Monday, November 18, 2013

League of American Bicyclists Board Elections-Two Endorsements

There is a LAB Board election in progress. I urge any LAB members to vote for the candidates of their choice.

As some of you know, I've had my bones to pick over the years with the self-selection process employed by the LAB to keep the Board on the straight and narrow, i.e., to protect present policies, procedures, and political points of view by having the Board approve candidates, internally select increasing numbers of its own successors (50% of the present Board members!), and making it practically impossible for an outsider to challenge the status quo. Some think I am being charitable in not being nastier here.

Having said that, the present slate of candidates is very good, there are some fine people on the Board, and LAB remains an organization deserving of our support, albeit not unqualified support for its official points of view.  Politics (short of war, as Clausewitz might say) is the art of peaceful struggle, and that is what is needed here. I especially urge any LAB members out there to vote, and to vote for two candidates who have the North Mesa Mutts Seal of Approval (i.e., I don't speak for Greg, Neale, or Scott if they are still lurking). Those candidates are Diane Albert, our own BCNM President, and Georgette Yaindl of Hilo, Hawaii.

Diane, who supplied her own blurb below, has strongly and tirelessly represented New Mexico cyclists at the state and national level. She was a key player in cycling issues in Los Alamos and later in Albuquerque before becoming active statewide and nationally as a BCNM and LAB Board member. She is also the only Board member who signed our petition in 2010, thus reaffirming her support of real, transparent LAB elections. She deserves your support.

Georgette, who I have known and consider both a friend and cycling advocacy colleague since the 1990's was, like me, a transplant to Hawaii from the East Coast. We worked together when I was President and she a staffer on the Hawaii Bicycling League. Geogette has been deeply involved in bicycling issues for over two decades, was a founding member of the Thunderhead Alliance, and recently obtained her J.D. from the U of Hawaii Richardson School of Law; she has established a law practice in Hilo on the Big Island.  Hawaii is very isolated from the Mainland and is its own multicultural enclave with strong ties to both the U.S. and the Pacific Rim. I think Hawaii deserves a board member and Georgette will be an excellent one representing fairly the plethora of issues facing cyclists both in Hawaii and elsewhere.

If you are a LAB member, please vote for strong, independent voices on the Board. 

Info here on the election process.

Now, Diane's blurb.

If you have been a LAB member as of November 1, 2014, you can vote in the Board elections until Dec. 27: see http://bikeleague.org/content/cast-your-vote-board-elections

I (Diane Albert) am running for re-election to another three-year term on the board, and I respectfully ask for your vote.  I am the only Board member from the SW part of the US and believe that I represent your interests on the LAB Board.  I am committed to continuing to fight for bicyclists’ rights during the next term, if elected.

One effort that I am interested in promoting this next term is establishing a strong LAB Legal Affairs committee that could help local bicyclists with litigation involving bicyclists’ crashes.

Please contact me if you’d like more info.

And, if you are not yet a LAB member, please consider joining!

Diane

Diane E. Albert, PhD
President and Board Member, Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico (BCNM)
League of American Bicyclists LCI #2292

LAB National Board Member

P.O. Box 30548
Albuquerque, NM 87190-0548
505.235.2277

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