A press release from Free The Breeders
SHELBYVILLE, TN (September 11, 2007) - Because of the many irregularities with the TWHBEA election in 2006, FREE THE BREEDERS has worked diligently to ensure a fair and impartial vote count in the upcoming election.
On July 30th at the July Executive Committee meeting, our supporters made a motion and presented a letter from Winnett and Associates of Shelbyville (the accounting firm who handled the elections prior to 2006) stating they could handle the 2007 election. The motion was not allowed to come to vote because TWHBEA had already signed a contract with Cook & Co. of Arab, AL to handle the election.
On August 13th, three candidates from Free The Breeders sent a letter to Cook & Co. stating the appearance of violations of accounting and ethical standards during the 2006 election. Their letter also stated the TWHBEA bylaws call for “an independent accounting firm with no conflicts of interest with or ties to the Association” and requested that Cook & Co. decline to handle the 2007 election. Cook & Co. is not independent….they are paid to review TWHBEA’s monthly financial statements prior to publication and they perform TWHBEA’s annual audit.
On August 14th, Cook & Co. responded that they would be handling the TWHBEA election and considered themselves independent because none of their employees own TWHs or are members of TWHBEA. What about the money you receive from TWHBEA….that is a clear conflict of interest.
On August 23rd, members of the Executive Committee who support Free The Breeders sent a letter requesting a national mailing list. That request was denied.
On September 3rd, those EC members completed the request form to receive the national mailing list. Again, their request was denied but they were offered their individual state mailing lists.
Free The Breeders believes that all TWHBEA members should be aware of issues that affect all members and the future of the industry.
On September 7th, Chairman Dee Dee Sale wrote Mr. Cadle requesting the ballots be held at the Post Office until October 15th instead of being picked up and counted daily. She also requested that on October 15th the ballots be picked up by representatives of Cook & Co., the TWHBEA Executive Committee and Free The Breeders and delivered to Cook & Co. for counting in the presence of those representatives. Mr. Cadle responded that he had forwarded the request to Cook & Co. A reply was requested by September 11th but was not received.