AWMA Singleton Debacle
Anne Camper, president of both the AWMA and AWDF, has taken flagrant abuse of power for personal, corrupt ends to an entirely new level by initiating AWMA Board of Inquiry action resulting in the expulsion of Waine Singleton and the withdrawal of his judging license. The obvious motivation was the preemptive elimination of opposition within the AWMA, particularly in regard to upcoming elections. Indeed, exclusion of potential rivals and character assassination have evolved as existential Camper trademarks.
On what grounds was this done? When you strip away the obfuscation and propaganda Mr. Singleton was accused of little more than vulgarity in a private exchange of messages with one David Feliciano, a west coast nobody not even a member of the AWMA. How this private exchange became public was at first unclear, but it turns out that Monty Ellison, knowing about the conflicts on his own forum, more or less tricked David Feliciano into sending him screen shots, not envisioning where this would ultimately lead. With friends like Monty it would seem that one has very little need of enemies; at least Judas Iscariot had the decency to weep and hang himself. The infamous screen shots
This trash talk, having taken place in August, was private and rapidly fading into history until thrust into the public record by the Camper inquiry. Such talk is of course an art form in and of itself; but there is a certain entertainment value here, particularly in regard to Katie Finley's active "social" life. While perhaps embarrassing these are essentially tangential points which should have been allowed to privately fade away. The pertinent issue is that Ms. Finley was also one of the five AWMA board members voting for expulsion, an obvious and flagrant conflict of interest. Personal revenge and preemptive elimination of opposition and free speech rather than measured judicial process is obviously the foundation of this debacle.
There have been repercussions. To her credit Kim Yeager, AWMA Secretary, has resigned in a scathing letter protesting the vulgarity of the process and the escalating corruption. Letter
Tim Karchnak, AWMA Judge, has also resigned in protest. Letter
Although many in AWMA (and AWDF) leadership, particularly Chrissie Smith, are notorious buffoons there remain serious individuals with credibility and a bit of gravitas. But for these people, such as Glen Stephenson and the others opposing the expulsion, the time to stand up and be counted has come; it is now impossible to maintain reputation and respect without clearly speaking out and initiating concrete corrective actions. If you continue to wallow with the pigs you are going to wind up smelling like a pig, and those of us with country roots know well the persistence of the odor.