ICA in Crisis - President & Board Stage Power Grab to Remove Voting Rights of Representative Assembly & Membership

According to documents being circulated by members of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) including current and former leaders of the ICA and the Representative Assembly (RA), ICA's President Stephen Welsh DC, has manipulated the Board of Directors into changing the ByLaws of the organization to "completely remove voting rights for the membership and Representative Assembly".

These ICA members and leaders are urging the ICA Board to rescind its decision and if they do not - for membership to vote against the proposed changes.

Ever since the current ICA President Stephen Welsh DC took over the reigns of the ICA he has sought at every step to consolidate power and control of the ICA to the President and Board of Directors while removing voting rights of the membership and the Representative Assembly who he feels gets in his way.

The "interference" that Welsh and the BOD's get from the membership and RA's have hampered their efforts to cozy up to the Chiropractic Cartel - especially the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC).

The end game for these traitors to the ICA is the merger of the ICA with the ACA. So blatant is this goal that current ACA Leader James Edwards DC serves as the current ICA Representative Assemblyman for Texas.

Edwards has repeatedly called for ICA/ACA merger but that won't happen if the RA's and the actual membership have a say in it. Sources say this is the driving reason behind the dumping of the ICA's Constitution and the adoption of the new ByLaws.

Edwards has stated publicly that the reason the ICA and ACA have not yet merged is because " . . . the discussion gets bogged down in the mechanics of how it could be done" Edwards has been circulating draft ACA/ICA merger documents for several years claiming "that wheel has already been invented".

According to Edwards:

"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".

Welsh has led the ICA to embrace the ACA at every turn.

Welsh 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.

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 a shock to the ICA membership and especially to the Georgia Council of Chiropractic (GCC) which has been a longstanding ICA Affiliate, the ICA Board under Welsh's leadership voted to accept the Georgia Chiropractic Association (GCA) as an Affiliate member and did the same thing with the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association (PCA). Both organizations are ACA Affiliates.

Adding further insult to injury, the PCA has endorsed the ACA's Medicare Scope Expansion and Drug Bill. Making the treasonous behavior that much worse was the ICA promoting the PCA's Convention last year which featured Subluxation Denier Carlo Ammendolio who is a darling of the anti-subluxation faction of the profession and the World Federation of Chiropractic.

Another speaker at the Pennsylvania Convention that was promoted by the ICA was sponsored by the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic (UBCC). UBCC is a signatory to the Anti-Subluxation hate group known as the International Chiropractic Education Collaboration (ICEC) - an outgrowth of the World Federation of Chiropractic.

According to several analyses of the changes to the ByLaws circulating among those resisting the changes include:

• Removing memberships' direct vote for leadership
• Only an undefined "Governance Committee" will select candidates for the board to vote on.
• Making the board self perpetuating and self-electing
• Removes members entirely from the nominations process
• Removes offices of President, Vice President, ends accountability and ends the lineage of BJ Palmer, Sid Williams, Fred Barge and all prior elected officials.
• Removes mandated Board seats from ICA Affiliated Colleges
• Removes mandated Regional and International Directors
• Allows self perpetuating board to change the governing documents by a simple majority vote

The Board of the ICA passed this new document to replace both the current Constitution and the Current By-Laws and because the document will replace the ICA Constitution it must be approved by the membership. A group of RAs and Board members who oppose this document for a number of reasons have been urging members to speak out against it.

A group of long-standing members of the ICA, many who have held office in service to its members, the ICA itself, and Chiropractic have been expressing their deep concerns that the new By-Laws document - which will REPLACE not only the current By-Laws, but also the current ICA Constitution – will disenfranchise the membership and set up a self-serving and self-perpetuating governing structure. According to reports this document was created "in the shadows" and presented to the Board of Directors on minimal notice so as not to allow proper evaluation. Further they were pressured to vote for it without amending it.

According to ICA leaders opposing the changes several members of the Board were not on the call when the vote took place and some of the board members that voted yes admitted they do not even understand the document. An urgent call is being made to rescind the document before it even goes out to the members for a vote.

The ICA has always been the only truly democratic chiropractic association. By direct vote the members choose officers, board members and representatives. Their representatives select several more board members on their behalf.

They are urging ICA members to review the new By-Laws document stating it is important to the future of the ICA and Chiropractic that members understand the issues which include:

• Members will no longer receive a ballot to vote for the ICA leadership (president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer) - these positions will be decided by the Governance Committee that is made up of members of the ICA board. By affirming these new By-Laws a small group can always control leadership.
• The Governance Committee, which these By-Laws do not define, has the power to determine who sits on the board.
• In the existing by-laws six (6) seats on the board were elected by the Representative Assembly (RAs). The names and elections for these seats is autonomous to the RAs. This is a very important role for the RAs because it is a check and balance to the ICA Board so no faction could control the board.
• This new document removes the RAs role in selecting these seats. The Governance Committee will qualify candidates to determine who will be allowed to run and give the RAs “up to 10” names they can choose from for the 5 at-large board seats. This is a prime example of a few people wanting to control the ICA and spend the money you send in dues.
• Currently, 4 Regional Directors are elected directly by members. Members will lose this privilege if the new By-Laws are affirmed. These board seats will be filled by the Governance Committee.
• The new By-Laws give the Board the power to remove and add board members. This process allows a group in power to control votes. In laymen’s terms it is called stacking the board.
• Composition of the board is going to change by allowing 3 seats to go to people who are not Chiropractors or even ICA members. In this document there are NO parameters for the qualification of these 3 people to sit on the ICA board.
• This document is vague in many areas. This is to be remedied in “accordance with the procedures set forth and maintained in the ICA Policies and Procedures Manual” (this is where the Governance Committee is to be defined.). THIS MANUAL DOES NOT EXIST.
• This is reason enough to vote “NO” on the new By-Laws. The Governance Committee will have immense power and yet there is no information on how it will be constituted or the rules that will govern its procedures. To pass the By-Laws without this information is irresponsible.

Over the past year Welsh has removed long time ICA members and leaders who disagree with his leadership from its membership groups, removed their posts from ICA Facebook groups that question his leadership and has silenced any voices of opposition towards his merger strategy. Now, Welsh and the Board are banking on the confusion and fog of the COVID crisis to sweep through these changes that will lead the way for the dismantling of the ICA and its merger with the ACA once and for all.

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