By JERRY MICCO
APSE President

Jerry Micco

One thing we always do at APSE is ask for our members' time.

Whether it be to serve on a committee, serve on a panel at the summer convention, be a judge in the annual contest, be a region chair, or do a story for our newsletter, we're always looking for a time commitment.

Most of the above take some time and prep work, but they all are worthy of that. Now, I'm asking you for about a minute of your time, but for a very important reason.

I want you to vote in our APSE election for second vice-president. It's important and we need you to do it. And sooner rather than later.

There are five people running for second vice president. You can find out more about them as you read on in the newsletter, but their names are Mike Fannin, Fred Faour, Jim Jenks, Larry Starks and James Walker.

All of these men are worthy of your vote, but this not being Cook County, Ill., your newspaper only gets one vote no matter how many of your staff are APSE members.

More importantly, these men, and all the membership, is worthy of you taking the time to vote. We have an underwhelming performance when you look at how many members vote in our elections. Last year, for instance, 90 member papers voted out of 388. In 2003, 72 papers voted, which was down from 98 papers in 2002. Our best year for turnout was in 1997, when 161 member papers voted.

HOW TO VOTE

E-mail your vote to APSE secretary/treasurer Ed Storin at storapse@aol.com. Type the name of the person you are voting for on your company letterhead and mail it to Storin at: APSE P.O. Box 7227 Hilton Head, SC 29938 Deadline: All votes must be in Storin's hands by June 1. Eligibility: All member papers have one vote. If your paper has multiple members, decide on who gets to cast your paper's vote.

Voting has been made easier over the past three years by the ability to e-mail your vote to our secretary/treasurer Ed Storin. You also have the option of mailing your vote to Storin, using your company letterhead. But e-mail is the quick and easy option.

The toughest decision one makes in our organization is whether or not to run for office. When you decide to do it, you know it's a three-year commitment and you know that while it's fulfilling, it's going to get in the way of your regular job. It takes a commitment of time and travel for you and your newspaper. You are asked to be responsible, depending on the year, for the three most important parts of our operation: newsletter, contest and convention.

That's how it should be. The five people on this year's ballot know there's going to be a commitment down the road. They've already made commitments to APSE by their work on committees, judging or some other way. They are ready to make a much bigger commitment.

The best way to help them, besides getting involved with the organization once one of them takes office, is to vote.

The beauty of our organization is that we aren't a bunch of followers. We are a bunch of leaders, who agree to follow leaders we select. It's not always easy. Having been on both sides of the dynamic, I know. But it's critical that we get involved in electing the people who will lead our organization over the next several years. The decisions they make will have a huge impact on what we do as an organization. The vision they lay out is the one we will follow in the coming years.

We did have a committee look into the voting issue. Third vice-president Greg Brownell chaired an ad hoc committee created by past president Bill Eichenberger looking into why members don't vote. The committee's general finding was that many members don't know about the election, even though it's an annual event. One of the committee's premises is that we should make people aware of the election rather than campaign to get people to vote.

While this column may seem like a campaign to get people to vote (it is), it's also letting people know that there's an election, one that's held every year. Since this newsletter is one that is mailed to members as well as published online, I can't think of anyone who won't see that inside their newsletter is a ballot with five people's photos and bios. If you've missed that, you didn't read the newsletter.

But to me it's simple: Take a minute to vote. It's important and it means a lot to our organization.

We need to try this voting method for at least one more election. If not, Brownell's committee made recommendations on how to get more people to vote.

Perhaps if we have low numbers, it's time to look at those recommendations to see which ones can be put to best use by APSE.

But for now, I'm asking all of you to take the time to elect someone who has already made a big time commitment to the organization. Three years, to be exact.

Your response to increase our membership over the past several months was tremendous. We are growing and gaining back members. Now I'm asking for your help — and a bit of your time — to help select a new APSE officer who will offer us vision and leadership for the next three years.

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You can reach Jerry Micco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via e-mail at jmicco@post-gazette.com.

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