FOP Hearing

From an e-mailer:

• A disciplinary hearing was conducted on Thursday for Fop Lodge 7 President John Catanzara . There were numerous charges of financial malfeasance brought by the 1st VP who was recently demoted from a field rep by the accused . Catanzara was accompanied to the hearing by his attorney and refused to answer several questions asked of him.

  Catanzara called witnesses to support His case but they testified that he did not pay back money he was supposed to . He “ allegedly “ said he had used the Fop credit card on vacation when he visited Croatia and Jamaica . The next meeting is the third Wednesday of next month and anyone who has a question should be there. The real question is how will the entire Fop Board handle this in relation to discipline? Are we paying for another attorney for Catanzara ?

Obviously, this is the basis for the rumored discussion someone overheard along the lines of, "But if I pay it back, then there's no problem, right?"

Actually, it's a problem, and a pretty large one. The FOP isn't a piggy bank or a pay-day loan service, fronting interest-free loans to previously bankrupt members who can't manage their own finances. If it was, we would have traveled more extensively when we were members.

So now what? Does the hearing committee of three render a decision? Is the membership stuck waiting until the next meeting? Any additional oversight? Any information about other on-going investigations or why the FOP is paying some shyster $450 per hour for what looks like a personal issue rather than an organizational one?

By the way, has anyone seen the $10K painting yet?