Two recent ARRL news stories caught my eye:
- Dwayne Allen, WY7FD, Resigns as Rocky Mountain Division Director
- John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, is New ARRL West Gulf Division Director
It’s kind of odd that the headlines seem to say two different things, but the upshot is that two division directors resigned their positions and the vice directors then moved up to director. This seems to be a very common occurrence on the ARRL board. My own division director, Dale Williams, WA8EFK, was also promoted to director when Jim Weaver, K8JE (SK) resigned in 2014.
I’m not questioning the directors’ motives for resigning, nor am I questioning the fitness of the vice directors to serve in these two cases, but the frequency with which this occurs, seems a bit shady to me. In this case, the directorships of the Rocky Mountain Division and West Gulf Division are both up for election this year, and these resignations allow the newly-promoted vice directors to run as incumbents. That just doesn’t seem right to me.
I know it’s an expense, but it would certainly be more democratic if a special election were held to fill a director’s seat upon a resignation. It might be worth it to head off any charges of favoritism or cronyism.