From: Harvey Heagy 
Subject: Re: Why The NFB
It may indeed be nice that the membership was able to overrule
the leadership on a relatively miner issue, but it is not history
making any more than it is for Nac to revoke the accreditation of
one small agency allegedly for failure to meet its standards
just so it can have something to whip out later when it is asked
whether or not it has ever revoked an accreditation for failure
to meet standards.  After all, how do we know that the leadership
didn't plan it that way just so they could say how democratic the
movement really is?
I think we do have some ineffective people on our board of
directors one whom I believe is being kept on only because he is
one of the last of the Tenbroek boys still in a leadership position
despite the fact that his affiliate which is now probably the
richest in the country has given very little to the national
treasury, and that he tried to develop a camp for the blind in his
state even after the national leadership said that while it would
not discourage the existing ones it would discourage the founding
of new ones, and that he is the ultimate in mike hogs who takes 30
minutes to say what most of us could say in 2 just because he loves
to hear himself talk.  
and that we also have some disreputable people who continue to
receive high profile positions or assignments in spite of their
continuing failures while others are made to follow the rules to a
fault.
I also think we have put more energy and resources into things
better left on the back burner.  News line is a classic example of
this.  It's a fine thing to have and I'm glad we have it as it
allows access to information for blind persons that we might not
otherwise have, but it is far overrated and is only being
pushed because we developed the software for it.  It is far less
important than education, job training or employment.
I hope we don't have any kind of wholesale defections from the
organization, but in my opinion another civil war is not
impossible and the irony is that the more tightly the national
leadership pulls in the reins, the more likely it is to happen.
Harvey
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