SUSAN POLGAR

       April 2007 Chess Life:

I love chess and it pains me to see so many problems with the USCF in recent years. I would like to change that.

The current state of our federation is not healthy! Sponsors do not want to deal with us. Supporters are tired of our internal political destruction. Some board members have violated the USCF code of ethics as well as the members’ trust.

Here are some of my areas of focus for the USCF:

• Restore respectability, integrity, credibility and professionalism _to the USCF.
• Reestablish a sound and balanced budget.
• Develop strong cooperation and support for adult, scholastic, _collegiate, correspondence and military chess.
• Establish a strong professional marketing and PR system.
• End the petty and destructive politics.

In the upcoming months, I will discuss many important issues at www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com. Please join me in this mission to reform the USCF.

Thanks for your support!

 

          May 2007 Chess Life:   

Chess is my life! This is why it’s so important to me to help chess. Unfortunately for all chess lovers, the USCF has had many serious problems in recent years. I would like to help turn this federation around.

Here are some of the past major problems that need to be corrected in order for the USCF to prosper:

- Too many bad financial and business decisions
- Too many decisions made for political reasons instead of the best interests of US chess and the USCF
- Too much micromanaging of staff by the Executive Board
- Too much frivolous spending without long-term vision
- Too little effort to raise much-needed revenues to ensure the good health of this federation
- Too little focus on positive chess promotion in the United States
- Too little focus on many membership categories such as adult, collegiate, correspondence, and military chess
- Too little effort to retain our memberships, especially the scholastic members
- Too little integrity, honesty, credibility and professionalism by some board members
- Too little accountability of our board members
- Too little respect for our members, partners, supporters and sponsors
- Too little willingness to keep the USCF up with the times

The current state of our federation is not healthy! We’re losing money year after year while other chess organizations thrive. Sponsors don’t want to deal with us. Supporters are tired of our internal political destruction. Some board members have repeatedly violated the USCF code of ethics as well as the members' trust. There is no end to this destruction in sight unless we demand positive changes by putting the most capable people in place.

Here are some of my areas of focus for the USCF if I’m elected:

- Restore respectability, integrity, credibility and professionalism to the USCF
- Reestablish a sound and balanced budget
- Develop strong cooperation and support for adult, scholastic, collegiate, correspondence and military chess
- Establish a strong professional marketing and PR system
- End the petty and destructive politics

I highly recommend three other candidates. Here are my reasons:

Paul Truong: He’s by far the most successful person in chess marketing, promotion and public relations. He can bring something to this federation that no one could in the past.

Mikhail Korenman: He has a strong record in promoting and organizing chess events. He’s a member of the USCF Scholastic Council. He’s well respected by many people, including former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, 7-time World Champion Anatoly Karpov, and many others.

Randy Bauer: He has had tremendous success as the budget director of the state of Iowa, dealing with a multibillion dollar budget. We need his financial expertise.

Please join me in this mission to reform the USCF. The future of the USCF is in our own hands. We cannot continue to status quo. It’s not working. It’s sinking this federation. In the upcoming months, I’ll discuss many important issues in detail at www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com and www.uschess.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your support!
 

          June 2007 Chess Life:

The current state of our federation is not healthy! The USCF lost money again! Many sponsors do not want to deal with us. Many supporters are tired of our internal political destruction. Some board members have repeatedly violated the code of ethics, standards of conduct, as well as the members’ trust. There is no end to this destruction in sight unless we demand big positive changes by putting the most capable people in place.

I would like to rebuild the USCF into a strong, successful and respectable organization. This is why I decided to run in this election. Here are some of the past major problems that need to be corrected in order for the USCF to prosper:

• Too many bad financial and business decisions
• Too many decisions made for political reasons instead of the best interests of US chess and the USCF
• Too much frivolous spending without long-term vision
• Too little effort to raise much-needed revenues to ensure the good health of this federation
• Too little focus on positive chess marketing and promotion
• Too little focus on many membership categories such as adult, scholastic, collegiate, correspondence, and military chess
• Too little effort to retain our memberships, especially the scholastic members
• Too little integrity, honesty, credibility and professionalism by some board members
• Too little accountability of our board members
• Too little respect for our members, affiliates, partners, supporters and sponsors
• Too little willingness to keep the USCF up with the times

Here are some of my areas of focus for the USCF if I’m elected:

• Restore respectability, integrity, credibility and professionalism to the USCF
• Reestablish a sound and balanced budget
• Develop strong cooperation and support for adult, scholastic, collegiate, correspondence, military and internet chess
• Establish a strong professional marketing and PR system
• End the petty and destructive politics

I highly recommend three other candidates who can work with me to help turn the USCF into a strong and viable organization:

• Paul Truong: He’s by far the most successful person in chess marketing, promotion, public relations, and management. Paul can bring something to this federation that no one could in the past. We badly need his expertise.

• Mikhail Korenman: He has a strong record in promoting and organizing chess events. He’s a member of the USCF Scholastic Council. He’s well respected by many people, including former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev and many others.

• Randy Bauer: He has had tremendous success as the budget director of the state of Iowa, dealing with a multibillion dollar budget. We need his financial expertise.

I cannot fix the USCF alone. Please join Paul, Mikhail, Randy and me in this mission to reform the USCF. The future of the USCF is in our hands. We cannot continue the status quo. It is not working. It is sinking this federation. I will continue to discuss many more important issues in detail at www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your support!

Editor's comment: I had intended to support Susan as she is a celebrity who has worked hard to promote chess, especially among girls, and her contacts might be valuable.  However, I am very disappointed in the quality of her campaign, which is mostly a nonstop attack on USCF with little explanation of why.

She gives not a single example to support her charges of "Too many bad financial and business decisions," or "Too many decisions made for political reasons instead of the best interests of US Chess and the USCF," or "Too much frivolous spending without long-term vision." If so many bad decisions are being made, why is she unable to present any examples to the readers of Chess Life?

I am not saying that everything is perfect in USCF; certainly there is room for further improvement, but things HAVE clearly improved in recent years, and I can't support a candidate who denies or misreports that.

The Federation lost money every fiscal year from 1997 through 2003, but has GAINED over $500,000 since then, even if we don't count the full profit from the sale of our substantially depreciated building.  To say "we're losing money year after year" and "The USCF lost money again!" is misleading and improper, and contributes to a negative perception of USCF which harms the organization.

Susan complains of "too little focus on positive chess promotion in the United States" and "too little focus on positive chess marketing and promotion," without even mentioning the fact that all our publications have improved!  During the last year, Chess Life has been redesigned (surveys show the new look and content more popular), our website looks better and has chess content and current news for the first time, and instead of no scholastic publication, Chess Life for Kids is our best such ever.

During the past seven months (9/1/06 through 3/31/07), USCF has gained 6016 members, the second largest gain in its ENTIRE HISTORY for any period of seven consecutive months.  Adult membership is up by 494 during this period, the largest adult gain for any seven straight months in twelve years.  And overall membership has reached its highest total in almost three years.  Yet Susan complains of "Too little focus on many membership categories such as adult, scholastic, collegiate, correspondence, and military chess." She seems not to care at all about facts, and hopes the voters will buy her message that "the status quo is not working" so we have nothing to lose by putting her team in charge.

I also find the phrase, "end the petty and destructive politics," coupled with support of a slate, to be troublesome.  I have not forgotten the past Executive Board on which most votes were 4-3, always the same four, and the merits of the motions didn't seem to matter, only who was proposing them.  Of course, we all should know that politics, including USCF politics, can be nasty and that good people can be driven out by personal attacks.  And when Susan refers to "Too little integrity, honesty, credibility and professionalism by some board members," she is certainly right about Sam Sloan.  But the only way to end "petty and destructive politics" is to end all politics and to end democracy in USCF.  As Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

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