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Originally Posted by Arizona Jack  Sorry to see Alan Herbert lose, he is a member of my coin club in Mesa  |
Well, that goes to the heart of the question: who wins elections? The ANA has 33,000 members but only 8,000 voted. Many of those (perhaps most) are likely to be people who have actually attended ANA conventions. The voters are typically those people who read Board meeting minutes. They go to the seminars in Colorado Springs. They subscribe to the periodicals. They read their Numismatists sooner or later. (Of course, many who voted have done none of these, but I submit that the generalization holds.)
My perception is that Alan Herbert's running was a matter of tradition. He is a writer and that tends to define his preferred communication style. He is not someone who speaks up and speaks out. Walter Ostromecki was elected back to the Board after having been kicked off over his refusal to sit down, shut up and do as he is told. He took the truth to the membership and was censured for that -- and the members returned him to the Board as their expression of dissatisfaction with the governing and general managment of the ANA. Now, Alan Herbert might have been equally distraught, but it is not like him to be bold. He does not have to be. His work on behalf of the hobby is known to all who read about modern American numismatics. That said, Alan Herbert was not returned to the Board by a relatively small margin of votes that I think reflect a percentage of newer active members among whom he does not have that automatic recognition.
That might speak to a wider change.
