[Ohio-Talk] Resignation Announcement

[Todd Elzey]

Fellow Ohio Federationists. This is likely the most difficult email I have
ever written in my entire life. But unfortunately, it is one that has to be
written.

As many of you will recall, we had an extremely divisive election process
at the 2022 State Convention. During that process, there were allegations
that the election process and those who opposed Suzanne Turner were racist.
I was saddened and very frustrated at how the convention election process
played out. While I did oppose Suzanne for President.  My opposition to her
candidacy had absolutely nothing to do with racism. Rather it was based on
what I believe to be leadership competence issues. Had members shouted at
the top of their lungs that I was wrong on competence issues, I would have
been fine with that as that's fair and a part of a healthy election
process. But I did not feel it was fair to characterize opposition to
Suzanne's candidacy as racist.

What many of you may not know is that those allegations spilled over into
an impromptu separate post-convention meeting held immediately following
the convention session in the hotel ballroom. I witnessed portions of that
meeting as I was packing up the Assistive Listening Device we used at
Convention. I did not engage in that discussion. Instead, I got our
equipment together and left as quickly as I could.

Since that day, I have been working behind the scenes to try and resolve
these issues for the affiliate. I have been working on the issues because I
care deeply for this organization and our goals. I wasn't only concerned
that some of us had been falsely accused of racism. But I was also
concerned that the individuals who made those accusations felt that there
is racism in this organization. If there is true racism in our organization
that needs to be dealt with also.

My efforts have included attempted direct communications with President
Payne, contacting the National Office for assistance, and even an attempted
mediation process with two members of our National Board.

But these efforts have not gone well at all. The first impact of the
Convention came with the fairly quick resignation of Barbara Pierce from
the Board of Directors and from her other Affiliate leadership roles. Our
affiliate lost a lot of leadership knowledge when she felt she had to walk
away from her leadership positions. To top it off, President Payne did not
officially inform the Board or the membership of this resignation until the
January 21, 2023, Board of Directors meeting.  I find it equally troubling
that President Payne has never acknowledged Barabara's many years of
service to our organization.

Despite being concerned about how President Payne had handled this
situation, I kept moving forward. However, I made it clear to President
Payne that I did not feel safe attending large-scale NFB of Ohio meetings
because of the possibility of once again being falsely accused of racism,

Despite all of the efforts at communications and the concerns I raised
about the racism issue and the concerns raised about not feeling safe at
large NFB of Ohio functions, President Payne does not appear to have taken
any action to address the situation. President Payne continually refused to
engage in any substantive conversations on the issues.

President Payne even elected to ignore concerns that were raised about the
NFB of Ohio having an adult entertainment gift bag that contained sex toys
and adult-rated video content in it, at our 2022 State Convention.

As things progressed, rather than improving, my relationship with President
Payne continued deteriorating. Simultaneously, my concern for the stability
of the Board and the Affiliate increased because of the lack of resolution
on the racism issues.

Despite never expressing any concerns prior to the 2022 State Convention,
President Payne even began expressing concerns about my performance as
Treasurer of the NFB of Ohio.

So, I struggled with the decision of whether to attend the Washington
Seminar because I would be working directly with President Payne and others
involved in the situation, without any resolutions to the issues or
safeguards in place. But because I am committed to the passage of our
legislative priorities I put my personal comfort aside for the benefit of
the organization and attended.

As it turned out, I thought this proved to be a superb decision. On Monday
of Seminar week, NFB of Ohio Secretary Eric Duffy, myself, and President
Payne had an impromptu meeting where we finally held the first substantive
discussions on the issues I and others are concerned about. In fact, one of
the things that came out of that meeting was that rather than emailing
concerns, we would once again begin picking up the phone and calling one
another with concerns. It was hoped that this change in communication
approach would help avoid misunderstandings in the future. So I left
Washington Seminar hopeful that we were finally moving forward towards
resolving some of our issues.

Unfortunately, that did not last long. This past Monday, President Payne
resumed questioning whether I was doing my treasurer's job correctly. He
asked two questions. One was regarding a pending voucher and another was
regarding the status of the financial report. The question regarding the
report was the pointed question that led to our current dispute.

Although we agreed that concerns such as the financial report issue were
going to be raised via telephone, had president Payne simply asked me these
questions via email, I would have simply replied back with the information
he was requesting. But President Payne took the unprecedented step of
including the entire NFB of Ohio Board of Directors in his email. So not
only did he not abide by his agreement to raise concerns via phone, he
escalated matters by voicing his concerns regarding my performance to the
entire Board of Directors.

At this point, I assumed that our agreement to work on things was off. I
also informed the National Board Members that were assisting us that I
didn't think mediation was going to work. I decided that mediation probably
wasn't going to work because it does not appear that President Payne is
willing to abide by his agreements.

This left me feeling that President Payne had essentially tried to throw me
under the bus with the Board. So, since President Payne had raised my
performance issues via an email copied to the entire Board, I elected to
continue the discussion regarding this issue and regarding the other issues
we faced with the entire Board. Things have deteriorated since. At one
point President Payne even stated in a communication that he had been
advised by legal counsel not to answer questions from me.

At this point, I have been accused by President Payne and apparently at
least one National Board Member of engaging in unprofessional
communications. This most recent issue came to a head this morning when
President Payne elected to start excluding me from at least some Board
communications. I'm going to let you the members decide if I've engaged in
unprofessional communications this week. I am including the entire week's
communications stream in this email below my signature. The communications
are in reverse chronological order. Some of the formatting is a little off
because of how the stream is put together via replies and forwards.

Among other issues, at one point this email stream lays out the reasons I
opposed Suzanne for President. I provided this information to the Board to
explain why my opposition had nothing to do with racism.

Anyway, with all this being said, it has become clear that the environment
on the NFB of Ohio Board is so toxic that I can no longer effectively work
and serve as Treasurer of this Affiliate. When I was elected for a second
term in November I thought I would be serving the full term and even
thought I would be serving the NFB of Ohio for many years to come. But
regardless of whether you think I am right or wrong on the substantive
issues, after reading this email and the week's emails provided below, I
doubt anyone in the Affiliate will believe that it would now be productive
for me to continue in the role. Certainly, it appears that President Payne
has lost confidence in me and no longer believes that he can work with me.

It has been an honor to serve you as your elected Treasurer. I wish I could
continue in the role and feel that I am being forced out because of the
toxic environment we now find ourselves. But I am writing this email to
announce to the membership that I will be resigning my position as
Treasurer effective February 28, 2023. I have selected the 28th as my final
date in the position to allow time to finish up the 2022 annual financial
report for our non-profit filing, to complete all remaining financial
transactions that are in progress, and to allow for transitioning our
accounts to the Treasurer that President Payne ultimately appoints.

Thank you!

Todd Elzey, Treasurer
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio


*From:* Richard Payne <rchpay7 at gmail.com>
*Date:* February 15, 2023 at 1:42:50 PM EST
*To:* Dr.Carolyn.Peters at gmail.com, TurnerW794 at gmail.com, Kinshuk Tella <
kinshuk.tella at gmail.com>, Shawn Martin <smartin494 at roadrunner.com>,
marianne at denningweb.com, Christopher Sabine <info at onhconsulting.com>,
smturner.234 at gmail.com, President Capital chapter <
president.capital.nfboh at gmail.com>
*Cc:* Dr.Carolyn.Peters at gmail.com, Eric Duffy <peduffy63 at gmail.com>,
TurnerW794 at gmail.com, Kinshuk Tella <kinshuk.tella at gmail.com>, Shawn Martin
<smartin494 at roadrunner.com>, marianne at denningweb.com, Christopher Sabine <
info at onhconsulting.com>, smturner.234 at gmail.com, President Capital chapter <
president.capital.nfboh at gmail.com>
*Subject:* *RE: Report and web invoice.*
*Reply-To:* rchpay7 at gmail.com

Members of the board:

I think my work has demonstrated that I have been very approachable. I have
never recommended that any member not take action that is necessary. I have
been dealing with issues from November 6 until now. Just because I do not
wish to allow myself to go back and forth by emails that are meant to
inflame me, and the membership does not mean that the issues have not been
addressed in a number of ways. I would remind you that this string of emails
which I will not continue started after I asked two questions. I could also
point fingers or make claims that would bring a different light to this
issue, but it would not be helpful.
Norma and Shaun who sit on the national board was appointed to mediate after
a series of emails flooded the national office from a couple people that
process also is a way of dealing with the concerns.  If I had done anything
wrong the national would have already delt with the issue. I did not include
Todd  in this message and intend to keep working for you.


Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

-----Original Message-----
From: treasurer at nfbohio.org <treasurer at nfbohio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2023 11:14 AM
To: rchpay7 at gmail.com
Cc: Dr.Carolyn.Peters at gmail.com; 'Eric Duffy' <peduffy63 at gmail.com>;
TurnerW794 at gmail.com; 'Kinshuk Tella' <kinshuk.tella at gmail.com>; 'Shawn
Martin' <smartin494 at roadrunner.com>; marianne at denningweb.com; 'Christopher
Sabine' <info at onhconsulting.com>; smturner.234 at gmail.com; 'President Capital
chapter' <president.capital.nfboh at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Report and web invoice.

Richard and fellow Board Members:

Based on Richard's response that he has been advised by an attorney not to
answer questions from me, it would appear that our relationship among this
Board has deteriorated to the point where our elected President feels it
necessary to consult an attorney about our internal communications. After
reading this last night, I was briefly considering whether I should also
retain counsel for advice. But late last night, Richard in an email thread
on a separate PayPal treasury issue provided more information on the
attorney issue. He did not share this new information with the Board.  His
message reads:

"I decided to respond again to this Todd I did not say I got a lawyer just
to deal with you but I was advised to not to answer questions from a person
who has said he had a law degree. The only thing that has escalated is that
you have decided to now calling out members of the board. I am not going to
answer your demands and think you are out of line."

First I am struck by the fact that Richard tried to make his first message
sound as if he had retained Counsel regarding our communications. Now he
appears to be saying that he really just talked to "...a person who has said
he had a law degree." So, apparently Richard is consulting a potential
non-attorney (i.e. a law degree does not equate to having a license to
practice law) about internal Board communications. I'm left to believe that,
like his previous email comments that "I am the president and can accept
your resignation and appoint member to the board" (January 2, 2023 email),
Richard's most recent statement that "My lawyer told me to not answer any
questions from you." (2-15-23 email) was another attempt at intimidating a
member of this Board not to speak out about issues of concern.

I am also struck by the fact that once again Richard is refusing to address
the serious concerns regarding individuals falsely accusing others of being
racists. Instead, Richard has taken the approach that I am "out of line" for
raising the issues and asking for clarification from members of this Board
who were involved in the incidents of concern. So apparently, Richard would
prefer that I, along with others who share my concerns, shut up and move to
the back of the room so that the concerns can be swept under the rug. I
believe Richard's failure to properly address the complaints and attempted
intimidation is out of line and a violation of his fiduciary duty and duty
under the NFB Code of Conduct.

Clearly Richard is not willing to answer questions about this issue or take
any responsibility for communicating to resolve the issue. I as a single
member of the Board cannot force him to answer questions. However as
President Richard is subject to the will of this Board and this Board can
indeed ask him to answer the questions I have posed.

I hope the other Board members who I asked questions of will not elect to
follow in Richard's steps on this issue as we can begin to heal from these
divisions if we talk about the issues of concerns on both sides.

Sincerely,

Todd Elzey, Treasurer
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio



On 2023-02-15 02:16, Richard Payne wrote:

First and last good to know how you feel. My lawyer told me to not

answer any questions from you.



Richard Payne,  President

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio

937/829/3368

Rchpay7 at gmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the

characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the

expectations of blind people, because low expectations create

obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life

you want; blindness is not what holds you back.


-----Original Message-----

From: treasurer at nfbohio.org <treasurer at nfbohio.org>

Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 7:14 PM

To: rchpay7 at gmail.com

Cc: Dr.Carolyn.Peters at gmail.com; 'Eric Duffy' <peduffy63 at gmail.com>;

TurnerW794 at gmail.com; 'Kinshuk Tella' <kinshuk.tella at gmail.com>;

'Shawn Martin' <smartin494 at roadrunner.com>; marianne at denningweb.com;

'Christopher Sabine' <info at onhconsulting.com>; smturner.234 at gmail.com;

'President Capital chapter' <president.capital.nfboh at gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Report and web invoice.


Richard:


I am, to put it mildly astonished, shocked, and mystified by your

response.

So, since you seem to be at a point of denying any knowledge of

anything that has transpired over the past several months I am going

to put everything out on the table for the Board's consideration.


Before I begin that process, my communication today was not public. It

was within the private confines of the Board of Directors, who you

initially included in the email regarding the voucher and financial

report, despite your assurances during our Washington Seminar meeting

that telephone calls were better for answering questions than are

emails. Following that meeting, I thought we had an understanding that

if you had questions you would pick up the phone and call rather than

email. Not only did you not abide by that agreement, you even decided

to include the entire board in the discussion.

So that's why I responded to the entire board, and that's why I am

including them now.


I take it from your response "I have no firsthand knowledge of the

claims that you make other than you are saying..." that you are saying

that you have no first-hand knowledge of Carolyn making statements

during the convention that the election process was racist. Did you

not hear Carolyn make those statements? Did you not get the

implication that she was saying that those of us who opposed Suzanne

were racist? The statements were made in the open meeting and were

amplified by Microphone. Since you seem to want to deny that this

occurred, let's get it clarified right now. Carolyn, did you make

those statements?  If so, I invite you to tell the Board why you made

those statements.


Next, as you will recall from my previous emails regarding this issue

and your conversations with President Riccobono regarding those emails

and from conversations I understand that you have had with Norma

Crosby and Shawn Callaway from the National Board who have been trying

to mediate Ohio's issues, I have also raised concerns that Suzanne and

Carolyn held a public meeting in the ballroom following the convention

during which, while using a microphone that could be overheard in the

hallway, they once again complained that the election process was

racist, thus once again in a public setting before many NFB members

implied that those who opposed Suzanne were racist. I raised these

concerns because I was present in that room for part of the meeting as

I packed up the Assistive Listening Device Sound System. I was also

warned about what was going on by individuals standing in the hall

before I reentered the room. I grant that since you were not at this

meeting you might not have personal knowledge of the content of this

meeting, but under the code of conduct, once you receive a complaint

of inappropriate conduct, you are obligated to investigate it and to

my knowledge, you have failed to meet that obligation. Since you still

seem to refuse to address this issue, let's see if we can't get

clarification on it right now.

Carolyn, did you participate in the meeting in the ballroom after the

convention?  Carolyn did you also reiterate your assertions from the

election section that the election process was racist?  Suzanne, did

you participate in the meeting in the ballroom following the close of

the general session?  Did you hear Carolyn say that the election

process was racist?  Did you support Carolyn's statement that the

process was racist?

Did you do anything to quell Craolyn's statements that the election,

and by extension those who opposed you were racist?


Richard, do you deny that we discussed the fact that you would not

allow me to speak during the election process to address the

accusations of racism and the claims by one individual that the

concerns raised about Suzanne's candidacy were ignorant? I believe

that we initially discussed that issue via telephone the week

following the convention. Do you deny that I was the only person you

cut off from speaking the entire conversation?  Do you deny that you

told me that you cut me off because you thought the National Rep could

take over our convention if we did not close down the conversation on

the election issue as she had suggested?


Richard, you have asked how I can justify not attending the Board

meeting that I was elected to attend. First, I justify it because I

did not feel safe attending the meeting because I felt as if I could

once again be falsely accused of being racist because I took a

position on an issue.

Do

you believe any member should be asked to put themselves in a position

where they did not feel safe, particularly when the elected president

has failed to address the issue?  Do you deny that I made this concern

clear to you and the Board in a string of email communications

regarding the Board meeting in early January 2023? Do you deny that

you failed to have any substantive plan to address the false

accusations of racism prior to that Board meeting?


You are also apparently denying personal knowledge that I requested

that the adult gift bag auction item be placed on the Board meeting

agenda.

So again, let's try to clarify. Do you deny that on 1/2/2022 I sent

you an email about the Board meeting, which the Board was copied on,

wherein I specifically mentioned that I would like an item on the

agenda to discuss the adult gift bag issue?  In addition, do you deny

that in our telephone conversation following the convention that I

discussed this with you, including my telling you that I observed the

winner of this adult entertainment bag which had sex toys and adult

videos in it, allowing a minor child to look through the bag? Did you

ever investigate this issue? Do you deny that you heard about the

adult bag being auctioned at the convention?  Do you deny that you

announced that the adult entertainment bag was up for auction at the

convention? Do you deny that the adult entertainment bag issue was

brought to your and Suzanne Turner's attention by the auction

committee chairman prior to the convention and that you walked away

during that discussion leaving it to Suzanne to decide whether the

content of the bag was appropriate?

Suzanne, do you deny that you approved this content to be in the

auction?


Since we are here, I want to address a couple of other key issues.

First, I did not nor do I believe that either Eric Duffy or Barbara

Pierce, opposed Suzanne based on any racial issue. I, and I believe

Eric and Barabara, opposed Suzanne because, while Suzanne is an

absolutely fantastic membership person, she would not have made a good

President at all.  It had everything to do with what we perceived as

her lack of competence to be an affiliate President and nothing else.

If folks want to scream at me that I am wrong on the competence issue,

that would be entirely fair. What was not fair was to lump us in with

racists. What continues to be unfair is for us to be asked to ignore

the fact that we were called racists. It was recently suggested to me

as part of the mediation process with Norma Crosby and Shawn Callway

that we should basically accept the racist accusations and discussion

during and after the convention as the group's efforts to begin to

heal from our opposition to Suzanne's candidacy. In my view that is a

hell of a double standard.


In the spring we ejected a member from the NFB of Ohio for use of

racist language and lying about it. Carolyn, Suzanne, and Richard, I

ask you know, would it have been considered part of the healing

process if we had called you racist names during or after the

convention had Suzanne stood and won the election?  I doubt it and I

hope not.

In fact, I believe the action would have been swift. We would have

been cut off at the knees on the convention floor now being allowed to

speak, much like I wasn't allowed to address the convention during the

election.

Then

afterward we would have been disciplined by the board if not had our

membership revoked, as was the case in the Spring. And again, those

actions would have been appropriate as racism has no place in this

organization. But just like racism has no place, falsely accusing

people of racism, or even falsely stating that a process was racist,

also has no place in this organization. Yet, we seem to be applying a

double standard where not only has there been no action taken on the

issue, our President Richard Payne seems to be ready and willing to

deny there is even a problem. Richard, do you deny this also?


Since I feel that I have been accused of racist conduct for opposing

Suzanne's candidacy and that I am now saying those accusations are

false, I feel that I am now obligated to explain precisely why I

opposed Suzanne's candidacy. I would note for the Board that these

issues for opposing Suzanne's Candidacy were laid out to Richard in an

email dated 12/7/22.


1. Suzanne has no skills in interacting with State government agencies.

She wrote a proposal for a transition plan that did not meet even the

minimal requirements of a State contract proposal. As I understand it,

OOD could not even tell what we were requesting. I have personally

read that proposal as I was on the Committee and the proposal made no

sense whatsoever. In fact, it did not provide any data to support the

program she was trying to fund, nor did it provide any financial

estimates of the cost of the program. Suzanne could have sought

assistance in preparing this proposal, but instead, she went ahead and

sent the proposal to Kevin Miller directly. When I told her in the

Committee meeting that the document she presented didn't meet even the

minimum requirements of a proposal to a State agency, her response was

that it would be okay because it was just a working document that the

Cleveland Chapter had created to run their transition program. She

clearly did not understand the importance of making a good impression

on State leaders when you are asking for money to administer a

program. Unedited working documents should never be sent to a State

agency director or anyone else for that matter.


2. Suzanne does not understand the importance of protecting this

organization legally. First, there was the whole Stringer Board

meeting situation. She seemed far more concerned about protecting Mr.

Stringer than the harm he might cause the organization as evidenced by

her being appalled by the fact that we would even consider suspending

Mr.

Stringer. It is also clear to me that she lacks an understanding of

the relationship between the State and National organizations as

evidenced by her concerns that the National would review our decision

in the Stringer case, which she was still raising publicly as late as

the State Convention through her questioning of Carla McQuillan. If

she was still concerned about those issues, as a leader, she should

have raised them with Ms.

McQuillan or

even President Riccobono privately.


In addition, Suzanne showed a serious lack of judgment in regard to

the Convention. First, was her plan to use youth as guides for members.

That

could have put us in serious legal jeopardy had a youth made even a

hint of inappropriate conduct. Second, as the Convention Planning

Chair, she failed to anticipate the needs of other disabled speakers

on the agenda.

It was embarrassing that Brett Harbage could not access our stage

because he used a wheelchair and it was further embarrassing that she

didn't know that he used a wheelchair. He could have filed an ADA

Complaint against this organization for us not having an accessible

stage or for our failure to have a Reasonable Accommodation procedure

for speakers to request accommodations in advance.


3. Under Suzanne's convention leadership, we also allowed stacks and

stacks of accessible COVID test kits, which I understand are valued at

over

$400

each, to sit out on and underneath a table in the hallway unsecured

overnight, which could have been stolen. I would also note that the

availability of these kits wasn't ever announced at the Convention. I

can't imagine that whoever donated these to us would have been pleased

with either circumstance. In addition, the paper mache red carpet from

the Red Carpet Event was also left out overnight without being

entirely tacked down.

This

was a tripping hazard that we could have been held liable for had

someone tripped and hurt themselves overnight because we failed to

take it up.


4. There was also the gift bag situation for the auction. As we have

discussed, we had a Hustler gift bag at the Convention. This bag

actually had pornography/adult entertainment material in it. It is my

understanding that Suzanne was the leader who made the decision that

this was okay to have in the auction. While I personally have no

problem with adult entertainment material, it's inappropriate for a

family-oriented event such as ours.

I

would note that National doesn't even permit alcohol as part of door

prizes.

Suzanne showed a serious lack of judgment in allowing this item to be

in the Convention auction.

And it could subject us to legal consequences as I personally

witnessed the adult who won the bag in the auction showing a minor

what was in the bag.


5.  Suzanne does not have the temperament to be an affiliate leader.

Suzanne has shown on numerous occasions that her temper can get the

better of her. We saw it at the Stringer Board meeting, we saw it at

the Resolutions Committee meeting regarding the Resolution she

proposed, and we also saw it during the elections when she let her

temper take over and withdrew from the elections despite having the

votes to win.


6.  Suzanne does not seem to be willing to take on the full

responsibilities of leadership. During the 2022 State Convention, she

arranged to have a television station cover the event, which was

awesome. But when the reporter asked to interview her because he

wanted the local Cleveland angle, she refused saying she didn't feel

she should have to do interviews. That is not the behavior of a leader

in the organization. A leader steps up and does what is necessary to

represent the organization to the public.


7.  Finally, I want to address the Resolution Suzanne sent, because it

was one of the things that tipped me over in my decision that I could

not support Suzanne. The Resolution she submitted was so poorly

written that it was a joke. She would have looked horrible if the

Committee had put it out unedited. She didn't even take the time to go

back and look at previous resolutions to get the formatting even

remotely close.

Instead of having the Now Therefore Be It Resolved clause coming from

the organization, she basically wrote it as I Suzanne Turner call upon

the Governor, etc.  Now I don't expect people submitting resolutions

to have them perfectly written. Not everybody, not even every leader,

is a writer and there is nothing wrong at all with expecting help from

the Committee in crafting Resolutions. In fact, that is part of the

Committee's job. But I would expect a leader, particularly someone who

wants to be President of the Affiliate, to know enough about the

organization's history and how the organization works to understand

the basic formatting of a Resolution.

I was

also gravely concerned about how Suzanne handled the Resolution at the

Convention. First, she walked out of the room when Ohio's ADA

Coordinator, Mr. Clinkscale spoke. Suzanne has said she had to leave

to deal with the hospitality suite. This was a perplexing leadership

decision. It was an inappropriate decision for a leader who was

sitting at the head table to leave the room when a top State official

was speaking, particularly when he was speaking directly about an

issue she had written a Resolution on.

It is

particularly perplexing given that the issue she was leaving for could

have been assigned to someone else. So this resulted in Suzanne coming

into the Resolutions committee meeting unprepared by not having

available the most recent information. Then when the new information

was laid out, Suzanne continued to raise and re-raise the personal

issues in the matter rather than addressing the subject matter of the

Resolution or how the newly obtained information impacted it.


All of these issues occurred leading up to my decision to oppose

Suzanne at the Convention. I have not been reassured since then that

she has learned anything from her experiences. Shortly after the

convention, November 28, 2022, Suzanne submitted written testimony in

support of SB 202, our parental rights legislation, that was so poorly

written that she actually began a paragraph with a comma. This

document will live on forever as a public record and a representation

of the lack of professionalism of the NFB of Ohio.


If anyone still believes that my opposition to Suzanne as a candidate

for president was racially motivated, I invite you to explain why.


I also want to address an outlier issue with the problems this

Affiliate now faces. As I believe everyone knows now Barbara Pierce

resigned from the NFB of Ohio Board of Directors shortly after the

convention. In fact, I understand she felt compelled to resign from

all of her Ohio leadership roles. Although Barbara is entirely capable

of speaking for herself, as I understand it that resignation was

tendered in large part, if not exclusively, because of the Convention.

With absolutely no disrespect intended for the individual who has been

appointed to replace Barbara, the loss of Barbara's experience to this

Board and affiliate is astronomical. I have been personally appalled

with how the resignation was handled and with the lack of respect

Richard has given to her for many years of selfless service to this

organization. As far as I can tell, Richard made no effort to heal the

divisive issues that lead to Barbara's resignation.

Instead,

although I believe it shows poor judgment, Richard elected to exercise

his right to accept her resignation without making any effort to heal

the divisive issues that lead to the resignation. Some sort of

leadership effort to heal these divisive issues might have kept

Barbara and her vast knowledge and experience on the Board. But to top

it off, Richard even failed to inform the Board of this resignation

when it occurred. He has also failed to acknowledge in any public way

Brbara's many years of service and contributions to this organization.

It is particularly troubling that this has occurred because of false

accusations of racism. Richard, do you also deny that you did not try

to work towards keeping Barbara on the Board?

Do

you deny that you did not inform the Board of Barbara's resignation

when it occurred? And finally, do you deny that you have failed to

acknowledge publicly Barbara's many years of service and contributions

to the NFB of Ohio as would be befitting of someone of her stature in

the organization?


Finally, while I have tried to stay away from discussing these issues

outside of the Board, I have been asked about what is going on with

the Board. Some members and other leaders expressed concerns after the

convention. Some went as far as to say that they would never attend an

NFB of Ohio Convention again because of how it was handled. Others

raised questions about what was going on when Eric Duffy and I were

not at the Board meeting in January. What I am saying is that the

issues are out in the membership. We cannot continue to sweep this

problem under the rug as if it does not exist.


For those of you who have been asked for a response, I look forward to

receiving them sent to the entire Board. For everyone else, I am happy

to answer any questions anyone may have regarding the concerns I have

raised, and I look forward to us finally moving forward to addressing

our serious leadership divide in Ohio.


Todd Elzey, Treasurer

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio






On 2023-02-14 18:29, Richard Payne wrote:

Dear Todd:


I have no firsthand knowledge of the claims that you make other than

you are saying that but even with that I have no reason to publicly

bring it up. My reason for writing the email to the board was to

answer the question about the report which we should be able to get

even if you do not attend the meeting. How you can justify that you

are able to not attend the board meeting which you are elected to

take part in is another subject for another day.

I am not writing to argue with you just to get it noted that this

information is being requested.




Richard Payne,  President

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio

937/829/3368

Rchpay7 at gmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the

characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise

the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create

obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life

you want; blindness is not what holds you back.


-----Original Message-----

From: treasurer at nfbohio.org <treasurer at nfbohio.org>

Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 12:52 PM

To: rchpay7 at gmail.com

Cc: Dr.Carolyn.Peters at gmail.com; 'Eric Duffy' <peduffy63 at gmail.com>;

TurnerW794 at gmail.com; 'Kinshuk Tella' <kinshuk.tella at gmail.com>;

'Shawn Martin' <smartin494 at roadrunner.com>; marianne at denningweb.com;

'Christopher Sabine' <info at onhconsulting.com>;

smturner.234 at gmail.com; 'President Capital chapter'

<president.capital.nfboh at gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Report and web invoice.


Mr. President:


Thank you for your message and for sharing this line of communication

with the Board. First, in regards to Invoice 5775 regarding the

Website.

This invoice was received 2-3-2023 just after the Washington Seminar.

As you

know we are all volunteers. I have had several things going on.

Including the fact that I have decided to leave my employment with

the National Staff effective February 24, 2023. Despite that, I am

still working full-time until the 24th. At any rate, this invoice is

only 10 days old.

Many organizations can take up to 30 days to pay invoices/vouchers,

and I think we have consistently beat that time frame while I have

served as treasurer. I have consistently paid vouchers timely despite

the fact that your vouchers regularly arrive with missing information

that you have to subsequently provide.


As for the Treasurers report, it is in process and I will get it out.

As you

know I did not attend the January Board meeting because I did not

feel safe to do so because of basically being called a racist by our

Vice President Carolyn Peters and Board Member Suzanne Turner during

the

2022 State Convention in regards to the election process. This is an

issue you have as our President not addressed publicly, despite our

private communications on the topic. You also failed to put an item I

requested on the Board meeting agenda to address the issue of having

an adult entertainment gift bag in our NFB of Ohio Convention Auction.


I made you are aware in early January that I would not attend the

Board meeting until this organization addressed the issues of Racism

for both those who were called racists, and for those who felt that

there is racism in this organization. As we discussed at the

Washington Seminar, I felt very disrespected by being called a racist

because that puts me in the same category as the KKK and other racist

organizations. I do not believe that being characterized as a racist

for opposing a candidate for office was fair. I do not believe that I

have ever taken any action to justify being characterized as such.


All this is by way of saying, despite what I thought was a relatively

productive conversation at the Washington Seminar, I am gathering

from the fact that you have included the full board in your email

regarding the voucher and report, that you are now questioning how I

am performing my duties as Treasurer. If the board believes I am not

performing my duties as required by our Constitution, the Board

always has the option of removing me from the position.


Sincerely,


Todd Elzey, Treasurer

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio


. On 2023-02-14 16:29, Richard Payne wrote:

Dear Todd:


I have been asked about a treasurer report and reached out to you

about a report and still have not received one to share could you

please provide one?


I also am being asked about the payment for our web page invoice

hopefully that has been paid thanks for your attention.

Richard Payne,  President


National Federation of the Blind of Ohio


937/829/3368


Rchpay7 at gmail.com


The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the

characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise

the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create

obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life

you want; blindness is not what holds you back.