Vin Lananna being placed on "Administrative Leave" by USATF board!

polevaultpower wrote:

No kidding wrote:

Vin's relationship to Nike, UO and Track Town USA are the problem. Why did Jackie Joyner-Kersee drop out of the election all of a sudden? What's up Vin's sleeve?

Again, Jackie is great, this just wasn't the right role for her.

Maybe not the best with handling money, either . . .

It sounds like USATF might be run by my neighborhood's HOA board. Petty squabbles and backstabbing over stupid BS.

Hannibal wrote:

We need a candidate who is electable on the world stage so we don't lose the seat. Becca does great work here but I don't think she would be elected internationally. Any other candidates?

Tom Jordan

The usual suspects wrote:

Hannibal wrote:

We need a candidate who is electable on the world stage so we don't lose the seat. Becca does great work here but I don't think she would be elected internationally. Any other candidates?

Tom Jordan

I thought Vin was going to run for that IAAF spot occupied now by Hightower. Made sense for him to focus instead on his TrackTown USA endeavor.

For those not paying attention, Vin did recuse himself from voting on issues where there was conflict of interest. He has been up front all along about his outside business interests.

Hannibal wrote:

We need a candidate who is electable on the world stage so we don't lose the seat. Becca does great work here but I don't think she would be elected internationally. Any other candidates?

David Greifinger

If you disagree with the actions taken by the Board in regard to the temporary suspension of Vin Lananna as the the volunteer, elected President of USATF, I recommend filing an official grievance with the national office. According to USATF Governance Handbook Regulation 21:

Complaints shall be filed with National Office Management and the USATF Secretary. National Office

Management shall forward a copy of each complaint to the President and to each party charged in the complaint.

The filing fee for all complaints, other than those filed by USATF, shall be $250, paid by certified check or money

order to USA Track & Field, Inc.

If you are not willing to pay the $250, then at least let your voice be heard by writing, emailing, and calling those in power to demand change. The members voted to elect Vin Lananna as President. Just as they did for Bob Hersch for IAAF, but yet the Board put Stephanie Hightower forward. The Board and the leadership of the national office clearly do not care what the members want and they surely have no interest in carrying out the matters and issues that the membership puts forward. Don't let this become another issue like Youth that costs the organization millions of dollars!

The premise for the grievance is that the Board acted outside of their authority. Only Article 10G covers the REMOVAL of an individual from office. Article 10F ONLY grants the Board the authority to FILL a vacancy... NOT remove. No where in the USATF Governance Handbook does it give the Board the authority to remove the President from their position. It even goes so far as the clearly state that "the Board may not remove the President as Vice Chair," which is exactly what position Vin Lananna was filling on the Board (see below for exact wording).

Send your grievances and/or complaints to:

Max Siegel - USATF CEO -

max.siegel@usatf.org

|

ceo@usatf.org

| 317-801-0164

Renee Washington - USATF COO -

renee.washington@usatf.org

| 317-713-4657 | 317-590-4334

Norman Wain - USATF Legal -

norman.wain@usatf.org

| 317-713-4683

Steve Miller - USATF Board Chair -

smiller@asassi.net

Vin Lananna - USATF President -

vincentlananna@gmail.com

|

president@usatf.org

| 541-972-0730

Stephanie Hightower - IAAF Council - -

shightower@cul.org

Mike Conley - Acting USATF President -

usaconley@aol.com

Secretary -

sectretary@usatf.org

(USATF website is not updated with correct Board Secretary information)

Scott Blackmun - USOC CEO -

scott.blackmun@usoc.org

| 719-866-2240

Olivier Gers - IAAF CEO -

olivier.gers@iaaf.org

| +37793108873 | +33680862121

Sebastian Coe - IAAF President -

seb.coe@iaaf.org

USATF Article 10F

Succession and vacancies: There shall be no order of succession to any office. If the Board determines that the

President is temporarily unable to serve, it may, in its sole discretion, name another individual to fill the vacancy

temporarily. The Board shall fill temporary or permanent vacancies for Board Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, or

Treasurer. If the President resigns or is permanently unable to serve, the Board shall name a successor until the

following annual meeting, when a special election shall be held for the unexpired portion of the term.

USATF Article 10G

Removal from office: The President may be removed for good cause by a two-thirds vote of those delegates of

USATF present and voting at an annual meeting or special meeting called for this purpose, and provided the requisite

notice for the meeting (see Article 8) properly states the removal vote on its agenda. The Board may remove the

Board Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, or Treasurer for good cause by a two-thirds vote of those Board members present

and voting, who are not conflicted, at a regular meeting or special meeting called for that purpose. If the Board

removes the President as Board Chair, the Vice Chair shall become the Board Chair, and the President shall become

the Vice Chair. The Board may not remove the President as Vice Chair.

$250 to file a complaint??? Bet there aren't many filed, that being the case.

Not to worry. Nike China Supreme Command Central will compensate Vin for his loyalty.

Angry Willy wrote:

It sounds like USATF might be run by my neighborhood's HOA board. Petty squabbles and backstabbing over stupid BS.

Unlike your HOA board, they get paid very well for squabbling.

What was the vote count on Vin's Leave and how did each of them vote?

Doubtful that this information will be available since it was done during an executive session, according to Becca's report. I would venture to say that there were several abstain votes with Max/Steve having their coup aligned.

Anyone Know wrote:

What was the vote count on Vin's Leave and how did each of them vote?

We don't know. It was in executive session. The fact that they did NOT release the vote is telling.

When the Board voted in secret to nominate Stephanie over Bob, they stated in the press release that the vote was 11-1. I am sure if the vote had been overwhelming, they would have included it in the press release.

The rumors are that it was close with several abstentions.

Even if it was imperative that the discussion be held in secret, they could have gone back into open session for the vote. We, as USATF members, and especially the voting delegates, deserve to know who voted which way and why.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Angry Willy wrote:

It sounds like USATF might be run by my neighborhood's HOA board. Petty squabbles and backstabbing over stupid BS.

Unlike your HOA board, they get paid very well for squabbling.

The Board and the National Office are separate things with separate issues.

The Board members are all unpaid volunteers. Yes, we have a lot of petty squabbling with them.

The National Office are paid staffers (only a few are paid _well_). I don't think there is much petty squabbling _with_ them, the issue with the National Office is that employees with ZERO experience in the sport keeping making BIG IMPORTANT decisions that have a BIG impact on our ability to conduct track meets (and other events), without consulting the expert volunteers first. If the two sides worked together, we could get some great stuff done.

polevaultpower wrote:

Anyone Know wrote:

What was the vote count on Vin's Leave and how did each of them vote?

We don't know. It was in executive session. The fact that they did NOT release the vote is telling.

When the Board voted in secret to nominate Stephanie over Bob, they stated in the press release that the vote was 11-1. I am sure if the vote had been overwhelming, they would have included it in the press release.

The rumors are that it was close with several abstentions.

Even if it was imperative that the discussion be held in secret, they could have gone back into open session for the vote. We, as USATF members, and especially the voting delegates, deserve to know who voted which way and why.

Do you believe Vin's statement that the actual vote and its action to temporarily remove him was a "surprise to him"?

Angry Willy wrote:

It sounds like USATF might be run by my neighborhood's HOA board. Petty squabbles and backstabbing over stupid BS.

This was my exact thought when I first read this thread. My condo HOA is this petty and pathetic also.

It is amazing how people behave when they attain a little bit of power (I use that word loosely).

polevaultpower wrote:

The rumors are that it was close with several abstentions.

How could someone abstain on something as important as this? If you're on the Board your job is to vote. Do your dang job!

If you don't have an opinion on a major question like suspending the president of USATF, resign and stay home.

Anyone Know wrote:

Do you believe Vin's statement that the actual vote and its action to temporarily remove him was a "surprise to him"?

Yes, I do.

Wondering if the FBI has enough excrement on USATF Nike etc to charge them under the RICO statutes?

Viinny said "YOU can't fire me since I'm not being paid!"