There is big news for Sierra Club Florida but only the Palm Beach Post has reported it. The President of the Board of Directors of National Sierra, Robbie Cox, has sent a threat letter to all Sierra members in Florida. They want to shut down our Florida Chapter for 4 years. In other words, they will still take your money, but they are firing all the volunteers that represent the groups on the State level - The Executive Committee or the Florida Chapter. Yes you heard it, they want to throw out the volunteers. His reason:
"In recent years, however, the Sierra Club has grown increasingly concerned about conflicts and divisions inside its statewide body, The Florida Chapter."
The letter is intentionally cryptic. They said they tried to heal things with a "Leadership Development Program" but they were rebuffed.
What is going on? I don't know, however, it seems that they want to set up a steering committee appointed by the Board (Most of them live in California) to take over for 4 years.
The letter says you can comment, but you cannot read what others have said on the website set up for comments. Comment on what? We don't know what is REALLY going on.
Also National Sierra has made local Floridian group leaders mad because they took money from Clorox. Is this a power struggle between National, State Sierra Staff governed by National and State Volunteers? Power Struggle would be my guess.
So Florida is also home to the "BAD BOYS" of environmentalism. Go figure. Any Sierra members that want to comment anonymously here are welcome to.
12 comments:
Sent to Robbie Cox: I think the letter you sent me was very mean spirited and outrageous.
It doesn’t tell us anything. I WILL CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP. I am now glad I didn’t do a lifetime. I never vote for California officers because you all sit in your cocoons and ignore us.
The problem is: Sierra Club National is such a separate entity, out of touch with the State and local groups — on a different track and never the trains shall meet.
National Sierra didn’t help with our biggest issue in Florida, the Hometown Democracy Amendment. It was Sierra’s biggest issue. Have you even heard of it? I would suppose not. Because you don't pay attention to us.
The work load is so intense in Florida, only retirees or people with minimal jobs can get involved. That is a big part of Sierra’s governing group in Florida. People with time.
The Sierra "volunteers only" model is not relevant any more. It needs to change. Volunteers need staff help. We are at war with developers down here over loss of habitat, the everglades, wetland destruction, water shortages, encroachment on wild lands, etc.
Staff marches to a different drum (money) and does not help the locals and their myriad of issues. Thus there is resentment. I have asked numerous times for help over the years.
Some time should have been set aside for National Staff based in Florida to help the local groups on some of their issues. And why not some training workshops to make volunteers better?
I would suggest that all members be contacted and asked to resign en mass. Of course lifetime members will have to stay on, but if all the others resign that should send a message to those far away, in distance and in mind, that their dictatorship must end. If they have an ounce of common sense and they relent from their stupidity then you all can rejoin. If not perhaps it is time for a Florida only organization with the same goals.
So I guess politics and power struggles occur no matter how self righteous one thinks their cause might be.
In my dealings with the Sierra Club and similar organizations, the biggest problem has always been their unwillingness to compremise, even a little.
An elected official can vote with them on 99 out of 100 issues, but lord forbid that 1 issue be the last one. You'd be dead to them then.
I fear the Sierra Club is having trouble distinguishing the forest from the trees.
Moderate
I'm so tired of people saying that the environmental organizations are so fickle that "you vote against them one time" - is such a load of BS.
I do believe that the environmental groups do not appreciate being burned and can hold a grudge quite well.
I don't see people saying the same of other interest groups "you know, those cancer survivors, you vote one time against their best interests..." rings hollow doesn't it.
As to Sierra, I don't know what the deal is with the State group, but I never found much use for them anyway. They fund some lobbying efforts, but other than that, I can't remember anything in my 15 years as a member that they've done as a group. The structure is much more driven by the local chapters anyway. And yes, there's a HUGE disconnect between national Sierra and the locals. We need more resources from the national group to fight issues locally. Audubon seems to be able to put some paid troops in the field. Sierra has one lonely employee in all of South Florida.
We all need anyone who will help us protect and preserve the Everglades. Remember there are thousands of lobbyists and attorneys working every day to get the Everglades paved.
Rifts imperil Sierra Club's Florida leadership
Kevin Spear
Sentinel Staff Writer
February 25, 2008
Few other environmental activists in Florida come close to matching the strength and tenacity of the Sierra Club.
Now its members have turned on one another with a fierceness that rocks the group's focus and stability.
National leaders of the club will soon decide whether a "crisis of mistrust" brought about by a hostile, intimidating environment has crippled the nearly 35,000-member Florida chapter of the organization.
Sierra is considering whether to suspend the state chapter's leadership, "an action that is painful and difficult," national President Robert Cox explained this month in a letter to state members.
If that happens, 27 elected volunteer executives will go down in the organization's 116-year history as the first forced from a chapter in one fell swoop. They would be replaced with nationally appointed advisers.
An activist from Gainesville said she thinks Cox's letter has already undercut the credibility for Sierra members engaged in efforts to protect the state's environment.
"The charges are so vague and unspecified," said Karen Orr, 59. "They are really damaging the reputation of some really fine people."
Army of volunteers
Sierra has a crucial role in Florida, both critics and supporters say. It consistently takes on a wide variety of environmental fights -- such as opposing new coal-fired electric plants and supporting wildlife protections -- than any other group in the state.
That's possible because of the group's grass-roots army of volunteers that often sees itself as the last line of defense for the environment.
Each state has a chapter, except California, the club's birthplace and headquarters, which has 13. Florida's chapter is the nation's fourth-largest.
A noted example of Sierra action occurred two years ago in southwest Florida as the state sought to buy 74,000 acres of the famed Babcock Ranch. Most environmentalists supported the deal. But the Sierra Club blocked it because other parts of the ranch would be vulnerable to development.
While that enraged other environmental groups, Sierra held on until developers agreed to concessions.
"They have the mentality of all or nothing," said state Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, who has worked often with Sierra representatives on the Wekiva River and other issues. "You understand that working with them you can't please them."
The troubles in Florida stem from "personal conflict, unwelcoming environments and hostilities where people personally feel intimidated," said Cox, a University of North Carolina professor serving his third term as volunteer president of Sierra's national board of directors.
Sierra's investigation of Florida leaders has included offers of confidentiality to members who cooperated. For that reason, and because some Sierra members fear reprisals for speaking out, Cox said he won't give names or much other detail.
Cox also e-mailed to Florida leaders what some recipients described as a gag order. As a result, many members refused to comment publicly; others stressed they were providing personal viewpoints only. But in broad terms, members described two sides to the conflict.
One centers on state board member Dan Hendrickson, an assistant public defender from Tallahassee. His wife, Susie Caplowe, is known for her former lobbying work for Sierra.
Several critics of Hendrickson said he is power-hungry and has squashed members for disagreeing.
"It's either Dan's way or the highway," said, John Swingle, 61, executive committee chairman for the Central Florida Sierra Group and a former chairman of the state board.
Another former state-board member referred to Hendrickson, a member for 20 years, and the allies he has backed for Sierra leadership posts.
"If you're not with him 110 percent of the time . . . they turn on you," said Bob Sullivan, 54, of the Suncoast Sierra Group.
Hendrickson and his supporters, however, blame Sierra for attempting to rein in Florida leaders for not always agreeing with the national club.
Long list of differences
From among a long list of examples of differences, one concerns the national club's recent endorsement of a major company's chemical-free cleaning products.
Many state leaders were outraged their grass-roots club joined with corporate interests.
As for criticism of Hendrickson, his many supporters lashed back.
"He's one of the hardest-working members I've ever met in my life," said December McSherry, a Sierra activist for 40 years who lives near Gainesville. "If other people are jealous of him, that's their problem."
Hendrickson said he is unaware of serious friction among state leaders.
"So what if we have disagreements?" he said. "The issue is whether or not we are getting conservation work done."
Whatever the national board of directors decides to do in the coming months, members of Florida's chapter promise to continue their struggle to protect the environment.
"I want all our soldiers and eco-warriors to have their boots on the ground," said Cecilia Height of the Central Florida Sierra Group. "We're still fighting the good fight."
Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062.
As a sierra member, I'm glad the national cleaned house in Florida. The Florida Chapter had been taken over by a few overbearing power freaks. Now the many volunteers that were turned off by the power trippers can get back to environmental work.
A flaw of volunteer groups is that a few sicko types can take them over. Good people just don't bother to come back. Kudos to Sierra for getting back to getting the work done.
House cleaning has not happened yet, it is comment time now.
You wrote that "Most of them live in California," referring to the Sierra Club Board. Out of fifteen current Sierra Club Board members, TWO live in California.
The national club is right. Moreover, the national club has received a huge number of complaints from past Florida Chapter leaders and members in Florida.
National stinks.
You stink, and so does your blog.
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