North Coast Co-Op Board Of Directors Election
For those of you who are members of the North Coast Co-Op, of those on the official ballot, Lisa Butterfield is the obvious first choice. Her statement is on the official Co-Op Board Of Directors ballot (I couldn't find her statement on the Co-Op's website).
Paul Mollard is running as a write-in candidate, and looks to be every bit as good as Lisa. The more I shop at the Co-Op, the more troubled I am by all of the "conventional" (read: pesticide and chemical infested) products they carry. If you want conventional crap, go to Safeway, Murphy's, etc.. That's not what we look for at the Co-Op.
Neal Latt recently did a solid op-ed for the Humboldt Advocate about the Arkley/Co-Op connection. http://humboldtadvocate.com/articles.php?action=view&id=55 Uh, not quite what we're looking for in the
Co-Op, is it?
Here's Paul's email and contact information:
From: Paul Mollard, pmollard101@excite.com
Date: September 26, 2006
I appreciate the opportunity to tell you a bit about why I am running for the board and what I stand for.
I am a former Co-op employee of seven and a half years. During my time at the Co-op I was the grocery department head for the Eureka Store. During that time I made many connections within the natural foods industry and developed a retail eye that progressed with the changing industry. This progression as you know took the industry in some not so good directions, such as the corporate takeovers of many great, long time natural food producers and the watering down of organic standards to make room for industrial agriculture and production within those standards. On the positive side there has been an increasing demand for organic, non-toxic foods and an increased awareness for sustainable consumption.
My experience at the Co-op allowed me the opportunity to work within the Pacific Cooperative Grocers Association, which merged with National Cooperative Grocers Association. The great thing about this merger was that it allowed the Co-op to enter into a merger that ultimately helped to increase our member value while also allowing us to maintain our autonomy,which is one of the seven Cooperative principles. It also created a mechanism for a collaboration among fellow Co-op's to create a vision for the direction of the Co-op movement, a movement which will set us apart from the Whole Foods, Wild Oats and even the independent retailers. This progress is important for everyone to participate in, for reasons for which you are a member and motivate you to participate in Co-op elections.
As you know Co-ops are typically created for increased value for the members of the Coop who create it. Though our Co-op was not necessarily created to promote left-of-center ideals, it was created to conduct busines and acquire food stuffs for a better value without the motive for profit. I believe our Co-op at one time reflected more socialist principles versus capitalist principles but that a gradual move away from socially conscious principles has led to the Co-op's current identity crisis.
My experience working at the Co-op allowed me to observe this identity crisis very closely. I will use the Coca-Cola boycott issue as an example for explaining my point. Our employees, our members, and our Board of Directors are all divided on this issue. Many employees don't see the point in boycotting Coke, but some do, especially long-term employees. Most employees, however, choose to keep their opinion to themselves for fear of reprisal, for fear of falling out of favor, or because they are not informed on the issue enough to form an opinion. Our members simply don't get involved on important issues enough to send a clear message to our Board of Directors. We have a few, very vocal members, who I feel really do represent our core members, especially because they still see it important to be involved in this issue and particularly because it is an issue of social responsibilty based on our historic ideals. We have a majority of our membership who really are apathetic about the issue altogether. Then we have a few members who really do not think that the Co-op should be involved in making controversy about this decision at all, because they do not see it as a positive way to conduct business. This side of our membership unfortunately has the most influence on the top decision makers of Co-op merchandising policy and marketing strategies.
Our general manager and our Board of Directors have argued the point and decided that, if we boycott Coke, we would be acting in the interest of only a few vocal members. This argument is faulty. When we put it to a vote of our membership, an overwhelming number of participants supported a boycott. You may ask if I support a boycott. Yes, I do. I think, however, that it is important to keep considerations of boycotts within the context of already documented policies made by the Board, policies that are clearly in line with the Co-ops core values.
This is where I feel our Board of Directors betrayed our core membership and is only one instance of how it has been acting apart from the will of the membership for a long time. I am not leveling specific fault at our current Board though, because this problem has been endemic for a very long time. On the Coke issue, though, the Co-op had already made a formal statement about its stance on GMO's, and could boycott Coke solely on this issue alone. Instead, it chose to avoid controversy by not aligning itself with an already elusive international call to boycott of the heinous corporation (the Coca-Cola Corporation). I have other reasons why I personally support a Coca-Cola boycott in the Co-op, but my reasons would also lead to the removal of many other industrially produced foodstuffs.
In summary, I stand for a Board of Directors that will realign itself with a restated set of core values in closer alignment with its historic core values. I want a board that will hold the entire administration of the Co-op to those values. I want a board that creates and implements policies that increase its outreach for the purpose of education and raising awareness in our community. I want a board that is energetic about not replacing human health and the environment with corporate strategies merely for the sake of profit.
Feel free to forward this far and wide, much appreciated. Feel free to email me with questions.
--Paul Mollard
Paul Mollard is running as a write-in candidate, and looks to be every bit as good as Lisa. The more I shop at the Co-Op, the more troubled I am by all of the "conventional" (read: pesticide and chemical infested) products they carry. If you want conventional crap, go to Safeway, Murphy's, etc.. That's not what we look for at the Co-Op.
Neal Latt recently did a solid op-ed for the Humboldt Advocate about the Arkley/Co-Op connection. http://humboldtadvocate.com/articles.php?action=view&id=55 Uh, not quite what we're looking for in the
Co-Op, is it?
Here's Paul's email and contact information:
From: Paul Mollard, pmollard101@excite.com
Date: September 26, 2006
I appreciate the opportunity to tell you a bit about why I am running for the board and what I stand for.
I am a former Co-op employee of seven and a half years. During my time at the Co-op I was the grocery department head for the Eureka Store. During that time I made many connections within the natural foods industry and developed a retail eye that progressed with the changing industry. This progression as you know took the industry in some not so good directions, such as the corporate takeovers of many great, long time natural food producers and the watering down of organic standards to make room for industrial agriculture and production within those standards. On the positive side there has been an increasing demand for organic, non-toxic foods and an increased awareness for sustainable consumption.
My experience at the Co-op allowed me the opportunity to work within the Pacific Cooperative Grocers Association, which merged with National Cooperative Grocers Association. The great thing about this merger was that it allowed the Co-op to enter into a merger that ultimately helped to increase our member value while also allowing us to maintain our autonomy,which is one of the seven Cooperative principles. It also created a mechanism for a collaboration among fellow Co-op's to create a vision for the direction of the Co-op movement, a movement which will set us apart from the Whole Foods, Wild Oats and even the independent retailers. This progress is important for everyone to participate in, for reasons for which you are a member and motivate you to participate in Co-op elections.
As you know Co-ops are typically created for increased value for the members of the Coop who create it. Though our Co-op was not necessarily created to promote left-of-center ideals, it was created to conduct busines and acquire food stuffs for a better value without the motive for profit. I believe our Co-op at one time reflected more socialist principles versus capitalist principles but that a gradual move away from socially conscious principles has led to the Co-op's current identity crisis.
My experience working at the Co-op allowed me to observe this identity crisis very closely. I will use the Coca-Cola boycott issue as an example for explaining my point. Our employees, our members, and our Board of Directors are all divided on this issue. Many employees don't see the point in boycotting Coke, but some do, especially long-term employees. Most employees, however, choose to keep their opinion to themselves for fear of reprisal, for fear of falling out of favor, or because they are not informed on the issue enough to form an opinion. Our members simply don't get involved on important issues enough to send a clear message to our Board of Directors. We have a few, very vocal members, who I feel really do represent our core members, especially because they still see it important to be involved in this issue and particularly because it is an issue of social responsibilty based on our historic ideals. We have a majority of our membership who really are apathetic about the issue altogether. Then we have a few members who really do not think that the Co-op should be involved in making controversy about this decision at all, because they do not see it as a positive way to conduct business. This side of our membership unfortunately has the most influence on the top decision makers of Co-op merchandising policy and marketing strategies.
Our general manager and our Board of Directors have argued the point and decided that, if we boycott Coke, we would be acting in the interest of only a few vocal members. This argument is faulty. When we put it to a vote of our membership, an overwhelming number of participants supported a boycott. You may ask if I support a boycott. Yes, I do. I think, however, that it is important to keep considerations of boycotts within the context of already documented policies made by the Board, policies that are clearly in line with the Co-ops core values.
This is where I feel our Board of Directors betrayed our core membership and is only one instance of how it has been acting apart from the will of the membership for a long time. I am not leveling specific fault at our current Board though, because this problem has been endemic for a very long time. On the Coke issue, though, the Co-op had already made a formal statement about its stance on GMO's, and could boycott Coke solely on this issue alone. Instead, it chose to avoid controversy by not aligning itself with an already elusive international call to boycott of the heinous corporation (the Coca-Cola Corporation). I have other reasons why I personally support a Coca-Cola boycott in the Co-op, but my reasons would also lead to the removal of many other industrially produced foodstuffs.
In summary, I stand for a Board of Directors that will realign itself with a restated set of core values in closer alignment with its historic core values. I want a board that will hold the entire administration of the Co-op to those values. I want a board that creates and implements policies that increase its outreach for the purpose of education and raising awareness in our community. I want a board that is energetic about not replacing human health and the environment with corporate strategies merely for the sake of profit.
Feel free to forward this far and wide, much appreciated. Feel free to email me with questions.
--Paul Mollard
posted by TLC's Place at 11:01 PM
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