I cannot make up my mind: are the delegates to the American Kennel Club ignorant? Uncaring? Too self-concerned? Is the board of directors of AKC ignorant? Uncaring? Too self-concerned? Is the staff of the AKC ignorant? Uncaring? Too self-concerned?
It must be one or all of these for each of the listed governing entities because there is no other reason to explain why the staff prepared Delegate Minutes in error and published the same with its error; why the board did nothing to correct the error; and why the delegate body not only did not correct their own minutes as published in AKC’s GAZETTE, but went ahead and voted on a bylaw amendment that had not been presented in accordance with the Club’s bylaws.
According to Article XX, Section 4, of AKC’s Bylaws, proposed amendments to the bylaws shall be: “read verbatim or in summary form and distributed at a regular meeting of the delegates and thereafter shall be published in two consecutive issues of the AKC GAZETTE along with the proposed amendments. The recommendation of the board of directors shall appear in the AKC GAZETTE along with the proposed amendments.”
While the proposed amendment had been distributed correctly at a regular meeting on the delegates and mailed to all delegates, and while we can assume that it had been read verbatim (this is giving the benefit of the doubt, as there is no written evidence of that fact), it had not been printed correctly in the September meeting minutes, nor had it been published in the GAZETTE for the fancy to read, as required in the bylaws. Instead, what was printed in the minutes and what was published in the GAZETTE was the present wording as written in the bylaws and not the proposed amendment. This was brought to the attention of AKC’s secretary shortly after the September minutes were published in the club’s magazine via e-mail, which e-mail was acknowledged as having been received by responding, but no effort was made to correct the matter.
At their December meeting, there was an opportunity for the delegates to correct the September minutes, but they did not. Also, according to the December minutes, when the proposal was brought before the Body for a vote, the chair—who is AKC’s president—stated that the proposed amendment “has been published in two issues of the AKC GAZETTE.” Since what had been published in the GAZETTE was the existing section and not the proposed amendment to that section, the president was wrong in what he said, since the proposed amendment had NOT been published, as directed by the Club’s bylaws.
While several delegates rose to address the issue being covered in the proposed amendment—including the chairman of the Delegates Bylaws Committee—not one referenced the fact that the amendment had not received proper publication, as required in the club’s bylaws. After discussion, the delegates voted on the proposal, and it went down in a flaming defeat—115 in favor, 139 opposed, with two-thirds in favor needed to pass.
What is at issue here is not the amendment and whether it should have passed or not (the issue for those wondering was elimination of term limits for directorship seats), but the blatant ignoring of proper procedure for amending bylaws and rules by AKC staff, its board and the Delegate Body—all of whom were aware that an error had been made back in September and continued to be made with incorrect publication.
An organization’s bylaws are vital documents for any governance and should never be outright ignored—as happened in this case. The bylaws are viewed as “the supreme governing document of an organization.” The bylaws “contain the most fundamental principles and rules regarding the governing of an organization.” Without bylaws, there would be no guiding force to dictate how things should be done in governing an organization.
Can you imagine the chaos that would exist in your clubs if there were no bylaws to guide you? Can you imagine the turmoil if there was nothing to dictate how proposed changes to the bylaws should be presented? Can you imagine the confusion and disorder that would prevail if everyone went every which way in doing whatever it is they desired to accomplish whatever they wanted?
And once the bylaws have been ignored—no matter the reason, no matter the topic, no matter the excuse—then what? Has a precedent been set? Can we now ignore other directives dictated in the bylaws? Should we just throw the document out whenever it suits our purpose?
It is important that organizations follow their bylaws and not just ignore them because it is politically expedient, easier, less burdensome, and/or face-saving. If we goof, we should be man or woman enough to stand up and admit we were in error. We should take whatever steps are necessary to correct what was wrong even if that means delaying a vote or chancing the outcome of a vote that would not be to our liking.

With regards to the AKC, the reason why publication is so important—be it in the official magazine or on the web, which lists the minutes of the delegates’ meetings—is because AKC’s constituency—the members of its member clubs—are spread across the country. They do not always know what is going on (whether or not they are interested in knowing is a topic for another discussion) and those who are interested depend on the publication and/or the Web to find out using the minutes and the published notices as their informant. If the minutes are wrong and the published notices are wrong, then they have been mislead as to intent and purpose.
To take this a step further, historians looking back on these years seeking information will use the minutes and the published notices to assist them. If these minutes and these notices are wrong—again, there was nothing in even the December minutes to reflect any different—they will not know that the proposal voted on was not the proposed amendment offered to the delegate body that followed the directives of the AKC’s bylaws.
While all of this may be trite, it is important because it shows that the staff, the board, and the delegate body have little respect for, or allegiance to, AKC’s governing document—which bodes ill for the future if such disrespect and disregard is permitted to continue. Our path is already filled with enough uncertainties without adding sloppiness, self-service, and/or flouting of our governing document! Shame on the staff, the board, and the delegate body! •