We recently reported on the GAMA board's decision not to implement a membership resolution to ban discounters from the Origins game show (see 'GAMA To Allow Internet Discounters at Origins'), and received a comment from a retailer opposed to the decision (see 'Gabriel Vega of Name of the Game on Discounters at Origins') and from a GAMA board member (see 'Mike Webb of Alliance Games on Discounters at Origins'). Now GAMA President Rick Loomis has responded to criticism of the board decision.
A Note from the President of GAMA to the readers of ICv2 regarding the Motion on Discounters:
A reader believes that our correct response would have been to educate the membership, and take a revote on the subject. What would be the point of that? Regardless of the results of the vote, we (the Board) are not going to implement an illegal motion. It is one of the primary duties of the Board of Directors of an organization to safeguard its assets and to make sure it does nothing illegal. If the membership votes to do something illegal, that vote is on the face of it null and void. The Board decided that to take a vote on something that was in effect 'This is illegal. Do you still want us to do it?' is a waste of time and money. (And if I had had this advice from our legal counsel at the membership meeting last July, I would not have allowed the first vote to be taken at all.)
Now of course the only way to be *sure* that it is definitely illegal would be to do it, allow someone to sue us, and take it to court to be decided. Your Board of Directors is positive that this would be a serious waste of the organizations time and money, regardless of the result. GAMA has been sued once before. In that case we were absolutely certain that we were right, but we were sued anyway. It cost us a lot of effort and resources, and distracted for two years several officers who could otherwise have spent that time on things useful to GAMA. I would also like to point out that the motion was 'Every effort should be made...' Your Board believes we made every effort, and it simply could not be done.
Please note that we do not have a simple democracy. We don't have the entire membership vote on every decision that needs to be made. The members vote for a Board of Directors, and those Directors make the day to day decisions for the following year. If you believe that the Board is not acting in the best interest of the organization, then the proper response is to run against them for election next July. And I, for one, will be proud to run on the platform 'I will not do anything for GAMA that I believe to be illegal.'
And finally, you suggest that any board member who is 'uncomfortable' with enforcing this resolution should resign. The entire Board voted unanimously not to enforce the provision, given the recommendation from legal counsel.
