Last updated on August 28, 2023
Third Party Watch has received a set of documents whose description matches the documents that Miguel Duque allegedly sent to the LNC. One of these was a memo from Angela McArdle to the LNC, whose retransmissal to the LNC apparently upset LNC members.
We welcome comments or articles on this topic or as responses to these posts from members of the LNC or its staff. Articles or responses are moderated and will be subject to our usual rules on length and civility.
We are now reprinting this memo in sections. This is the section dealing with the LNC Staff.
Previous articles in this series are
thirdpartywatch.com/2023/08/17/scooped-the-duque-files-leaked/
thirdpartywatch.com/2023/08/17/the-takeover-has-failed/
thirdpartywatch.com/2023/08/18/the-leaked-mcardle-memorandum-part-i
Part II:
Staff Issues
A staffer came forward with serious concerns about her subordinate employee, his triangulation and undermining interactions with a board member, and the fact that he is sending donor data out to an unverified email address and planning unannounced trips to our office. Our response is to completely disregard her concerns and turn our missiles at her. It freaks me out that no one is upset about what she uncovered with Robert. Oliver Hall was really concerned by what he saw. So am I. Instead, people have chosen to rally around “the accused” and go after Lainie. Would anyone like to schedule a meeting to discuss the contents of the letter from Ms. Huston – including the email attachments – or are we just going to discuss roasting Ms. Huston alive? Fire up the BBQ!
What exactly are we doing in this exec session meeting? There’s been no intention set. Are we looking for excuses to fire Ms. Huston because we don’t like her? Are we upset with her work performance so we’re going to use this situation to fire her? Are we mad at her for feeling led astray and delegitimized by the EPCC?
Who knows anything about her day to day work schedule, performance, ethics and strategy?
Whose job is it to review her performance? It is my job. I know about those things. So what criteria are we using to make decisions about staff? My word? No, that’s being completely disregarded and usurped.
Generally, Lainie’s concerns are my concerns. I was on the call with Lainie and Oliver Hall. I was the one that asked Oliver about fiduciary duty. I told him I wanted to understand it – NOT from a disciplinary perspective – but from the perspective of someone who needed to understand what was and wasn’t ok so that I could communicate boundaries and rules to the rest of you regarding the withholding of information from staff and the LNC. Ms. Huston sent her letter out before I heard back from Oliver (I still haven’t heard back from him).
I was on a call with Lainie when she got into Robert’s email and uncovered everything. I informed the officers and said I would discuss it with Steven. I wanted to talk to Oliver first and the soonest he was available was Tuesday, so I waited. I think that was the right thing to do.
The conversation mostly centered around how to get our assets back from Robert. The discussion of fiduciary duty was less than 5 minutes, but I would be derelict in my duties if I did not cover this base. Please review the emails she attached in her letter.
On the topic of Robert, he is openly disrespecting Lainie, and now me. He is still actively ignoring our directives and trying to engage Todd. I believe we should have fired Robert sooner. Lainie wanted him to comply first and hand over any documentation before issuing him a contract or letting him go. He resisted. I should have stepped in sooner, although judging by the way he’s behaving towards me now, he has no respect for me, either. He is only willing to answer to Todd and Steven. Maybe it’s sexism. I’m not sure.
Lainie is controversial the same way we are controversial. She came in to take over and people are mad about that. She also came in to professionalize things and some of our own people are mad about that. What does that mean? Show up to meetings prepared. Show up to work during business hours. Show your work. Collaborate with coworkers so that they can move forward in their tasks instead of wondering when so-and-so will update the CRM or send out the email they worked on. We were grossly unprofessional in recent history. Tyler let his employees do whatever they wanted to do. He did the bulk of the fundraising calls for Gabby. Robert ran the reports for her (she didn’t know how). Robert was allowed to do whatever he wanted because Tyler told me he had built his job to be indestructible and inscrutable. Same with Andy Burns. Reed Cooley unfortunately turned out to be a diva. He was my hire so that’s on me. I’m currently fighting with a vendor over a contract he signed us up for without authorization.
We don’t worship staff. We’ve actually fired a lot of them. I’ve discussed firing Luke, who is a friend of mine. I’ve said that Lainie has to turn things around. I gave constructive criticism in her review. She is not perfect, but it is not your job to take her apart behind the scenes. You aren’t equipped to do that. No one else would have uncovered the CRM failure so quickly. No one else would have stayed up overnight to do forensic auditing to find the trail of missing recurring donations. No one else would keep such a good attitude while having such an awful experience. Lainie is eventually replaceable, like anyone else, but she is NOT replaceable right now. She is the lynchpin that is holding everything together.
Here’s what will happen if Lainie is fired: The momentum we’ve gained on the fundraising front will drop. The progress on the CRM and data repair will halt. We will lose money, and we will lose staff. Andy will quit. Drew will probably look for a new job. Matt Hudson will check out completely and might stop working here, too.David Aitken will follow soon after. We will have to restaff entirely and start over. Ironically, at least we will be left with Lainie’s extensive documentation.
We cannot afford to take the hit.
Additionally, Lainie has worked 80 to 100 hours on a regular basis. She has worked overnight multiple times. She has been in my home, complaining of heart issues related to stress from the EPCC meetings. She has also complained of sexism (I notified her that I would have to raise that to the board since she failed to include it in her letter) from two separate people. She has corroboration on the sexism from myself and one other board member.
If she lawyers up, we are screwed.
Think carefully about our staffing situation. We should not fire or discipline Lainie. We should repair the damaged relationship and back off. It is the professional, responsible thing to do and I am asking you to do it.
