Proposed Bylaws Amendment – Your Vote Matters

On page 32 of the November/December issue of the American Trapper, currently hitting mailboxes, there is a ballot for a Proposed Bylaws Amendment. This proposed change concerns the eligibility criteria for the position of NTA President and has raised several important concerns.

The amendment, if adopted, will prohibit anyone who has not previously served on the NTA Executive Council from running for President of the NTA. The rationale given suggests that effective leadership requires institutional knowledge, and to ensure that the Chief Executive Officer of the association has a thorough understanding of the organization.

I have served on the Executive Council since 2000, including six years as NTA President. The suggestion that a newly elected president needs a thorough understanding of the day-to-day operations is simply not true. We have a full-time paid office manager and staff that handle this. In addition, we have paid contractors, including our legal counsel, DNIA, and editor. There are also the six other members of the Executive Council and the entire Board of Directors.

What an effective president does need is an inspiring vision, excellent communication and leadership skills, as well as honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability, and undying dedication.

This proposal is ill-conceived and poorly thought through. Other than the seven current members of the Executive Council, I can think of only twelve individuals, including myself, who would be eligible to run for President. Of those twelve, I don't know a single individual who is interested. They have all done their time. Only four are still on the Board of Directors, and fully half are no longer active in the NTA.

On the flip side, excellent leaders at the state level would be prohibited from running. These are some of our best trapping leaders, doing an excellent job representing and defending trapping at the state level where all the hard work is done. Why would any organization limit the pool of prospective leaders, especially in a small organization like the NTA? Instead, we should aim to expand it. There is no downside to recruiting as many potential leaders as possible. Any member with an interest should be allowed to throw their hat in the ring, lay out their qualifications, vision and ideas and then let the membership choose. I’m puzzled as to how anyone would think that is a bad thing. There is real value in having someone outside the "status quo," without a "that's the way we've always done it" mindset.

The practical result of this change will ensure that anyone on the Executive Council planning to run at the end of the current president's term will run unopposed. This is not the way to get the most qualified applicant. It also prevents members from reviewing various qualifications to choose the best candidate. This proposal will discourage fresh, new, unbiased ideas and perspectives. Instead, we will continue with the same tired progression: State Director to Executive Council to officer to president. This ensures that the "new" president has been groomed into the same old same old.

Perhaps even worse, if adopted, this proposal will create the very real possibility that no one will seek the office. What if none of the small handful of eligible individuals wants to be president? Do we really want our association to be led by someone who doesn't want the job?

This amendment is contrary to the very ideals of our democracy: that we, the people, get to choose our leaders. Our Constitution requires no prior experience to run for public office, even President of the United States. Our founding fathers rejected the idea of career "King" politicians. They recognized the dangers of such a system and trusted the people to determine the most qualified candidate. I trust the NTA membership to do likewise.

The membership alone should determine who leads the NTA, not the Executive Council, the Board of Directors, or some short-sighted bylaw amendment. Under this proposal, men with as much history, respect, knowledge, and experience as Tom Krause would be prohibited from running for President of the NTA if he so desired. Is that the direction we wish to go?

Your involvement is critical in deciding the future direction of our organization. I urge you to participate in the decision-making process.

I'm asking you to help protect the power of the membership. Vote NO on the proposed Bylaw Amendment.

**You will NOT receive a ballot in the mail. YOU MUST cut the actual ballot page from the magazine and mail it into the NTA office for your vote to be counted. Photocopies of the ballot page WILL NOT be counted. **

Ballots must be postmarked by Dec.15

Drifter, it will be defeated if the members reading this take the time to vote.

I encourage everyone to copy and past my letter to your FB page

I have served on the Executive Council since 2000, including six years as NTA President. The suggestion that a newly elected president needs a thorough understanding of the day-to-day operations is simply not true. We have a full-time paid office manager and staff that handle this. In addition, we have paid contractors, including our legal counsel, DNIA, and editor.

Chris M You say that a god leader needs an inspiring vision excellent communication and leadership skills along with honesty integrity accountability and dedication I could not agreed more Without the traits you mention all the prior experience is pointless and worthless .When those that are in charge are making rules; make rules to keep them in charge and keep others from be able to change the rules it is now a private organization running the operation to benefit themselves .That is not within the spirit of the reason the NTA exists And most likely is fraud I have spent years as volunteer with various outdoor relater groups And poor leadership happens all the time But in orders keep the group going in the right direction the rules need to protect the membership from this type of cheating Thee general membership musthave some control over the operation of the group