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My Home Page
I have a legal and financial background. I have been the registered principal of a Wall Street securities firm. I argued orally a case before the United States Supreme Court, the last non-lawyer ever to do so, and I won the case 9-0. SEC vs. Sloan, 436 US 103 (1978).
I favor re-organization and financial reform in the USCF. Fortunately, we have the right man to do this in Frank Niro. For at least the last seven years I have been nagging the USCF office about its persistent failure to adopt Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Finally, the USCF has agreed to do what I have been demanding ought to be done. The new financial reports, when and if they ever come out (they are now eight months late) will for the first time adhere to GAAP.
The USCF has lost money six years in a row. I believe that I can help turn this around. The situation is getting better, much better than before. Nevertheless, we must be vigilant. I have just received a confidential report that $200,000 in USCF funds have gone missing. If I am elected, I will not cover this up. I will be fully in favor of criminal prosecutions, if this report proves to be true. I intend to demand an investigation of what appears to be wrong-doing and malfeasance by prior administrations.
On a more positive note, there has been a great expansion in the popularity of scholastic chess. It seems like every school and every library wants a chess teacher now. We are in demand and we must exploit these opportunities. I want to bring back School Mates magazine, which was abolished as a cost-saving measure.
I also want to abolish the no-magazine option of USCF membership. Every member must receive a magazine. I favor a uniform scholastic dues of $19 and a reduction of regular dues to $39.
We cannot continue to view scholastic chess as a loss leader. One of the main reasons the USCF lost money six years in a row was that we were servicing scholastic members at below cost.
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.
Sam Sloan
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