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TOUGH TIMES IN THE REPORTING PROFESSION
TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR OUR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES

It's a difficult time in the reporting industry, and our national association may be at a crossroads regarding what direction to take in the future. The August 5th election at the NCRA convention in Chicago will determine next year’s officers and board members. Four of the candidates chosen by the NCRA nominating committee last March are being contested, and four bylaws amendments are being proposed.

California has approximately 17% of the total NCRA membership, over 500 of whom belong to The Deposition Reporters Association. Those of you who are NCRA members have an opportunity, come August, to choose the candidates who most closely share your own philosophies and ideologies regarding the future direction of this profession. DRA feels it is important to provide our members with as much information as possible to help you make this decision. We have formulated some tough questions in order to elicit information we feel you deserve to know about the candidates between whom you must choose. Each of the candidates for a contested position has graciously agreed to participate and allow us to print their responses. Their bios, and information regarding how to vote online via Direct Member Voting, can be found on NCRA’s website, ncraonline.org.

Candidates

CANDIDATE FOR NCRA PRESIDENT-ELECT	R. DOUGLAS FRIEND, RMR, CRR Portland, Oregon Email: dfriend [at] bwfreporters [dot] com [SLATED]	SANDRA M. MIEROP, RPR, CRR, CCP, CBC Anchorage, Alaska, Email: sandi [at] nlrr [dot] com
CANDIDATE FOR VICE PRESIDENT	SHIRLEY HALL, RDR, CRR, CBC, CRI, CEP shirleyhall_ncra [at] yahoo [dot] com [SLATED]	TAMI SMITH, RPR, CPE Lansing, Michigan Email: tamisteno [at] att [dot] net
CANDIDATE FOR SECRETARY-TREASURER	JASON MEADORS, RPR, CRR Fort Collins, Colorado Email: jason [at] reporterworks [dot] com [SLATED]	BRUCE A. MATTHEWS, RDR, CRR, FAPR Cleveland, Ohio Email: bamcrr [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
CANDIDATE FOR DIRECTOR (THREE-YEAR TERM)	VICTORIA L. PITTMAN, BA, RDR, CRI, CVR-CM Wake Forest, NC Email: tori [at] tori-pittman [dot] com [SLATED]	VIOLA ZBOROWSKI, CSR, CRR, CMR Long Valley, NJ Email: vzborowski [at] comcast [dot] net

Key Candidate Questions

Click on the link to see each candidate's answer.

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

1. Do you believe we should remain stenocentric or become an umbrella association which includes alternate methods of reporting? If so, which methods? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

2. Do you think an umbrella association would present a conflict of interest? Would it harm or help steno reporters? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

3. Why do you think so many members are dropping their membership? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

4. Do you think $30,000 a month is an appropriate salary for the executive director? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

5. Although NCRA has no power to stop gift giving or contracting, do you believe it should be accepting advertising or sponsorship from entities that engage in such practices, in some instances entities that have been fined for engaging in such practices? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

6. Do you think members who have ownership in entities which engage in gift giving or contracting should be allowed to serve as officers or directors of the NCRA board? view view view view view view view view

Douglas Friend Sandra Mierop Shirley Hall Tami Smith Bruce Mathews Jason Meadors Victoria Pittman Viola Zborowski

7. How do you feel about the four proposed bylaws amendments? view view view view view view view view

Download a .zip file containing all the candidates' responses in .pdf format

PROPOSED AMENDMENT Article III, Section 9, paragraph b.

b) All Members may attend meetings of the Members and participate in any debates at such meetings. Only Participating Members who are verbatim stenographic reporters and Registered Members who are verbatim stenographic reporters, as well as Retired Lifetime Members and Honorary Members who have been verbatim stenographic reporters, shall be eligible to vote and/or make or second motions at such meetings or to vote by electronic mail or other means of electronic transmission as specifically authorized under Article IX ("Voting Members"). Rationale: There have been several attempts in the last few years to bring nonstenographic groups into the Participating or Registered Member category, where they would then be able to vote on issues affecting our stenographic association or serve as directors and/or officers. Currently, it only lists the Retired Lifetime Members and Honorary Members as having to be stenographic reporters to be eligible to vote.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT Article III, Section 9, paragraph c.

c) Only Registered Members who are verbatim stenographic reporters or Retired Lifetime Members who have been verbatim stenographic reporters or Honorary Members who have been verbatim stenographic reporters shall be eligible to hold an elective office of the Association. Rationale: This would allow those members who have served us in the past to have more input into the direction of the Association by serving again as a board member and/or an officer.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT Article V – Board of Directors

Section 2–Composition and Eligibility

The Board of Directors shall be composed of the President, President-Elect, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, the Immediate Past President, and nine (9) Directors. The Executive Director shall be an ex officio member of the Board of Directors without voting rights. The Board of Directors may appoint other ex officio members of the Board without voting rights. Only Registered Members who are verbatim stenographic reporters or Retired Lifetime Members and Honorary Members who have been verbatim stenographic reporters shall be eligible to hold an elective office of the Association. Rationale: This would allow former Registered Members and Honorary Members who have been stenographic reporters to serve as an officer or director if they meet all other qualifications.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT Article VI, Section 2–Election, Qualifications, and Term of Office

The Officers (except the President, the Immediate Past President, and the Assistant Secretary-Treasurer) shall be elected each year by the Voting Members. The term of each elected Officer shall begin at the close of the annual convention at which the Officer was elected and the Officer shall serve until the Officer’s successor is elected. No elected Officer shall serve for more than one full term in the same office except the Secretary-Treasurer; however, if a qualified Member wishes to run for an Officer position which he or she has held previously, he or she must wait until at least seven years have passed from the time he or she has held that Officer position. The Secretary-Treasurer who may serve for no more than three (3) consecutive terms. If an individual holds the position of Secretary-Treasurer for three (3) consecutive terms, that individual may not run for the Office of Secretary-Treasurer again until after seven years have elapsed from the time he or she has last held that position. The President-Elect shall automatically succeed to the office of President at the completion of the President’s term of office.

Rationale

The rationale for this amendment is that there are some members who may want to hold an officer position more than one time in their life. Since many members believe that board members should not just be recycled year after year, the seven-year rule will make sure that anyone trying to run for an officer position after having already served previously in that position will have to wait at least three years at a minimum after their board service is completed before they could run again. An example of this would be the following. In 2000, a member becomes the Vice President and is Vice President for the 2000-2001 association year (year one). The member decides to move up the ladder and become President-Elect for the 2001-2002 association year (year two). That person then automatically becomes President for the 2002-2003 association year (year three), and then automatically becomes the Immediate Past President for the 2003-2004 association year (year four). In order for that member to run for and become Vice President again, they would have to wait three more association years to elapse before doing so. If the member became Vice President for the 2000-2001 association year and then decided not to try to advance to the next highest position, that member would have to wait for seven years before he or she could run for Vice President again. They could run for President-Elect at any time in the future since he or she had never held that position previously.