The Agrinautica

I think a crucial aspect of the situation is that it was never discussed with the body, and attempts to bring it to such a discussion were pointedly shot down (I suggested during the meeting that we discuss the issue, and even my own concerns with summarily shot down in discussion with Catherine). While yes the Secretariat is an elected representation of the body, they were elected for their administrative skills, and in certain other areas their interests my differ strongly from the body. In particular, for the past several years a $20 "team dinner" has been on the official agenda for the AMWEST conference. Usually of the twenty or so people we bring to AMWEST, only about five go to the dinner, of whom nearly all are secretariat members. Its not subsidized by the club so I have no reason to object, but the point is that the secretariat for some reason seems to represent people with more money than the rest of the club; and spending club money on a dinner that in all likelihood only the secretariat and a small number of others would attend (vis-a-vis AMWEST attendance) at the very very least should be approved by the club, and in the absense of that it smacks of advantaging the secretariat members at the expense of the membership.