On Wednesday 16 March 2005 10:13 am, John Goerzen wrote: > Speaking solely for myself here: your analysis is correct. Branden was > not forced out, but resigned, and volunteered to help Jimmy later. > > You may also find these minutes of interest: > > http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/minutes/20040106 > > Basically, what happened was: > > 1. Branden expressed a desire to resign in January 2004 > 2. A call for candidates for being elected to Treasurer was put forth > 3. Jimmy was the only one to stand for election to Treasurer > (some might find this interesting) > 4. So, Jimmy was appointed without needing to run an election > in February, 2004 > 5. Branden was selected as deputy treasurer in August, 2004 > http://lists.spi-inc.org/pipermail/spi-announce/2004/000096.html
This summary leaves out some key elements. Branden resigned but did not transfer the ability to deposit or write checks to anyone else in the process. Therefore, Branden remained a sort of ad-hoc Assistant Treasurer by virtue of the fact that no one else could actually get the bank to do anything. This was true for his entire absence. It was also apparently "impossible" to get the bank to transfer the authority to do anything until I called them myself. Apparently the bank either didn't like Branden and Jimmy, they hadn't really tried or I'm just incredibly charming. I suppose its obvious... I'm incredibly charming. Therefore, Branden was "re-elected" deputy treasurer by forces of inertia. We are essentially in the same position as before the accounting mishap. Some of the records were put into a semblance of order while Brainfood had possession of them but there has been no ongoing communication or guidance from a professional bookkeeper (to my knowledge) since then. There was a brief correspondence between my Mom (a bookkeeper) and Jimmy Kaplowitz but it did not result in any knowledge transfer. Conditions definitely seem to be improving. However, I would ascribe at least part of that to the pressures of Branden running for DPL combined with me returning to my campaign of hell-raising on public lists. Worth noting is that treasury reports did not appear until last month, I waited more than 6 months for a check and more than $3,000 of DebConf expenses (DebConf 4, mind you) were just finally issued. Records, when I saw them, were a total wreck. I would like to at least assess whether the methods put in place here are being followed. I don't think this is a paranoid point of view since no one has been in contact with Anita to understand what she was doing. Maybe it was perfectly straight-forward. Of course, if that was the case then I wonder how things ever went so far astray. Executive summary: - Most of Debian's filings are still in a tenuous state, maintained by untrained volunteers in residential facilities. - The situation is largely unchanged from when we had major accounting malfunctions and significant lost funds. - The spin-control portraying affairs as under control is at least overly optimistic and is at worst deceptive. -- Ean Schuessler, CTO [EMAIL PROTECTED] 214-720-0700 x 315 Brainfood, Inc. http://www.brainfood.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
