Stop Being Hypocritical, GSUSA

Well, the Farthest North case continues.  Yes, really.  I realize I said at one point that it was over – for real this time – but apparently not.  GSUSA doesn’t want to concede the Alaskan Supreme Court’s decision to rule in favor of Farthest North.  Originally I told myself I wasn’t going to cover anything with this case outside of who had what authority before the 2020 National Council Session, but when I heard about GSUSA not letting go, I had to comment.

Here’s what has gone on in a nutshell:

1. Farthest North filed the lawsuit in Feb of 2017.
2. An Alaskan Superior court ruled in favor of GSUSA in 2018.
3. Farthest North appealed to the Alaskan Supreme Court and won in Sept 2019.
4. GSUSA requested a rehearing and lost in Jan 2020.
5. The case was pushed back down to the lower Superior court to address who gets how much in damages, etc.

But now, GSUSA continues to claim that that they had authority this whole time and that the National Council ratified it by passing Proposal 2 at the 2020 NCS.  Now I’m not an attorney (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once), but this is just ludicrous.  Supreme Court justices > National Delegates.  As best stated by the Farthest North’s attorney in their response to GSUSA’s supplement:

…the Supreme Court has ruled that the Board had no “already present authority . . . to set membership dues.” So even if the National Council had out-and-out stated, “It is the National Council’s unaltering opinion and belief that the Board always had dues-setting authority,” it would have no impact on this case and the Supreme Court’s decision. The Court’s decision is the law. It is res judicata. GSUSA could line up one thousand legal scholars, every member of the National Council and the Board, and the reincarnated founder of Girl Scouts herself, Juliette Low, and they could all in one voice shout, “The authority of the Board to establish dues was already present in the pre-amended constitution.” It would not matter, because the only voice that matters is that of the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has spoken. End of story.

I like this attorney’s style.

And nothing was “ratified” anyway.  Remember all that talk this past fall about “trust the National Board” and “the National Board needs authority so that it can pivot quickly,” blah blah blah?  That convincing wouldn’t have needed to go on if it was just a matter of ratifying authority.

Additionally, several council CEOs who attended our GSG Town Halls before the NCS spoke about passing Proposal 2 to settle the dispute so that we could all move on.  Both Kathy Hopinkah-Hannan and Karen Layng, the former and current National Presidents, also talked about moving on in their keynote speeches.  Here’s a quote from Layng:  “It’s important to note that I understand that we all have passionate ideas for how best to serve the millions of Girl Scout members, and in certain instances, this passion has been translated in ways that are unproductive, on either social media, or one of our councils pursuing costly litigation, both avenues, which have had long term negative impacts on our organization. Now is the time for all of us to come together and act and speak as one Movement and model the behaviors we want our girls to emulate.”

By continuing to fight the Farthest North decision, it looks to me like GSUSA is the one who wants to extend the dispute and pursue costly litigation.  Is this behavior productive?

Why dig your heels in about this yet again?  Are we going to be out THAT much money?  If so, just stop pouring millions into CircleAround (the website that has absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of Girl Scouting), pay the damages due to Farthest North, and let’s be done with this.  It’s as if it’s become personal at this point.

Just as those of us who pushed for Proposal 2 to fail have to get over losing, you do too, GSUSA.  Let it go.  If you’re sincere about wanting us to “come together and act and speak as one Movement,”  then settle and move on.

Over and out.

Addendum 1/26/21:  Two things –

1) Earlier this month, I wrote the National Board, Karen Layng (National President), and Judith Batty (Interim National CEO).  I basically stated that GSUSA’s actions don’t reflect the leadership’s call to move on and asked that they give direction to settle with FN and end the case.  I received a reply from Karen Layng stating that she couldn’t discuss ongoing litigation but claimed they were acting in good faith and that they were “standing ready to mediate a consensual resolution with Farthest North.”  Then she asked that I encourage FN to move past this dispute too and that she appreciated the direct dialogue and trusted that we both have the best interests of Girl Scouts at heart.  I wrote back and shared that I hoped both sides would be sensible and come to an agreeable settlement quickly.  I really wanted to ask how FN is supposed to move past this when they’re the ones having to respond to briefs continuously submitted by GSUSA, but that would be discussing litigation, I suppose.

2)  If you want to follow the case in Superior Court, go here and then search for case 4FA-17-01413CI.

Addendum 10/19/21:  I should have updated this a while back, but they’ve come to a settlement and it’s over with.