Dateline: Saturday, May 6, 2023
Swedish Club 411 is the place to have diverse, in-depth, debates about the future of the Swedish Club, its policies, its history, and the social and employment culture established and acted out by its leaders and their supporters.
This weekend one such conversation was held between a concerned Swedish Club member and myself, Elizabeth Campbell. The Club member and former senior management employee wanted to discourage any pursuit of legal redress against the Club, to let bygones be bygones, to forget the past social, ethical, and legal transgressions against members and employees that have occurred.
This is the conversation:
CLUB MEMBER: I strongly disagree with this action of suing the Swedish club. I’m happy to chat about this and that but in no way cause any sort of financial trouble for the club. I love the club and its members and want a bright new future for it. Please try and let it go and focus on something positive, not on tearing a wonderful club into pieces and financial ruin.
RESPONSE TO CLUB MEMBER: We can talk about this, but the Swedish Club’s members need to attend some board meetings for starters.
In the last two years there have only been two non-board member, Swedish Club members regularly attending board meetings. And they have done so often under duress because the board members and the executive director, Sharon Lucas and the HR director, Sarah Alaimo have made it abundantly clear that there really is no welcome mat out for members to attend – despite their and others claims in the Swedish Club newsletters for years that board and committee meetings are open to the membership, and that the members are encouraged to attend.
From a legal standpoint – neither the board, the executive director, or any of their enforcement agents like Lucas and Alaimo has a right to say who, what, or when a member can attend any of those board or committee meetings. It is the Swedish Club’s Bylaws, the latest version voted on and approved by the members in 2019, that explicitly grant that privilege of board or committee meeting attendance to every general member, the so called “blue card” members; as does Chapter 24.03A of the Revised Code of Washington.
Starting in late 2021 the then executive director, Kristine Leander, embarked on a nasty and underhanded bid to bar myself and other members from initially attending board finance committee meetings.
Next, first thing in 2022, she barred me from attending the building committee meetings. Later on starting in late May/June through to March 2023, Leander also decided to impair my free access as a member to attend the in-person board meetings, those held at the Club in June and November of 2022, and in March 2023.
All of Leander’s actions in this regard were done with the knowledge, support, and if nothing else with the tacit approval of the Swedish Club board officers and board members. Most of that history is thoroughly documented here.
Members might also think a little bit about the new executive Director, Elizabeth Norgren – less than two months after starting she’s already offshored part of her job that she signed up for for over $130,000 a year compensation! At the annual meeting on April 19, 2023 she announced to the members that she was having difficulty assuming the responsibility for and carrying out the cultural activity program for the Club. Two weeks later on May 3rd the board announced that it had hired a cultural director to perform Norgren’s cultural activity job – that the person would be working for a minimum of 24 hours a week.
A big departure from not only the job description/responsibilities Norgren was supposed to abide by, but another inflation of the already inflated Swedish Club payroll/operating expenses load.
Not to mention, Norgren is fleshing out the payroll and hiring her friends, her identification of them, to do several other jobs at the Swedish Club.
Norgren has a terrible track record not from just what you have told me, but don’t you think I took the time and effort to do the investigation to find out what exactly she has done in life?
At this point all the Board, Norgren are doing is change for change’s sake. Many of these actions, changes are not because it necessarily makes any rhyme or reason – they are an “anti” vote, against the former executive director’s organization of the Club’s social and cultural programs.
Throughout all this, the payroll is skyrocketing along with the expenditures for things that I think many people would question what is going on here.
In addition, the board, the present and former executive director, the Club’s HR director, have continued the culture of violence and harm against past and present employees and members, and through their actions considerably increased the Club’s legal risk.
Indeed, you allude to the wonderful Swedish Club, but that is not the reality – the “Club”, is the existing board, its agents, its past and present executive directors that treated not just me but multiple people, members and employees terribly! That’s what the current board wants to do is sweep it all under the rug and then act like it never happened, and would have everyone forget or not know that they were in charge of it all while it did happen!
And the new executive Director, Elizabeth Norgren, is just a different version of Kristine Leander. How could you have expected anything different considering not only her personal record, but with the same board that thought what Kristine was doing was fine is still there installing Norgren as the executive director.
The Swedish Club gives every appearance of is still being an emotionally violent and abusive culture for many members and present and former employees of the Swedish Club. It has even been at times a physically violent place, with physical assaults of multiple kinds. I don’t think that you understand that it’s a culture of violence and abuse that’s going on still. Nothing more nothing less than a lawsuit will stop that and go on to actually create some reformation and accountability at the Swedish Club.
Furthermore, how can you sit and support an organization that’s going $40-$50,000 in the hole every single month! I think that you and a lot of other people, the membership, need to show up at board meetings and look at the financial records and look at the minutes and find out what the hell’s been going on, is still going on! Over the last I detailed most if not all of that, multiple times in both direct communications to the executive director, to the board presidents, Sund and Albright, to its vice president, Smith, and also to the entire board – the financial mismanagement of the Club’s operations, and the failure to act on multiple fronts, both financial, and operational/administratively.
The board has within the legal parameters of its bylaws, contrary to those and contrary to the spirit and laws of nonprofit governance in Washington state has become a self perpetuating “board,” collective of individuals that is first intent upon securing and maintaining power at the Swedish Club, and then in securing and maintaining the secrets and if nothing else the appearances that it has done no wrong.
It is a board that relies on almost every one of its having a portion devoted to meeting in secret, so-called “executive sessions” that are not all about personnel and legal issues. The board and past and present executive directors, their agents give every appearance of a cabal of individuals attempting to coverup their financial mismanagement and failure to have exercised their oversight role.
The reality is the majority of the membership does not even have an idea what the hell they’ve been doing all this last year and continuing to do.
Do you have any idea what they’re doing in terms of making deals to take the Swedish club‘s assets and share them with other groups and organizations and people? If you had attended those board meetings if you’d kept track of Kristine Leander and the board that’s still doing everything I think you would be shocked!
Did you know that they paid out $50,000 last month to Kristine, the person who spent $78,000 on legal fees trying to me in, so don’t tell me that it’s all done and over with and things are great. They are not.
I have the same concern and love and interest in the Swedish club as you do. I have been a good Friend to the Swedish Club, an excellent and devoted member and employee. However there is a terrible underbelly to the whole thing and it’s still there and there are many people that were hurt worse than you.
They have a right to their redress, to have accountability, and be acknowledged, as well as if nothing else deserve an apology.
The Swedish club has such poor standards it’s not even funny and it’s not on the part of the Greater membership because the Greater membership chooses not to see what’s been going on and see how they have disrespected all those people that donated money to it, the donors were led to believe, still being misled about a whole fairytale that never existed at least in the time that I’ve seen it to this day.
I’m sorry that’s not what you want to hear. But the reality is we’ve had honest and pragmatic enough conversations that I think you know what it is I’m talking about.
— Elizabeth Campbell