Last updated on August 28, 2023
Our source has supplied us with the memorandum that we infer led to LNC criticisms of Miguel Duque, including the committee appointed to prepare recommendations in his case. It’s rather long, so we will circulate it in sections over the next several days.
You are reading a memorandum from Angela McArdle to the LNC, transmitted sometime in May 2023. We have no reason not to believe that the memorandum is authentic. The memorandum:
LNC Dysfunction – Is There A Realistic Path Forward?
What are we doing? What is the outcome we are looking for, and what criteria are we using to make decisions?
I mean that generally, in every way you can construe it. The board has lost focus and become extremely reactive. In the face of financial challenges, we have lost the purpose and vision of what we set out to do and are thrashing around like a drowning person. It is very hard to save someone who is thrashing about.
I’ve been trying to find board consultations for under 10K. So far, I have not had success. I know that some of you will say we can’t afford it right now. My argument is that we can’t afford NOT to do it. We are in serious trouble. I’m just wrapping up this document after a consultation with a man who has been on many boards. The first thing he commented on was the size of the LNC. It is much too large. We’re stuck with that for now, but he confirmed a lot of things that I’ve been saying (to myself or out loud) for some time now. We need to radically change things if we are going to survive the next year. I say this with love, serious concern, and as the person who was elected to lead you and enact a very specific vision.
LNC Hierarchy And Wisdom
Some of you are defensive when I call out bad votes or overstepping boundaries. “You can’t say that! We will hold Ms. Huston accountable for everything instead!”
Let’s think.
Why would Lainie send a letter directly to the board?
I did not think Josh Smith would make a good vice chair. You ignored my advice.
I did not support the migration. You ignored my advice.
I did not think that setting a 100K goal was the right decision. You ignored my advice.
What other choice does she have but to address you directly? You have effectively usurped my position as her supervisor.
Who here has served on another board of directors for a large organization with longevity?
It is unheard of for a board of directors to vote on what software staff uses and to interact this much with staff. I’ve consulted with three older gentlemen who have served on multiple boards and they all balk at my situation and say that it’s insane. Don’t believe me? Please go ahead and get a second opinion. Go ask any person over 50 who has served on several boards if they think the board should regularly interact with staff or vote on software. I got the same reaction when I explained how the latest goal was set. The goal should be budget, or the stretch goals that we’ve already set. There should have been a strategy proposed to reach the goals.
We are not operating like a professional board of directors. I need us to act like a professional board of directors.
I get to own all of our failures, publicly, and behind the scenes apparently, while we descend into democratic mob rule.
Oh, but we’re different! We’re a political party. That is no excuse for poor governance. If anything, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard, not a lower standard disguised as a different standard.
So, in short, a tyrannical chair of the third-largest political party acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Especially when she’s part of the problem with the national party.
This leak actually makes Ms. McArdle look like the adult in the room.
The main claim I’d take issue with is this one:
“It is unheard of for a board of directors to vote on what software staff uses”
It’s not at all unheard of, at least with respect to the LNC. See, for example, the move in the early 2000s to move to “Raiser’s Edge.”
On this point, I completely agree.