E-mail to the Council of the American Library Association.
Cuba, abuse of ALA ethics & Council Forum II
Date sent: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:48:22 -0700
Dear Council, Executive Director Fiels and ALA President Loriene Roy,
Pursuant to my earlier post below, and as a follow-up post-Council Forum II tonight where the Cuba issue was extensively discussed, it is clear further that:
1) The anti-Cuba lobby consistently contacts new Councilors with their propaganda, and when these Councilors (finally understanding ALA’s outstanding and fair position on Cuba) subsequently ask to be removed from their abusive lists, they are not only not removed but continue to be harassed; 2) That the anti-Cuba lobby even as we speak are using other ALA divisional listservs to lambast Council for harassing the Cuba resolution movers, when this is emphatically and completely a lie, (see today’s posts from Councilor Genco); 3) And indeed given that the EXACT opposite is occurring: THEY continue to harrass the movers who requested to be removed from the resolution and Council into the bargain, and, as said, new Councilors continue to be bombarded with their propaganda;
– I request as someone who feels that I have been attacked unjustly on this issue by this Cuba cabal (among many other Councilors) that ALA leadership address this issue at Council III Wednesday July 2nd 2008 with a “statement of concern” from the dais; And further, urge Council to ask that Michael Dowling’s exceptional review of the Cuba issue for IRC be sent a priori to ALL ALA major conference speakers in their welcome packet from this time forth (for reasons too obvious to mention); And that my fellow Councilors use every outlet available to them to publicize these vicious and abusive and potentially illegal tactics to their respective chapters, divisions, roundtables, and local interest lists.
These undemocratic smear tactics have to stop and the Association needs to understand exactly how these people operate and how they will continue to operate until exposed for precisely what and who they are. I will let you all have the pleasure of filling in the descriptive adjectives.
Peter McDonald
Dean of Library Services
Henry Madden Library
—– Original Message —–
From: Peter Mcdonald
Subject: [alacoun] Cuba and the abuse of ALA ethics
To: alacoun@ala.org
Dear Councilors,
I write both as out-going chair of Resolutions Committee, and as a 6- year Council veteran soon to retire till 2010 (when I will run again).
Also I will soon be off [alcoun] as a retiring Councilor.
I wish to share a number of very disturbing behaviors perpetrated
on Council and the Association by those not on Council to influence
the Cuba resolution at Council this annual. As we all know three
Councilors signed on to a Cuba resolution. As RC chair and as a Councilor I will fiercely protect and support these (or any) Councilors’ right to submit any resolution even though I may personally disagree with it.
However, it is now clear ( and I speak in my position as RC chair
and in one-on-one conversations with one Cuba co-signatory, and via e- mails > with another), that these decent Councilors withdrew their names because a) they felt they were systematically mis-informed by the perennial anti-Cuba lobby in signing on, and b) when they asked to withdraw as seconds, certainly in the case of one of them, they were subsequently badgered and bullied relentlessly for their withdrawal despite requests to the anti-Cuba ‘lobbyists’ to desist which the latter did not.
Furthermore, as the Cuba debate prior to Anaheim swirled on various lists including [alcoun] many postings to ALA listservs were doctored systematically and repeatedly by the anti-Cuba lobby to appear as if they were coming from or forwarded by Counil (with the [alcoun] subject lead falsely typed in, etc.) The purpose was clearly to hoodwink the Association and Council that these slanted posts were coming from legitimate ALA sources (e.g. a Councilor on [alcoun]).
Finally, and most egregious, the excellent document prepared for
IRC by Michael Dowling on the Cuba issue, was thoroughly doctored by the anti- Cuba lobby to reflect an openly anti-Cuba bias, then sent back out again to numerous listservs (some managed by ALA) under the pretense that it was THE original from IRC with NO caveat or comment that this was a completely spurious fake. At very least this is a clear infringement of copyright and should be investigated as such and legal action taken where applicable.
I therefore ask the ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels to
investigate these unseemly, dishonest and abusive behaviors. The
names of the innocent and the guilty are here withheld. But this
Councilor at least has a complete record of all these falsifications of formal ALA documents and the phony emails sent out over ALA lists under false pretenses that should aid the Executive Director in his investigations.
I am happy to share them too with American Libraries since they all occurred via public lists. There’s a story here that needs telling.
This blatant behavior of the anti-Cuba lobby is the most
reprehensible, dishonest, mean-spirited and pathetically ineffective that I have ever seen perpetrated by ALA members in all my twenty years as a member.
Keith — I will write you by separate and private post with the information. But I do urge Council to be ever vigilant that, whatever the merits of the anti-Cuba cause, these sorts of despicable tactics deserve our resounding censure and open and vocal criticism. Do stay vigilant my friends.
I am honored that I stood with you all through six great years of
leadership and debate on Council! What a great and selfless bunch. I remain on Council in spirit if not as a voting member after tomorrow.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter McDonald
Dean of Library Services
Henry Madden Library
Fresno State