As I predicted when I made the announcement to run for the USCF Executive Board less than 24 hours ago, some chess politicians have begun spreading misinformation to try to discredit me and others. The mudslinging and personal attacks toward me and other good candidates have already started. Some people just cannot change. It is unfortunate that they cannot put the same effort in doing positive things for chess instead of negative.
The first major change in the USCF culture will start NOW. I pledge NOT to engage in any negative campaign. I will only discuss positive things as well as my goals, plans and vision, etc. FM Paul Truong, Dr. Mikhail Korenman and NM Randy Bauer have agreed to do the same and I encourage all candidates to follow the same path.
The good news is I received more than 1,200 encouragement email and messages in the past 24 hours. I would like to thank everyone for the support. I would also like to remind everyone that this will not be an individual effort. We can only succeed as a team! It is time to unite and bring positive changes for the benefits of our sport.
Go on fighting against the politicians, Susan; defeat them!
The quintessence of Chess is integrity and the soul of a ” true ” Chess Player looks like the water of a mountain stream!
Flavio Weis ( Black – Bishop )
Go Susan !
As one of the best fighters on the chessboard….. I think the “Polgar way” will overcome the adversity! We have faith in you Susan. I have already started telling people on the chess servers that you can make a world of difference. I believe in you! Sorry, if im over-elated, but you are my motivation to keep playing chess.
~Jimmie
The negativity and smear campaign will instead bring them down. I believe you have the ability to get through this a winner–you have both the courage and emotional strength to withstand petty tactics, and a lot of people have faith in you in this great undertaking.
I belong to a chess club that is affiliated with USCF but decided not to join USCF because it is an demoralized organization without integrity. I think the Polgar team can reform USCF. I pledge now to join USCF in order to vote for Susan. I will encourage everyone in my chess club to support the Polgar team and its vision of long overdue progressive reform of USCF.
Susan, I disagree with your position on this. I think that you are fighting one extreme with another. There is a middle ground which candidates for office should behave. Some criticism is necessary. How can the voters know what the choices are if the candidates won’t tell them?
To put this point on another plane, let’s pretend that I was your opponent in an election and I had taken a position on an issue that you thought was wrong. (Just hypothetically, of course.) Don’t the voters have a right to know? If I were elected I would do one thing; if you were elected you would do another. I would have no cause to be miffed when you stated your disagreement with me and your reasons why. You should expect in return that I would state my reasons for taking the position on the issue. We each tell the voters why we think we are right and the other candidate is wrong. Then the voters have the information they need to weigh the issues and decide.
To conclude, some negativity is needed in any campaign. You have not only a right but also a duty to disclose the differences you have with your opponents. There is a middle ground here.
Hi Jack!
I think Susan means that she won’t go and attack people personally and that she will stick with and debate the issues.
So Scudrad, what if instead having a difference of opinion on the issues, I was a convicted felon with a history of lying and cheating? Would Susan have a right (if not a duty) to bring that up. And what if she did not? And I got elected. Who has the blame? The voters? They did not have the facts.
In short there is a middle ground here and some thought should be given to it’s limits.
All Chess players in Northern New York will vote for team Susan! Your picture and articles are all over our Chess Center. We are now teaching Chess 5 fours per week at the LaFargeville Central School through Cornell Cooperative Extension. Hopefully this will lead to Chess as curriculum(sp?) in all Schools in Jefferson County. Susan Text will be the required manual. Good Luck…JK Sci-Tech Chess
Jack Le Moine: There is a difference between disagreeing on substantive issues and mindless personal attacks
she’ll win because of a positive image to kiddie parents, but is she any diffrent? everything starts off with i wont sling mud like others and will only be positive. But thats slinging mud right there, since she is refering to specific people.
from all i can tell she seems a decent person, but the will only be positive? I dont want someone who only blows sunshine up my…
fact is most people are going to vote for her just because of the name, its not as if anyone knows any of the other names there now or before. Truong is always handling her buisiness and it should be him over her anyways if either of them. Should the leader let someone else handle most everything for them?
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So Scudrad, what if instead having a difference of opinion on the issues, I was a convicted felon with a history of lying and cheating? Would Susan have a right (if not a duty) to bring that up.
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I would think so. Character problems and personal history are some of the major drawbacks to Sam Sloan, for instance. He should not be allowed anywhere near kids, and I don’t think a candidate would be doing us any favors by ignoring those aspects of his personal history on the grounds that they were negative.
I think she’s already doing a disservice to the existing board, telling us that certain people are saying unfair things about her, without saying what those things are, or who it is that’s saying them. Either respond to the mud or ignore it, but responding in this vague way simply condemns everyone on the board, the innocent as well as the guilty.
I want to hear what Susan’s got planned for US Chess. Granted, I’ll probably vote for her just on name value whether she tells us that stuff or not, but still, I want to hear it. So far I’ve heard that unspecified people are being mean to her and that people used to say that women couldn’t be grandmasters. I want to hear more than that. I do hope she’s going to run as herself and not as “a woman”.
Glad to hear this news. Go for it!