| Sam Sloan 2004-11-29, 9:46 am |
| On 29 Nov 2004 03:12:55 GMT, parrthenon@cs.com (Parrthenon) wrote:
quote:
>clear when the USCF moved in years ago, was this not true?> -- Leopold
>
><<I don't know. I don't think so, but perhaps somebody else can comment.>> --
>Randy Bauer
>
>The building was bought by the USCF during Tony Cottell's time as treasurer.
>Chess Life ran a picture of him handing the check to someone or other.
>
> Tough Tony, whom a few staff members called "the shark" and "the barracuda"
>and a "knife murderer," had some ideas about saving money and sinking it into
>property that did not always make what smart businessman would regard as good
>sense. The other side of the coin is that we had a series of people running the
>Federation who were evidently not smart businessmen.
>
> If it had not been for Tough Tony's tight-fistedness, there would be no
>Federation today. Now the USCF is in the ludicrous position of selling a
>building that was completely paid for and firing virtually the entire staff in
>order to move somewhere else and construct a new building with arguably a half
>million dollar mortgage without having thoroughly investigated a site in
>Liberty, New York, donated by a multibillionaire at a fraction of its true
>value.
>
>And so it goes.
This is an important post which answers some questions I had been
asking.
Tony Cottell last attended a USCF Delegate's meeting in Framingham,
Massachusetts in 2001. Before that, he was a regular and served two
three year terms as USCF Treasurer. It was while Cottell was treasurer
that the USCF build up a reserve in the LMA of $2 million.
Cottell did not come to the 2002 meeting in Cherry Hill NJ even though
he lives nearby in New Jersey. At this meting, motions were passed
weakening the LMA and Cottell would have been screaming had he been
there.
It it true that Cottell was disliked and unpopular. It it also true
that had not Cottell done some unpopular things, the USCF would have
been out of business years ago. Had Cottell not been defeated when he
ran again for treasurer, the USCF would still have $2 million in the
bank and would still own the building in New Windsor.
Anthony Cottell, please come back! We need you now!
Sam Sloan
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