January 14, 2021

Whereas the USASA Membership, in the past : created, approved and instituted a specific process with rules and procedures for the selection of National Specialty Judges,

Whereas this process has been followed for decades,

Whereas the rules for selecting National Specialty Judges has been posted on the club website for years,

Whereas the membership decidedly and purposefully removed the power to select National Specialty judges from the board and gave it directly and solely to the membership,

Whereas the 2020 National Specialty membership-decided the “entire” judges slate be moved to 2021 due to cancellation of the 2020 National Specialty do to Covid,

Whereas the new 2021 slate, (comprised of the previous 2020 judges) all signed new contracts for 2021,

Whereas USASA was able to secure an alternate facility for the 2021 National Specialty, but was then not able to maintain the original dates, thus creating the inability of Mr. Fred Bassett to fulfill his 2021 Best of Breed assignment (50 votes) on the new dates in May,

Whereas the printed, published, rules and procedures clearly state that “if a judge is not able to accept or fulfill an assignment the Show Chair (not the board) uses the slate voted upon by the members to approach the next judge with the most votes”, and in this case, breeder judge Nannette Newbury (49) votes.

Whereas the Show Chair informed the Board of Directors that Mr. Bassett was not available to participate in the new 2021 dates and said Show Chair asked the Board if Mr. Carmen Battaglia from the 2021 slate (moved to 2022) (36 votes) could be switched,

Whereas the Show Chair at the time of this request was unaware of and had not been provided the Rules and Procedures to replace a judge,

Whereas several Board Members were unaware of the Rules and Procedures for hiring National Specialty judges,

Whereas the Board of Directors discussed and voted “yes” on this request without full knowledge of and in direct violation of the membership desire and specific actions to remove such authority from the control of the Board of Directors.

Whereas the Board Directors ignored the rules and procedures and acted without proper authority in a manner that influenced the selection of judges at a National Specialty,

We the undersigned members deem this action to be not in accordance with membership wishes and approved policy and procedures. We ask the current Board of Directors to rescind the action/vote of the 2020 Board of Directors and follow the rules and procedures outlined by the membership and use the 2020 slate of judges to replace Mr. Bassett. https://www.australianshepherds.org/shows-events/national-specialty-judges-selection/overview