I received and read the October Electronic Transactions Association's ETA Interconnect the first week of November, like many of you, and found the Executive Director's Report from Ken Bowman very interesting. In his "State of the Union" article Ken notes that the ETA apparently doesn't move as quickly in decision making as Ken himself would like. Ken comments, "Let me tell you that associations just take longer to get things done. . . . we have more bosses!. . . and this probably frustrates me more than you." In the case of my current and unresolved request, I have to disagree.
I must admit that I am not the most patient person. Nonetheless, I believe I know when I am being ignored, and maybe it will be clear to you too, after you read An ETA Story:
At the beginning of 1997 a longtime player in the industry, Wyatt Baxter, retired to Mexico. Wyatt was a strong member/supporter of the BSA/ETA and was responsible for a number of BSA duties including shepherding the early newsletter efforts of the BSA. Wyatt decided, for his own reasons, to discontinue being paid the residual money that he had earned from American Marketing Corporation (AMCOR) for his 1983 and 1984 sales. He also decided that he did not want to be paid any longer for his early check sales from CrossCheck, Inc.
As this early base of business at these two organizations was small, and more than 13 years old, Wyatt simply asked for payment to stop. After hearing this and confirming it, I had the idea that the money could be given to the ETA to fund a particular project: ISO education and participation in ETA meetings. I thought this would be a nice tribute to Wyatt who is a strong BSA/ETA supporter. As many of you may know, Wyatt and I exchanged a number of letters through the years, which were published in the pages of The Green Sheet. These letters chronicled our different views of the direction of the BSA. While I was often on the opposite side of what I perceived to be BSA direction, I always respected Wyatt's point of view, AND no one has ever written a better letter than he did. Over the years, two points we debated were 1) training ISOs and 2) getting more "little guys" to participate in the BSA. After some discussion with Wyatt, and much reluctance on his part to have the money associated with his name, we launched the fund for the benefit of the smaller ISO.
Prior to the mid-year meeting, Ken Bowman and I discussed the fact that he would bring the matter before the ETA Board on March 21, 1997. He asked that the ETA make all announcements about the fund. In February 1997 I asked CrossCheck and AMCOR to begin forwarding the ETA an amount equal to the monies that Wyatt would have received to establish the "Wyatt Baxter Small ISO Educational Scholarship Fund."
By July, after our dues payment was made, I had not heard anything so I asked to be contacted about the fund. In response, ETA staff informed me that the board had decided to give the money to charity. At this point I wrote to Ken Bowman and noted, "This idea seems to be meeting with some very strong opposition from the ETA board, with ideas as strange as simply taking the money and donating it to a charity, which I have already informed your staff is unacceptable. Since the ETA has not implemented the idea, was not able to find a way to put the money to use as requested, and does not seem to want to discuss the matter, we will move forward to implement on our own. I would appreciate any money held in this fund be returned."
That letter wasn't my only unanswered correspondence to the ETA. I also wrote to Chuck Burtzloff about the matter. Well needless to say, CrossCheck and AMCOR stopped sending money, however the money previously sent was not returned. Worst of all, I have had no response whatsoever to the letter to Chuck Burtzloff since August 26, 1997, which seems by any account a rather long time for the President or Executive Director of any type of organization to "get around to it."
As we approach 1998, it seems impossible that a year has passed without resolution. So, with the Director's Report from Ken Bowman still ringing in my ears, having received no response or return of funds, I cannot accept that it is just a slow association decision process. I must conclude that it is stonewalling, and perhaps financial malfeasance, and it makes me wonder how my dues are spent.
So, if you are a small ISO and have not attended an ETA meeting because you simply could not afford to do so, or you need training, we would like for you to know that we have money to help you with those costs. The fund is small, but we will all see how and when these moneys can best be utilized. If you wish to have more information, please let us know. The "Wyatt Baxter Small ISO Educational Scholarship Fund," has been launched by The Green Sheet.
