How closely are you following the ANA elections?

Longacre

I have been reading the editorials that the candidates have been publishing in Numismatic News. Some of the positions are pretty interesting. I find the best ones to be those that are more specific as to the issues the hobby is facing, and what the candidate proposes as solutions. I know of one candidate that had a very well written and concise "platform". There was also another candidate that wrote in such generalities, that I did not know what he really stood for. Do you have an opinion of the candidates?

Does anyone know if any of the candidates are on this forum? Maybe they can field questions from the boards!

goose3

I'm not familiar with who all is running for what but can tell you that Will Rossman is a member on here.

DennisH

I knew Los Angeles had a mayoral election this week, but I didn't realize ANAheim did too!

Mark

My subscription to Numismatic News lapsed and I haven't remembered to renew it, so I haven't read these articles. But in past elections the ANA has either sent out or bound in the Numismatist (I can't recall which) essay's in which the candidates discuss their views. I tend to read these thoroughly. However, I am truly disappointed about the quality of the reporting about what takes place during the two years after the winners are elected. Even though I read the little bit that is reported in the Numismatist, the reporting is so sparse that I have no idea who has accomplished what during his or her term in office for the ANA. So, for instance, I believe Will Rossman is running again for President. The first time he ran, I voted against him because he had some Heritage tie and this election was at about the time that a quasi-scandel about the relationship between Heritage and the ANA was emerging. (Was this issue a "true" scandel? I have no idea because, once again, the reporting is so weak.) But this time I have a strong tendency to vote for Will because I was impressed with how he handled the defeat and because I am impressed with how he handles himself on the boards. However I wish I had more information about why I should vote him based upon what he has accomplished for the ANA.

Mark

Shamika

Sorry, but

Lincolnfreak

Can't say that I am following it.

mgoodm3

election?

dbldie55

Have not received my ballot yet. Am aware of who is running though.

Robgetty

I glanced at the ads in the Numismatist, but don't really care who wins. I'm just
a common collector; it doesn't matter to me who the ANA president is because I
have no agenda that I want to see advanced.

Coinosaurus

I'm with Rob. I'm a member but I just don't have much interest in the political side of things.

KurtHorn

I just got a couple flyers along with my Heritage catalog. One, for Barry Stuppler. Very concise, good ideas, actual positions on issues. He is running for VP. The other was for Will Rossman. Beautiful full color fluff, I have no idea where he stands on any issues.

Given a choice I would vote for Barry Stuppler for President. Problem is that's not an option. I have no info on the fellow running against Will Rossman. I wish I had more info, and my suspicious nature makes me wonder why these were the only 2 that Heritage sent out.

PerryHall

I've been a member for 24 years and I've never been real interested in the politics. All other things being equal I tend to vote for the hard working collector members rather than the dealers running for office. The ANA should be a collectors organization. The dealers have PNG. Just my humble opinion.

griffin6

I'm happy to see that the ANA election has at least reached some people's minds. The ballots will be out in about a week. PLEASE... if you are an ANA member, take the time to research the candidates and vote. I am a candidate for president, but I would rather you vote for the other guy than not vote at all. Many folk are all too eager to complain when the ANA does something they don't agree with, and this is the one time that you get a chance to CHOOSE who's going to make those decisions for the next two years. It only takes a little effort and a 37 cent stamp to participate!

A few responses to questions raised about me...

I worked for Heritage for 7 years, but have been on my own for four now. Heritage is endorsing me for president because they know my skills and work ethic. The auction contracts are granted in a fair sealed bid process, and it is essential to the ANA to maintain the support of multiple, competing auction houses. The president votes on contracts only in the event of a tie among the board, and I believe if two bids were that close, I would send them back for rebid rather than raise any question of conflict.

I wrote a 1400 word Viewpoint for Numismatic News that covers what I've been about since I came on the board in 1995, and the priority goals of my administration should I win. I dispute the contention that my ad in Numismatist and the Heritage auction catalog is fluff. The gist of it is that in 45 years of hobby involvement, I've done just about every job at every level of both the collector/club side of the house, and the professional community. For example, I've helped found both a local and a national coin club from scratch; wrote the business plan that put ANACS into slabbing (and designed the slab); and have taught grading to over 500 seminar students (am teaching at the ANA Summer seminar again next month). I am very greatful for what the hobby has given me, but I am also very proud of what I've given back... there's just not enough room on one page to spell it out. If anyone wants a copy of the Viewpoint because you don't get NN, e-mail me (will@peakcoins.com), and I'll send you a copy.

For those who feel that the ANA should be a collector organization (to the exclusion of dealers), I'm sorry, but this attitude of "us vs. them" needs to stop. There are bad dealers and there are bad collectors, but they are in the minority... the balance should not have to live with the prejudice earned by someone else. Virtually no one starts out as a dealer... we are all collectors who have expanded our avocation into a vocation. What is important to the ANA is that the Board of Governors be competent to direct a $20M endowment and $5M annual budget. This is a job for businessmen, because that aspect of the ANA must be run like a business. A numismatic businessman has the additional advantage of knowing the issues and players in the industry, and is less likely to be taken by surprise by those who might try to ply the association to their own advantage.

I have no bad feelings whatsoever against the other candidate... we have worked well together and (IMHO) the only shame is that the same board can't work together again for another term... it's been a good one! We've laid the groundwork for the staff to move forward in many project areas, and the strategic plan is in place. We should see a lot realized in the next two years, and I'd like to be there to help. I live just up the road from headquarters and am convenient when needed.

Again, PLEASE take the time to vote!

griffin6

TTT - I don't wish to push, but as I answered some of the questions raised in this thread, it seems the answers should provoke some response, or at least an acknowledgement.

Again, take the time to vote. Participation is so much better than apathy.

Longacre

Will:

Thank you for your response. I am sure many members on these boards appreciate your participation. Because you asked for comments/questions, I have a few:

1. What is Heritage's policy for including the political campaign flyers in its catalogs?
2. Are all candidates allowed equal access to have thier campaign flyers included with Heritage's mailing list? In other words, was your campaign literature a paid advertisement?
3. What is your view of the hobby's lack of more than two "first tier" grading services, and do you think those two grading services (PCGS and NGC) maintain too much control over the hobby?
4. I posted in another thread the need for greater "educational outreach" by the ANA, in particular traveling seminars in other parts of the country for those that cannot attend the Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs. There were some very thoughtful responses, but I was wondering whether you would support seminars around the country at other times of the year, similar to the Summer Seminar?
5. What are you going to do about the ANA's operating deficit? What caused it in the first place?
6. What specifically can the ANA do about some of the blatant fraud that occurs in our hobby, which is almost completely unregulated (i.e., misrepresented coins by ANA members, etc.)?
7. What are your plans for sustaining the ANA membership, especially after the current market boom ends?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

griffin6

Valid questions which are deserving of more in-depth answers than I can give at present. We're out the door driving to Long Beach within the half hour, so I'll revisit this when we get in to tonight's stop.

Some short answers are that Barry and I are being endorsed by Heritage... as our opponents may be receiving endorsements from other entities. It's all part of the political process and should not be construed as anything more. I worked for Heritage; Barry has not. The bottom line is that they (Steve and Jim, et al) know our work and think we'd be good for the association and the hobby. If you are on their e-mail list, you should get something explaining all this in the next week.

I'm all for regional seminars... we've given grading and counterfeit detection in the past, and are currently offering grading and "coins in the classroom" at select locations. The issue is putting together enough students in one locale and then lining up the instructors.

How many grading services there are of any tier is outside the control of the ANA... sorry. There is no such thing as a 100% solution for anything, but the good services at least limit the downside for the novice. Howland Wood said in 1907, "It is necessary for the astute collector to learn each dealer's standards of grading in order to make intelligent bids." There has always been a learning curve, and while we do our best to educate everyone and identify the problem people, we will never be able to save everyone.

More on operating deficit (addressed in upcoming Coin World article), consumer protection and membership later.

Thanks for the good questions!

Mark

Will:

I echo Longacre's thanks for your response. And, thanks for the run down of your acomplishments--as a non-Numsimatic News subscriber, I appreciate it.

In addition to Longacre's questions, allow me to add one general response: I wish the ANA could interact more with collectors who cannot make it to the annual conventions and/or the (incredibly cool!) summer school by using the Internet:
1) For instance, the ANA could tape one or more of the summer school classes and then make the videos available on the ANA website, perhaps in a members only section to help add value to ANA membership. Tapes could also be made of various meetings (eg, EAC) that ocur during the ANA conventions. I've suggested this in the past only to be told that there is no money available. However, I can't see this sort of endeavor as being terribly expensive. Of course, I hasten to add, that I have NO idea of the cost of the bandwidth that viewing a video might take.

2) When youa re elected President (which you surely shall be given that you have my vote... ) I think having a once a month or prehaps once a quarter scheduled "chat" session over the Internet with ANA members would be useful. You could report on the ANA's current projects and concerns, get feedback about issues, and perhaps even (useful?) suggestions.

Any comments?

Mark

Longacre

Mark:

Those are excellent suggestions. I like the video idea, and I for one would be interested in watching a class or two that I could not attend in person. I doubt the grading seminar would be conducive to a video format, but some of the other classes would be useful to watch later on video.

I also like your idea about the web chat. We have those at work with our CEO (a pretty famous guy from the company that I work for), and they are done in real time and provide an opportunity for the peons to interact with him directly and ask questions). I suggested this in another thread, although I was interested in some of the hobby greats holding a webchat for the benefit of collectors. It would be great to have a chat with the ANA leadership as well.

To Will-- thanks for your responses so far. We appreciate the time.

Mark

Longacre:

I liked your questions also! Gad, if we keep up this lovefest, soon Russ, et. al., will be telling us to get a room....

More seriously, I hope Will comes back and answers the rest of your questions and gives some response to my suggestions. I think I'll ttt this thread every once in a while.

Mark

paigowjohnny

Steve

As an ANA member I find this thread very interesting. Being an ANA member entails, in my opinion, more than just paying dues and glancing at Numismatist every month. Unfortunately, it appears that most members just don't care much about the library, the web site, the elections, and other things that the ANA offers to its members. Maybe, the new management at headquarters will cause greater interest in what the ANA can do for the collector so that more people join AND STAY members. Thanks Will for your comments and the others for some great ideas. Steve

Mark

I hope Will remembers his promise to come back to this thread.

Mark

griffin6

Off the road in Glenwood Springs, CO...

First the question on deficits... in many cases, whether a budget runs a deficit or not depends on what accounting rules you accept. In the ANA's case, the deciding issue has revolved around investment income. When I came on the board in 1995, the budget had been balanced based on investment returns... when the stock market was hot, there was a surplus... when not, the stock market was blamed. One of the first measures I intorducedas a governor was to limit the amount of investment income used to 6% annually. The logic was that over the long term (good and bad market years), 6% would be doable and allow a little growth for the endowment over the term. Looking back, even that isn't obvious to most people. Last year, one of the organizational goals we set was to balance the budget without ANY investment income. Nothing of that magnitude can be accomplished immediately, and we have challenged the management to accomplish this by 2007.

RE: consumer protection/education... I believe the ANA should be responsible for offering educational materials for all who wish them and to police our own membership. Understand that ONLY teeth the ANA has to control conduct is the threat of expulsion, and that must be used judiciously and with full procedures (to preclude the liability of lawsuits). I am currently working on a program to link up consumers with reasonable, ethical dealers among the ANA membership. It will be voluntary on the part of the dealers, but to join the program, they will have to sign a separate document agreeing to its standards which will include a binding dispute resolution process. Hopefully, the participants will resolve any disputes amicably with the consumer, but if not, there will be recourse that is binding in law (and hence collectable through regular courts). Perhaps not an all-encompassing solution, but an improvement on the current situation.

Membership is always a challenge. Statistics show that if new members stay on board for five years, they are likely to stay the distance. To that end, we are trying to target more of our resources and journalistic emphasis towards the emerging collector. My hope is to put more programs and content on-line, and this is in process. We are still working on converting the 6000 web pages from the old site into a format suitable for the new one. You may not know it, but the old site and entire ANA data base were revamped in the last year from an antiquated, proprietary system. The core has been transferred, but it will be an ongoing effort just to catch up.

I like the ideas for web classes and chats. The question is where they can fit into the rebuilding program priority-wise. We have just hired a new webmaster, and if his e-mail is up on www.money.org, may I suggest you direct these ideas to him and see what kind of response you get.

Well, back out on the road.

Longacre

Will-- thanks for your comments! I appreciate the time you've taken to answer and I don't have any further questions. Thanks again.