Packard Forum Index » General

I received a sort of ballot from the Oregon Region of PI, of which I was one of the founding fathers, outlining a number of complaints regarding PI's refusal to provide financial statements and accountings, bylaws, etc. I'm not active in the region myself, but like many I belong to PI and PAC, for different reasons.

The PI magazine arrived today also and not a word about these serious issues in it.

I wonder if anyone in other regions is having problems with responsiveness to legitimate questions about expenditures, board actions, etc.

Just out of curiosity, is PI a public or private operation. I was of the understanding if private, no details are required. I know the operation has pretty much been run by a very small group of people.

There are dozens of Packard clubs, but which one has the least politics?

When I was living overseas my membership was treated in a very harsh manner. They terminated it, ignored my offer to pay for the additional postage, and didn't hold the publications I had paid for.

I may be going overseas again and I don't want a repeat of this. I'm not Ho Chi Minh or Bin Laden, I'm a legitimate person for whom an international address is a matter of neccesity.

The ballots asks if the Oregon Region should dissolve its affiliation with PI.

It claims PI won't provide by-laws, year-end financial statement, coverage details of liability insurance being paid. That it stonewalls individual members' concerns by insulating the Board. It claims PI has used member funds to ship a Packard sedan to Europe (that seems an individual member's responsibility) and dinners. It cancelled The New Councilor, a benefit of dues, the membership roster. Club projects will now be sold through a vendor.

Apparently PI refuses to respond to any of these issues, which seems quite different from the days when Bill and Fred and Carol headed up the organization.

If PI is a private business, it shouldn't present itself as a non-profit organization for the benefit of those who love Packards. It should state that its purpose is for the personal benefit and enrichment of Board members. Something like that. One way or the other, be honest and respond to inquiries.

If they have done some of the things mentioned, then there certainly should be some kind of response to at least clear the air. Some actually sound a bit serious but then the question also arises is someone mad about something else or just likes to create waves. I believe that was the way PI got started -- someone didn't like the way PAC did things.

Again, I guess it would depend on the articles and how it was organized in being classified a non profit. I would think there would be some agency with oversight of those type organizations. A letter with a copy to PI might prove useful. At the least they might get the info since there must be a statement of some kind. At the other side it might shake up the management to start providing a timely response if they thought there might be a problem down the road.

what about the sunshine law, and i think its browns law, the san diego region did somethings awhile ago, and my dad quit, they were holding private meetings, and the sunshine law came up. and i think the brown act.

Hello Joe Santana:

Glad you brought this up. I've been a PI and PAC member for over 20 years. I was wondering shy I had not received the membership roster that was due out this year. Then I read your comment about the News Counselor not being published any longer. That reminded me that I had not seen it in a while.

I went to the PI website (they could learn a thing or three from BigKev) to see what it had to say and it still lists that the News Counselor is being published and is a "benefit of membership." However, in looking over the website a lot of things are out of date. Example: Link to purchasing back issues of the club magazine have the earliest listing as 2006 - surely they could put up the 2007 to 2011 issues.

So I decided to hit the "contact link" and ask when my News Counselors and membership roster will be delivered.

I got a reply in about 30 minutes and I have copied it here:

Mr. Detroit,

The News Counselor has not been published for 2 years, because the editor retired and nobody else wanted to do it. So we poured the money into a better magazine - full color throughout and now, more pages, up to 68 pages plus covers. A roster is planned for 2013, our Golden anniversary year. Thanks, for asking

Don Hull
President
Packards International


My reply was that I wish you would have mentioned this in the remaining magazine and that you need to update the website.

Just thought you would like to know.

I am a member of PI as well as PAC. Currently I am the president of the San Diego Region. I attended the PI national meeting early this year and a complete accounting of the PI financial status was presented. Our region has had none of the issues described in the posts on this forum with the PI board. I understand there is no membership rooster presently but I hardly call that being a secret organization.

Last month I attended the PAC meet in Williamsburg VA and I attended both the executive board meeting and the general membership meeting. I was surprised to hear a board member of PAC announce that PI was "going through a rough patch" but not to do an end zone celebration just yet. This member then elaborated extensively on the Oregon Chapter issues and the evil PI board. He was elated that the Oregon Region had applied for membership in the PAC. During the meet I was approached twice by members asking how serious the financial problems were with PI organization.

I find this behavior of spreading false rumors, belittling other organizations and attempting to destroy the other appalling and very juvenile. We should be trying to bring these two organizations together instead of tearing each other down. We are a car club about Packards. Get real folks.

I entirely agree with you. The causes of the animosity between the two clubs is best left where it is, buried deeply, and with the passing of one more generation there will be little left of it. We're too small a group to be so fractured.

My generation really doesn't understand it, nor want to.