Well, the Board went on "retreat" last week to Lake George's Sagamore Lodge. When I first heard the word “Sagamore”, I thought they were coming out to Oyster Bay to Teddy Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill. I'm not too sure what I think about Board retreats generally, and AKC's specifically. A waste of time and money? Very possibly. Yet in speaking to some Board Members, they were quite positive about what took place. Not that I got the impression that a lot was accomplished, although I am told some things did actually get on the burner. The fact is, though, that for a good 14 hours they were able to communicate about topics they do not have the time to talk about during regular meetings. This in itself is a positive, I suppose. Whether anyone will learn about what actually transpired remains moot.
There were several developments on the delegate scene
that have been evolving over the past several months, most revolving around the seating of the delegates themselves The first one I will relate has to do with delegate attendance. You know, after a delegate has served for 25 years, they get some kind of recognition medal from AKC. (Why anyone should want to sit for 25 
years is beyond me, but that's another matter.) It turns out one delegate who was to be so honored had attended ONLY ONE meeting during their 25 year term. AKC, quite properly I think, withheld that reward! What it says about the club itself is unprintable as far as I'm concerned.
Then, of course, there is the case of a former Board Member who resigned her seat so that a former employee of AKC could have it. The former employee ran for the Board immediately and was defeated. He thereafter never attended another meeting so "the Club" decided to reseat the person who held the seat originally but in the interim had become a professional judge. Talk about primogeniture to say nothing of hypocrisy! Some example this person is setting, don't you think!
Next comes a club advising its Delegate, who happened to be the Board Chairman of AKC, that his seat would be an elected rather than an appointed one in the future. The rationale being that they wanted an obedience person to represent them. The Board Chair found another seat rather than waiting until an election took place. So what does this club do? They APPOINT a former employee of AKC to the seat itself. No election held whatsoever. It was rather 
obvious as to what and who was involved in these machinations but, of course, under AKC by laws, there was no hanky panky on the part of the delegate seeking another seat. Not only do the by-laws give an unseated delegate (which he was not) an opportunity to find a new seat, but also a Board member can be reappointed to the Board without a seat until the next annual election.
What was truly fascinating in this attempted coup is the probability of who was actually involved in the matter. (Quite frankly, I have a pretty good idea, which I won't go public with.) Furthermore, whether or not under existing AKC rules, in fact, a person who gets the major part of his income from a pension from AKC can or should sit as a delegate is now
being raised. And believe me, this affects more than just this person, but any number of sitting former AKC employees.
The Parent Club Conference is to take place in October. I had hoped to attend-I think I was invited, but unfortunately I have other personal commitments. I am sorry to miss this event since I have serious doubts about whether or not, in fact, it should even be held. Personalities aside, I question most strongly why AKC and CAR are contributing in total $150,000 to it. These monies go to room and board for all attendees, although they do pay their own transportation and ancillary expenses to hold the conference. What would happen, I wonder, if other committees decided to hold such conferences? My own feeling is that this particular conference is being used to further political aspirations of certain people involved with the conference. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I read the goings on.
One last thought about some of the delegate writings. First, there is the delegate who
claims that as a delegate they have a proprietary interest in AKC. That's an interesting concept. I wonder if this person lists his delegacy as an asset when he applies for a loan or a mortgage. Then there was the delegate who claimed Ron Regan, Jr. should be dropped as the announcer for the Invitational because he spoke at the Democratic Convention. Perhaps he thought AKC should have financed that conference, as well as the Parent Club Conference. And then there was the lady who defended her failure to attend delegate 
meetings with personal liturgies that were sad to read but hardly justified an attendance record over a five or eight-year period of time. Then, of course, there is the delegate who wrote accusing the Board of promoting on the On line Classifieds as an example of the Board counteracting the will of the Delegate Body. This person refused to recognize Staff's input and equated this alleged Board stand to the defeat of the Reserve Winners program. I could go on and on, but you must get the general drift. When, oh when, will the make up of the delegate body be broadened to include all people involved in the sport? Must these elitists go on forever? •
