PDA

View Full Version : ABATE of Colorado, WTF?



Spooph
Wed Dec 3rd, 2014, 12:23 PM
Cross-posted for ease. Please read/comment and share, we need to get this out to as many riders in Colorado as we can. Whether you support ABATE or not, they represent you legislatively, in state policy making, and as a face of Colorado riders. It reflects directly on you whether you acknowledge it or not. At the very least, care about your reputation...

http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/opinion-abate-of-colorado-wtf/

It’s always hard dealing with conflicting emotions, especially when those emotions include distrust, betrayal, loyalty, determination and hope. I’m feeling these emotions toward ABATE of Colorado. Some disconcerting things have been happening there.


I started volunteering 3 years ago, after having been a member of ABATE for a year with the understanding that they needed my help to embrace newer ways of reaching their members in the form of social media. I was excited by the opportunity to become politically involved and get my generation excited about the same thing. I also wanted to become a riding coach, which they graciously helped me do. I was really enjoying being a part of this organization up until August 2014, when some strange things started to happen.


I received Ann Layson’s very disturbing letter Nov 13th, and 2 letters from the Board of Directors Nov 19th , both of which are printed below. Mrs. Layson’s letter spoke of some rather alarming actions taken by ABATE, and the Board’s letters stated ABATE of Colorado is in dire financial straits. I’ve talked to quite a few people in ABATE over the course of these last two months and the one thing I’ve been able to come to a conclusion on is that they are very disorganized.


They’ve sent me cross-ways to different people within the organization to get questions answered, they haven’t been able to come out with solid stances on issues, and they are being very secretive about the financial situation they are in. For the past 2 years they have also been very resistant to some of the new strategies we have presented them, and it seems in most ways that they simply want to stay their coarse, especially so considering their newest call to “invest” in ABATE through a Certificate of Deposit (CD).


Old school thinking is good in some respects, like politics, but new approaches to financial sustainability have to be used. Ask any business, grass-roots organization or any other entity which has survived through the last 2 decades and the change in fiscal practices the internet has forced everybody to go through.
I’m deliberately not mentioning names, titles or positions because I don’t want to point fingers, and I don’t want to place blame. I don’t want to be angry, I don’t want to come to you with this news…. I WANT an organization which I can trust, which I can be a part of to continue watching out for, and empowering motorcyclists. It’s why I joined in the first place and no matter what happens, that’s what I want to do. Thus, I will not perpetuate the rumors I’ve heard, but I will share the correspondence I’ve received and I want to ask a few questions so you can make up your own mind.


1.) Can we trust ABATE of Colorado? If we could, wouldn’t we have known about these financial issues earlier on, and been a part of the solution? If this only came out now, what else might be lurking behind the scenes?
2.) Is the current management structure of ABATE of Colorado conducive to quick and effective membership engagement for grass-roots mobilization?
3.) Is buying to ABATE’s CD a sound financial investment and good idea?


Yes, these seem like tough, cold and hard questions to ask, and nobody wants to see any entity faced with them, especially not one you’ve been supporting for so long but I think its past due.


Please read further on this issue as it’s rather convoluted and follow me for updates:


http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/letter-from-ann-layson-on-11132014/


http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/letter-1-from-rocky-wood-on-11192014/


http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/letter-2-from-rocky-wood-on-11192014/


http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/sweeping-changes-at-abate-investigation-update/


http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/abate-in-dire-straits/

07D675CO
Wed Dec 3rd, 2014, 04:48 PM
That one e-mail reads like the rants of a crazy person......Seriously hard to follow.

FZRguy
Wed Dec 3rd, 2014, 08:30 PM
Sounds like a serious CF.

TFOGGuys
Wed Dec 3rd, 2014, 10:17 PM
More than a passing resemblance to what happened with the MRA about 10 years ago...

FZRguy
Thu Dec 4th, 2014, 12:32 AM
Yeah, remember that. Very common with a nonprofit sans proper accounting with no audit, and just one person controlling the books and cash. No idea what happened in this case tho.

#1Townie
Thu Dec 4th, 2014, 02:58 AM
Kind of sounds like that whole organization needs a cleansing.

blaircsf
Thu Dec 4th, 2014, 12:12 PM
I've met Terry a couple times at motorcycle events, but honestly I don't really know her or any of the rest of the ABATE people.

I guess if there is still an investigation going they might not be able to release much but it seems like there isn't a lot of information from their end, just a lot of rumors etc. It's possible there was more at the meeting that isn't public?

In some sense, regardless of what has happened in the past, it seems to me if they are asking for money they should paint a clearer picture of the finances. Some of their numbers presented just don't make sense, which makes me wonder. The number it seems people toss around is Terry stole $10,000, from the numbers in those various posts / emails it seems the financial problems are much bigger than $10k. In addition to painting a clearer picture of where things are now, it would be a good idea to lay out what the plan is going forward. If they are successful in raising $x, what is that going to, and how are things going to operate going forward.

If Terry is basically being used as a scapegoat then I'm not optimistic about it with mostly the same group in charge. If Terry was mostly responsible than who knows, although it's a bit concerning that it got to this point. I'm in favor of the organizations stated goals (motorcycle advocacy), but if they aren't being accomplished and/or aren't being effective then it's probably time for something to change.

#1Townie
Fri Dec 5th, 2014, 11:09 AM
And with the money they are talking about you would think they would be a little more responsible with it.

Spooph
Tue Jan 6th, 2015, 03:32 PM
you're probably all sick of this crap, as am I, but for those who care...

update:
http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/abate-still-no-answers/

Highlights:
the current folks in charge of ABATE don't have any answers as to why ABATE's funding wasn't more closely monitored, nor why they are currently in the situation they are in. It also looks as though they aren't really doing much to figure out what happened, and are hoping this will blow over and looking to the future. Not sure how you can plan to avoid the same problem in the future if you don't know what happened, but hey, that's just me.

Why is this relevant to you and the CSC, because these are the people who have interfaced with politicians and policy makers, on your behalf whether you liked it or not, for over 3 decades. They were supposed to be our watchdog, so who watches the watchmen?

~Barn~
Tue Jan 6th, 2015, 05:04 PM
Is now a good time to blame Obama?

Mother Goose
Tue Jan 6th, 2015, 05:17 PM
https://i.imgflip.com/bzgzr.jpg

#1Townie
Wed Jan 7th, 2015, 05:36 AM
Well time to shut down abate and allow room for another group of people to take its place.

07D675CO
Wed Jan 7th, 2015, 08:57 AM
Well time to shut down abate and allow room for another group of people to take its place.

I agree. Is there some overwhelming reason to even bother trying to save abate?