|
|
December 4, 2006
Dear Jack:
Next year marks the 40th anniversary from when I had been introduced to the John Birch Society. It has been an educational 40 years and the best relationship I have had in my life. For sure the years have been exciting. There have been many disappointments and many successes to celebrate. I have had the good fortune to have met the finest people this country has produced.
You and I have shared bread many times as you had done with so many others over the years. You were always a shining example of what one should look to emulate. I was particularly impressed with you for a number of reasons that we shared as equals. You were a New Yorker. You were an Irish Catholic. You were a Marine as were members of my family. I was awestruck when I was first introduced to you. You were so knowledgeable, so charismatic, such a great speaker, etc., etc., etc. You would have to search a long time to find someone that had more respect and admiration for you than I. Over the years, that respect and admiration never waned but grew and grew. You were always so generous with your time, experiences and knowledge. I was ever so grateful for what I learned form you. You gave yourself so fully and so freely. What you have accomplished for the John Birch Society and the country can only be imagined. We are still free today only for the sacrifices you and others have made with your lives. No one shall ever be able to take those sacrifices and credits from all of you.
Several months ago I received some correspondence that requested that I respond to certain situations that have arisen during this past year. Having been ill the past two years, I was unaware of the situation boiling over in the Society. I responded to some questions that supported Messrs. Van Buskirk, Rickert and Ruckel. Of everything I knew about these gentlemen over a forty-year period, I would give my whole support for the supreme sacrifices they have made over the past forty years. These are some of the great patriots I give credit to above. When asked to render a decision on my opinion of you, I indicated that I wouldn’t touch that at all. I couldn’t imagine myself reviewing your actions, attitudes and accomplishments. I wasn’t qualified to provide an analysis and opinion of you, other than the fact that I have held you in the highest of opinions over the past forty years, second only to my respect and admiration of Mr. Welch himself. Nothing has changed my opinion.
Over the past six months, I have had a chance to read and review hundreds of pages of documents, correspondence and other papers pertaining to the current rift in the hierarchy of the Society. As most of the old-timers are aware, this is not the first time we have had internal strife at the top levels of the Society. It unfortunately will probably not be the last time. However, I consider this latest problem to be the worst we have been exposed to and I believe it is serious enough to cripple, permanently, the John Birch Society. More damage has been done by ourselves than has been accomplished by the Insiders. They couldn’t have done us any more harm than we have dealt ourselves. We have met the enemy and it is we. I have read lots of information from both sides of the aisle. I have spoken with individuals from both sides of the aisle. I have been able to reach a conclusion that is not questionable but exact in my conclusions of support for the Executive Council members, Messrs Van Buskirk, Rickert and Ruckel. There is no room in my analysis and conclusions of a wishy-washy position of both parties being right and wrong and that significant compromises should be made on the part of all parties. I believe, with all my heart and knowledge that the moves taken by the current management leaders have to be reversed in what has transpired in order to save the Society and the country.
Jack, I firmly believe that the senior management has to turn back the decision that was made to initiate the Board of Incorporators into dictating the operations of the Society. As most of us know and agree, it was the Council and especially the Executive Council of the Society that has been entrusted to carry out the principles of Mr. Welsh’s plans for the continuing future of the Society. Nearly fifty years of operating history bears this out without any deviation during that entire period. What you and the other current leaders have done is without precedent. There are just so many things wrong with the way these actions were taken and I cannot offer any support for any of these actions. It is hard to believe and comprehend everything that has been done. I consider these actions so seriously and negatively that I do believe it is the worst problem the Society has had to face. I further believe that these actions might very well seal the fate of the Society by shutting it down in a very short period of time. I find it hard to believe that the actions you and the others have taken was without consideration of the fallout of your actions. You may be held singularly responsible for the collapse of the John Birch Society and the collapse of America. I don’t need to speak with superlative adjectives to state the significance of these actions. You may have, in your hands the future of civilization as we know it. On this point there is no exaggeration.
When I review the results of operations for the past year, I see frightening results of gross miscalculation on the part of current management that could not or would not see the results of their actions. The collapse of the financial situation should have been expected. I don’t know how any of you couldn’t have seen this. Did you honestly expect those who were in extreme disagreement with your actions to support you financially? Did any of you think that your legal actions and the costs thereof were going to be met with cheers and checkbooks? When the best personnel we have had in decades were dismissed did any of you think you were going to run the organization without these great people? When the field staff was released voluntarily and involuntarily, did any of you think about how you were going to run the organization without the backbone of a field staff? The loss of such significant numbers of key personnel not only disrupts current operations significantly but also assures that the future of the Society has no chance to recover let alone grow.
I am one of many members who believe that a major mistake has been made. I have always been supportive of the premise that the Executive Committee and Council shall assist management in the operations of the Society including the selection of management to run the Society’s operations. I believe that premise now as I have believed it for the past forty years. There is nothing I have learned through discussions with the Council members and management leaders over the past forty years that would change my opinion. I have read enough of the writings of Mr. Welch and others to know that this premise is the correct one. There is nothing to support the actions the current management has taken.
I know lawyers on both sides of the legal battles have reviewed organization documents and other papers. I have had an opportunity to review these same documents. While the authority of the Board of Incorporators is spelled out in the Articles of Incorporation, I am not convinced that the Incorporators had the necessary grounds to take the action they did take. However, not being an attorney involved in the legal action my opinions do not carry much weight. However, the actions taken by the Board Of Incorporators was very much overstepping and I believe totally unnecessary. I do not support these actions at all. I will not be able to support the Society as it is governed today. My total support stands, instead, for the support of the Council as it stood before this coup. A more frightening scenario would be if, God forgive, something should happen to you and the total control of the John Birch Society would fall into the hands of management with very dubious management competence.
Jack, I appeal to you to review your actions and the repercussions from those actions just over this past year. The Society has never been in worse shape. You have a chance to reverse these actions and to allow for a return to the well-run organization of the past nearly fifty years. You have a chance to continue to be the champion you have been all along. If the demise of the Society is to be, it will clearly fall on your shoulders. You have to make the biggest and most important decision of your life. So much falls on that decision. Please continue to be my hero. I send prayers in support of you.
I will reach out to contact you by telephone. I would love to talk to you for a few minutes. Please feel free to contat me.
Warmest personal regards to you, your family and the staff. I’ll keep you all in my prayers.
Your sincere friend
Michael R. Casey
MRC/bc
Cc: Members of the Council and Others
|
|
|
