The GAMA Board of Directors has issued a statement to its membership to answer questions about the resignation of Ryan Dancey from the board (see 'GAMA Governance Crisis'):

A number of questions have been asked regarding the circumstances of Ryan Dancey's resignation.  The board will attempt to answer these as best it can.

The question has risen as to why the board voted to refuse Mr. Dancey's resignation.  There are several reasons.  First, the board was hoping to retain Mr. Dancey.  He brought energy, a number of unique skill sets, and a strong vision for the future to the Association.  The board was hopeful that his actions prior to election would not cost him the ability to participate in board-level leadership.

Second, the vote to retain Mr. Dancey was always seen as tentative.  The plan was to take the vote to the membership for ratification.  If the membership supported that decision, Mr. Dancey would stay on as Treasurer.  If not, he would go.

Third, it is not clear that Mr. Dancey's actions were illegal.  While GAMA's legal counsel did render an opinion that the actions violated State and Federal laws, other attorneys GAMA consulted were less certain.  Thus, the board was receiving conflicting opinions of the legality of Mr. Dancey's actions.  Furthermore, GAMA's legal counsel did not feel that the infraction rose to the level of felony, and all attorneys consulted thought it unlikely that anyone would be inclined to prosecute.  This is an evolving area of the law.  Recent rulings by the First District Court of Appeals, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, has thrown further doubt onto the question of what is legal and what is not in these circumstances.

With all that in mind, the board voted to refuse Mr. Dancey's resignation pending determining the opinion of the membership.  When it became clear that the membership did not support retaining Mr. Dancey as Treasurer, the board accepted Mr. his resignation.

The board acknowledges that it made a mistake in at first refusing Mr. Dancey's resignation.  While it had the best intentions of the Association in mind, not accepting Mr. Dancey's resignation when he first offered it was an error in judgment.  The board apologizes for making that decision.  Mr. Dancey's actions were wrong, and the board in no way condones them.  In fact, the board told Mr. Dancey what he had done was wrong as soon as he informed the board of his actions, which resulted in the initial offer of resignation.  The membership spoke, and the board acted accordingly.

Questions have arisen as to the circumstances surrounding Mr. Dancey's penetration of the board e-mail list.  Some have a supposed that there was a 'second man' who gave Mr. Dancey the information he needed to hack the list.  Such suppositions are false.  Mr. Dancey did not hack the list.  He followed a link that appeared in an e-mail on a public list.  He discovered that the listserv was not password protected.  No one assisted Mr. Dancey in his activities, and his actions were not 'hacking.'

Questions have arisen regarding former Managing Director Chris Watson's involvement in the investigation and his termination of employment.  GAMA has no comment on any aspects of Mr. Watson's employment.  These are HR issues, and GAMA cannot and will not make any statements regarding them other than to thank Mr. Watson for his years of valued service to the Association.

Questions have arisen regarding statements made by GAMA Retail Division Chair Steve Nicewarner in his letter of resignation.  Mr. Nicewarner made reference to three cases of ethical misconduct on the part of the board.  The first was the issue of Mr. Dancey's wrongdoing.  The others were issues that arose in May of 2004 or before.  Thus, they came up before the election at the Annual Membership Meeting in June.  While the board is disappointed in Mr. Nicewarner's statements, it will not comment on the issues he raised in his remarks.  These are confidential HR and/or legal issues, and the board cannot make any statements regarding them.

While the board recognizes that Mr. Dancey's actions were wrong and its initial decision was upsetting to the membership, it is time to move forward.  There is a great deal of work that needs to be done, and GAMA needs to focus its energy on accomplishing that work.  Mr. Dancey is no longer a member of the board.  He has paid a high price for his indiscretions.  This will serve as the final statement from the board on this subject.