Membership in our beloved TANA entered a phase of explosive growth. From 2004 to 2006, the membership increased by more than 50% from about 2,300 to 3,500. Now we hear that the membership exploded to more than 17,000. As the enrollment increased so much in a short time, it is critical to review and validate all new membership applications in a fair and transparent manner. The verification process should be judicous. It was well known to all our members that there were some shenanigans in 2006 since TANA officially removed more than 200 members from its voter rolls after a partial verification of applications which was done months after the approval of the same applications by the Executive Committee. It is extremely important for office holders in non-profit organizations to avoid conflicts of interest. So it is only fair to expect an independent group to take up the process of membership verification and enrollment and keep the process transparent. TANA members or officers involved in the processing and verification of new applications must not be eligible to contest in the 2009 TANA elections. We petition the TANA Governing Board to appoint an independent group, preferably an external audit firm, to review and validate all new membership applications since March 1, 2004. I agree and express my support to this petition to appoint an independent audit firm to review and audit the new membership applications since March 1, 2004.

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