“Braveheart” (R. B. Inglefield) said on Anthem Today on 17Mar11:

If I ask a question of the entire board, I would ask the president the question. If I want to ask a specific board member a question, it’s because I want to know how they feel as an individual on the question I asked them. In my opinion, we’ve suffered enough BOD “group speak” to last a lifetime.  It’s time for SCA to enjoy the luxury of a BOD made up of individuals who vote their conscience, not the party line.

Response to Braveheart:  I would like to concur with Braveheart that member questions to a director should be answered by the director.

While a director is obligated to research his/her opinion before sending it to ensure it fairly complies with the official policies or relevant rules, informal questions and answers among members and directors should be a routine matter.

All other directors should usually be cc: copied on the exchanges to allow other directors to comment if they wish. And, summaries of the appropriate exchanges could or should be posted on the SCA website under a “frequently asked questions” section.

If a director has previously disagreed on some policy or financial matter, and lost to the board majority, the director can say so, and inform the member of the rationale used by the majority to make their decision, and of the reasons why he/she could not agree.

It is unwise to want all directors to hide behind ego-based confidentiality when members are usually just wanting to know the truth about an issue.

Again, I believe Braveheart is correct. His question can provide an opportunity to encourage other candidates to comment. We can see that SCA’s environment has been poisoned by undesirable “group-think” behavior.

We need to elect directors who have the expertise, ethics and self-confidence to deal with members and each other in respectful, honest and compassionate ways.