In what has become a sure sign of desperation on the part of the leadership of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) the ICA has resorted to muzzling members of the Board who try and speak out against the decision to change the Bylaws and Constitution and eliminate the ability of the membership to have a voice in the organization.

In a tersely worded email sent to the membership of the ICA Beth Clay the Acting Executive Director expressed her concern over the ". . . intense campaign to get members to vote no on the Ballot to Amend the Constitution".

ICA members on social media expressed their concern that an "Acting" Executive Director who is not a chiropractor and knows little to nothing about the history of the ICA was attempting to sway votes within the organization and using the ICA email database to do so.

Clay has only been involved in the chiropractic profession for about one year.

In her e-mail Clay makes the false claim that ". . .Every Board member had the opportunity to engage on the issues and the vote to amend the Constitution was unanimous" even though it has been reported that at least 5 Board members were not on the call when the vote was taken and some of those board members who voted yes have since stated publicly that they were basically hoodwinked into voting yes and did not fully understand the implications of the vote.

It has also been reported that on a recent Board call the Chairman of the ICA Board Don Hirsh blocked any attempt to hold another vote on the issue.

Such blatant misinformation from the Executive Director and ICA leadership has caused members to speak out against these actions. One member posted on Facebook:

"When are we going to get the foxes out of the hen house? Generations of 'leadership' have allowed this to happen. They have allowed broad scope mixers to infiltrate the organization and allowed staff members to run rough shod over everyone. It has been rotting within for years".

Some ICA members have been receiving their mail in ballots in recent days while others have not and this has raised numerous questions about the process and historical concerns over manipulation of ballots and their counting. According to reports, the Representative Assembly has voted several times over the last few years for 3rd party electronic voting but the board has refused to take action on it.

In her email Clay stated "It is one thing for individuals to be passionate about an opinion, it is another to misrepresent the facts online and in print"

However, the only "fact" she claims was misrepresented was the name of a past President on a letter written by ICA Past Presidents who are urging members to vote NO to the Board's changes. That past President was Gary Walsemann and he apparently wants the opportunity to vote against the changes and to urge other members to vote no. However the ICA is telling its board members that they cannot express an opinion that differs from the majority of the board due to their "fiduciary responsibility" to basically keep their mouth shut if they have a dissenting opinion.

ICA Past President and current Board member George Curry DC finds himself in the same situation and though he originally voted for the changes has since changed his mind after reviewing all the facts and is now urging members to vote "no" to the changes.

Curry stated: "In retrospect I would've voted against it after understanding the document better".

While Beth Clay has kicked dues paying members out of ICA's private Facebook groups who have spoken out against the ICA she has been spending time in other groups where ICA members communicate openly and then using those posts to gather information about who is speaking out against the ICA's actions.

According to Past ICA President Bobby Braile "Current board members of the ICA have been told they have a fiduciary responsibility to support the decisions of the ICA Board even if they are against them. Yes, this is a form of a threat".

ICA members are being told to watch their mail closely for thier ballots and to vote NO to the changes. They are being urged to let the ICA home office know if they have not received a ballot and to make a copy of that ballot before mailing it in and placing a special mark of some kind on the ballot. ICA past Presidents, Representative Assembly Members and other ICA leaders are urging this due to the fear of vote tampering.

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