Folks,

As you can all imagine, there have been a number of conversations, phone and email, over the past few days concerning the CEO selection matter.  One particular point, however, hasn't received nearly as much coverage as it should.

To some degree, we are between a rock and a hard place.  I've heard the thought expressed that if we don't follow through on the selection of Mr. Michel (even though, in theory, no one outside of the Board yet knows of that selection), the Board will appear splintered, and it will feed the narrative of League disarray about which the FCC, through Riley, has warned us strongly.

But the flip side could be worse.  The research that has been done so far into the matter of Mr. Michel's passion for and involvement in Amateur Radio is easy enough to reproduce, and it would be only a matter of days after an announcement of his selection that the issue would be all over the internet.  I fear the discord would be loud, I fear it would be lasting, and I fear that the impression of disarray in the eyes of our members, and of the FCC, would be considerably worse under this scenario.

I don't know for sure.  If my foresight were that good, I would be a wealthy man indeed, and probably a major financial benefactor to the League.  My gut says that selecting Mr. Michel without a very good story to rebut the inference of lack of passion would generate a firestorm that would exceed any we have seen since incentive licensing.

That said, if Mr. Michel is selected by the Board and accepts, I will give him my full support in an effort to make him and the League successful. 


Mike Raisbeck
K1TWF
New England Vice Director

Mike Raisbeck
k1twf@arrl.net