[WSBAPT] Fw: Open Communication to all WSBA Members...

[jacyphers at gmail.com]

The below email from WSBA Governor, Paul Swegle, should be of interest to
the list serve members who have not received a copy directly.
Many of us well remember the 2016 Sections Policy Workgroup debacle, and may
have many other concerns. 
 
    
  
Jackie Cyphers
Jeannette A. Cyphers, Attorney at Law
P. O. Box 908   
Edmonds, WA 98020-0908
425-776-5887
fax 425-640-0814
jacyphers at gmail.com
 
We do not use encrypted email so this message is not secure and may not be
protected by attorney client privilege.  NOTE:  This email address is NOT
monitored 24/7.  If your matter requires prompt attention please call our
offices during business hours so we can discuss it with you and also discuss
timing.
 
This e-mail is intended for the exclusive use of the person or persons to
whom it is addressed. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC
Sections 2510-2521 applies to this e-mail. Unauthorized review of
distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender by phone or reply e-mail. Do not disseminate this
e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies.
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Paul S
Date: 4/16/2018 1:26:40 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:,
Subject: Open Communication to all WSBA Members...
 
Note: If you received this email directly from me, Paul Swegle, you are on
my newly created “Concerned WSBA Members” email list. If you want off this
list, please let me know.  
*****************************************************************************
*****************
Hello fellow lawyers of Washington State,
I represent District 7 North (North Seattle to Edmonds) on the Washington
State Bar Association Board of Governors.
***Please share this with fellow WSBA members*** 
These are my personal views and they do not reflect the views of the WSBA. 
Let’s Get the WSBA Back on Track!
I and others are working hard on governance and leadership reforms from
inside the WSBA under very challenging circumstances. We need your support
and assistance to turn things around. 
Calls to Action
To become part of these reform efforts, please do the following four things:
1.       Email me at pswegle at gmail.com to get on my “Concerned WSBA Members”
email list if you received this from someone else so I reach you when your
input/feedback is needed. I can no longer communicate with the members of
District 7N via WSBA channels. 
2.       Please join the District 7N Meetup Group so we can meet and talk in
person around the District -  https://www.meetup
com/Lawyers-of-District-7-North/  Meetups are schedule in Lake City on April
24 and downtown Seattle on May 8. 
 
These alternative communication channels are now critical for anyone who
wants to hear anything other than the WSBA senior leadership’s messaging. 
 
The WSBA President and the WSBA Executive Director have effectively banned
WSBA governors from communicating with WSBA members via WSBA email systems
unless those communications are reviewed and approved by the President and
Executive Director. 
 
I have stopped trying to get my messages through these censors. 
 
And yes, this censorship does seem to violate the Bylaws, in case you’re
wondering.
 
WSBA Bylaw section IV.A.2.(d) (underlining added):
 
“Each Governor is expected to engage with members about BOG actions and
issues, and to convey member viewpoints to the Board. In representing a
Congressional District, a Governor will at a minimum: (1) bring to the BOG
the perspective, values and circumstances of her or his district to be
applied in the best interests of all members, the public and the Bar; and
(2) bring information to the members in the district that promotes
appreciation of actions and issues affecting the membership as a whole, the
public and the organization.”
 
3.       Help “reform” candidates win the current elections for BOG
positions in Districts 1, 5, and 7 South. 
 
Vote for reform candidates and and encourage our fellow colleagues to do the
same. 
 
Voting ends April 20. Here are three strong reform candidates:
District 1 – Michael Cherry
District 5 – Rea Culwell
District 7S – Jean Kang
 
The District 5 (Spokane) race looks troubling from a reform perspective. The
leading candidate said in a campaign email last week – “…we cannot engage in
destructive “reform” that will only serve to de-unify the organization that
currently exists….” 
 
4.       Attend the May 17/18 Board of Governors meetings at WSBA
headquarters.
 
Reform-oriented governors have several important matters on the agenda for
May 17 and 18. The WSBA leadership will pack the house with supporters to
oppose governor reform proposals, as they did at the April 6 special meeting
 
 
We need your voices of support. Step up and get your opinion into the public
record, because that’s what the opponents will do. To do so, show up on time
and sign up to speak; or participate via webcast and submit your messages of
support through the webcasting platform.
 
These first few reform proposals include: (i) rolling back the recent WSBA
Bylaw amendments that added three more non-member-elected positions to the
Board of Governors and also (ii) certain internal governance reforms to
allow governors to participate in setting the agenda on matters of
importance to the members, WSBA staff, and the public. 
Why are Reforms Needed?
The sense of disenfranchisement many members feel is no illusion. Members
and even governors are surprisingly powerless. 
One only need listen to former President Anthony Gipe speak dismissively of
the role of member representation at the April 6 special meeting to
appreciate some of the root causes of member disenfranchisement -  (See 
Watch the April 6 Special Meeting Public Session" and go to Video Part 2,
0:31:21). 
***Listen for it... "It is not the majority that elects us here, so why do
we act like it?!"  -Anthony Gipe


Disenfranchisement fueled by those types of dismissive attitudes has led to
alienation for many members, as they have accurately perceived more and more
things being done to them and fewer things being done for them. And this,
despite the members being the sole source of the WSBA's $22 million budget. 
The WSBA refuses to poll its members to gauge member satisfaction despite my
repeated requests, but the results of such a survey would likely mirror the
WSBA’s employee satisfaction numbers at www.glassdoor.com, where it has a 2
3 rating, with only 21% of respondents saying they would recommend the WSBA
to a friend and only 31% of respondents saying they approve of the CEO/ED. 
By comparison on Glassdoor: Walmart = 3.2; Trump International Hotels = 4.2;
Washington Department of Licensing = 3.1; and Amazon = 3.8. 
Can you find a company or organization with a score lower than 2.3?....
In my view, the WSBA's Executive Director of roughly 14 years and her
evolving inner circles have held relatively free reign over all of the
levers of WSBA power, control and communication in recent years, passing
member-unfriendly changes with little difficulty.
For example, despite substantial member opposition to the extensive 2016
Bylaw amendments, the only “win” opponents of the amendments achieved was
that the word “Association” was not removed from the organization’s name.
Other unhealthy manifestations of the concentration of power in senior WSBA
leadership, in my opinion, include the following:
The killing of a dues referendum (a referendum I didn’t support but felt
should be permitted);
Ongoing efforts to curtail member referendum rights;
Heavy-handed restrictions on governor communications;
Efforts by senior WSBA leadership to intimidate and coerce governors from
expressing views contrary to those of the leadership, including a recent 4
hour sparsely attended “communal wisdom” session that I boycotted, at which
an effort was briefly considered to remove me from the Board of Governors;
The use of Orwellian language to suppress dissent, including:
calling contrary views “inflammatory rhetoric;”
Policies mandating that governors and others “always assume good intent”
about anything WSBA leadership says or does; and
The President’s recent edict that all governor communications be reviewed
and filtered through what he calls “the communal wisdom.”
The inability of governors to request and easily receive information from
the WSBA staff;
Retaliation against governors who ask for too much information, including
the recent removal of a governor from the Personnel Committee following his
apparently too-diligent efforts to obtain salary information;
Intimidating and coercive phone calls by WSBA senior leadership to
individual governors;
Frequent suggestions that any questioning of WSBA staff actions is
inappropriate and disrespectful, including frequent and troubling
suggestions that such questions or challenges constitute sexual
discrimination;
Violations of the Bylaws to undermine governors’ efforts to call and
effectively hold special meetings;
Efforts in late 2015 to make it impossible for the Board of Governors to
remove the Executive Director without the approval of the Washington Supreme
Court;
The 2016 Sections Policy Workgroup debacle;
The 2016 attempt to stop the Indian Law Section from engaging in cultural
practices;
Toleration of conflicts of interests, or at least the appearance of
conflicts of interest, such as the long-standing relationship of the WSBA
Executive Director and the Chair of the LLLT Board who frequently appears
before the Board of Governors and the Washington Supreme Court to lobby for
expansion of the LLLT program; and
Efforts by the WSBA leadership to influence elections (when I ran on a
reform platform, numerous sitting governors and status-quo-leaning past
Presidents endorsed one of my opponents with no prior WSBA experience or
involvement).
 
In reading third party materials concerning similar issues faced by other
organizations, I encountered an interesting CompassPoint study from 2006
which found that nearly 30% of departing executive directors were either
fired or forced out. In some cases this was done, no doubt, to restore
healthy governance checks and balances. It was encouraging to see that our
challenges are not unique and that other highly controlled boards have
stepped up to take bold but necessary restorative actions. 
Fellow WSBA members, I urge you to watch WSBA governance very closely in the
coming weeks and months as some of us on the board of governors push for
reforms aimed at restoring balanced governance and leadership. 
If you also want to see change at the WSBA, now is the time to get involved
and make your voice heard.
Sincerely,
Paul Swegle, Governor, District 7N
Immediate Past Chair, Corporate Counsel Section
Washington State Bar Association 



__________________________

Paul Swegle
General Counsel
(206) 300-7165   

         



 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20180416/a56e3690/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: butterfly_top.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 12626 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20180416/a56e3690/butterfly_top.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: butterfly_bottom.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 20662 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20180416/a56e3690/butterfly_bottom.gif>