Exclusive Breaking News: Pride executive director fired, objects to gift, 2 board members resign
Pride Board President gets 5K gift, two board members resign
It seems that a few months ago the five member board of San Diego Pride voted to give its board president, Phillip Princetta, a $5K gift for his “involvement and leadership” in the organization. This controversial action immediately resulted in the resignation of two of the five remaining board members. They cited their complete lack of confidence in the leadership of the Pride Board.
Ron deHarte
When executive director Ron deHarte was informed about this gift, he immediately objected and said the community would not support it. He asked that Princetta return the gift and said he should step down for having received the money. In the meantime, Princetta cashed the check within 24 hours of receiving it.
DeHarte said that under the Whistleblowers Act, he requested a face-to-face meeting with Princetta, exclaiming again that the community would object to the $5K gift.
Princetta said that he would take deHarte’s advice into considertaion.
The distressed deHarte then reached out to Pride’s retained legal counsel, who supported his demand for the return of the $5K. DeHarte then reached out to three community leaders for guidance and support. Then, deHarte, received an email from Princetta stating that San Diego Pride should have a representative at Syndey’s Gay Mardi Gras celebration and inquired if funds were available to send someone. DeHarte informed Princetta that he felt this was not a good idea and, in his opinion, could not justify such an expense.
Upon being informed about the $5K gift, the staff of San Diego Pride also expressed their objection to the board’s action.
Pride Board President Phillip Princetta
In another disturbing development, it has been learned that the remaining three Pride Board of Directors have started a process and it has been put to committee vote to overturn the boardmember term limits so that the can serve on the board indefinitely. When the Pride board members learned that deHarte had reached out to others regarding the $5K gift, they walked into the Pride offices, fired deHarte on the spot and escorted him out of the building. Community leaders and activist are discussing a town hall meeting and there are discussions for community members to picket the Pride offices, calling for Princetta to return the gift and the entire board to resign.
Two senior staff members, Ken St. Pierre and Jeff Redondo, have said they are tending their resignation over the matter.
A town hall meeting has been called by approximately a half-dozen past Pride board members. The facilitated meeting will take place at The San Diego LGBT Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. For more information, call 619-692-1962.
GLTNewNow will keep you informed about the latest news. Read deHarte’s entire letter here and look for the full story in the Gay & Lesbian Times this Thursday.
Surely the Board has established By-Laws that can be consulted. If so, those By-Laws should contain protocols relating to Board member compensation/gifts — or the prohibition thereof — and what constitutes grounds for the Board to dismiss the Director. Just as a Board is necessary when an organization attains nonprofit status, there also have to be established regulations regarding what the Board may and may not do.
If By-Laws exist, and if, on consulting them, it’s seen that the Board has acted inappropriately in terminating the Director, then the administrative staff would be free to reverse the action, reinstate the Director, disband the Board, and consult the District Attorney’s office to report the felony theft of the organization’s funds [the $5,000 "gift"].
This shouldn’t be that big a surprise. Pride stopped being about Pride years ago, and became a fundraising institution. With a money hungry atmosphere pervading the institution, it is no wonder that everyone wants a piece of the pie, up to and including the Board Director! I wonder what favors and/or privileges or access were used as bargaining chips to persuade 3 Board members to chuck the by-laws out the window and pay the Director $5000! There is much more here that we don’t know about yet. Peel this onion layer by layer and get at the rotten core and remove it.