To all JCNA members:

August 1st is the deadline date for submitting your nomination forms to run for the position of regional director for one of the six JCNA regions.

Last year, there were a couple of folks who wanted to be considered, but were late in notifying the committee, and were therefore "frozen out".

Forms are available here on the "library" section of jcna.com, so filing nomination papers is easy. The Aug 1st deadline is necessary to allow Mike Cook, editor of the Jaguar Journal, time to collect a picture and your biography, so that ballots can be prepared for the Sept / Oct issue of the Journal.

It may seem a little early to be thinking about an election that is announced in Jan of 2009, but believe me, it's NOT too early!

Steve Kennedy, the new JCNA president, would like to have YOU on the JCNA board, to help in running the affairs of the JCNA.

Please consider becoming a JCNA director, and submit your forms to the nominating committee ASAP! Remember, August 1st is the deadline date. Don't miss out!

Gary Hagopian, Nominating Committee

Submitted by mark1mark@jagu… on Fri, 07/04/2008 - 14:53

National? What are you going to do, just start a Canadian club and drop the U.S. and Mexico or did we recently become part of Canada? (Sorry I had to say that, after being slammed a number of times by Canadians for saying "national" when referring to JCNA. Some of your countrymen are a bit sensitive about that. I've been very PC ever since and always been careful to say "continental" or "North American.")

I think your solution is a tad extreme and garnering the votes to pass it has a limited chance for success. ;-) However, a long term strategy and an incremental approach could transform JCNA over time. Look how well it's worked for the anti-smoking zealots.

Benevolent dictatorships certainly simplify things.

Submitted by dthompson@gbc.ca on Fri, 07/04/2008 - 08:33

Good post Mark.

Or, you just pass one motion at the beggining of a future board meeting dissolving JCNA. You keep just enough money for seed capital for a new, national club and you give all the rest of the money back to the clubs where it came from.

Hello... hello... anybody out there?

Submitted by mark1mark@jagu… on Fri, 07/04/2008 - 00:04

Daniel,

It would be great to have you back! I was crushed when I heard you and Montreal exited the scene. (OK, maybu just dented a little)

The frame-off restoration thing is intriguing, but as was stated on a great office wall poster, http://www.despair.com/idiocy.html.... (You might want to view the poster before you read on. It's from one of my favorite websites.)

No, I'm not calling anyone an idiot, but as another poster puts it "None of us is as dumb as all of us." . In the U.S. Constitution, we have the ability to call a Constitutional Convention if so ordered by 3/4ths (I think) of the states. The problem is that there is no provision in the Constitution that limits the scope of the convention. So no ground-up restoration of the U.S. Government has been attempted, because no one has any idea what the outcome would be.

While there are a number of things I'd like to see changed in JCNA, I'm concerned that the great ideas that might have time to receive a fair and detailed hearing taking in small doses, would be lost in an avalanche of proposals if we attempt to completely remake JCNA. By the time the proposals make it through the democratic process, there's no guarantee that what comes out the other side will bear any resemblance to the concept going in.

As it stands now, we are lucky if can get through a few modest amendments at an AGM. We'd have to set aside a week or more to recreate the club. That's not to discourage you, but I think those of us who would like change should concentrate on the areas we think most need changing and make the arguments, lobby, and build consensus, and do that over a few of years.

Submitted by rcmaury@bellso… on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 21:21

Thanks Ginger, I missed the form to fill out about the car and salary. Is that why you like your regional directors? ;-) I do think it would be a good idea for a member at large on the BOD. I guess it would be two as the positions alternate. They probably would not have a region. I was member at large for a number of years and not involved in the JCNA. The nearest club was over 200 miles away.

Submitted by dthompson@gbc.ca on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 16:28

JCNA is "repairable", if we start all over again! In classic car terms, they call it a "frame off restoration"

I think I know where to run, but I need to do some checking behind the scenes first.

I'm sure Pascal will be very happy to see me if I make it back ;-) We can talk french at the board meetings!

Submitted by cordag@aol.com on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 16:10

I knew you couldn't stay away, Daniel! You still think JCNA is "fixable?" Don't forget the window office and company car that comes with your Director's salary. ;-p

So....which region are you running in? Just curious, because we kind of like the directors we have in the Southeast. :-)

Submitted by dthompson@gbc.ca on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 16:02

Hmmm... the nomination form is a little intimidating but not too bad. Technically I have not been a "member of JCNA in good standing for the last 12 months or more..", there was a bit of a gap in my membership status...

And there is the small problem that I don't own a Jaguar anymore...

The way I read it, I'm not representing a specific club or a specific region, so I could theoretically run in any region. This is great!

Pardon me while I get busy writing my platform.

Daniel

Submitted by mortoncjc@mind… on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 11:38

Daniel

Article II of the JCNA bylaws says that a member-at-large has all the privileges of a regular member, except that they cannot serve as a concours judge. So, yes, they can be a direcrtor. A director represents a region, not a club.

Now, does someone want to take on eliminating that last exception at the next AGM. I cannot think of a single reason to have it.

Jim Morton