Mr. ViperJohn,
Since you have me at a disadvantage, I have to resort to having someone else post this for me. I am on vacation so I'll make this as short as I can.
Sir, you seem to have your "facts" a little off kilter. Let me enlighten you on a few things. First of all after the letter from Chrysler came out, Jim Johnson asked for a ***'s conference call consisting of myself, Maurice, and the ZD and DAL's. A discussion about the letter and to take a poll on suspending Lee. Lee and Dan were not invited to the conference call. I and the others were given the access code for the conference call Jim initiated.
A half an hour before Jim's conference call was to take place I was asked to call in on another conference call requested by Lee. Lee informed me and the other ***'s that he had (on his own accord) decided to suspend Jim. I told Lee that was not a good idea, citing that his judgement was as bad as Nixon firing Archibald Cox the special prosecutor during the Watergate investigation.
Before I got off the conference call with Lee, I gave Lee and Dan the access code to get on Jim's conference call. I did this out of FAIRNESS to Lee and Dan. This was Lee and Dan's chance to answer any questions and to defend themselves if need be. BUT I made it perfectly clear that if they dialed in on the call, that they announced themselves, Yes I gave them the access code to Jim's conference call. So Lee and Dan dialed in on Jim's conference call with the ZD and DALs and you know the rest. Lee showed himself on that call, everyone heard the way he sounded and that is all I will say about that. One of the people on that call recorded it, I think someone posted the link on Viper Alley. So any of you can hear the whole conference call.
Not more than 5 minutes after that conference call, Lee calls me screaming and yelling... "WHY DIDN'T YOU AND DAN STICK UP FOR ME!" "WERE YOU EVEN ON THE CALL?" On and on and on.....
The next conference call was with the ***'s again. They wanted to vote on whether to suspend Lee. Lee and Dan were not invited to that call either. They asked me not to give Lee or Dan the access code because they did not want another yelling match and rant from Lee. They had enough votes to remove him whether he and Dan were there or not.
The vote was taken. And Lee was suspended. It was that evening or the next morning that I informed Lee of the vote via email. Lee called me at my work and pleaded with me to please let him resign. He was afraid of how it would affect his business. I told him that it wasn't my decision to make. That was something the ***'s had to make.
Oh, before I forget. There were motions at both conference calls (not Lee's) to override the 20 day notice. This was not unusual, as it had been done in past administrations.
Counsel later informed us that even though we had gone strictly by the VCA bylaws (and did a good job of it), because we did not invite Lee to the "party" the second time for the vote.... it was invalid. We could have had another vote the next day, motion to override the 20 day notice, invited Lee and removed him. But instead we did not want his business to suffer, so we offered to let him resign. He agreed to resign in good faith per his email to the members, and we all know the rest of the story.
NO, I did not formally resign, EVER. I did threaten to resign on numerous occasions because the questions I was asking were not being answered. Each time I threatened, Lee begged, and I mean begged me to stay. PERIOD. After the secret meetings, and then the letter from Chrysler, I was done. At no point was I going to take the Presidency of the VCA if Lee was removed. I stated this on many occasions following the letter, this was voiced verbally and in written form. So that accusation that I wanted to "seize power" is a blatant lie. A lie to protect VPA.
And as for your comment on my leadership skills and what I and my Ohio members have done for this club. Please give anyone in the Ohio Region, or any other VCA region a call for that matter. I have lived VCA for the last 12 years of my life. So I take offense to your statement. Just in the last two VOI's, as charity chairman and my Ohio region members have raised over $125,000 for the VCA and it's charities.
I would suggest before you start making anymore comments about me, you call me and ask your questions. My phone # and email address are all over this website.
It's all hands on deck at the VCA, the lifeboats are being lowered, abandon ship.
Give me a call and I'll tell you all about the new VOA.
Regards,
Randall Arnold
[email protected]
937-470-8306