USCF ISSUES FORUM DISCUSSION OF
2006 AND 2007 US OPENS CONTROVERSY
In my campaign letter of June 7, 2013, I said that Beatriz
Marinello had disregarded the interests of USCF in pushing for the 2006
US Open to be placed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and presented as
evidence the entire email discussion of this controversy involving
Beatriz, myself, the USCF Board and Events Manager, and others.
On June 17, Leroy Dubeck of Cherry Hill posted a response on the USCF
Issues Forum. It is presented below, followed by my Forum reply to
Dubeck.
Bill Goichberg
lwdubeck wrote:Bill
Goichberg and the 2007 US Open Held in New Jersey
As part of Mr. Goichberg’s attack on Beatriz Marinello in the current
USCF Executive Board election, he objected to the New Jersey Chess
Federation’s hosting of the 2007 US Open. First he complained that the
decision to award the tournament was improper because it was not made by
the Executive Director. He omitted telling the reader that he
was the Executive Director at
the time and that many thought he had a conflict of interest in making
the decision. The Executive Board was correct in assigning the 2006 US
Open to Chicago and the 2007 US Open to New Jersey.
As for the “high hotel rates” in 2007, Mr. Goichberg also forgot to
mention that only after the 2007 US Open was completed did the New
Jersey Chess Federation discover that an “Addendum” (which we had never
seen) to the hotel contract was awarding 10% of all room rental fees to
another organization “as agent of record to research hotel availability
and negotiate a contract on behalf of the US Chess Federation.” This was
a surprise to us since we were using the same hotel as in 2002. The USCF
received part of the 10% “commission” but never mentioned it to us. We
discovered it only because the hotel asked us where to send the rebate
check! This “commission” should have been used to reduce room rates for
participants. Bill
Goichberg was President of USCF in 2007 and must have known about this
while he criticized the high hotel rates.
In addition, for months before the2007 US Open the USCF refused to
register players for the US Open and take their entry fees!!
Despite all this we had 400 entries and shared a tidy profit with the
USCF.
Very Truly Yours, Dr. Leroy Dubeck, member NJSCF Organizing Committee
for the 2007 US Open
Response by Bill Goichberg:
In my campaign letter, I didn’t really address the hosting of the 2007
US Open, rather I objected to the attempt by President Marinello to
interfere with the ED (myself) and place the 2006 US Open in Cherry Hill
when a far better bid from the Chicago area (Oak Brook) was about to be
approved. I believe that this was worse than simply a mistake by
Marinello, as the Illinois bid was vastly superior to that of New
Jersey; it was an action which blatantly disregarded the interests of
USCF and its members. For the emails showing Marinello’s action and the
resulting debate, seehttp://www.checkmate.us/2006.htm.
Consider the major differences between the two bids:
Illinois: Hotel rate $89, with tax added $95.58, 10% commission to USCF,
1040 room nights needed to avoid rent, no food revenue required, US Open
last in the area 12 years before.
New Jersey: Hotel rate $114, with tax added $131.10, no commission to
USCF, 1215 room nights needed to avoid rent, $5000 food revenue
required, US Open last in the area (same hotel) 4 years before.
The room rate at all previous US Opens had always been under $100. And
the last time a US Open location was repeated this quickly was in the
1940s!
Dr. Dubeck says that my letter “omitted telling the reader that he was
the Executive Director at the time and that many thought he had a
conflict of interest in making the decision.”
My letter does tell the reader that I was Executive Director at the
time, which I identify as 2004 and document with a series of emails from
that fall. In the letter I say “Beatriz was USCF President from
8/03-8/05, during a time when I was USCF Office Manager (11/03-1/04) and
USCF Executive Director (1/04-12/04).”
Regarding my having a conflict of interest, the only one who I am aware
suggested that was Leroy Dubeck. He also suggested that the $114 rate
was OK because it was lower than the rate at the National Scholastics,
and that Chicago should be avoided because the HB Global tournament
would probably be held again in Minnesota and would hurt entries!
And Marinello said that the Oak Brook hotel was too small, even though
the Chicago Open had comfortably hosted over 800 there. She referred to
problems fitting everyone in at a National K-12 Championship at that
hotel, and said, “I completely agree that the space is not appropriate
for this event which includes our annual convention.” I responded that
it must have been quite a problem for that 1200 player event, but for
the US Open we didn’t even need all the hotel’s meeting space. And we
didn’t. I can’t believe that her comments were sincere; it seemed like
she was just determined to place the event in New Jersey.
Dr. Dubeck says, “The Executive Board was correct in assigning the 2006
US Open to Chicago and the 2007 US Open to New Jersey.” However, the
Executive Board assigned neither, as the Executive Director has been
assigning US Opens (and most other national tournaments) since the early
1990s.
When I was ED, the Board confirmed that one of the duties of the ED was
placement of national tournaments. I worked for many months on placing
the US Open in the Chicago area, and was astonished when, with the
contract signing probably a few weeks away, I was suddenly told by
President Marinello to sign a grossly inferior contract for Cherry Hill.
I told her that I would not do so unless ordered to by the Board. She
did not bring the matter to the Board and I signed the contract for the
Chicago area.
Dr. Dubeck says of the 2007 US Open in Cherry Hill, “...we had 400
entries and shared a tidy profit with the USCF.” However, he fails to
mention that the 2007 US Open had fewer entries than every US Open
between 1999 and 2006.
The 2006 US Open in Oak Brook, Illinois, on the other hand, had over 530
entries, the largest turnout since 1991 and one not matched since. USCF
also obtained a commission of over $10,000 from the Illinois hotel, and
the overall profit was much greater than other recent US Opens,
including New Jersey 2007.
After I left as Executive Director, President Marinello became acting
COO in 2005 and placed the 2007 US Open in Cherry Hill. The contract she
signed offered no commission on guest rooms to USCF. In August 2005 I
became USCF President, and even though Dr. Dubeck says that I “must have
known” that there was a commission, I did not know, nor did ED Bill
Hall. Why would we know, if Beatriz did not? After the tournament was
held, I was astonished to hear from Bill Hall that the hotel had asked
where to send the rebate check. I am not aware that USCF had already
received a payment from the hotel. It seems clear that there was nothing
in the contract requiring them to pay a rebate.
Regarding using the rebate to announce lower room rates, we couldn’t do
this as we didn’t know there was a rebate. I believe the rebate was
about $5000, or about $4 per room night, and the 2007 room rate was
$115.
Bill Goichberg