Complaint Review: Jerry Hamza - Alliance Ohio

Being Bullied By Jerry Hamza, CFA's President?

I am watching my region fall apart and it HURTS!!! I'm watching CFA fall apart and it HURTS!!!!
 
This content was written by very active CFA member's/cat breeder's/exhibitor's, of CFA sharing how they felt about reading the transcripts of the teleconference of 3-12-13 by Jerry Hamas CFA present president.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 11:28 PM

Why I resigned from Cat Talk

Hi --- and Everyone, A bit earlier I sat down and read the minutes from the last CFA Board Meeting. I have to say with the words that were written that I can't imagine why anyone would be running for DAL. Why would anyone want to put up with this type of disrespect? I know I know many of you want to see CFA grow, continue, and excel. Well if there are not changes in how people are treated I doubt that will happen. I do appreciate the calm and supportive way that ---- spoke to the issues at hand and the way they were being dealt with. I give --- a hell of a lot of credit for standing by her region, her believes, and holding her own in all that was going on. She kept her cool and it showed. You Go Girl!!!

--- you called Jerry out on his disrespectful abuse that was obvious to anyone who read this. I can't believe that --- was the only one who also called him on it. Was anyone else there listening to the rude way, the disrespectful way that Jerry was speaking, and do any of the rest of you have any Bxxls at all??

I was very shocked that even though at the beginning everyone stated they were there, yet some didn't say one word during the whole meeting. Where was the RD from Region 5??? What the heck is going on with some of the board members? Don't they have anything to say, were they sleeping, or do they just not CARE AT ALL????

Anyway I'm sure I'm in big trouble for ..... how I feel about how the meeting was handled and even more for writing it to the ..... I guess I still care too much or I'm done caring at all. Not sure at this point which it is. I am watching my region fall apart and it HURTS!!! I'm watching CFA fall apart and it HURTS!!!!

I'm sorry .... that you were the subjected to the "bullying" ; that I read happened during this tele-meeting. Jerry, you might have done some wonderful things for CFA but people all deserve respect. You just turned my opinion of your efforts in a total different direction.

3/26/2013 10:56:14 A.M. US
I want to thank all of you that sent me private emails or posted to the ... expressing your appreciation for my work. There were too many to answer individually. A few asked me why I resigned, and I wrote private answers. I wanted to wait for the transcripts of the last board teleconference before saying more in a public .....

I debated long with myself over whether to say anything at all, but after reading the transcripts, I realize we need people to speak up. It is the only way to deal with those who disrespect us.

There are always two sides to every disagreement. I did have editorial differences with Jerry Hamza. Those differences might have been handled, there were ways to compromise. But I decided not to bother trying because of the way I was treated by Jerry. I'm sure Jerry will deny whatever I say and paint a picture of me being the stubborn one and being at fault, which is one reason I didn't post about this before. But now I have an independent record to illustrate what ultimately led me to resign. This was how I was treated. I refer you all to page 33 of the transcript of the board's March 12th teleconference in the discussion of the Louisiana show scheduling issue.

.... starts by explaining the objections she received over the issue, and Jerry did not even let her finish before he jumped in and started ranting at .... ..... She had not even spoken! He just started right in yelling at her. I do not have to have heard this to know he was most likely yelling at her, I have personal experience of his temper. ..... is an elected member of the board, she was elected by her region to represent them, and contrary to Jerry's demeaning rant, he does not have the right to tell her what reasoning she can use to arrive at the conclusions that she does. He certainly does not have the right to disrespect her for having that opinion.

What is even more disturbing is that the only board member to come to ....'s defense to tell Jerry that he was out of line with his behavior was G....., thank you G..... for standing up for ...... Then when Kathy said she did not appreciate being disrespected, what did Jerry do? He continued to disrespect her. He cut her off and kept on ranting at ..... Was the rest of the board cowed or just struck speechless? What are the consequences for Jerry for this? He's just going to keep on treating people this way until the rest of the board stands up for us.

Jerry has done a lot of good for CFA. He has done incredible work with the finances, as far as I can tell. He has made a big effort to get more recognition for CFA, I think the Garfield angle is an excellent path for CFA. But he is undermining all that good by disrespecting people are doing nothing more than volunteering to help CFA. Nothing gives him the right to treat a fellow board member the way he treated Kathy, and I'm very disappointed that the rest of the board, excluding George, let him do it.

I loved working on Cat Talk, it was a passion no matter how annoyed I was at times with it. I enjoy writing. I did it as a volunteer because I enjoyed it that much. But I cannot and will not work for a bully.

Mar 27, 2013 2:01 am (PDT)
You all are stepping on the cat's tail here!!!! It is not an easy thing to stand up to a powerful person or group and get slapped for it, no matter what hobby you are involved in. This is probably why many of our seated Board are so quiet so often, you think you can handle it until something snaps. Sometimes it just is not worth the fight, so people leave... That is what is happening in droves to CFA folks now.

But why has no one been questioning the obvious fact that so many of the respected seated DALs were giving up the ghost? Is it just me, or am I the only person who can really see the writing on the wall. HUMMMM, Sign of the times!

Good luck to all, wish I could be more positive. It is what it is... only time will tell.

Mar 27, 2013 4:46 am (PDT)
I agree with ... and .... Bullying of anyone in CFA is wrong, and disrespecting a DAL/RD such as our CFA President repeatedly did in the transcripts of the past BOD meeting is especially wrong. Our Officers and CFA BODs especially need to model proper respect to each other and with our breeders, exhibitors, and clubs at all times, as they set the tone for what is considered acceptable behavior.

A lot of what is wrong in CFA comes from the atmosphere of bullying being accepted/tolerated in the CFA family. It poisons our shows, our breeds, the BOD meetings and makes it an inhospitable place in which to nurture and keep dedicated unselfish breeders who are the real backbone of our cat fancy.

I believe that a formal apology needs to be made to both .... and to ..... from Jerry. I am very disappointed in his disrespectful behavior. It needs to stop now. We also need to take a zero tolerance approach to bullying in the cat fancy in the future, no matter whom it is who exhibits such wrong-headed behaviors.
Disappointed,


Reference:
http://cfa.org/Portals/0/documents/minutes/20130312-transcript.pdf

Page 33 Hamza: On to unpleasantness