elected I am going to demand that he pay back the money. You can be sure that such a thing will never happen again as long as I am on the board."
Since Jim Eade was in fact the FIDE Zone President for the USA at that point in time, this statement does clearly refer to him. I stand by it.
During the 2002 USCF Delegate's Meeting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, one of the most hotly debated items was the proposal put forward by Steve Shutt to create two classes of scholastic membership: The membership with magazine for $19 and the no magazine membership for $13. I was strongly opposed to this because I felt that all members should receive a magazine. However, the measure passed by a narrow margin.
I was astounded when I later found out that, at the conclusion of the delegate's meeting, Jim Eade through Richard Koepcke asked Frank Niro, who was at that time still active interim Executive Director, for a special favor. The California Scholastic Championship was coming up and 1500 players were expected, and Eade wanted the new first-time USCF members to be able to receive a no magazine USCF tournament membership for only one dollar.
This ridiculous proposal would have been dismissed out of hand except for one factor. Jim Eade was not just a regular member asking for a special deal. Rather, Jim Eade was the FIDE Zone President for the USA. Frank Niro was in a difficult position because he was then just a temporary employee, serving without pay. Frank Niro was hoping to be appointed as the paid permanent Executive Director, but that had not happened yet. If was thus obvious that if Frank Niro wanted to get the job he was hoping to get, he would have no choice but to accede to Jim Eade's request.
Significantly, two major scholastic organizers, Richard Crespo and Richard Jackson, were in the room when Jim Eade made this demand of Frank Niro. Both of them immediately asked for the same deal. They were told that they could not get that deal. Only Jim Eade would be able to get that deal.
Perhaps Frank Niro knew some history. At the conclusion of the 1999 US Open in Reno, a similar situation arose. There, Richard Koepcke asked Executive Director Michael Cavallo to award to Tom Dorsch a USCF TD title. Cavallo responded that Tom Dorsch could obtain that title merely by taking the required test. Koepcke replied that Dorsch did not want to take the test because he felt that the tester scorers would be biased against him. Cavallo turned down this request. Only one month later, Cavallo was fired by allies of Tom Dorsch.
Thus, in 2002, Frank Niro had to know that if he did not agree to the proposal of Jim Eade, he was likely to be fired and he would not be getting the paid job of USCF Executive Director.
The end result was that 250 Northern California scholastic players did take advantage of the one dollar membership deal. Since Jim Eade used his political position as FIDE Zone President for the USA to force through this deal, I believe that Jim Eade owes the USCF $12 x 250, which is $3,000. Jim Eade is a millionaire, because he married a wealthy woman, and he can easily afford $3,000. We, the USCF, cannot afford to lose this money.
Perhaps most importantly, the USCF by-laws prohibit deals like the deal Jim Eade demanded of Frank Niro, and those by-laws were written by Tom Dorsch, who is a neighbor, close friend and political ally of Jim Eade. Thus, Jim Eade knew that he was demanding something prohibited by USCF by-laws.
Next, the hit letter from Jim Eade states the following:
He libeled all of the USCF's representatives to FIDE during his last campaign. At the subsequent annual meeting the delegates commended our performance, and expressed their regret over the scurrilous attacks leveled against us.
First, I was present throughout the 2000 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. Not only was I there but I was the very first person to arrive and the last person to leave. I arrived before 7:00 AM on the first day when only the floor polishers were present and the security guards had not yet arrived and I was the last man out the door when it closed down 18 days later. I know better what happened at Istanbul than anybody else.
Jim Eade's performance was very poor. Just before the start of the Olympiad, he wrote and published an "open letter" attacking Yasser Seirawan, who was the team leader and is the most respected American in chess. He also wrote attacks on many other chess personalities. Jim Eade spend the days of the meeting openly advocating drug testing by FIDE, even though he had been strictly instructed by the USCF delegates to campaign actively against drug testing. Eade spent most of his time trying to get grandmaster norms awarded in violation of FIDE rules. He also played in a special tournament in which only official representatives could play in which substantial cash prizes were awarded by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in return for their political support for Kirsan's initiatives.
When it later became apparent that Jim Eade was campaigning to become FIDE Continental President for the Americas, thereby compromising his position as our representative, many USCF members called for his removal. This led the Redman Gang to introduce a resolution at the USCF meetings in Cherry Hill to appoint Eade as permanent US Zone President. This resolution, if passed, would have been disastrous because it would have meant that the USCF Executive Board would not have had the power to issue instructions to our representative to FIDE.
The resolution mentioned in Eade's letter in which, according to Eade, "the delegates commended our performance, and expressed their regret over the scurrilous attacks leveled against us" was a resolution that I voted for. It was part of a deal to encourage Jim Eade to resign voluntarily so as to avoid the divisive struggle to remove Eade from his FIDE position. Even then, Eade refused to step down. Several more months passed where Eade continued to defy the Executive Board majority who wanted him removed. Finally, Eade agreed to leave just prior to the FIDE meetings in Bled.
Eade states: "He libeled all of the USCF's representatives to FIDE during his last campaign." This is not true. I had good things to say about Bill Kelleher, the USCF Delegate. I did have bad things to say about Steve Doyle and Jim Eade since, among other things, both of them openly advocated drug testing by FIDE, in defiance of USCF resolutions to the contrary. Look at the picture I took and posted of Steve Doyle getting into a car with Kirsan and driving off after the passage of the million dollar FIDE Commerce Deal, and you will understand the true nature of the relationship between them: http://www.samsloan.com/day-14.htm
Eade next complains that candidate Don Schultz has provided me with information. By his wording, Eade tacitly admits that the information provided was true. It is strange that Eade includes the letter by Don Schultz in his mailing because, as far as I am aware, Jim Eade was not present at the meeting at Qatar and therefore the letter by Don Schultz could not possibly refer to Eade. Am I mistaken on that point?
However, there is another side to this story which, as far as I am aware, has never been mentioned. Don Schultz is most often attacked and criticized for the so-called "failed computer upgrade" by USCF Executive Director Mike Cavallo, while Schultz was president. However, it was also while Jim Eade was on the board that Cavallo was ordered to upgrade the computer system by having a program developed which would encompass memberships, books and equipment sales and ratings into one software package. Don Schultz just had one vote and Jim Eade had equally one vote on the board. Moreover, Eade lives in the heart of Silicon Valley in Menlo Park, California, where he is surrounded by the World's Greatest Computer Experts, one of whom happens to be Richard Koepcke, his political ally. Eade's own wife is a top computer expert and the CFO of a major computer company. Therefore, Eade knew or should have known that it would be impossible for Cavallo, who was sitting in the barren boondocks of New Windsor in Upstate New York, to complete the computer upgrade within just one month. Therefore, Eade knew something which Cavallo and Schultz could not have known, which was that Cavallo had been asked to do the impossible, a project which could not possibly be created with the limited resources Cavallo had available within the time limits set by the allies of Eade. It was well known that Eade considered Don Schultz to be his enemy and therefore the only reasonable conclusion is that Eade had set up this deal as part of a plan to embarrass Don Schultz and to drive Don Schultz from office, a plan which worked. Eade knew from the start that the project was doomed to failure. Please note that during the time when this computer upgrade was first in the works, Jim Eade was a member of the USCF Policy Board and yet he never offered to help, although he could easily have provided help and could have brought this project to successful completion.
I was one of the strongest supporters of Jim Eade when he ran for USCF Policy Board in 1996. He was smart, he knew computers very well, he was a very strong chess player with a rating over 2300, he had read and knew everything about chess, plus he was a millionaire who had donated large amounts his wife's own money into a variety of chess related causes.
I cannot tell you how deeply disappointed I was when Jim Eade did not turn out to be a force for good, but turned out to be a force for evil in the world of chess.
Sam Sloan
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