anvilsteve wrote:After thoroughly reviewing all the posts by George Geist in the thread "Organizations-spin off from WCB" I am compelled to answer his slanderous remarks about me and my relatioship with Mustad and the AFA.
Slanderous? Is it slanderous to bring up your ties with Mustad and being an AFA officer? What is slanderous about that?
It was a real privelage to spar with Mr. Stovall, who is a real and honorable gentleman, and a treat to listen to.
On that we can certainly agree:)
Mr Geist has made many assumptions about me that are quite wrong. Instead of accusing me of using my AFA position as a Board Member to help Mustad do their "dirty deeds", let's see some proof. Otherwise this forum looks like those newspapers in the supermarket that claim Elvis was a Martian.
I have no knowledge of Mustad being engaged in any "dirty deeds". Do you?
Thank you Danvers for covering my back when I was not aware this was happening.
I believe, George needs to back up his accusations about me or apologize to me on this forum. Are you a little boy with a computer and too much time or an honest man? What say you, George?
Steve Kraus, CJF
I've pointed out that you hold an officer position in the AFA as well as doing whatever it is that you do with Mustad. Keep in mind here that we're discussing politics and is nothing personal. Truth of the matter is I don't know you from a bag of apples and wouldn't recognize you if I saw you on the street. Danvers is a stand up guy and if he says you're ok his word is good enough for me as to your fine character.
Rick Burten wrote:I've waited till now to add my $.02, hoping that George might respond. Since that is apparently not going to happen, here's my take on it.
A little patience Rick, a few of us do in fact have a life.
Because of my prior involvement at the AFA BOD level, I've known, collegially, Mr. Kraus for quite a while. And though we often disagreed/crossed swords, I have never, as in not even once, seen him do anything like that of which Mr. Geist accuses him.
I've accused him of nothing. I've pointed out his officer position with that association and his job for that company which can create the perception of serving 2 masters.
Unfortunately, reality is often nothing more than perception and thus, perception becomes , for some, reality.
Precisely.
Mike Ferrara wrote:Daver's point about other income sources is worth considering and so is Rick's in regards to perception. However, the mere perception or appearance of a conflict of interest can cause problems. I tend to agree with those ethics manuals that I had to live with all those years and think that the appearance should be avoided or that it be cleared with interested parties in advance.
This is why when Rick and Ron were running for their respective offices I was the one who brought up this question to both of them. Remember that? At that time both were in favor of the adoption of such an ethics policy. Unfortunately, I don't recall any of the other candidate(s) addressing the issue but to be fair I'll go back and check the archives on that when I get time.
anvilsteve wrote:Thank you Rick for your above .02 cents. Mike does have a point though, I will concede that appearance can cause problems. How ever in a volunteer organization like the AFA, there may be a need to step up, like I have done to help, because I can. The fact that I have worked for Mustad for all these years puts me in a better position to help the AFA. Those that know me ( which George does not), I would hope would perceive my intentions like Rick does.
As pointed out before you're correct on this. Never saw you or talked to you.
I will repeat, if there is ever an issue with the AFA where there might be a conflict of interest in regards to my relationship with Mustad, I would recuse myself without giving it a second thought.
That is certainly good to hear. Would you require that of all officers who were in a similar situation if you had any say about it?
George