THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED, AND ORIGINAL AND NEWER TEXT VERSIONS ARE SHOWN BELOW. SEE COMMENTS FOR DISCUSSION OF THESE EDITS.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
AGREEMENT
On Friday, October 28, and Monday, October 31, 2011, Paul Carnes, Sydney Sherrell, Gregory Murphy, Shane Aspinall, and Rita Sebastian, all of whom have been active in the Occupy Boston Movement and specifically in its Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG), and all of whom are working together cooperatively, met to discuss and agree on various matters having to do with Occupy Boston’s finances. We have reached the following agreements.
1. Various of us have opened two bank accounts that hold money donated to support Occupy Boston, both at the Liberty Bay Credit Union, one in the name “Occupy Boston” and the other in the name “Occupy Boston Financial Accountability Working Group”. We agree that it is confusing and unnecessary to have two accounts at the same bank that have the same purpose. Since FAWG is in fact responsible for monitoring donated funds, the five of us have closed the account with the more general name “Occupy Boston”, and we have shifted its funds to the account more appropriately and specifically named the Occupy Boston Financial Accountability Working Group account. All bank statements for the closed account have been transferred to those overseeing the open account.
2. In order earlier to open the account we have now closed, it was necessary for us to obtain a “doing business as” (dba) certificate in the name Occupy Boston and an associated employer identification number (ein). We have executed the City of Boston’s Withdrawal of Business form withdrawing the dba Occupy Boston, which attorney David Kelston will hold in escrow until the General Assembly (GA) reaches consensus on how to proceed with the dba Occupy Boston. We also agree that we have no need for the ein associated with the bank account we have closed, and we will promptly take steps to extinguish that ein.
3. Paul and Sydney have described to us a plan they have to set up a business that will raise funds for progressive groups, quite possibly including Occupy Boston. The five of us agree that such a group’s services could be retained by Occupy Boston if the GA reaches consensus to that effect.
4. All of us remain committed to the goals of Occupy Boston and are proud of our involvement in it. We have now, in furtherance to our commitment to the movement and to accountability, transparency, access to information and oversight, presented this Agreement to FAWG, posted it on Occupy Boston’s website, and announced it in the GA.
5. This Agreement supersedes and nullifies the FAWG resolution adopted October 24, 2011, and any posting of that resolution on Occupy Boston’s website will reference the fact that it has been superseded. The undersigned will additionally make good faith efforts to have the resolution, and accompanying language, deleted from Occupy Boston’s website. Further, we acknowledge and state that any past or future statements made by any individual claiming to represent FAWG and inconsistent with this Agreement are not authorized by FAWG.
6. We agree that Greg, Shane, and Rita have provided a statement that they are authorized by FAWG to execute this Agreement, and we further agree that the GA has authorized FAWG to handle financial matters for Occupy Boston.
7. The five of us agree that by completing the undertakings of this Agreement, we have satisfied our responsibilities to FAWG and Occupy Boston.
8. This Agreement, and the accompanying press release and any public announcements, will be held in escrow by attorney David Kelston until the undertakings in paragraphs 1, 2, 4, and 6 (excluding GA consensus on the dba Occupy Boston) have been completed.
NEWER TEXT:
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, November 1, 2011*
Contacts: OccupyBostonMedia@gmail.com
Twitter: @occupyBOS_media
AGREEMENT REACHED CONCERNING OCCUPY BOSTON FINANCES
The Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG) is pleased to announce that today it reached an agreement with two other members of Occupy Boston concerning certain financial matters and a business certificate. The two members—Paul Carnes and Sydney Sherrell—met with members of FAWG and a professional mediator to discuss the parties’ differences regarding the use of the name “Occupy Boston” on a Doing Business As (DBA) certificate filed with the City of Boston and to determine the status of a bank account opened under that DBA. Their agreement spells out the terms that all of those at the meeting agreed to, including the transfer of the funds held in the bank account to another account controlled by FAWG and an understanding that the mediator will hold the DBA in escrow pending a consensus of the General Assembly (GA) concerning the DBA.
The three members of FAWG authorized to negotiate on behalf of the working group—Shane Aspinall, Greg Murphy, and Rita Sebastian—were pleased to reach this agreement and put this matter behind them. All of the people at the meeting agreed that their agreement satisfies all of the obligations and responsibilities of FAWG and Occupy Boston with respect to this matter. Going forward, Carnes and Sherrell intend to continue working for the common good of Occupy Boston.
###
Occupy Boston—located in Dewey Square, in the heart of Boston’s Financial District—is an on-going movement to bring greater accountability to Wall Street and greater responsiveness to Washington. It is inspired by Occupy Wall Street, which started in New York City on September 17, and is connected to similar demonstrations and occupations taking place across the country and around the world. On October 30, Occupy Boston celebrated its one-month anniversary. For more information, see OccupyBoston.org or email OccupyBostonMedia@gmail.com.
32 Responses to “Finance Accountability Working Group Press Release”
where did the other article with all the comments go? some accountability.
Wow – you delete the article and all of the questions about what was going on? That’s sketchy. You’re sounding incredibly like the corporations you supposedly are protesting with this hide and seek act.
Hold tight. Everything will be restored.
Why are the occupy Boston folks (or even this website) placating to the demands of this “Paul Carnes” ??
Can the webmaster at least provide some clarity? else this website, which was once somewhat useful for information and discussion- becomes tainted.
whats wrong with clarity and transparency?
But it has not been restored. Has it?
This is supposed to answer all the questions that were raised by the (Now Deleted) story from yesterday?
Your response to the straightforward, clear, unambiguous and important questions from yesterday are these three paragraphs of incomprehensible bullshit?
It’s clear Occupy Boston is as corrupt and deceptive as the system it is criticizing.
Wow
Which of the moderators decided this. Can we at least get that answer?
Hey, let’s not be too harsh too immediately. We can still figure this out like rational people, right?
1. Yes, this looks sketchy, AndyK, but today you’re going to give us either a full explanation or an ETA on when we can expect that, right?
2. My open questions:
a. Is PC still working on FAWG?
b. Did he or any other members of FAWG receive financial compensation for their work?
c. Can we have more transparency into the FAWG process and holdings? No minutes are posted to the wiki. No other information source is listed there. No public meetings are scheduled anywhere I can find.
I understand the idea of not wanting to air your dirty laundry in public, but we need crystal clear transparency.
3. This one goes to everyone: Expect your comments on this site to be taken out of context by “reporters.” Be careful with your words.
I can answer a few of the above questions:
a. PC is not on the Financial Accountability Working Group and has not participated since being removed on 10/24.
b. neither he or any member of FAWG has received any compensation for their work. FAWG members, just like all other working group members, are volunteers, nobody is paid.
c. meetings of FAWG are Sunday 10-12, Monday 6-8, Wednesday 6-8, and Thursday 3-5. Locations TBD. I will try to get this schedule also posted on the calendar.
alright guys, i’m out. good luck with your occupation.
This situation is good as far as an organization like this goes. Here the idea of corruption is in the open for everyone to think about and talk about. Probably all these people will be gone in a year with others to annoy in a different way in their place. There are opportunities here. And even if Occupy Boston was a complete loss people should want to remain for a while to study it. The fact that anyone would just walk away now because of all this shows that they are disingenuous and incurious. It is time to face reality and learn how things really are and see if what your teachers, parents and professors taught you is actually true. Do not presume anything is as it seems. Money could be going anywhere. Some donors could be ok with this. Donors and their money could be the ones actually pushing what we think of as corruption as a way to get control. The public letter to the Teachers Union could have been a way of telling off the Teachers Union to make them stop.
yeah, i’m definitely the ingenuous party here… looks like OB is quickly becoming the province of the completely incomprehensible like yourself so i’m pretty ok with your criticism.
Last night someone edited this post and deleted the comments, under the username “obmedia”. So far, no individual has confessed to being the one who made the edits. We’re trying to figure this out, with discussion happening on the ob-media mailing list. This list is open, and you’re invited to join it or view the message archives — see https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/ob-media.
The original text of the posting was supplied to me by somebody on the list, and I’ve posted it above. But I don’t currently know how to get back the comments. I will be working with our hosting provider to see if they can restore them.
I work on the web site team, not the FAWG, so I can’t answer many of the questions about this whole affair. The best contact information I have for the FAWG group is http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Finance_Working_Group. If others can pursue the truth with that group, I would appreciate it, as I have my hands full with the web site work. We need people to participate who can help make Occupy Boston a better organization. Thanks!
Shame
fuck off. meet the new boss, same as the old boss. what a fucking joke.
There are two separate issues here. Let’s take them one at a time:
1. The Agreement – there has been complete transparency in this matter. The Agreement between FAWG and Paul and Sydney and the press release was read in its entirety at GA on 11/1. Members of FAWG were at the GA to answer any questions and will continue to answer any additional questions.
2. The Website – the editing of an approved document after it was posted on the OB website was wrong, a mistake, it should never have happened. This problem should be dealt with by the media, IT, or whoever manages the website (I’m personally don’t know who that would be) and procedures should be established to make sure this type of situation doesn’t occur again. Certain types of documents need to be “locked” to prevent subsequent edits.
The mistake someone made by editing an approved agreement after the fact (#2) does not change the fact that FAWG reached an agreement and presented the agreement to GA in a completely transparent manner (#1). Though unfortunate and confusing, let’s try to keep the issues separate, better understand exactly what happend, solve the problem, and respect the process. Breathe.
I think everyone is breathing
The first article was deleted (censored)after Paul was allowed back ‘in’. Then after his comments (which he asked to be deleted) were posted to ‘defend’ his good name.
People on OB.org just want transparency about that whole scandal.
Pretty simple.
It was frankly- fascinating blog reading.
We are a country as awhole that watches TV shows about fat people losing weight, people that are ‘lost’ and ‘real housewives’- is it so hard to realize what we wanted to know were the details and be given transparency on what happened when they (paul etc) were ostracized from the group. How and why they were allowed back in?
Were all of those details aired at the GA? Can we get a script or loose translation of anything that happened? or is it just simply defend ‘Paul’ at all costs because he can keep the books and has ‘experience’?
Sorry, I’m all out of ”s
+1 about wanting details from the GA(s) where these decisions took place. Theoretically I could attend all the GAs, but I’m pretty lucky with that, actually. There are people who are unable to attend (night school, cost of transportation, night job, etc.) and they, obviously, need to be, at a minimum, informed about /how/ not just /what/ is “decided”. (The idea of inclusivity and outreach seems to be on the agenda for tonight’s Ideas WG meeting, if anyone’s interested — I am!)
Its just laughable when you think about the bottom line.
Accountability for Wall street, govt and mankind.
yet there is none on Occupyboston.org
andyk seems honest and transparent. thank you for this Andy. this is a young movement that is trying to get organized. there are many different working groups and I noticed sometimes they overlap in purpose and in actions.
so as far as organization goes – is there a list of who is allowed to edit this website? Does the fact that username “obmedia” was used indicate it was someone from the media group or could any of the editors have used that username? Good luck finding the culprit, but for me it is encouraging that the problem is transparent, it is recognized and sounds like it is being addressed.
there doesn’t seem to be any process to respect. there’s certainly no one to hold accountable for anything. yet despite having no leaders, only some people have access to edit these posts. you’re a joke. we don’t need to calm down, you need to figure out your bullshit if you want anyone to take you seriously. and i’m not saying us anymore because clearly most of us have no involvement with what actually goes on because we have no idea who is doing what.
also if anyone wants to donate to occupy boston, please send your money directly to me and i swear i will totally make sure it goes to the right place. don’t even worry about it. just calm down and give me your money.
Yes, beef, I’m of the same mind. EARLY this morning I asked Occupy Boston, (Because that’s who I assume I’m talking to on this page), if they really meant to answer all of yesterday’s questions – now conveniently deleted -with that meaningless tripe they posted as a response.
Now I come back tonight to find the same posting from yesterday, just a little more obfuscated. So, ONE MORE TIME, here are some questions for Occupy Boston and it’s financial group:
1. You accused Carnes and Sherrell of embezelement.
1a. How much money was involved?
1b. Where did it go?
1c. Was it recovered?
1d. Why didn’t you prosecute?
1e. Do they have you over a barrel somehow? Are they threatening a libel suit, for example, because you’re so sloppy or Pollyannna-ish that you never kept any records that could prove the embezzlement you allege?
2. Despite publishing that scathing letter to the Teacher’s Union, you leave the door open to getting back into bed with Carnes/Sherrell. (Your paragraph 3 above.) Why? WTF?
3. Where are your financial statements? They’ve been promised since it was first revealed that your donations topped $10,000, two or so weeks ago. I can’t find one anywhere. There isn’t even a link to an Occupy Boston ‘financial group’ on this website.
These are some of the direct, unambiguous questions I and others asked yesterday. You, Occupy Boston, have evaded them.
SO, to andyk, who seems to speak on behalf of Occupy Boston on this site, to Shane, Greg and Rita who speak for the financial group as per the document above… and golly gosh and gee whiz, I hate to put such a fine point on it but… I and a lot of other people WANT SOME FUCKING STRAIGHT ANSWERS.
“Paul and Sydney have described to us a plan they have to set up a business that will raise funds for progressive groups, quite possibly including Occupy Boston. The five of us agree that such a group’s services could be retained by Occupy Boston if the GA reaches consensus to that effect.”
My humble op is that you’re asking for trouble by setting up a “business” of any kind. Get your house in order first. And who’s going to run it? Is there going to be “consensus” regarding staff? Name? Goods sold? Viability of plan?
And just how much money would go into a venture?
My advice is to open a souvenir stand at Dewey, sell buttons, all sorts of crap, and keep a very open accounting system in doing so.
I actually don’t think this organization is capable of running anything anyway. You’re all talking about jobs and then you get these kids with piercings, blue hair, tattooed necks, etc… and pretty grimy looking to boot. Who the hell’s going to hire them? And when was the last time any of them looked for a job?
Whatever the hell happened to the main message of kicking corporate ass? The head’s swallowing the tail… is this Ouroboros or just Onanism (in case you don’t what Onanism is, it’s a religion that was based on the writing of Yoko Ono).
Good that Paul C. is no longer involved in FWTG per bruce above.
Agree with Arnie – OB should move along and focus on main message…
Here’s some of the news on this topic.
Boston.com (Nov 1st)
“Occupy Boston’s efforts to watchdog its own finances show a maturing movement”
“As part of the eventual agreement, Carnes said he has agreed to stop his fundraising efforts. The rest of the details are unclear; Sebastian said the group plans to fully announce this accord this afternoon once “the terms of the agreement have been carried out.”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2011/11/occupy_boston_s.html
Related:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1028occupy_outcast_fights_back/srvc=home&position=4
OB & OWS are young movements. I don’t think they mean they are trying to “set up a business” — they will set up as non-profit legal entities. And you should do this – ASAP. I do appreciate the transparency though.
“Occupy Wall Street finds money brings problems too”
http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-st-finds-money-brings-problems-too-111339150.html
“Last Friday, the Occupy Wall Street finance committee made one of its first detailed reports, saying it had spent $55,000 to date, including $22,000 for food, medical care and laundry and $20,000 on communications systems.
Dutro, who has a background in operations management at Internet services companies, said the amount raised so far should be taken in context.
“People see like $500,000 and they say ‘Wow that’s a lot of money’ but the reality is it’s not that much money. You have a huge community — we’re bigger than most of the occupations — and we probably spent a lot more money,” he said.”
It seems that some movements like OccupyChicago are being responsible and refusing donations until they are set up as legal entities.
People have come up and said they want to give us contributions from $5,000 to $15,000 but we’ve told them no,” Occupy Chicago’s Orion Swann said, adding the group has raised less than $20,000.
“Right now we are figuring out how to establish a legal identity so we’re holding off on accepting donations.”
Thank you for repeating your questions and providing additional reporting on this issue. I don’t know if I will be able to recover the original comments or not. There is also a new post on the main page confirming that Paul Carnes and Sydney Sherrell are banned from Occupy Boston.
However, use of anonymous accounts on the web site are still a problem. I disabled the account “obadmin”, but still need to disable the account obmedia. I’m attempting to find out who is responsible for these postings, and ensure each admin account on the web site is associated with only one person, and that person’s full name is known. This is happening in public on the media group mailing list (https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/ob-media), which is open to anyone.
As I said, I’m only working on the web site piece of this, so we can restore trust in this site as a reliable source of information from Occupy Boston. I don’t know what the truth is about any of the FAWG activities.
And may I remind everyone that “Occupy Boston” is a loose collective of volunteers who not only welcome your participation, but desperately need it!
I want to clarify a few things regarding this situation with Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrell and some of the areas of concern
Paul & Sidney were voted unanimously out of the Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG) after they completely disregarded the guidelines they helped create reagrading transparency and accountability. When that announcement was made to GA, Paul and Sidney were on site and left. They were not banned from Occupy Boston that night, ONLY the FAWG. Work groups have no authority to throw an individual out of the site. That has to be done through GA. That was done yesterday.
The announcement made with Occupy Boston FAWG and Paul & Sidney said that if they got GA support, they would be allowed to do fundraising for Occupy Boston because that is what they should have said.
I am not sure what was deleted, it sounds like someone posted something anonymously which automatically allows credibility to be questioned.
If I can answer any questions, please feel free to ask. We are not trying to be deceptive, we are trying to do the right thing.
Thanks for reading, hope it clarified a little
As a member of FAWG and as a member of the FAWG team which mediated with Paul and Sydney, please let me state some facts:
!) As a member of FAWG, Paul was authorized to get an EIN, dba certificate from City of Boston, and open a Credit Union Account, all in the name of OccupyBoston. This was planned to happen on Wednesday 10/19. Another member was to join Paul and Sydney as signer on the dba and account, but that did not happen. I am unclear as to why not.
2) On Thursday, 10/20 Paul and Sydney failed to attend a scheduled FAWG meeting. FAWG reached Sydney, by phone, who said she was with Paul, but after repeated calls, to both Sydney’s and Paul’s phone, Paul never returned our calls.
3) Later, on Thursday 10/20, FAWG executed its first sweep of cash from the camp. This action had been planned at a previous FAWG meeting. The money collected from sweep was supposed to be deposited in the credit union account, but since FAWG did not have access to the account opened by Paul, it was stored in off-site locations, as were the sweeps from the next few nights, until FAWG opened another credit union account on 10/25. This sweep included taking $ from a safe, stored in Paul’s tent.
4) When Paul learned that we had taken the cash from his tent, he spoke with police, at the camp, and also accused FAWG of Grand Larcency.
5) For the next several days, FAWG attempted to get Paul to turn over the EIN, dba Certificate, and credit union account info. He refused.
6) As FAWG was considering and researching the option of legal action, we decided to engage in a mediation process, with Paul and Sydney, arranged by the National Lawyer’s Guild. The first mediation session was Friday, 10/28, and the second and final session was Monday, 10/31.
7) The three members of FAWG’s mediation team were charged with securing the EIN, dba certificate and credit union account, from Paul and Sydney The signed mediation agreement resulted in FAWG accomplishing all three objectives. FAWG witnessed Paul writing and mailing a letter to the IRS requesting a dissolution of the EIN he had secured. Paul signed a notarized Withdrawal of Business Certificate (currently held by the mediator. FAWG also accompanied Paul to the credit union and witnessed him closing the account he opened and the transfer of funds into the authorized OccupyBoston account.
8) FAWG did not accept Paul and Sydney back into the working group.
9) Per terms of the mediation agreement, the agreement and an accompanying press release were made public.
10) Throughout the mediation, FAWG continually impressed upon Paul and Sydney that we did not represent the totality of OccupyBoston and that we were only charged with the three goals, already mentioned, and were not authorized to make any promises, on behalf of OB – thus, the somewhat ambiguous language of the agreement. What was stated very clearly was that if Paul and Sydney wanted to do fundraising, on behalf of OB, they must get GA consensus to do so.
10) I do not completely understand what has happened with all the language posted to the website, concerning this topic. I do know that, prior to the mediation, Paul and Sydney demanded that all OB website posts referring to them should be taken down. Members of FAWG and Media discussed this demand and reached a compromise. The website posting of 10/25, reporting that FAWG had expelled Paul and Sydney from FAWG, and an accompanying resolution, stayed on the website. The copy of a letter, dated 10/28/11, written to the Boston Teachers Union expressing that Paul did not represent OccupyBoston, was taken down, at that time
Note: that BTU letter is now posted again.
Thank you for the comments and the clarity
So I don’t know if we’re ever going to figure out exactly what happened on the web site here. We have very limited resources and time, and the attention of the group needs to move on. I have tried to make sure that future edits to the web site are done in a transparent and accountable way. This was done by disabling one account, and having a password change done on the “obmedia” account to prevent unauthorized or unaccountable access in the future. The most recent post on the FAWG by obmedia was verified to be accurate by others on the ob-media mailing list who had first-hand knowledge of the FAWG goings-on. Please note there is an attachment to that post. https://www.occupyboston.org/2011/11/03/paul-fetch-carnes-sydney-sherell-banned/
As always, if you don’t like what’s going on in Occupy Boston, you’re encouraged to get involved yourself and create what you’d like to see here. If you have no interest in helping, minding your own business is always an option. However, as you can see, we don’t censor comments based on content, no matter how rude or non-constructive they may be. Occupy Boston is nothing more than a loose collective of individuals acting (sort of) together. All working groups are open to anyone, and anyone can attend GA, speak, and offer proposals for adoption.