Is There Something Rotten in the State Non-Profit ASIFA-Hollywood
Let’s start out with full disclosure. I am stating my own opinions on what I have seen and know. That legality is out of the way. Truth is a defense for liable but often an expensive defense. Opinion does not have to be defended in court and is not liable. And that is a real fear because the President of ASIFA-Hollywood has already sicked his lawyer on me once to force me off the Board.
Yes I have every reason to be mad at the President and Archivist (so called) of ASIFA-Hollywood. After 8 or 10 (depending on how you count) years of service and loyalty to this origination I was pushed off the Board by (again my opinion) the Archivist for the crime of being more popular that he is. I truly believe that the Archivist is insanely jealous of all the publicity I got from all the projects and events I put on for ASIFA-Hollywood.
But that is not why I am writing this opinion piece at this very late date. (Almost 2 years after the fact) In fact that is the reason I have put off writing about the suspected less than ethical activities I have seen by of some of members the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors over my years of service.
I did not speak before because I do not want my statements to be brushed aside as the ravings of a bitter ex-Board Member trying to get some kind of revenge. But I am through with ASIFA-Hollywood now and for the most part have moved on. Therefore my words should have some weight.
So why now? Why a year and a lot of change after the Archivist (sic) and his President ganged up on me and forced me off the Board at the point of they lawyer. Why now if I am not seeking revenge? Good question.
About a month and a half ago I was talking to an animation friend about a 16 mm print of a Fleischer cartoon when my friend stated how unhappy he was with the current state of affairs at ASIFA-Hollywood. “The dues are going up and up and they are not giving the members anything in return except the Annie Awards and the Annies are too expense to even go to any more!”
I then explained to my friend that I had been forced off the Board and therefore was not creating new projects and events for ASIFA-Hollywood so the lack of new projects wasn’t my fault. If anyone is to blame it is the Archivist who seems to be more than happy to put his ego in front of the good of the animation community.
I then laid out the facts below for my friend and he was shocked and fearful that the situation is ripe for yet another financial scandal at ASIFA-Hollywood. “You know that the different people in control of ASIFA have embezzled all the funds twice before. I sure hope that is not what is going on here.” And I hope so too. Which is another reason to finally get my fears and suspicions out in the open.
In my opinion everything is ripe for just such a happening. If there is no wrong doing there sure is a seeming of wrong doing. The President has in effect made himself dictator for life of ASIFA-Hollywood by elimination all the checks and balances built into the original charter.
These are the facts as I know them and in my opinion as a former member of the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors. Do with them as you will:
While I was on the Board of ASIFA-Hollywood the President routinely manipulated the elections by increasing or decreasing the number of Board Member to either include or exclude prospective Board Members to his own tastes and agenda.
About 4 or 5 years ago the President discontinued the yearly membership meeting after a member loudly criticized the actions of ASIFA-Hollywood. As far as I understand it the yearly membership meeting is a requirement for a California Non- Profit.
The President is also in complete control of the finances of both ASIFA-Hollywood and the U.S. assets of ASIFA International. Another Board member holds the title of Treasurer but the President holds the books and gives copies of the spread sheet to the Treasurer before every monthly meeting often explaining the data to the Treasurer before the meeting starts. The Treasurer would later read that information into the record. (At least that is what happened while I was on the Board. It may have changed since I was force off the Board. I don’t know but then no one else knows either. There is no transparency of any kind because the board meets in secret meetings for a lot of their actions)
The so called Archivist has no formal training in the science and arts of running a archive. He refuses all offers of help from trained Archivists from the academic world. I put him in contact with a number of people at one of the finest schools of library science in the nation a number of times but he did not want to hear about it and as far as I know never contacted the school.
He also has very strange ideas about the History of Animation. He has publicly proclaimed his old boss Ralph Bakshi as “our greatest living animator”. And this at a time when Ollie Johnston was still alive. That is not who I want in control of the history of our industry. That is not who I want to make decisions on what to save and what to throw out.
The Archivist, an employee, is an unelected voting member of the Board of Directors and a paid employee at the very same time. But no one on the Board seems to dare talk about conflict of interest because the Archivist seems to be in control the Board through his strange hold over the President of ASIFA-Hollywood.
It hasn’t always been this way. His control on the President seems to me to have dated to a time right after the President lost his job as a producer at Disneys. After the President lost his job he became desperate for money. He came up with all kinds of money-making schemes to work through ASIFA-Hollywood none of which ever worked. The ASIFA-Hollywood cell phone sold exactly one unit.
Why the desperation about raising money for ASIFA-Hollywood? Soon after he lost his job the President announced to the Board that he was going to raise money for ASIFA-Hollywood and take 25% of all the money he raised as his finders fee, cut, whatever you want to call it. There was no discussion, no vote, just a flat statement of fact. “I’m raising money, I’m taking 25%”. He didn’t raise any money.
It was when this desperation for money left the President that I saw a marked change in the relationship between the Archivist (sic) and the President. After this time of financial crises had passed for the President the Archivist seemed to me to be dictating what happened at the ASIFA-Hollywood Board meetings. This is what I saw. Whatever the so called Archivist wanted to happen happened. The employee seemed to be bossing his bosses. Hey, my opinion but I saw what I saw. The tail was wagging the dog and still is as far as I know.
Soon after this the Archivist went from a minimum wage part time employee to receiving $1,000 a week plus benefits. Quit a jump in pay. And all the fees and dues at ASIFA-Hollywood jumped to cover his salary. And is it just the memory of a bitter ex Board Member that at or around this time the President mysteriously stopped being so financially desperate? (again my opinion from what I saw)
When the Archivist could not get reelected to the Board on his own merits the President of ASIFA-Hollywood re-appointed him through some mumbo jumbo legal slight of hand and then discontinued all elections. Stating that the Board would be appointing its own members from now on. In effect going from a democratic form of government to a dictatorship of his Board for his Board. There is no longer any form of accountability to the membership at large.
Is there really something illegal happening behind the tightly closed doors of ASIFA-Hollywood? I honestly don’t know and I was there to see a lot of the very questionable changes come into effect. It is possible that everything is pure and above board. But there is a true seeming of inpropriety in the questionable actions and very poor choices that lead me to question what is going on behind closed doors and why the two people in charge of ASIFA-Hollywood feel the need to close the doors so tightly on their actions. Why do they feel the need for dictatorial control enough to have systematically dismantled all the democratic checks and balances that use to be part of the system?
There, I have done my last duty to ASIFA-Hollywood. I have made public the facts as I know them about an unelected Board member who is taking $52,000 per year out of your non-profit and making you pay the price. Maybe nothing is wrong in his actions or the actions of his president. I have nothing more to say about the people who have seized control. I have brushed the dust from my feet. Maybe now I can move on and not have to worry about what happened to a once great non-profit that I once gave so much to?
Yes I have every reason to be mad at the President and Archivist (so called) of ASIFA-Hollywood. After 8 or 10 (depending on how you count) years of service and loyalty to this origination I was pushed off the Board by (again my opinion) the Archivist for the crime of being more popular that he is. I truly believe that the Archivist is insanely jealous of all the publicity I got from all the projects and events I put on for ASIFA-Hollywood.
But that is not why I am writing this opinion piece at this very late date. (Almost 2 years after the fact) In fact that is the reason I have put off writing about the suspected less than ethical activities I have seen by of some of members the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors over my years of service.
I did not speak before because I do not want my statements to be brushed aside as the ravings of a bitter ex-Board Member trying to get some kind of revenge. But I am through with ASIFA-Hollywood now and for the most part have moved on. Therefore my words should have some weight.
So why now? Why a year and a lot of change after the Archivist (sic) and his President ganged up on me and forced me off the Board at the point of they lawyer. Why now if I am not seeking revenge? Good question.
About a month and a half ago I was talking to an animation friend about a 16 mm print of a Fleischer cartoon when my friend stated how unhappy he was with the current state of affairs at ASIFA-Hollywood. “The dues are going up and up and they are not giving the members anything in return except the Annie Awards and the Annies are too expense to even go to any more!”
I then explained to my friend that I had been forced off the Board and therefore was not creating new projects and events for ASIFA-Hollywood so the lack of new projects wasn’t my fault. If anyone is to blame it is the Archivist who seems to be more than happy to put his ego in front of the good of the animation community.
I then laid out the facts below for my friend and he was shocked and fearful that the situation is ripe for yet another financial scandal at ASIFA-Hollywood. “You know that the different people in control of ASIFA have embezzled all the funds twice before. I sure hope that is not what is going on here.” And I hope so too. Which is another reason to finally get my fears and suspicions out in the open.
In my opinion everything is ripe for just such a happening. If there is no wrong doing there sure is a seeming of wrong doing. The President has in effect made himself dictator for life of ASIFA-Hollywood by elimination all the checks and balances built into the original charter.
These are the facts as I know them and in my opinion as a former member of the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors. Do with them as you will:
While I was on the Board of ASIFA-Hollywood the President routinely manipulated the elections by increasing or decreasing the number of Board Member to either include or exclude prospective Board Members to his own tastes and agenda.
About 4 or 5 years ago the President discontinued the yearly membership meeting after a member loudly criticized the actions of ASIFA-Hollywood. As far as I understand it the yearly membership meeting is a requirement for a California Non- Profit.
The President is also in complete control of the finances of both ASIFA-Hollywood and the U.S. assets of ASIFA International. Another Board member holds the title of Treasurer but the President holds the books and gives copies of the spread sheet to the Treasurer before every monthly meeting often explaining the data to the Treasurer before the meeting starts. The Treasurer would later read that information into the record. (At least that is what happened while I was on the Board. It may have changed since I was force off the Board. I don’t know but then no one else knows either. There is no transparency of any kind because the board meets in secret meetings for a lot of their actions)
The so called Archivist has no formal training in the science and arts of running a archive. He refuses all offers of help from trained Archivists from the academic world. I put him in contact with a number of people at one of the finest schools of library science in the nation a number of times but he did not want to hear about it and as far as I know never contacted the school.
He also has very strange ideas about the History of Animation. He has publicly proclaimed his old boss Ralph Bakshi as “our greatest living animator”. And this at a time when Ollie Johnston was still alive. That is not who I want in control of the history of our industry. That is not who I want to make decisions on what to save and what to throw out.
The Archivist, an employee, is an unelected voting member of the Board of Directors and a paid employee at the very same time. But no one on the Board seems to dare talk about conflict of interest because the Archivist seems to be in control the Board through his strange hold over the President of ASIFA-Hollywood.
It hasn’t always been this way. His control on the President seems to me to have dated to a time right after the President lost his job as a producer at Disneys. After the President lost his job he became desperate for money. He came up with all kinds of money-making schemes to work through ASIFA-Hollywood none of which ever worked. The ASIFA-Hollywood cell phone sold exactly one unit.
Why the desperation about raising money for ASIFA-Hollywood? Soon after he lost his job the President announced to the Board that he was going to raise money for ASIFA-Hollywood and take 25% of all the money he raised as his finders fee, cut, whatever you want to call it. There was no discussion, no vote, just a flat statement of fact. “I’m raising money, I’m taking 25%”. He didn’t raise any money.
It was when this desperation for money left the President that I saw a marked change in the relationship between the Archivist (sic) and the President. After this time of financial crises had passed for the President the Archivist seemed to me to be dictating what happened at the ASIFA-Hollywood Board meetings. This is what I saw. Whatever the so called Archivist wanted to happen happened. The employee seemed to be bossing his bosses. Hey, my opinion but I saw what I saw. The tail was wagging the dog and still is as far as I know.
Soon after this the Archivist went from a minimum wage part time employee to receiving $1,000 a week plus benefits. Quit a jump in pay. And all the fees and dues at ASIFA-Hollywood jumped to cover his salary. And is it just the memory of a bitter ex Board Member that at or around this time the President mysteriously stopped being so financially desperate? (again my opinion from what I saw)
When the Archivist could not get reelected to the Board on his own merits the President of ASIFA-Hollywood re-appointed him through some mumbo jumbo legal slight of hand and then discontinued all elections. Stating that the Board would be appointing its own members from now on. In effect going from a democratic form of government to a dictatorship of his Board for his Board. There is no longer any form of accountability to the membership at large.
Is there really something illegal happening behind the tightly closed doors of ASIFA-Hollywood? I honestly don’t know and I was there to see a lot of the very questionable changes come into effect. It is possible that everything is pure and above board. But there is a true seeming of inpropriety in the questionable actions and very poor choices that lead me to question what is going on behind closed doors and why the two people in charge of ASIFA-Hollywood feel the need to close the doors so tightly on their actions. Why do they feel the need for dictatorial control enough to have systematically dismantled all the democratic checks and balances that use to be part of the system?
There, I have done my last duty to ASIFA-Hollywood. I have made public the facts as I know them about an unelected Board member who is taking $52,000 per year out of your non-profit and making you pay the price. Maybe nothing is wrong in his actions or the actions of his president. I have nothing more to say about the people who have seized control. I have brushed the dust from my feet. Maybe now I can move on and not have to worry about what happened to a once great non-profit that I once gave so much to?
posted by Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog guy) @ 7:00 AM
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