I have met Yanqui Mike and his wife and they are the most controversial people in Buenos Aires . They are definetly behind this as Frank Almeida is the treasurer of Democrats Abroad Argentina and Mike is the head.
They are compeletly undemocratic in there actions as witnessed by their site BA Expat Group watch and the Democratic Abroad Fiasco witnessed last year in Buenos Aires
For them Argentina should be in the hands of them and their form of government.
In December of 2007 my partner Joe Macaluso and I moved to Buenos
Aires from San Francisco, CA. Like many of you, my initial Google
searches on the city led me straight to YanquiMike.com. After
exchanging a series of emails with Mike, we set a date to meet in
person. I was very interested in hearing about Mike's project of
starting the first ever chapter of Democrats Abroad Argentina and
thought that my experience working in professional politics and
fundraising would be a valuable addition to his efforts.
I could not have been more pleased to meet Mike and his wife Alicia.
What started out as a coffee date turned into a seven-hour afternoon
filled with drinks, laughs, and interesting conversation. Both Alicia
and Mike urged me to get involved in Democrats Abroad, and after some
consideration, I decided to run for the position of National
Secretary. Although there were only sixty members then, I garnered
the votes necessary to be elected to the Executive Committee on
December 23, 2007.
The first five months of DAA were an exciting time. In February, I
identified an opportunity to partner with the highly successful and
well-organized Expat Connection. Martin Frankel, head of Expat
Connection, and I met to discuss partnership opportunities between our
two groups and from this conversation we executed the wildly
successful Super Tuesday in Buenos Aires event in February of 2008.
Even at this early date, I recognized that Mike's disorganization and
lack of event-planning experience would be a problem for DAA.
Despite my urgent pleas for him to show up early and help set up the
computer banks for electronic voting, Mike arrived late for the event.
When he finally did arrive, Mike's primary concern was with the press;
he spent hours talking to reporters and taking photos rather than
assisting with coordination of the voting process. Although it was a
festive atmosphere, by the end of the night it became clear that Mike
was inebriated and many members complained to me that he was not
representing DAA in a professional manner. Although I did not
recognize it at the time, this incident would foreshadow Mike's
behavior at nearly every DAA event to come.
Shortly after Super Tuesday in Buenos Aires then Vice-Chair Maya Frost
announced that due to family and professional commitments, she would
unfortunately not be able to serve out her term. Mike recognized my
efforts and leadership capabilities and offered to appoint me
Vice-Chair in her place. I happily accepted this promotion and
Democrats Abroad International granted me administrative access to our
database, access that affords an individual the ability to send out
emails to all membership and maintain member contact information.
Let me be clear: only Executive Committee members with administrative
access to this database can send out emails to all members.
Administrators of this site have the ability to add/delete members,
view and export your contact information and mine or sort the database
in a variety of ways; it is an efficient and powerful tool.
As the primary election between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
finally reached it's conclusion and tensions between Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner and the campo heated up, the first serious
conflict on the Executive Committee of DAA arose. Mike asked DAA
member Judson Odell to craft an editorial to be published to our
website's new "members" section. After requiring Judson edit his
essay once, Mike and his wife Alicia decided what Judson resubmitted
was "unpublishable" because he did not remove the word "oligarchy."
Though Judson was discussing American politics, they believed the word
was too close to the Argentine translation "oligarca" – something they
viewed as incendiary to Argentine landowners who they supported during
the campo conflict.
Mike refused to publish the essay on the website. I, along with the
majority of the Executive Committee, felt that the refusal to publish
the essay because Mike and Alicia didn't like one word was in direct
conflict with the principals of openness and free speech espoused by
the Democratic Party. I proposed that the Executive Committee vote to
publish the essay provided that it included a written disclaimer.
Mike, sensing that he would be outvoted on this issue, chose to
exercise parliamentary tactics and notified our Treasurer Richard
Tihany, who was out of the country at the time, that he would not be
allowed to vote via email (Article 19.4 of DAA Bylaws). This tactic
now seems particularly interesting given his recent enthusiasm for
email voting. Needless to say, because Mike is the only person with
administrative rights to that website, the essay never appeared.
Had I known the extent to which Mike and Alicia would unleash their
wrath and visceral anger upon me for disagreeing with them on this
issue, I honestly don't know now whether I would have done it. I
endured months of accusatory emails that questioned my professional
and personal integrity, and Alicia specifically became rude, cold, and
dismissive in public and in front of DAA members. These verbal and
behavioral attacks were hurtful and hateful, however, it was Mike's
unilateral and secret decision to take away my administrative rights
to the DAA database that truly crossed the line. Let me repeat, Mike
secretly contacted Democrats Abroad International and told them to
take away my ability to maintain member information and communicate
via email with all members -- thus leaving him the only Executive
Committee member with this power.
If you have ever wondered why it is that every Sunday Email, every
party announcement and every appeal you've ever received from DAA is
from Mike, now you know why. It took an enormous effort, including a
4-1 Executive Committee vote and action from Chair of the Americas Joe
Green to finally allow another Executive Committee member the ability
to email members; this is the reason you've finally been able to
receive emails from someone other than Mike.
In the final months leading up to the election my relationship with
Mike did not improve, but rather disintegrated further after
witnessing him employ the same hurtful tactics first to Richard Tihany
our Treasurer, then Maria Emilia Ramirez our National Secretary, and
finally Laura Atkins our National Counsel; three individuals who have
invested literally hundreds of their hours and dollars into creating
the Democrats Abroad Argentina that we are today. All three of them
are distinguished and dedicated professionals who chose to continue on
with their service through the election although all of us felt like
quitting many, many times. You will be hearing from them, as well as
testimonials from other individuals who have worked with Mike, in the
coming days and weeks.
Our decision to call for a Vote of No-Confidence in Mike is difficult
and painful, especially in light of the personal friendship we once
enjoyed, however we could not wait any longer to inform you as members
exactly how bad things have become.
This decision is entirely up to you but I hope you will consider my
message when you cast your vote on December 3rd. I am available to
answer any of your questions at any time at
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Meghan Doran
National Vice-Chair, Democrats Abroad Argentina
[email protected]
This email is being sent to you from the Argentina list(s) on behalf of:
Democrats Abroad
430 S. Capitol Street, SE
Washington, 20003
