Lee resigned

[sun diego]

From: Lee Stubberfield [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 3:35 PM
To: Lee Stubberfield
Subject: Resignation


To the Board:


I write to you today to report I am resigning as your President effective immediately. I reflect on this with a with a mixture of great pride in the state of our club, and sorrow that we are all embroiled in controversy.


We have a sound financial condition again with a sold out raffle car that provided a quarter of a million dollars. A magazine that that has won countless awards, and a membership service level that we all agree is 5 star, and a parts business that will provide supporting revenue for the club.


Yet today we face countless allegations of various vices in the automotive press. It is said we are at war with Chrysler or that Chrysler is at war with us. It's alleged that somehow having a for profit business owned by a non profit car club is somehow a bad thing. And the leaders of our membership company and o ur for profit are somehow doing something shady. It's alleged our tax returns are wrong.


None of this is true, but this level of journalism, which really is not journalism but blogging has created this picture, with comments from a very few who have issue with the club. As just one example: It is alleged our tax return is wrong because we do not report any chapters. We don't have chapters. All our regions are incorporated in their own states as separate entities and report their own tax returns.


We do have some possible restructuring to do to qualify for the membership money Chrysler would provide to the club for new members who buy the Gen V. This is the issue Chrysler was addressing in their recent letter to our directors. They were not dismissing us, they were telling us to change one thing in our structure to qualify for this program. I might add that we have not received any funds in this way for many years.


Yesterday I had to make some of the most difficult decisions of my life. I removed three Directors and replaced them with more neutral ones. The removals are from both sides of the aisle so to speak. I know these actions will be questioned and criticized. Wait for the facts and the truth to come out. I pledge to you that my only motivation in making these decisions was to leave the Viper Club leadership in the best possible hands to rebuild the leadership in peace.


I'm taking the same action and removing myself so others who are less polarizing can move ahead while protecting the club's assets. And let me make one point clear, I never said I would resign on Friday. I had decided to resign late Monday and had communicated that to the board. That slipped one day to today on the advice of club counsel so there would be no confusion with the dates executive action was taken.


Trust your new leaders. I have worked with this Board for five years, four as your Treasurer during the transition from a Dodge supported club to a financially independent one. Give them some time.


Keep on believing Viper faithful, we will weather this storm as we have others.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Soooo... He got rid of some first, then resigned?
Maybe it was the right thing to do?

 

[eucharistos]

man is that some spin or what

 

[Nine Ball]

"Wait for the facts and truth to come out."

Isn't that what the membership has been asking for, for YEARS now? How long are we supposed to wait?

TRANSPARENCY. Every legit question by a paying member should get a response, period.

 

[BlknBlu]

Uh both sides of the aisle, should be only 1 side.

Bruce

 

[chorps]

What a classless way to go...by kicking out anyone he had a vendetta against and designating successors who will likely follow his whims even after he's gone. I hope that the incoming executive and *** opens up the books so that everyone can see how things have been [mis]managed.

There may have been nothing wrong with the way things were conducted, but the allegations of trying to broadside Ralph, the incoming Chrysler letter, the myriad of suspensions to people who merely mentioned Voldem-- uh JonB and the raffle's lack of licensing was more than enough scandal for him to step down, let alone the whole cloak and dagger MacBethian saga.

 

[the_postman]

So Lee's gone. What about the Marshalls, are they officially gone yet? If not, they'll continue to pull the strings of whoever is in the leadership role.

 

[eucharistos]

amazing i'm only post *9 after this much time in this historic therad

 

[Drew]

It's a dead horse, it's a lame letter of resignation, why give his name any more attention.

 

[Dale.Volz]

He might want to sell his Viper and get a Prius. He had better hope I don't see him at ANY event.

Hey! Why are you picking on the Prius? We proud Prius owners don't want any part of him.

 

[big-n-italian]

resigned. he should have been FIRED, a long time ago, and a few of his friends.

shouldnt it atleast say "banned" on Lees his avatar? seriously? if what he has done doesnt qualify as a banning, what does?

 

[-FROG-]

Thought I was on the Alley for a sec, feels like 1776 for some reason over here...

...*takes deep breath*... VCA feels better already. I just may post more on VCA... Doubtful, but hopeful.

 

[madninjaskillz]

Pretty weak letter. I am curious as to who the new appointees are. Still, a step in the right direction, even if it was "forced."

 

[MoparMap]

Uh both sides of the aisle, should be only 1 side.

Bruce

Not necessarily true. As pointed out, it would be best to try to have as neutral a leadership as possible. If you have crusaders on both sides the scales will just keep tipping back and forth like a seesaw. Trying to find the right balance point is the trick to keeping things running smoother. It's not much different than a Republican/Democrat president. One side takes power and keeps pushing things one direction, then when enough people get fed up with it they push the other. The cycle just keeps going.

 

[Janni]

What's the opposite side of openness, transparency and communication?

 

[MoparMap]

What's the opposite side of openness, transparency and communication?

I guess I just meant that you don't want both sides carrying torches and pitchforks. There's nothing wrong with wanting it, but how you go about getting it is more what I was getting at. I'd love to not have to pay taxes, but storming up to the White House in a tank isn't the right way to make that happen.

 

[351carlo]

Not necessarily true. As pointed out, it would be best to try to have as neutral a leadership as possible. If you have crusaders on both sides the scales will just keep tipping back and forth like a seesaw. Trying to find the right balance point is the trick to keeping things running smoother. It's not much different than a Republican/Democrat president. One side takes power and keeps pushing things one direction, then when enough people get fed up with it they push the other. The cycle just keeps going.

His point is this is a car club. There should be no opposing views . It's a non-profit, for the enthusiast Viper owner, car club that should pursue the best interests of its membership. It's like the American Cancer Society, the Smithsonian Institute, the ACLU, etc. Sure some outsiders may not agree with how they spend their money, but it's all on the up and up, it's open, public, transparent and they communicate their agenda with their donors and benefactors.

I see you're from Kansas so you likely have a conflict of interest in this discussion. I respect you for wanting to defend someone you know personally, but step back and ask yourself - why are so many people going against something that seems so insignificant? Then ask yourself, why are the accused parties involved actually taking actions as drastic as these, if the accusations really are insignificant? They've sent letters to the CEO of a major corporation, shuffled the board members and silenced their opponents with NDAs. What type of car club makes their leadership group sign an NDA? Shouldn't the leadership be forced to communicate anything and everything with their members? Isn't that the purpose of leadership?

This isn't the NSA we're talking about. There is no "in the best interest of public security" clause. This is a car club. Unfortunately it's also a large source of income for some, and some wish to preserve that due to personal relationships or vendettas.

 

[STUGOTS]

sooooooooooooo were thinking this changes nothing?

 

[Leslie]

Lee...

hahhaaaaaa!

 

[ViperJeff]

Guess we will see, you know what they say about the first 100 days of a New President

 

[STUGOTS]

Watch out for the redneck with a long range rifle??????????????

 

[DodgeViper01]

Finally the a**hole is gone! That letter is him just trying to save face. In due time everything will come out and his cronies will be gone too. If anyone thinks after working with Lee that they are going to get voted in again, they have another thing coming.

 

[MoparMap]

His point is this is a car club. There should be no opposing views . It's a non-profit, for the enthusiast Viper owner, car club that should pursue the best interests of its membership. It's like the American Cancer Society, the Smithsonian Institute, the ACLU, etc. Sure some outsiders may not agree with how they spend their money, but it's all on the up and up, it's open, public, transparent and they communicate their agenda with their donors and benefactors.

I see you're from Kansas so you likely have a conflict of interest in this discussion. I respect you for wanting to defend someone you know personally, but step back and ask yourself - why are so many people going against something that seems so insignificant? Then ask yourself, why are the accused parties involved actually taking actions as drastic as these, if the accusations really are insignificant? They've sent letters to the CEO of a major corporation, shuffled the board members and silenced their opponents with NDAs. What type of car club makes their leadership group sign an NDA? Shouldn't the leadership be forced to communicate anything and everything with their members? Isn't that the purpose of leadership?

This isn't the NSA we're talking about. There is no "in the best interest of public security" clause. This is a car club. Unfortunately it's also a large source of income for some, and some wish to preserve that due to personal relationships or vendettas.

I agree that things seem to have gotten way out of hand for some reason. I think there is a bit of a difference in this club compared to other car clubs though because of the relationship that we have (maybe had?) with the manufacturer. Most car clubs are just local gatherings of fans of whatever car that might meet up with other clubs at bigger events (like my Corvette club for example). We're just our own little group, but we go to big Corvette shows and meet other groups. However, we have no ties with Chevy and no inside access like the Viper club does. Special plant tours, sneak peeks of upcoming cars, getting to flog factory cars and talk directly to the designers, that's some of the neat things that has really given this club the extra appeal to me (not that I've been around long enough to do much of that yet). I could see an NDA playing into this in the sense that the board might get information directly from Chrysler that they aren't supposed to openly share, but I can also see how they could be twisted to try to keep secret dealings quiet.

I guess I'm just doing to my best to still see things as "innocent until proven guilty". On the surface everything looks pretty bad, and the apparent refusal to divulge information is questionable, but it could just be that they're trying to get all the information together first and sorting out the issues with Chrysler before dealing with the membership. Kind of like appeasing your parents before your siblings. As an example, I have a friend that's my age (pretty young), who was recently married. There was a rumor going around that he had cheated on his wife, but I had a hard time believing it since I've known the guy for 10+ years and he's one of the nicest, albeit goofiest guys I've ever known. He asked if he could stay at my parents' house for a while so him and his wife could work things out with some distance and we gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him. When he tried to sneak his new girlfriend into the house he was on the curb before he could close the door. My point is that we still gave him a chance, we didn't just shut the door on him because of all the rumors we'd heard. When you catch them with their hand in the cookie jar it's different, but until then it's all just accusations.

 

[Janni]

The Chrysler letter was the smoking gun or hte cookie jar in your analogy.

It directly contradicted the yarn that had been spun for over a year. There ARE issues. Lee's behavior on the phone call (even taking out the swearing and slurred speech) was to continue to deny ANY strain in the relationship with Chrysler.

Ultimately - this is what drove people like Alex over the edge - people that actually would have helped and tried to help - but Lee and the others failed to make commitments given to Chrysler / SRT, and then refused to acknowledge any problems - which - pretty much ensures they won't be solved.

 

[zoomzoom22]

Go listen to the call audio. I am a couple of week Viper owner and that audio is enough for me to say good grief why is the guy leading anything.

 

[eucharistos]

MM,

plenty of those chances and benefits of the doubt have already been given ("come stay at my mom's house kinda thing) and they brought their harems in and took over.

you are talking down to all the folk who have been here much longer than you and who do know magnitudes more of the story than you do. your continual "innocent until proven guilty" is ignorant, naive and wearisome .

at this point, the good intention is to clean house, not pander

 

[madninjaskillz]

What's the road to hell paved with again?

 

[STUGOTS]

I dont know much of Lee to be honest, but if were having a new wave why not make it some of the proven honest people?

there is ALOT of really great people around here, I have been here over a decade and I can name about 20 guys I would trust 110%

 

[351carlo]

What's the road to hell paved with again?

Viper Magazine "subscription" money? Undelivered raffle ticket money? VPA "profits"? Consulting fees? Airline tickets to Europe? Office supplies totaling 10s of thousands?

Oh, you were looking for "good intentions."

 

[MoparMap]

I'm onboard with thinking that Lee's antics have been pretty wild and crazy. What bothers me more are the people calling for Chris's blood. If he's making the kind of money that everyone seems to think he is he certainly doesn't show it. He seems like a pretty normal down to earth guy, not someone pulling hundreds of of his pocket to wipe his nose. I don't see any evidence of him pocketing thousands off of the club as everyone seems to imply unless he's hiding it in a shoebox in his backyard. The whole trip to Germany for the ring thing might be a little questionable, but did anyone ever ask what lead him to going? Maybe Chrysler asked him to go instead of him just deciding to go and writing his own checks out of the club bank.