CLICK HERE to review the petition
Welsh has been at the center of controversy since taking over as President by endorsing the Medicare Scope Expansion and Drug Bill being promoted by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), promoting ACA Affiliated state organizations and their conventions, inviting ACA Affiliated state organizations to become ICA Affiliates - among a laundry list of grievances filed by the signers of the petition.
Rubbing salt on the wounds, Welsh and several other senior leaders of the Representative Assembly are dues paying members of the ACA and/or its Affiliates. These actions have led many in the ICA to believe there is a coup taking placing within the ICA.
CLICK HERE for more on those stories
The President of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) Stephen Welsh DC, and ICA Assembly Representatives Leana Kart DC, James Edwards DC, FICA, Ronda Sharman DC, James Groene DC, FICA are all dues paying members of the American Chiropractic Association or its Affiliates.
James Edwards DC, FICA a long time champion of merger between the ICA and ACA, served as Chairman of the Board of Governors (CEO) of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and President of the American Chiropractic Foundation from 2001-2003. He also served as ACA Treasurer from 2003-2005 and represented 9 states as the ACA District VI Governor from 1998-2005. In addition, he served as Treasurer and then Chairman of the American Chiropractic Association PAC from 1995-1998, and as Chairman of the National Chiropractic Legal Action Fund from 2005-2008.
Edwards is currently a dues paying member of the ACA and at the same time - Texas Representative Assemblyman to the International Chiropractors Association (ICA). Sources tell the Chronicle that he has been heavily involved in ICA legislative matters including the ICA's endorsement of the ACA's Medicare Scope Expansion and Drug Bill.
In April 2003, Edwards made the following statement on the topic of Merger between the ICA and ACA:
"Once the top ICA leaders are also willing to subordinate their political positions for the good of the profession, a merger of the ACA and ICA can and will occur. And once that merger takes place, reasoned debate among chiropractic leaders will yield agreements on important issues, the self-serving public rhetoric will end, and this profession can move forward. The ACA looks forward to that day."
There has long been a movement within the ICA to merge with the ACA and given Welsh's history of cozying up to the ACA and the Chiropractic Cartel coupled with his actions since taking over as President and several board members who support a broader scope, all of these point to a perfect storm of possibility.
In addition to Edwards, Ronda Sharman DC is the ICA's Assembly Representative from Maryland and a dues paying member of the ACA and joining his fellow ACA Members on the ICA's Representative Assembly is James Groene DC, FICA representing the ICA in Nebraska. Edwards and Groene are also Fellows of the ICA - one of its highest honors.
In addition to these ICA leaders being ACA Members, the President of the International Chiropractors Association - Stephen Welsh DC, and ICA Assembly Representative for Georgia - Leana Kart DC are both dues paying members of the Georgia Chiropractic Association (GCA). Kart is the Immediate Past President of the GCA and serves on the LIFE University Board of Trustees.
The ICA members voicing their concerns refer to themselves as Members Speak Out and according to the petition they want:
To change the current direction of the International Chiropractors Association"
The group admonishes ICA members that:
"The ICA should always be the beacon on the hill for our mission to protect and promote chiropractic throughout the world as a distinct healthcare profession predicated upon its unique philosophy science and art of subluxation detection and correction"
The signers assert that some of the leadership of the "are not fulfilling their duties to carry out the mission of the ICA and has broken the trust of members by ignoring their questions"
The members complaints include censorship being practiced by the ICA where members have been kicked out of the ICA's Facebook groups or have had posts deleted because they questioned the leadership of the ICA.
Other concerns being expressed deal with whether or not there has been foul play in regards to upcoming ICA elections, outrage that the ICA continues its support of the World Federation of Chiropractic, and the ICA's endorsement of the Chiropractic Congress' Medicare tenets.
While members scramble to get more information out of an ever tightening grip by ICA administration that is filtering information and censoring members, the ICA is forging ahead with its "Big Tent" strategy championed by ICA President Stephen Welsh DC and, by all appearances, supported by the ICA Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
Part of the Board's strategy is to establish Affiliate relationships with state organizations even when those state organizations are already ACA Affiliates or even run by ACA supporters.
The ACA has emerged over the past several years as an anti-subluxation, anti-vitalistic trade organization with policies reflecting those descriptions. The most well known prohibition is the ACA's rejection of imaging in relation to vertebral subluxation.
In order to be a member of the ACA its members must sign a PLEDGE to uphold ACA's policies and practice standards which includes the prohibition on imaging related to vertebral subluxation. ICA members and some of its leaders are questioning how anyone could be a member of the ICA and a member of the ACA at the same time - never mind someone in a position of leadership that is supposed to be fighting for ICA values and policies.
The ICA leaderships' response has been to blow it off and assert that there is nothing wrong with ICA leaders holding membership in the ACA despite its anti-subluxation, anti x-ray stance and its support of drugs, injections and broad scope agenda.
The current members of the ICA Board are:
Stephen P. Welsh, DC, FICA
President
Selina M. Sigafoose-Jackson, DC, FICA
Vice President
Dr. Jon L. Stucky
Secretary-Treasurer
Donald W. Hirsh, DC, FICA
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Larry Marchese
Chair of the Representative Assembly
George B. Curry, DC, FICA
Immediate Past President
Jimmy Nanda, DC
International Regional Director
Amanda Apfelblat, DC
Board Member at Large
Joseph Betz, DC, FICA
Board Member at Large
Hugo M. Gibson, DC
Western Regional Director
Andrew L. Harding, DC, FICA
Central Regional Director
Bradley J. Lohrenz, DC, FICA
Canadian Regional Director
Timothy E. Meng, DC, FICA
Board Member (Colleges)
Ronald J. Oberstein, DC, FICA
Board Member (Colleges)
Max W. Reinecke, DC, FICA
Board Member at Large
Michael Shreeve, DC, LCP, DPhCS
Board Member, (Colleges)
Thomas D. Taylor, DC, FICA
Board Member at Large
Gary Walsemann, DC, FICA
Board Member At-Large
Claire M. Welsh, DC, FICA
Southern Reginal Director
ICA members who are concerned about the direction of the ICA are encouraged to sign the petition and have their voices heard.
CLICK HERE to view the petition
