"Swing Vote" and the ALPCA Elections

While I have written about both politics and ALPCA, I have never addressed ALPCA politics on this blog.......until I watched the movie Swing Vote. While the elections of officers of a license plate collector's Club don't even come close to the President of the United States, I went to bed staring at the 2009 ALPCA elections form. I took away from the movie what everyone else did, every votes counts (no comments from the peanut gallery. The movie is about this loser of a father, Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) getting forced by his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) to go do his civic duty and VOTE. Bud, half drunk, stumbles into the voting booth and is about to cast his ballot and (of course) the machine fails. Molly casts his vote for him, but somehow it doesn't count. This time the election officials figure out Bud's vote will decide the fate of the entire Presidential election. Once everyone in America finds out the fate of the election is in Bud's hands, he becomes an overnight political icon. This simple man with dreams attempts to give folks a voice, with a little prodding from Molly! Of course it wreaks of the debacle in 2000 but the one thing I really liked about the movie, is while both sides pull out all the stops Bud remains on the fence. Each candidate shows they both will do absolutely ANYTHING to get that one vote, even though it means some bribery. The irony behind the movie was panned by most movie critics who invoke the 2000 election, but my folks and I enjoyed it!
For the ALPCA members,especially this running for the Board, reading this note, I have made up my mind on the Directors for 2009, but not VP. No I am not going to name names on here, I seldom ever do. However if you haven't voted yet, or even if you have, rent Swing Vote. Yeah it's corny and far-fetched, then again..... but rent it. It will definitely open your eyes!
Good luck to the candidates.....See you in Erie
Since I wrote about ALPCA I'll throw a plug in the for the ALPCA Garden State Region Meet on November 21,2009 in Waldwick,NJ

Comments

Gus Oliver said…
I have already stated my position on a number of issues but will do a quick recap. The board has recently adopted a resolution to bring each a national convention to each region every 4 to 5 years. I would endorse this resolution. I also agree with the boards objective to have the 2012 convention in the mid-West area such as Des Moines, Sioux Falls, or Springfield, MO. We need to continue to keep our convention costs as low as possible without resorting to facilities without good hotel accommodations or good air travel.

Another issue that I have brought to light is that convention centers that only have 6 foot tables must rent 8 foot ones to meet our specs and the cost of this rental makes these facilities too expensive. We need to seriously consider if 8 foot tables are essential. I raised the issue on the ALPCA discussion group and only received a few responses all of which felt the 6 foot tables were doable. I have requested some information from Scott Mitchell to determine if there is any potential financial impact (other than saving this $5K rental cost).

I do tend to be more outspoken than most but you also don't want your leadership to be passive either. I will listen to all sides of every issue, discuss my thoughts, develop an informed opinion, and be willing to speak up what I feel is in the best interest of our organization rather than what I think is best for me. I encourage ideas of others and want to try to understand all sides of an issue. (Although out of charater for me, I write a somewhat sarcastic response to another member for which I have apologized and was forgiven.)

I have also suggested the idea of honoring the second and possibly third place winner of the Best Plate Contest with a certificate or plaque and a press release either with or without a ceremony. This would be a nominal expense to our organization but gets us a lot of favorable publicity and goodwill with the DMV's. The board could authorize the person who nominated the plate to represent the organization if a ceremony was held and the president didn't want to incur the expense of traveling to these additional locations.

I do like Dan Steele's idea of trading ad space with car clubs as a recruiting tool. I would also favor considering trading banner ads with them on our website. A possible source of revenue too would be to banner ads on our website for our larger members that have substantial websites especially for those who purchase full page ads every month in the PLATES magazine.

I am on both the plates yahoogroup and the ALPCA discussion group so I am available to take suggestions or answer questions.

These and other ideas are ones that I think will help me to be an outstanding director but the other 2 candidates are also well qualified and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about either of them. You as the voter have a tough choice to make. I just ask that you carefully consider all of the candidates and make a decision as to who you feel would be the best 2 directors.
5:00 PM
Craig Hardesty said…
Justin,
Thanks for the comments. I have not been as outspoken as some in the club. I am an "average" collector who appreciates the beauty of the hobby and would simply like the chance to be more involved in the club and knowledgeable of its inner workings by serving as a board member. I have stated very clearly in my listserv postings and in my biography that my primary goal early-on, if elected, will be to listen and learn. I won't make election promises that I may not be able to keep. So I will simply say that I am an educated, organized, considerate, and enthusiastic collector who will, above all else, listen to the club members and try to make sure their issues are heard and resolved in a respectful, timely manner.

Every vote certainly does count. So whoever you vote for, you can't go wrong by exercising your right.

Thanks!

Craig Hardesty
6:35 PM
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