NEWS AND VIEWS: UNA convention approaches, yet little information is known (03/22/98)

NEWS AND VIEWS

UNA convention approaches, yet little information is known

by Bohdan Vitvitsky

The Ukrainian National Association is obviously one of the most important institutions in the North American Ukrainian diaspora. The manner in which it is operated, as well as its successes and failures, are matters of great significance not only to anyone who is a member of the UNA, as I have been for a long time, but also to anyone who cares about the future of the community, as I would hope most of us do.

Although I can buy my insurance somewhere else and although I can get a mortgage somewhere else, I cannot obtain alternatives to Svoboda, The Ukrainian Weekly or Soyuzivka. There is also no other Ukrainian organization in North America of which I am aware that can come close to playing the kind of leadership role that the UNA has played for more than a century in our community.

The next convention of the UNA is slated to take place in Toronto on May 15-19. The delegates to this convention will elect the officers, advisers and others who will manage the UNA for the next four years, into the 21st century. As in most institutions, the most important office to be filled is that of president. The persons who are candidates for the position of president of the UNA are "?" and "?" and "?."

As in years past, I have called five or six people who are closer to the working of the UNA than I am in order to ask them who are the likely candidates for UNA president. And, as in the past, my sources have emphasized that there are no declared candidates, but that the rumored candidates are so-and-so and so-and-so.

This year, the rumor mills that I have consulted were not consistent in the list of names mentioned, but the names that were mentioned included, in alphabetical order, Ulana Diachuk, the incumbent, Anatole Doroshenko, Eugene Iwanciw, Roma Hadzewycz, Myron Kuropas, Nestor Olesnycky and the "dark horse candidates."

Is this any way to run an election? We are two and a half months away from electing the most important officer of one of the most important institutions in our community, and we do not even know who is running. Nor do we know the qualifications - and in particular, the managerial qualifications - of those who are running. We know nothing about their views and analyses of the current state of the UNA, and, most importantly, we know nothing about their platforms or their visions for the future.

Some people tell me that the UNA is going down the proverbial tubes, while others tell me that it is basically in good shape. What do our phantom candidates think, and why? Some people tell me that the UNA is at a critical point in its existence, and that the policies and practices adopted over the next four years will probably determine whether the UNA survives. What are the policies and practices that our phantom candidates would implement if elected?

Why aren't these and related issues being aired and debated on the pages of Svoboda and The Weekly? Is it because they are not important enough? Is it because no one is doing any sustained thinking about them? Is it because the goings on related to the UNA are secret?

One of the principal features of democracy is transparency. Transparency means that the people who make up the constituency of any given political entity or organization are provided with enough information about the operations of that entity or organization so that they can make intelligent decisions at the voting booth. At a minimum, this means knowing who is running, what his/her qualifications are, and what his/her platform is.

As I understand it, candidates for UNA president do not "surface" until one or two days into the convention. Delegates then have a day or two in which to make up their minds about whom they wish to elect. In contrast, to cite but one example, when the time approaches for either of the two Ukrainian credit unions to which I belong, one in Newark and one in Detroit, to hold elections to their boards, I receive a list of candidates and a description of their qualifications at least a month or two in advance of the elections.

Perhaps 50 or 60 years ago, when the UNA was more akin to a club in which most people knew each other and what each represented, the kind of election system utilized by the UNA made sense, although I have my doubts even about that. What seems obvious is that there is no reason to continue with this system and every reason to normalize it so that it resembles practices that are standard in North American life, whether in the political or corporate arenas.

I therefore invite and urge any and all of the persons who may in fact be candidates for the principal offices of the UNA, but in particular the persons who may be candidates for the office of president, to: (i) identify themselves, (ii) state their qualifications for that position, and in particular their managerial qualifications, (iii) set forth their analyses of the UNA's present situation, and (iv) articulate what their visions and plans are both for the UNA's immediate and long-term future.

Do the current members of the UNA and the glorious legacy of the UNA deserve any less?

Bohdan Vitvitsky, Ph.D., of Summit, N.J., is an attorney. He is acting president of the Ukrainian American Professionals and Businesspersons Association of New York and New Jersey, and a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 27.