Clarification of the Federal Protective Order & requests to view CMRA books/records

[John Orchard]

All - I want to provide the following information as a matter of clarification regarding the protective order that is in place from the Federal court as it relates to the CMRA books and records.

The CMRA is currently under a court order that prohibits us from allowing anyone who is not a party to the Inge lawsuit from inspecting our books and records. This order remains effective for so long as the lawsuit is pending, including any appeals. If we were to make our records available, we would be in contempt of court, which we obviously cannot do. The court order covers even books and records that are otherwise a public record, such as our annual tax returns (IRS Form 990s). You can obtain those returns (which contain quite detailed financial information) from the IRS directly. For more info on that alternative, see here: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-pr...ments-from-irs.

Additionally, simply for your information, all directors have the option of inspecting our books and records at the CMRA office (even though the members cannot do so) because the court order does not prohibit this. All directors have been made aware of this option multiple times since that order was issued 16 months ago.

[Linz Leard]

The court order does not specifically prohibit any Director from examining the books and records in any format. It says nothing of requiring examination of books and records in hard copy form and in person. For the entire time I was a Director, more than a year, I asked to see the books and records in the same format that the court was provided so I could go line by line and item by item and see for myself if what anyone alleged was bullshxt or not. I was denied repeatedly. Eventually I was told I could inspect the financials in the CMRA offices, but not in the same format as provided to the court. You placed this restriction on the information, John. Why did you do that? Why was I never given the CMRA's financials in the same format as the court has when the court order says nothing at all of restricting any specific type of file (hard copy versus electronic)?

[Keith Jordan]

Linz,go away.

[Anita Thomas]

Hi John,

Please do not be upset with me...but I am wanting some clarification or explanation...I was a little surprised when a race acquaintance came across this on WERA of all places...(I think everyone knows how I feel about them) and asked me about it...

From the 13x Forum
After watching the progression of the CMRA lawsuit and the way the CMRA Board acted when they were asked to examine the books, AS REQUIRED BY LAW FOR ANY NON-PROFIT, I decided to ask myself. I have no axe to grind and have never met Mr. Inge (if you put him in a lineup, I could not tell you which was him), but I do know that the law requires, in exchange for the benefits granted to non-profits, that they be transparent. Instead of just opening the books, the CMRA Board attacked Mr. Inge, which is exactly as you would expect IF THEY WERE GUILTY.

So I asked to see the books and was directed to one of the club's attorneys and was told how difficult it would be to collect all the info I had asked for, implying, falsely, that the information did not exist in digital form. At this point I noted that all of that info must have been collected as part of the suit and that I just wanted whatever they had put together for that case.

At this point they conceded that yes the information was in digital form, but they would have to ask the judge overseeing the case. That, of course, was not what they did and instead they asked the judge to prohibit examination of the information until the case was settled. In other words, they asked the judge to circumvent the law and keep me from getting the info the law says I am entitled to.

The latest on the case is that Mr. Inge, who was improperly ejected from the club, does not have "standing" and so they hoped the whole thing would go away WITHOUT ANY EXAMINATION OF THE BOOKS.

I, however, do have "standing" and so the case will go forward and at some point we will learn exactly what the story is, as far as the club's books.

Finally, the CMRA Board has a responsibility to the membership to obey the law and to control costs. The amount of money the Board has squandered fighting to keep the club's books secret, EVEN THOUGH THIS IS IN VIOLATION OF THE LAW REGARDING NON-PROFITS, could have reduced the cost of entries by a significant amount for several years and so what they have done is completely improper. The CMRA Board is asking that they be allowed to gain the benefits of being a non-profit, but not have to follow the rules for non-profits. This is just wrong, plain and simple.

I have attached the filing.

[Anita Thomas]

I do not know how to attach the document from the thread...

[Keith Jordan]

Shocking!

[William V. Harding]

http://forums.13x.com/index.php?thre...-books.352424/

[Nancy Selleck]

As a reminder for folks who have questions or need information about the club, here's a link to the Contact Page of our website: http://www.cmraracing.com/content.ph...tact&tabid=121

It includes email addresses and phone numbers for many of the folks who help make things happen within the club.

[John Orchard]

Hi Anita - I'm disappointed to continue seeing such inaccurate statements about the CMRA and the CMRA's numerous volunteer CMRA members, elected to serve on the Board of Directors, being falsely accused of any negligence and wrong doing while volunteering their time for the betterment of the club. Unfortunately, since this appears to be a lawsuit, it is inappropriate for me to comment specifically or try to publicly refute each of the inaccurate statements posted by a CMRA member on the WERA organization's forum.

Regarding the financials and what is available to all directors - every Board meeting includes a detailed financial review of the budget, planned YTD spend, actual YTD spend, event evaluation, away from track expenses against budget and a detailed analysis of variations along with discussion of what adjustments need to be made. All Directors also have access to any additional information by request, following the defined procedure. Once the court order is lifted, any member will be able to follow this same procedure to review the CMRA's detailed financial information if desired.

[William V. Harding]

Hi Anita - I'm disappointed to continue seeing such inaccurate statements about the CMRA and the CMRA's numerous volunteer CMRA members, elected to serve on the Board of Directors, being falsely accused of any negligence and wrong doing while volunteering their time for the betterment of the club. Unfortunately, since this appears to be a lawsuit, it is inappropriate for me to comment specifically or try to publicly refute each of the inaccurate statements posted by a CMRA member on the WERA organization's forum.

Regarding the financials and what is available to all directors - every Board meeting includes a detailed financial review of the budget, planned YTD spend, actual YTD spend, event evaluation, away from track expenses against budget and a detailed analysis of variations along with discussion of what adjustments need to be made. All Directors also have access to any additional information by request, following the defined procedure. Once the court order is lifted, any member will be able to follow this same procedure to review the CMRA's detailed financial information if desired.

According to the Board's counsel, the Board requested the protective order. Likewise, the board can request that the order be removed at any point.