An Open Letter to the 99%

[forbesmb]

I'm going to break some forum rules, so hit me with whatever warnings or bans that may apply.

The shit has hit the fan. We're talking high impact, post-constipation, metal-rending shit, tearing the blades right off of the whole device.

There are at least three camps within the Declaration now: the Board supporters, the Michael Pollok supporters and the sideliners watching to see just how we resolve this conflict.

At present, this conflict is killing the Declaration and the National General Assembly. We're looking like packs of school yard bullies who have suddenly run into each other in a shared playground. That is *not* the image we want to give to newcomers or to the public.

There are differing opinions of how things should work. Well, hell, who couldn't see that coming? We're part of an incredible movement and most of us have been with an Occupy group, the 99% Declaration, or both since the beginning or close to it. We're forerunners because we have passion, because we care about the lack of equality, because we realize the class war has reached a point where action must be taken.

This means we all have pretty strong egos and senses of self value and worth. We're strong, opinionated people from across the ideological spectrum... we're going to god damned disagree. Let's just accept that.

Occupy and the 99% Declaration... this is bigger than our respective egos. This is our chance to push the public sentiment towards a desire to change the system for the betterment of everyone. We all purport to be working with the people's voice... yet, we're doing nothing to support that.

Don't fool yourselves... I'm not. We are handling this poorly. Is the Board right? Is Michael Pollok right? Does it matter at this point?

None of us is working as a voice of the people. We're holing up behind the walls of our individual egos and trying to take the bricks from the foundation that we claim as "ours" or "to protect them", when all we're doing is tearing the damned thing apart from the inside.

I would like to make a proposal:

1. Apply three signatories to the accounts. One from each camp and one that both sides will accept as a neutral party.

2. Develop a voting system in which everyone can feed into the final decisions, specifically those that deal with changes to the overall plan of the 99% Declaration and the National General Assembly. All sides should work with it in order to ensure the greatest balance.

3. We all stop being total asshats and remember that we're doing this for the people and that our interpersonal problems should not impede our fight for their rights.

I support the Declaration and the ideas to which it pertains. The people in charge... it doesn't matter to me, as long as we do this, as long as we continue on the path on which we all agree is proper and necessary: to redress our grievances to the government, as is the Constitutional right of all citizens and to work to fix those grievances should our petition be ignored.

Let's find a way for everyone to work together and get back to fighting for the people instead of fighting amongst ourselves.

Sincerely,

Matt Forbes
VA 6th District Delegate Candidate

p.s. This is shareable. Link it, cut and paste it, whatever. I'm posting it here as a central location and will retain a copy of it on my laptop.

[marshalld]

Matt,

Don't you see that this board (now that there is one) and other members of the 99D are doing is directly related to the three points you propose. We all feel your frustration. We are working so that the people CAN have a say rather than autonomous decisions being made without representation of the public which we represent. These forums are here for exactly that purpose.

With respect.

Marshall Davison
CA 44th District Delegate Candidate

[marshalld]

P.S.- Just so you know, I personally have been in all three camps you mention.

[The 99 Declaration]

This post is perfectly fine, except for the language...which you get a warning for.

[robdinsmore]

Feb 4, 2012 12:58:47 GMT -5 The 99 Declaration said:

This post is perfectly fine, except for the language...which you get a warning for.

This is pathetic. Who decides what is bad language? Oh you do. Great. Nice to see we have some prissy little language tsar deciding what is allowed in a supposedly open discussion.

Shit, god damn. Oh no I must have offended someone so badly that I need to be warned.

Fuck that! Some people swear as part of their sense of humor, it is not your place or anyone else's to deny them that.

Some people don't like seeing/hearing swears. So what? Quit wasting your time with ridiculous and petty bullshit to complain about and make this thing happen!

[The 99 Declaration]

Robdinsmore, that's your warning for language. A moderation committee made this rule and I am following it. Which you cannot. If you want it changed, make a poll in a new thread. Do not bring that in here as your first post. People can make a point without swearing. It isn't that difficult.

[peedropaula]

Well said.

[karliecole]

There was a plan - however execution of that plan has been impossible because of the donor's games and the diversion from getting anything done that has caused. Much of what was moving this forward including PR opportunities and website improvements have been lost or severely delayed. The influence of money/not money/money/not money has if not caused - intensely deepened various rifts. The board is not a side as it is also split and certain people are on the "side" of the donor and are also propelling the use of money to influence and demand things be their way rather than relying on the voice of the people. It is a frightening thing to watch. Then there are at least 2 kinds of lurkers, those who are members/supporters who have not been privy to much of the chaos who now wonder what is going on, and two, several individuals who come as things appear to be being changed by the donor/board supporters who have done much PR damage to the 99D by spreading negativity when they have gone in the past. More of that type are poised to return as soon as the donor is in charge.

There seems among some to be an environment of group think. At some point they were introduced to the themes: lying, lack of transparency, censorship, unilateral decision making (dictatorship) and now choose to look at everything through those accusatory colored glasses whether there is any evidence to back it up or not. Attempts to correct/address any accusations is met with more in the form of accusations of lying. Attempts to change anything as they request is then met with accusations of unilateral decision-making. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It is a very destructive vortex. One the donor is manipulating to their best advantage.

Perhaps it is just politics as usual. Perhaps there really is no hope that money can be removed from politics.

I wish I could agree with you Nanette that the board (meaning all members) have the efforts best interests at heart. Some do, some have another agenda.

If all had the best interests at heart we would not now be stuck in limbo waiting to see what some manipulative donor does. Had the focus been on the mission rather than the money, we would be well past that and likely have already raised much more than that as well as grown the membership exponentially in the 3 weeks this has been playing out.

It'd make a cool script for a tv soap opera but doesn't make for a impactful political movement.

[The 99 Declaration]

"childish, self-serving, immature founder"

Please refrain from personal attacks. As a wise TV detective once said, "Just the Facts, Ma'am."

Thanks.

[hendrimike]

Cosign that, njwc

[karliecole]

There is a plan - it is on the website.

And I have deleted no one from the site outside of moderation guidelines.

I'd love to have a tech team in place and have tried mightily to do so.

Perhaps if the organization decided to pay someone to do this job instead of taking my gift as of little worth, they could demand what all you are demanding.

This is volunteer - not paid. People offer and then don't show up again. Or get involved in one of the PM gossip sessions and decide not to invest the effort. Site building is no small task.

I have tried to provide what I can - at over 80 hours a week for 2 months so that it did not need to be another expense to fund raise for. Unfortunately, no one seem to get that.

And still I spend more time discussing, defending against lies and attacks toward me, debating, waiting on the donor - instead of actually being able to build a solution.

At the last committee meeting, I did not even get my time to present on the site as the donor's statement took over. I have posted plans and everyone is so entranced with the drama that no one has even looked at them or commented.

So please take your attacks somewhere else. I have done all I can to support the 99D - even in the face of the attacks, without acknowledgement of the worth of the work and it continues no matter how much I ask for it to stop.

If you want to know what is killing this movement - it is that - not just toward me - but toward anyone who gets stuff done. It seems the drama is preferred.

[forbesmb]

Karlie,

I believe the previous "no plan" comments were based on more specific details than the general plan. Logistics of the election, of bringing all the delegates together through various means of transportation, lodging, the convention venue, making it all work as smoothly as possible, etc.

It may seem inconsequential, but at this stage with roughly six months to go, these issues should already be addressed and being tweaked. I can understand njwc's perspective on that particular "lack of a plan".

[forbesmb]

As an addendum...

I appreciate the time and work you have put into the site. I appreciate the work of all the volunteers. It comes with a great deal of effort and very little thanks in return. That seems to be a general sentiment coming from everyone involved as a volunteer.

This is not about appreciation, though... it's about getting this plan back on track so that we can do something instead of bicker with one another. I agree with others that the finger pointing needs to stop on all sides... we're not helping anything by doing it.

Less blame, more diplomacy. Can we all give that a shot?

[danieclarke]

Feb 4, 2012 14:03:10 GMT -5 nanettejw said:

A board of directors job is to oversee the financial viability of an organization. Until the past couple of months there was no real official board of directors - there was the founder of the 99% Working Group Ltd., and 2 other people that were not really active in the effort (as best I can tell).

As a result, the founder started out on a good path - by getting people involved - however, in an email he admitted that he had 'NO business experience' and when the expertise was offered to him his answer was "I have a law practice to run and I don't have time for all that." That was back at the end of October.

As a result - many people got excited about this effort - there was a huge campaign to raise funds - there were many people (CPA's) that offered to volunteer their time and skills to help manage the finances - but again, they were rebuked for daring to ask questions about transparency and corporate status.

Many good people, involved from the beginning, left around the end of December because of it being apparent that only one person was making decisions. Even as committees were formed and highly qualified people stepped up to chair various committees this one person continued to circumvent the very process he purposed.

As a result, the middle of January, there was conference call between approximately 15 people involving several of the pending 'new' board members and several people that had concerns about this one person.

Some of the concerns related to financial transparency - decisions being made by one person - censorship of people that were merely asking questions accordingly - and then ultimately, several people were locked out of the FB pages and removed from the web site. Many of these people had been working not only on committees but had signed up to be candidates for delegations. Instead of receiving reasonable answers - they were called 'crazies' or 'opportunistic'... People that have NOTHING to HIDE in efforts such as this HIDE NOTHING.

The following night several new people were added to the board of directors. Since then, the board has continuously been under attack by this one person for not just going along with his plan. Again, when suggestions have been made, or questions asked this person has gone on tyranical, temper tantrums - threatening to pull the plug -

Also in January, a very generous individual stepped up to match a donation of $18K if $18K could be raised by February 1.... great efforts were made to accomplish this goal. However, in the meantime, behind the scenes this donor started to question the fiduciary transparency and some of the decisions that were being made. Without receiving viable answers - arguments obviously ensured.

To which, the founder sent out a letter of resignation - which he also did earlier in the month and again with conditions that he maintain control of the money and that the donor provide the matching donation to him by the 7th of February - an arbitrary number. The donor NEVER promised a specific date but fully intended to make the donation during the month of February.

Now with all the inside blackmailing and the effort being held hostage and the written assaults the founder has gone on the attack of the donor - the donor is still willing to make the donation and in good faith gave one of the board members 1/3 of the donation.

I know not what will come of the 99%D but I can tell you it has not been run very objectively or professionally. The founder has threatened legal action against volunteers if they dare to ask questions - people have been mistreated, censored, deleted, and blocked - apparently to the founder there is only one side of the story that counts....

There has been a major push to get the one person working on the web site to let other people in to help and to ensure that if anything happened it would be maintained and kept going - again - if particular effort has been help in proprietary by one person. Who claims this has been done to 'protect' it - and yet it then falls to this one person for being the one who maintains who can and can not register on the web site - that to me smacks of unfairness and certainly not very democratic. And yet this one person continues to blame someone she locked out almost over a month ago as the problem -

It is my highest hopes that the board of directors will find a way to overcome this issue - even if they have to form a separate, new company to drive the effort forward and circumvent the original company and founder.... This is a very important effort and there are many pressing business areas that need and should be being addressed instead of having one person continue to hold it hostage.

Issues like so what if you get 870 delegates how is the convention going to be run? Who's thinking about all the issues there will be to navigate the delegates much less all the volunteers it will take to manage the convention?

It is one thing to get people all charged up - get them to a web site to sign up - but then have no plan for execution of the process... It might help if instead of counting 'sides' 1. the board 2. the original founder 3. those lurking around watching and waiting - for people to get on one side...

I urge you all to refrain from continuing to point fingers or take sides - as there are multiple sides here - I can assure you that the board of directors have this efforts best interest at heart and are doing everything they possibly can to ensure it continues - it just won't continue with only one or 2 people calling the shots - it must be an effort for and by the PEOPLE...

And that, my friends is the stance all of us should be taking - that is the side we should all be urging ALL parties to focus on...

Thank you for this information. It is what i thought. I thought that the owner MP and the creator of the web site Karlie have at least protected the site and the funds. That is great. Has it worked out for everyone involved? probably not but the supporters have been protected as well as most of the blind delegates. I say blind because most do not come here to read everything.

Now as for the issue yes its great its being worked out. Its also great there are only hurt feelings and not hrt finances or lost data to god knows who might have gotten into our site or funds and really made a mockery of this organiziation.

Yes i want to see this resolved and it seems that it is being slowly released to the right people. I mch rather we slowly change to make sure we have the right people taking over than God knows who.

Thanks for your input.

[leewendte]

Quite frankly, all of this disturbs me. Six times I have tried to post a reply to all this. Just one question? Where do I go to get an answer to the previous statements. Seems like I see an exchange like the preceding and then it disappears and the delegate from 4th district Oklahoma sits here at his computer jumping from the 99%d website, 99%facebook or now this post to get answers. If this forum is to vent it should also be to come up with answers. I would like to see something positive to come from all these negatives vibes of before.
you know what, I am just going to go for now and take the week-end off and hopefully by Monday maybe someone will get it together enough so I feel like moving forward. Have a nice week-end yall' ...............................Lee