April 25, 2007
Dear Jack,
Thank you for sending us your view on what has happened to the John Birch Society. At the end of your letter you said that if we had further questions, we should send them along. After reading your letter, we do have questions. Please, do answer the following:
• Where was the charge of “mismanagement” made? What your letter of January 26, 2007 stated was, “What they don’t say is that we were suffering from a $100,000+ monthly deficit.” We saw no claim of “mismanagement,” only insinuation that the former leader had done something terribly wrong. Another question, was that not your intention?
• You mentioned financial statements, cash balances of $886,999, etc. Jack, please explain what you mean. The Society gets money from we members every year. It goes to you in contributions, TNA advertising, continuing support, and from the wills of members who have passed on. Maybe we are too simple to understand, but why would this money not be spent? The appeal letters say money will be spent on campaigns, new coordinators, etc. That’s why we send it to you. If we thought the former leaders (by the way, you were one of them) were hoarding the money like the near million dollars you mentioned, we would have stopped sending money long ago. Again, please explain.
• When Vance Smith, Tom Gow, and the former Executive Committee members were forced to resign in October 2005, were the Society’s bills paid, did the employees receive their pay checks on time, and did the field staff get their expense checks as they should? Please answer. Also, please tell us honestly how you are doing in these areas since that date.
• You said that Mr. Bubolz has received the offer to go to headquarters to review the books. Is that a true statement? Will you please send us proof?
• Mr. Bubolz has asked for a full and complete certified audit to clear up all these allegations that are being tossed out. We very much support his request, and we would think that anyone who ever took over a business would feel the same way. And, Jack, we know that you have never been in business as most of your life has been spent getting a paycheck from the JBS. You said that audits were being conducted in the early days of the Smith regime and that they were stopped by Smith. Is this statement true? Or because of your lack of business experience, are you just repeating an untruth that has been told to you? Please send along something that proves your accusation. You owe it to all the JBS membership to be honest and to write only that which can be proven.
• You quote Vance Smith as saying, “If ever the time comes that the Society’s properly empowered officials feel it’s time for me to move on, I will do so with thanks for the years I was given the helm.” You know Jack, more than once we heard Vance say almost the same thing. Our questions to you are, did the properly empowered officials ask Vance to step down? We thought the Executive Committee was that proper authority. Are we wrong? Did they not put you, Vance and Tom Gow in office back in 1991? Did they not remove you as President a couple of years ago? And should they not have been the one to ask Vance to step down?
Jack, we have read correspondence that claims the Executive Committee members wanted to deal with the issues you and others had brought to their attention. Wayne Rickert and Keith Van Buskirk, called you and asked you to hold off your board of incorporators meeting just a few days so they could do so at a Council meeting in Florida. And, you forbid these “proper officials” from doing their job — you held your meeting and took the authority away from them. Is that true?
• Another question, Jack, did not the Executive Committee always select the leader before this last change? Did you take the authority away from the Executive Committee because you knew if they did meet in Florida and did decide to replace Vance Smith, that they would not reinstate you as JBS President? Have you since tried to explain away your anti-Jewish religion views by saying that they are merely your Catholic views? Please answer that question, and please know that as Catholics, we do not share your views about the Jewish religion.
• You, in this letter and in the new May Bulletin, infer that Vance “found a judge who accepted his claim.” Are you insinuating that Vance somehow arranged with the court system to have a liberal judge assigned to the case? And are you suggesting that the liberal judge would be more on the side of the man who led the JBS for nearly 15 years than the new kids on the block? Jack really, are you suggesting such a thing?
• Jack, based upon what we have read,you took control of the JBS with the board of incorporators, and Vance, Tom, Wayne, Walt, and Keith kept control of RWU. Don’t you believe that what is good for the goose is good for the gander? Please explain to us why you think what you did was right, and what they did was wrong?
• Jack, you close by saying you had to do what you did because so many people were going to quit because of Vance Smith. Because you made such a bold move, you were again enthroned as JBS President. We have no way of knowing what would really have happened if things had been handled properly by the proper Executive Committee, but we can see clearly what has happened since you and Art Thompson forced your way in. Our final question is, are you happy with what you have done to the John Birch Society? Do you believe Robert Welch and Tom Hill are proud of what you have done? Please answer those questions.
Thank you for offering. We look forward to your answers.
Loren and Colleen Hawkins
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