Hall of Shame in US Chess

The broadly supported proposal to have One Member One Vote in United States Chess Federation elections was defeated at the just concluded USCF delegates meeting in Hawaii by a nefarious parliamentary tactic. Before the debate had really started and after a line of speakers had rose to speak to this issue, Tim Just of Illinois moved to table the matter.

A motion to table is a motion to end all debate. The motion itself cannot be debated.

The motion to table passed by 44 to 28, with one abstention. Thus, the many certified state delegates who had traveled all the way to Hawaii just to have the opportunity to speak to this issue were not allowed to speak.

Tim Just - Moved to close to debate before the first speaker had spoken!


The delegates voted to table without debate the following motion: "The Delegates formally adopt a One Member One Vote election system for the Policy Board, under which the adult USCF members will directly elect the Policy Board. This new system will take effect after the elections of 1999, for all subsequent elections. The Bylaws Committee is instructed to prepare specific language for Bylaws amendments, to be brought back to the Delegates for final approval at the 1999 Delegates meeting in Reno."

This means that the OMOV survey which was taken some months ago in Chess Life at great expense to the USCF, as a result of which the members voted overwhelmingly in favor of OMOV, meant nothing, because the issue was never put to a vote at the delegates meeting.

The general membership of the USCF should take extreme measures to express their disapproval of those 44 who voted to table. Those 44 should not merely be shunned. They should be banned and blacklisted from playing in all chess events. Local chess clubs and organizations should vote that those 44 are not allowed to become members and, if they are members, they should be expelled.

Security guards on sites where chess tournaments are being played should be told that if any of those 44 should try to enter the chess playing hall, they are to be arrested for trespassing. Charges will be pressed.

In other words, short of outright assassination, every step should be taken to insure that those evil 44 never be allowed to play chess again. They should be permanently kicked out of chess.

Remember that those 44 did not merely oppose One Member One Vote. They went much further. They voted that there cannot even be a discussion or debate of the issue. They said that only they should have the right to all power in the United States Chess Federation and that none of the other 85,000 members shall have the right to vote or even to say anything.

The delegate's meeting concluded one day early because of this closure of debate. The delegates were clearly not pressed for time.

Here is a list of the nefarious 44. I recommend that this list be posted in chess clubs and chess playing sites everywhere so that USCF members shall know the names on list.

Several names on this list are persons who are in the business of chess, or are the authors of chess books. Needless to say, their books and chess related businesses should be blacklisted. Vendors should be encouraged not to carry their products.

Several persons on this list work as assistant tournament directors in chess events. Organizers of those events should be notified that you will not play or pay an entry fee if those persons are associated with the event in any capacity.

Here is the list of the HALL of SHAME. Please note that the deciding margin of victory came from Northern California, home of Tom Dorsch and Jim Eade, and from Illinois, home of Tim Just, who made the motion to table. Tim Just in particular should be expelled from the USCF:

Selby Anderson (TX)
Duane Barber (Southern CA)
Alan Benjamin (NY)
Phyllis Benjamin (NY)
Richard Buchanan (CO)
Clarence Callaway (TX)
Frank Camaratta (FL)
Tom Dorsch (Northern CA)
Steve Doyle (NJ)
Bernadette Doyle (NJ)
Peter Dyson (FL)
Jim Eade (Northern CA)
Roger Gottschall (IA)
Fred Gruenberg (IL)
Rea Hayes (TN)
Guy Hoffman (WI)
Randy Hough (Southern CA)
Roger Inglis (NJ)
Carol Jarecki (NY)
Jim Jirousek (NE)
Tim Just (IL)
Dave Knudson (SD)
Richard Koepcke (Northern CA)
Rachel Lieberman (AZ)
Al Losoff (IL)
Art Matheson (Northern CA)
John McCrary (SC)
Mike Nietman (WI)
Henry O'Dell (VA)
Richard Peterson (AZ)
Mark Pinto (Northern CA)
Hans Poschmann (Northern CA)
Tim Redman (TX)
Eric Schiller (Northern CA)
Steve Shutt (PA)
Ken Sloan (AL)
Harold Stenzel (NY)
Andrew Thall (TX)
Michael Vaughn (OR)
Helen Warren (IL)
James Warren (IL)
Sunil Weeramantry (NY)
Harold Winston (IL)
Carolyn Withgitt (Northern CA)


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