Today, Ellenbeth Wachs and John Kieffer, declared in a public statement sent out to Atheists of Florida (AOF) members using an AOF email address, that their ousting had occurred at an illegal board meeting and so had no legal effect. They maintain they are still the officers of the Atheists of Florida as a result. This statement comes just two weeks after the current board voted to remove them from office on Nov 6th and an expulsion committee voted unanimously to expel them from the membership shortly afterwards.
Ellenbeth and John maintain that because the current board’s term expires at the end of November and because the elections were compromised (by whom depends on who you talk to), the only legal board members serving as of Dec 1st will be the chapter presidents of the 7 area chapters. Because John is the president of the Tampa chapter and Ellenbeth is the president of the Lakeland chapter they maintain that they have a legal right to be seated alongside the other chapter presidents. Again, because they maintain that their expulsion was done illegally.
Ellenbeth, declaring herself acting president, has called for a Dec 18th meeting of the chapter presidents to address changes she says are needed in the bylaws. The notice also says that no new elections will be held until the new bylaws are written and approved by the membership of the Atheists of Florida.
Ellenbeth and Rob Curry, who is president of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Atheists of Florida, have promised an independent audit of the organizations finances to be conducted by an outside agency. It was also noted in the public statement that regular members of the Atheists of Florida are investigating the existing board members (whose terms expire at the end of this month) “to better determine and document which board members initiated the current crisis, and why, and who may have been drawn into it only after being presented with misleading, partial or fabricated information.”
And finally, the statement threatens legal action against the existing board should they oppose the efforts of the chapter presidents to take over the legal ownership of the organization next month.
Existing board members who voted to remove Ellenbeth and John, and who are directly threatened by the Ellenbeth’s proposed lawsuit, have not yet responded to a request for comment.
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