Cryonics Magazine, October, 1992 [Letter to the Editor]

[megapolisomancy]

http://www.alcor.org/cryonics/cryonics9210.txt

Dear Cryonics,

   I was so shocked by Carlos' latest tirade against the Patient Care
Trust Fund Advisory Committee and Endowment Fund Advisory Committee on
Cryonet that I did some research.  How could a group with over 315 members
in 7 different countries be led by someone who is so obviously unqualified
for the job?  Normally such a disaster would only be possible in a small
cult where it would be easy for a leader to concentrate power.  The answer
is that 7 out of Alcor's 9 board members either live in California or run a
business in California.  Alcor's board is concentrated enough in location
to be influenced in the same way that a small cult would be.  No wonder
there is a campaign by the board to remove the 2 Alcor board members who
aren't currently linked to California.

   Perhaps its time to reimplement Alcor's original bylaws which did NOT
have board members electing other board members.  I received a copy of the
bylaws in a memo by Fred Chamberlain, one of Alcor's founders, dated
7/25/92.  I would be glad to send them to interested parties.

Sincerely,
Eric Klien
8124 Bridlepath Way
Las Vegas, NV 89128
(702) 255-1355

[Finance Department]

Does anyone have a copy of this original set of Alcor bylaws that did not include only board members voting for themselves?

This would be a helpful addition to the information posted here.

[Tripper McCarthy]

I think someone mentioned you can actually get them off of the Alcor website in their library section. They have a PDF which contains the Application for 501(c) Exemption. I wasn't able to open this PDF at work, but it may contain the original by laws.

[Finance Department]

Thanks for pointing me to this document:

http://www.alcor.org/Library/pdfs/AlcorExemptionApplication.pdf

which includes at the end a copy of the original 1972 by-laws, we now have some factual material to consider.

Three classes of members were provided for (different from Alcor's three classes today): General Members, Working Members, and Members of the Director Electorate. Working Members were members who did work for Alcor of sufficient quantity/quality to be so considered by some unknown decider(s). The "Members of the Director Electorate" were selected by the current Director Electorate, only from the pool of Working Members. The Director Electorate members also voted for the Board of Directors out of people in the Electorate.

To say "In 1972 the members elected the Directors" which sounds like all general Alcor members back then could vote for the board, is therefore very mistaken. In fact, the by-laws provide a rather small group of members who actually got to vote for the board of directors. The Director Electorate decided who would be in their group, and also decided who of themselves would be on the board. IMO, this is almost as bad as the situation Alcor has today. But you could just as easily say "in 2008 the members elect the Directors" because the current directors, just like the former "director electorate," are indeed Alcor members. What we are trying to accomplish here is to get ALL Alcor members the vote, not just an elite group of them.

Footnote: I wonder whatever happened to Millard D. Tipp, one of the three original Alcor directors and the first Vice President of Alcor ...