Stephanie Hightower tries to bully Law & Legislation Secretary, gets called out by Lionel Leach

Oh FFS... if the advertisement messed up the formatting of the last comment, here is Lionel's email again, minus the quote box:

March 8,2015

Dear President Hightower,

As I lay in bed on Sunday, March 8, 2015, I was reminded of the great sacrifices that Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, and 600 others made to register African-Americans voters in the south. As you know, 50 years ago this past Saturday protesters attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery only to encounter violent resistance by state and local officials and law enforcement. This day is known as “Bloody Sunday.”

Alabama state troopers wielding whips, nightsticks and tear gas threatened and attacked the marchers. Governor Wallace refused to protect the marchers and allowed the attack to take place, making this day one of the most disturbing days in our nation’s history. Wallace believed in discrimination, disenfranchisement, and plain bullying. We all recognize bullying as the use of superior strength or influence to intimidate those who are weaker and to force them to do the bully’s bidding.

In the wake of this seminal American moment, a half century later, I am saddened to say I have heard about and then read a disturbing letter that makes our governor, Bully Supreme Chris Christie of the great state of New Jersey, look like an angel. You see, I have witnessed bullying in all its forms. Every day the members in the union I represent are bullied by their bosses all day long. I don’t let them get away with it, and I most certainly will not allow it to happen in the USATF, the organization I love most in the world.

Our good friend Timothy Baker received a letter from you that was offensive, disrespectful and downright abusive. It was Bullying 101, intended to intimidate Mr. Baker to do what you want. He was shaken by this threat and I am appalled to know that you would send this travesty to him.

Mr. Baker has been a pioneer in the sport for several decades, from his time as meet director of the Penn Relays to his time on the Law and Legislation committee. As you wrote in the first line of your letter to him, “You have a long history of contributions to USATF, and I appreciate your active engagement in USATF committee efforts in particular.” In the face of that acknowledgement, how you can write such an abusive letter to him is astounding at best and intolerable at worst. This is the same man who spent thousands of dollars of his own money for your election nine years ago and got people to sign your petitions for you can become a candidate. He has been a loyal and dedicated solider for you for years; and, just because he holds a different belief than yours about the direction of the organization, you think you are allowed to write a letter like this to bully him.

You are right, the organization has seen tremendous growth both in membership and in revenue, and this came about from the tremendous work and the volunteerism of thousands of hard working members of USATF. In fact, in the youth program alone we have seen an increase of over 30,000 new members in the last 8 years. The growth in revenue has resulted directly from Max’s hard work to bring home the bacon, which helps our committees develop the tools to get the job done. By comparison, you have been little more than a bystander. In fact, you have divided this organization into the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots.” I dare say that Max’s legacy to the USATF far outdistances what you will leave.

As a constituent leader, I have an obligation to this organization and to the youth membership – better known by all as my 85,000 babies – to protect their rights, and to make this sport of track and field better than the way I found it. And I know Mr. Baker wants the same; but, your reckless behavior and bullying tactics with folks who do not see eye-to-eye with you are not in the best interest of track and field as a whole. Although he did not vote, Mr. Baker was not acting any differently than the 85 percent who have disagreed with you, in every voting session of the Law and Legislation committee.

I fear that you are starting to believe that as long as people disagree with you, they are not doing what is in the best interest of USATF. I fear that you are starting to rule like a dictator instead of respecting the democratic process, which has defined our organization for longer than I can remember.

Your goals are different from the goals of the rest of the organization. It’s all right to disagree, but it is not all right to use your position as president of this organization to BULLY and intimidate anyone, let alone loyal and dedicated members of this great organization.

You are probably wondering why I am writing this letter to you and responding rather than Mr. Baker himself. I am writing this letter because I will not allow anyone to be bullied in any way whatsoever. The letter you wrote to Mr. Baker is offensive, plain and simple. This man has worked too hard for this sport and deserves to be treated with greater respect than you have shown him. If you decide to remove him from the committee, as he was your appointment, that is certainly your choice. However, this is not your committee and this should not be a case of agree with me or else.

In closing, this organization is called USATF not Ms. Hightower Track and Field. How dare you send this man a letter in this tone. The tone of this letter reminds me of October 20, 1973; it was known as the Saturday Night Massacre. That was the night when President Richard Nixon dismissed special prosecutor Archibald Cox and asked for the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the Watergate scandal. As memory serves, President Nixon was removed from office as a result of his abuse of power.

You may view that as a threat or a history lesson. Either way, I don’t care. What I do care about is the integrity and leadership of USATF; hopefully, you will find it in your heart to display more of both.

Yours in Track,

Lionel A. Leach

USATF Youth Chairman

And here is Stephanie's email again, in case the advertisement appears in the first post while you are viewing and messes up the formatting:

Letter from President Hightower

March 6, 2015

Via Email

Mr. Tim Baker

429 N Street SW, Apt S805

Washington, DC 20024

Tbaker03@verizon.net

Dear Tim:

You have a long history of contributions to USATF, and I appreciate your active engagement in USATF committee efforts in particular. I write today because your activities at the 2015 USATF Annual Meeting in Anaheim were cause for concern, particularly given your position and role in USATF.

As you know, USATF is experiencing tremendous growth, and this is an exciting time in the history of our organization. Along with this growth comes change. These changes are extremely positive, particularly our growth in revenue. Some changes are uncomfortable for some, but they are part of our evolution and necessary to move us forward.

Those of us who are constituent leaders must take care to engage in productive debate. But in the end, we must ultimately unite in the shared goal of improving and growing the sport.

During the Annual Meeting, in your public statements and committee activity, you were very outspoken and critical of decisions made by the board and committees, and critical of the overall direction of USATF. These statements were not part of constructive debate, they were destructive statements seemingly made with the intent of undermining the direction of the organization.

Tim, you have long been one of the leaders of the law & legislation committee, but you need to understand that this type of behavior is counter-productive to our mutual goals and is not conducive to the overall success of USATF. The members of the law & legislation committee are critical to ensuring the organization’s governance structure is best suited to help the USATF achieve success. You are my appointee on my committee, but your statements and activities seem to indicate that your commitment to advancing mutual organizational goals may be waning.

If you would like to continue as my appointee, please call me so we can discuss.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Hightower Stephanie Hightower

USATF President

cc (via email only): Jim Murphy, USATF L&L Chair

Bravo, Lionel. Hightower should know better than to make that kind of threat in person at very least. If she wants to read someone the riot act, at very least say it in person. Bullying, yes. Unwise, yes. Now we all know she is thin-skinned and vindictive, and I knew NOTHING about her before.

"I'm gonna get turnt up, so don't bother me."

-Hightower

Honestly, all these losers remind me of the Max Mercy character in The Natural, played by Robert Duvall. Roy Hobbs asks Max, “Did you ever play ball Max?” His answer….”No, never have.” Max is a leach. He survives off of others. He does and says what he has to in order to sell papers. Note that ALL these USATF people are leaches.

True story wrote:

Note that ALL these USATF people are leaches.

Especially Lionel if you get my meaning.

Is there anything we can do to get rid of her, now!?

recall knope! wrote:

Is there anything we can do to get rid of her, now!?

No, not until the next Annual Meeting in December. And unfortunately, the USATF Ethics committee is a joke. She is unlikely to face any consequences for her actions. She has very thick skin, and people bitching about her on letsrun doesn't seem to bother her. I doubt she even reads it.

recall knope! wrote:

Is there anything we can do to get rid of her, now!?

She can be removed by a special vote of the members at the next meeting.

There may also be some laws in Virginia (where USATF is incorporated) that might allow her to removed from office.

So, the answer is "no": there is nothing now that one can do to remove her.

This is unreal. Hightower needs to go. I can't believe that nothing can be done about this.

Presidential Pardon Me? wrote:

Sounds a bit like our Dictator Obama?

Actually, no. No it doesn't.

What we can continue to do is voice our opinions. The victory for Hightower would be if we stopped voicing our displeasure and just accepted this. If Hightower were an angel and had positive ideas for our sport I would STILL be upset with how she was elected to her position, but she is so obviously NOT the direction we want the USATF to go.

The fact that she was put in this position when she clearly lost, tells me, and every other rational person, that even if we scream foul, and are backed by 90% of voters, nothing will change.

Feudalism, Oligarchy, Nazis, whatever you want to label this, it is very scary that so few were able to get there way over so many.

USATF should be decertified

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

DPL wrote:

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

Not sure why you would have trouble with anyone sharing her e-mail. Hightower occupies a public position and as such her correspondences in this capacity are fair game for public comment--both legally and ethically.

And as for not having trouble with how she conducts herself--all I can say is I thank the heavens that I don't work for you or her.

DPL wrote:

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

Please elaborate.

DPL wrote:

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

Email is public communication. The common rule of thumb is that you don't send anything in the text of an email that you would not be willing to send on a postcard. If you don't want something to be forwarded, printed and left in plain sight of anyone who happens to walk by, posted online, etc, you don't put it in an email.

DPL wrote:

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

When I read the email, the only thing I thought was that this was nothing but a "bully" email. How do you not see anything wrong with this?

DPL wrote:

I really don't see anything wrong with her email. I do, however, have an issue with someone posting her email.

Here is my one issue with Hightower's email: "You are my appointee on my committee, but your statements and activities seem to indicate that your commitment to advancing mutual organizational goals may be waning."

While Hightower is correct that she appoints the president of the L&L committee, it is in no way "her" committee.

However, make no mistake about her choice of words: Stephanie Hightower sincerely believes that she is USATF.