From the great Heather Fazio, responding to an email from me about how certain parties have treated our Austin staff. No names are named. After all, we're dealing with lawyers....
Allen, I'm happy to help. There
has been a clear pattern of abuse that Staff for LPT has endured, mostly by a
few SLEC members. I'm thankful that, while I am not going to be working for
LPTexas after the State Convention, you and others are cognizant of the fact
that mistreatment of staff leads to lower productivity and high turnover. And,
as you know, this raises the cost of doing business for a number of reasons.
I mentioned Amie and Christie (copied here) in our phone
call earlier because they were both members of the LPT Staff in 2010/11 and
were unnecessarily subjected to a hostile working environment. Robert Butler,
Rob Lapham and Lauren Daugherty, our last three Executive Directors, are also
copied here. I think that we all have stories of abuse to tell. I'll begin...
- On several occasions, in
public and private, I have had to assert to certain members of SLEC that I
will not tolerate being spoken to disrespectfully. Each time this has
happened, things seem to get better, but then inevitably revert back to
disrespect.
- An incredibly hostile working
environment has been created by what appears to be a never ending effort
by some to gain control of our organization, rather than building cohesion
and a strong team. It's very obvious that some are interested in titles,
credit, and fame rather than working to usher a peaceful revolution in
Texas.
- Fortunately, I've remained
shielded from the SLEC Yahoo email list. Had I been on that distribution
over the last four year, I'd have 1) probably quit by now and 2) not
gotten a fraction of my necessary work done because of the sheer volume of
nonsense.
- Most recently, a member of
our staff was berated PUBLICLY by a belligerent SLEC member after an
event.This was wholly embarrassing.
- Baseless accusations of
sabotage, public berating, disparaging comments of staff's commitment to
liberty, and being used as a political tool of controlling others in our
organization. From childish to borderline criminal!
- Using terms like
"battle" when referring to organizational conflict does not foster
healthy or productive working relationships. In fact, it is very
indicative of a person's mindset and approach to dealing with others.
With all of that said, one
might wonder: why the hell did you stick with it? Answer: I am not a quitter!
And I care about the people I work with/for. Plus, I have been able to rely on
our Chairman as a rock of sanity and focus.
Thank you for hearing me,
Allen.
Everyone else, please don't feel obligated to submit a
short, informal testimonial about the abuse you've endured as an LPT Staff
Member. But know that if you do take a few minutes to put your experiences in
writing, it will likely go a long way to educating delegates who have not seen
as we have.
Respectfully,
Heather Fazio
LPTexas Staff, 2010-14
And if you haven't had enough, and want to know more, you can always Click Here and return to The Whited Sepulchre.
