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Less than a year ago, Lisa Steelman — the mother
of a skater and a lobbyist for Novartis Pharmaceuticals — worked her
magic and, despite drastic state budget cuts, scored a $40,000 government
grant for the Springfield Figure Skating Club.
But in a recent letter sent to the SFSC board of
directors, obtained by Illinois Times this week, Steelman resigned her family’s membership
in the SFSC and requested the removal of her name from the ballot for
Monday’s board election. Steelman says her family is leaving because of
disagreements with the club’s key decision-makers. In her letter,
Steelman says she “can no longer overlook the misconduct of board
officers for the sake of letting our daughter perform in an ice
show.”
Steelman cites several problems with the club’s
election process. She says that board members have added anonymous family
members to the roster to ensure their reelection. The current SFSC roster
lists 184 members, she says, and includes new families from Colorado, Iowa,
Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, and South Carolina — all of whom are
eligible to vote in the board election. “Most of those new members were officially
signed up April 16 (after the deadline of April 15 as required in the newly
adopted by-laws),” Steelman writes. “Most have never set foot
in our rink. Two of them are skating coaches at other clubs and sisters of
a SFSC coach.”
Steelman also criticizes the club for its
absentee-balloting process. One member can fill out a ballot for each of
his or her enrolled family members. Once the ballots have been submitted,
she says, they may be counted by officers running for reelection.
In addition to her resignation, Steelman informs the
board members that she has turned over all complaints, requested bylaw
changes, and membership rosters to the United States Figure Skating
Association for review. She asks for fighting to stop and for current board
members to relinquish control of the SFSC. “To fix all that is wrong in this club is more
than one person, or a small group of people can tackle,” she writes. In addition to helping train young skaters who
compete nationally and internationally, the SFSC produces the popular
Spotlight on Ice shows and Christmas exhibitions. It’s unclear what effect Steelman’s
resignation will have on the $40,000 in public money lawmakers approved for
the local skating organization. SFSC board president Teresa Chessare declined to
comment on the controversy. “We are a private club that exists solely to
support our kids in their sport of figure skating,” she wrote in a
brief e-mail to Illinois Times.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 8-14, 2008.
