Loren R.
Douglass

The Record, in Brief

• The threshold to remove a Grand Sire Archon is ten votes — two-thirds of the entire fourteen-member Grand Board (Bylaw 2, §4G, Footnote 10).
• On April 9, 2025, eight votes were cast. The threshold was never met.
• James H. Slaughter, Past President of the American College of Parliamentary Lawyers, reviewed the governing documents and confirmed the ten-vote requirement in a written opinion.
• The Fraternity's Grievance Committee reviewed the matter and found that no useful purpose would be served by recommending further action.
• A Pennsylvania Orphans' Court has issued preliminary findings that the 51st Grand Sire Archon is likely to prevail on the merits.

These are the court's preliminary findings, not a final judgment. The matter is not concluded.

Ten Questions Every Delegate Should Ask
About Grand Boulé Financials

Every delegate arrives in Dallas with three responsibilities: to protect the Constitution, to oversee the finances, and to elect the leadership that will steward both. At the town hall I promised greater financial transparency. Stewardship also means prepared delegates — delegates who know what a complete financial report contains, and who ask the right questions at the right time. Keep these ten. Use them in Dallas, and measure the report that follows against them.

1. Where are the actuals?One clean statement of what happened: revenues received, costs incurred, and the net — in dollars, on one page. Percentages are relationships, not results.
2. Was a budget published before the convention?Performance can only be judged against a commitment made in advance. No published baseline, no variance — only assertion, and therefore meaningless.
3. Is the Grand Boulé reported standalone?An unconsolidated statement — the convention's own revenues and costs. Folded into general operations, the event's true performance disappears into the blend.
4. Are the figures final — or interim?Convention costs settle for weeks after the closing gavel. Ask what remains outstanding, and ask for the date the final statement will reach delegates. A date is a commitment; “in due course” is not.
5. Quarter-end financials — or an intraquarter snapshot?Insist on end-of-quarter statements with all the data in. A favorable snapshot never reconciled to a closed quarter is not a report; it is an impression.
6. Were funds transferred from reserves or other accounts?Every interfund transfer disclosed, with date and amount. A transfer is not revenue A transfer is not revenue —mdash; an event that balances only after money moves in did not break even; it was covered.
7. Does the revenue verify itself?Registration counts alongside registration dollars, and sponsorships and in-kind on their own lines. Blended revenue cannot be checked; separated revenue checks itself.
8. Where are the comparatives?The prior three Grand Boulés beside this one, in identical line-item format. One convention is a snapshot; four in the same format are a record.
9. Are these financials audited — and who signed them?Audited, independently reviewed, or management-prepared — each carries different weight, and a delegate should know which one is in hand.
10. What would the auditor say — if asked?Auditors answer the questions they are asked. Ask what was examined and what was not, what the scope excluded, what weaknesses were found, and what the management letter said.

Complete answers are simple to give. When the books are in order, these ten questions take ten minutes.