#but women being CEOs not just men is value neutral- as in it's not worse when women do it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justicedemocrats · 7 years

Link

It’s time to rebuild the Democratic party from scratch and make it represent the American people.

WE WILL:

PASS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PUT AN END TO WASHINGTON CORRUPTION AND BRING ABOUT ELECTION REFORM.

Super PACs should be banned, private donations to politicians and campaigns should be banned, and a clean public financing system should be implemented to end the takeover of our government by corporations and billionaires. Americans deserve free and fair elections — free from the corruption of big money donors. The Supreme Court has effectively legalized bribery. It’s time for an Article 5 convention to take our Democracy back from the brink of Oligarchy. Prior to passing this amendment, all Justice Democrats should reject billionaire and corporate donations when running for office to show the American people we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Ranked choice voting should also be implemented to make smaller parties a viable option. All provisions of the Voting Rights Act should be reinstated, and gerrymandering for partisan gain should be eliminated.

RE-REGULATE WALL STREET AND HOLD WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINALS ACCOUNTABLE.

Despite engaging in systemic fraud and causing a subprime mortgage meltdown and the great recession, you can count the people from Wall Street who are in prison for their crimes on one hand. It’s time to prosecute the criminals, bring back Glass-Steagall, and re-regulate Wall Street to prevent another crash. Prison is not just for the poor and the middle class anymore. We will have cops on Wall Street, not just Main Street.

END BILLIONAIRE AND CORPORATE TAX DODGING, FIX THE SYSTEM TO BENEFIT MIDDLE-CLASS AND POOR PEOPLE.

Corporations dodge $450 billion a year in taxes by using offshore tax havens. We should end this injustice, as well as chain the capital gains tax to the income tax, increase the estate tax, and implement the Buffet Rule so that no millionaire CEO pays less in taxes than his or her secretary. It’s time for a tax system that benefits the middle-class and the poor, and makes the top 1% and multinational corporations pay their fair share.

DEFEND FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION.

We support the right to express unpopular opinions without fear of censorship. We support free speech on college campuses. The marketplace of ideas should be embraced. A vibrant debate is healthy for democracy, and we should cherish our first amendment. We also support net neutrality for a free and open internet.

OPPOSE BIGOTRY.

We must speak out against racism, sexism, xenophobia, and all forms of bigotry. Non-discrimination protections that currently apply to race, religion, and gender should be expanded to include the LGBTQ community and the atheist community. Making all Americans equal is not asking for special privileges, it’s asking for the rule of law — justice and equality for all as outlined in the United States Constitution.

MAKE THE MINIMUM WAGE A LIVING WAGE AND TIE IT TO INFLATION.

This is about justice and basic human decency. If you work hard and you work full time you shouldn’t live in poverty. Furthermore, we support strong unions and collective bargaining.

ENSURE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE AS A RIGHT.

The United States should catch up to every other modern nation and implement a single-payer, medicare-for-all system. There’s no reason we can’t be #1 in the world instead of #37. It’s time to end the destruction of American healthcare by rapacious, price gouging, for-profit, private health insurance middlemen.

ENSURE UNIVERSAL EDUCATION AS A RIGHT.

Educating the citizenry of a nation pays dividends in the long run, with the economy getting back much more than is initially put in. Crushing student debt for higher education would no longer burden young men and women trying to improve their lives through hard work. We should strive to have the best education system in the world.

END UNNECESSARY WARS AND NATION BUILDING.

The United States maintains 800 military bases worldwide at a cost of $100 billion a year, this is money that can be spent at home creating jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, and investing in the future of the people. The disastrous war in Iraq cost trillions, the war in Afghanistan is 15 years in with no end in sight, and we’re currently bombing 7 different countries. We spend more on our military than the next 8 countries combined. Despite countless lives lost and destroyed, terrorism has only gotten worse. It’s time to end the wars and the perverse monetary-incentive structure that makes politicians flippant about sending young men and women to die. Unilateral U.S. military force should only be used as a last resort to defend the nation. The current budget could be cut drastically if we used our department of defense for what it was intended — defending us, instead of waging interventionist wars.

END THE FAILED WAR ON DRUGS.

The goal is legalization, taxation, and regulation. Prohibition only makes drug cartels more powerful, increases crime, and makes drugs more dangerous due to lack of enforced safety standards. What you put in your body is your own business, and your right. A free society should allow individuals to make their own choices about their bodies. While most users are recreational and moderate, rehabilitation and treatment should be provided for people struggling with addiction. Additionally, those serving time for non-violent drug offenses should be pardoned.

CREATE THE NEW NEW DEAL.

Our infrastructure gets a grade of D from the Society of Civil Engineers. The government should invest trillions in rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, schools, levees, airports etc. There’s no reason why we can’t have the world’s #1 infrastructure.

CREATE THE RENEWABLE ENERGY REVOLUTION.

Scientists are sounding the alarm on climate change. In order to avoid the worst case scenario and a dystopian future we need a massive green revolution. It’s time to drastically and immediately move away from fossil fuels and develop the technologies of the future. This will be a giant boon to both the private and public sector, as well as a necessary response to a global crisis. We can and we must be #1 in sustainable energy production in the world.

BLOCK BAD TRADE DEALS LIKE THE TPP AND OPPOSE OUTSOURCING THAT WILL FURTHER DAMAGE THE MIDDLE-CLASS.

As a result of NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China and the WTO, Americans have lost millions of decent paying jobs. It’s time to end the race to the bottom and renegotiate these rigged deals that only benefit elites. We should not sacrifice our sovereignty, the only people who are allowed to make laws for the United States should be the American people, not multinational corporations.

END CONSTITUTIONAL OVERREACHES.

Ban the NSA from bulk data-collection and warrantless spying. Shut down Guantanamo Bay and all extrajudicial prisons. Prosecute torturers and those who violated the Geneva Conventions, Nuremberg Tribunal, International law and US law. Return habeas corpus and due process. Pardon whistleblowers like Edward Snowden. We shouldn’t be leading from behind on human rights, we must be the home of liberty. We should practice the values we preach.

NO LONGER SELL ARMS TO HUMAN-RIGHTS VIOLATORS.

Ban arming human rights violators. We recently gave Saudi Arabia billions in weapons and watched the civilian death toll in their vicious bombing campaign in Yemen tick up. We continue sending Egypt arms as they violently crack down on peaceful protesters. Israel received $38 billion in aid and promptly announced new settlements. The first step to peace is not enabling nations who regularly violate international law. We must be bold enough to stand up to human rights violators who aren’t just our enemies, but our allies. We don’t weaken our allies by holding them accountable, we strengthen them.

DEFEND AND PROTECT WOMEN’S RIGHTS.

We support the Paycheck Fairness Act. We oppose Republican cuts to Planned Parenthood and women’s health clinics all across the country. In 2016 alone, 60 TRAP laws targeting abortion were passed in 19 states. We will vigorously oppose all efforts to dismantle reproductive rights.

ENSURE PAID VACATION TIME, SICK TIME, FAMILY LEAVE, CHILDCARE.

The United States is one of just three countries in the world that doesn’t offer paid maternity leave, the others being Oman and Papua New Guinea. We are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t offer paid vacation time. This should be changed immediately.

PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE AND MEDICAID.

Republicans have been trying to privatize and cut earned benefit programs for decades. Corporate Democrats have been willing to go along with them under the guise of a ‘grand bargain’ and ‘reform’. We pledge to staunchly oppose this. Social Security reduced the elderly poverty rate from 35% to 10%. 3.4 million Americans would immediately fall into poverty without Medicaid. Gutting these vital programs is not an option.

IMPLEMENT COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM.

We won’t give an inch in our opposition to Trump’s outrageous proposals. Ideas like a ‘total and complete’ shutdown of Muslim immigration and deporting all undocumented immigrants are anathema to America. We will fight for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. America is a proud nation of immigrants.

ENACT POLICE REFORM.

We believe in the core idea of policing — to serve and protect the community. Police are a vital part of American society and that is why it’s so important to reform the system to make it serve all Americans. For-profit policing and for-profit prisons should be abolished. Police training should be retooled to emphasize deescalation tactics, and body cameras should be mandatory on all officers. Furthermore, community oversight boards should be created and broken windows policing should be eliminated. Stop & frisk — which disproportionately targets blacks and latinos 87% of the time — has a 97% failure rate. On top of being discriminatory and ineffective, it’s also unconstitutional and should be ended. Special prosecutors must also be appointed to hold police accountable.

COMBAT HOMELESSNESS.

More than 600,000 Americans are homeless on any given night, including over 57,000 veterans. Studies show the cost of leaving a homeless person on the streets is $30,000 while the cost of housing them is just $10,000. Addressing this crisis is both the moral and fiscally responsible thing to do.

ENACT COMMON-SENSE GUN REGULATION.

92% of Americans want expanded background checks, 54% want a ban on assault weapons, and 54% want a ban on high capacity magazines. We agree with the majority of the American people and support these measures. Over 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence, including over 10,000 homicides. The time to act is now to address this public health crisis.

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY.

Humans are fallible, we’ll never get the right answer 100% of the time. 4% of the people on death row are not guilty of a crime and have been wrongly convicted. A system that puts innocent people to death is indefensible and should be reformed. We want justice for the American people but killing innocent people on death row is the exact opposite.

THESE IDEAS REPRESENT WHAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WAS SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT ALL ALONG.

Opinion polls in the United States demonstrate that these policy positions are overwhelmingly popular. Indeed, throughout the industrialized world these ideas are considered moderate. This is a movement about freedom and justice. And it’s a movement by and for working people. If the Democrats refuse to embrace this platform, they’ll continue to lose, either to Republicans or to us. The future of the Democratic party is the Justice wing, not the establishment wing.

#justicedemocrats #justice democrats #politics #democracy #liberal #progressive

197 notes · View notes

berniesrevolution · 7 years

Text

FULL Justice Democrats Platform

It’s time to face the facts: the Democratic Party is broken and the corporate, establishment wing of the party is responsible. Republicans now hold most state legislatures, most governorships, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the presidency. So in 2018, hundreds of Justice Democrats will run a unified campaign to replace every corporate-backed member of Congress and rebuild the party from scratch. This is our plan.

Pass a constitutional amendment to put an end to Washington corruption and bring about election reform. Super PACs should be banned, private donations to politicians and campaigns should be banned, and a clean public financing system should be implemented to end the takeover of our government by corporations and billionaires. Americans deserve free and fair elections — free from the corruption of big money donors. The Supreme Court has effectively legalized bribery. It’s time for an Article 5 convention to take our Democracy back from the brink of Oligarchy. Prior to passing this amendment, all Justice Democrats should reject billionaire and corporate donations when running for office to show the American people we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Ranked choice voting should also be implemented to make smaller parties a viable option. All provisions of the voting rights act should be reinstated, and gerrymandering for partisan gain should be eliminated.

Re-regulate Wall Street and hold white-collar criminals accountable. Despite engaging in systemic fraud and causing a subprime mortgage meltdown and the great recession, you can count the people from Wall Street who are in prison for their crimes on one hand. It’s time to prosecute the criminals, bring back Glass-Steagall, and re-regulate Wall Street to prevent another crash. Prison is not just for the poor and the middle class anymore. We will have cops on Wall Street, not just Main Street.

End billionaire and corporate tax dodging, fix the system to benefit middle-class and poor people. Corporations dodge $450 billion a year in taxes by using offshore tax havens. We should end this injustice, as well as chain the capital gains tax to the income tax, increase the estate tax, and implement the buffet rule so that no millionaire CEO pays less in taxes than his or her secretary. It’s time for a tax system that benefits the middle-class and the poor, and makes the top 1% and multinational corporations pay their fair share.

Defend Free speech and expression. We support the right to express unpopular opinions without fear of censorship. We support free speech on college campuses. The marketplace of ideas should be embraced. A vibrant debate is healthy for democracy, and we should cherish our first amendment. We also support net neutrality for a free and open internet.

Oppose bigotry. We must speak out against racism, sexism, xenophobia, and all forms of bigotry. Non-discrimination protections that currently apply to race, religion, and gender should be expanded to include the LGBTQ community and the atheist community. Making all Americans equal is not asking for special privileges, it’s asking for the rule of law — justice and equality for all as outlined in the United States Constitution.

Make the minimum wage a living wage and tie it to inflation. This is about justice and basic human decency. If you work hard and you work full time you shouldn’t live in poverty.

Ensure universal healthcare as a right. The United States should catch up to every other modern nation and implement a single-payer, medicare-for-all system. There’s no reason we can’t be #1 in the world instead of #37. It’s time to end the destruction of American healthcare by rapacious, price gouging, for-profit, private health insurance middlemen.

Ensure Universal education as a right. Educating the citizenry of a nation pays dividends in the long run, with the economy getting back much more than is initially put in. Crushing student debt for higher education would no longer burden young men and women trying to improve their lives through hard work. We should strive to have the best education system in the world.

End unnecessary wars and nation building. The United States maintains 800 military bases worldwide at a cost of $100 billion a year, this is money that can be spent at home creating jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, and investing in the future of the people. The disastrous war in Iraq cost trillions, the war in Afghanistan is 15 years in with no end in sight, and we’re currently bombing 7 different countries. We spend more on our military than the next 8 countries combined. Despite countless lives lost and destroyed, terrorism has only gotten worse. It’s time to end the wars and the perverse monetary-incentive structure that makes politicians flippant about sending young men and women to die. Unilateral U.S. military force should only be used as a last resort to defend the nation. The current budget could be cut drastically if we used our department of defense for what it was intended — defending us, instead of waging interventionist wars.

End the failed war on drugs. The goal is legalization, taxation, and regulation. Prohibition only makes drug cartels more powerful, increases crime, and makes drugs more dangerous due to lack of enforced safety standards. What you put in your body is your own business, and your right. A free society should allow individuals to make their own choices about their bodies. While most users are recreational and moderate, rehabilitation and treatment should be provided for people struggling with addiction. Additionally, those serving time for non-violent drug offenses should be pardoned.

Create the new New Deal. Our infrastructure gets a grade of D from the Society of Civil Engineers. The government should invest billions in rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, schools, levees, airports etc. There’s no reason why we can’t have the world’s #1 infrastructure.

Create the renewable energy revolution. Scientists are sounding the alarm on climate change. In order to avoid the worst case scenario and a dystopian future we need a massive green revolution. It’s time to drastically and immediately move away from fossil fuels and develop the technologies of the future. This will be a giant boon to both the private and public sector, as well as a necessary response to a global crisis. We can and we must be #1 in sustainable energy production in the world.

Block the TPP and all outsourcing deals that will further damage the middle-class. As a result of NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China and the WTO, Americans have lost millions of decent paying jobs. It’s time to end the race to the bottom and renegotiate these rigged deals that only benefit elites. We should not sacrifice our sovereignty, the only people who are allowed to make laws for the United States should be the American people, not multinational corporations.

End Constitutional overreaches. Ban the NSA from bulk data-collection and warrantless spying. Shut down Guantanamo Bay and all extrajudicial prisons. Prosecute torturers and those who violated the Geneva Conventions, Nuremberg Tribunal, International law and US law. Return habeas corpus and due process. Pardon whistleblowers like Edward Snowden. We shouldn’t be leading from behind on human rights, we must be the home of liberty. We should practice the values we preach.

Enact common-sense gun regulation. 92% of Americans want expanded background checks, 54% want a ban on assault weapons, and 54% want a ban on high-capacity magazines. This should be implemented along with a federal gun buyback program to cut down on the 300+ million firearms in circulation. Over 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence, including over 10,000 homicides. The time to act is now to address this public health crisis.

Ensure paid vacation time, sick time, maternity leave, childcare. The United States is one of just three countries in the world that doesn’t offer paid maternity leave, the others being Oman and Papua New Guinea. We are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t offer paid vacation time. This should be changed immediately.

Abolish the death penalty. Humans are fallible, we’ll never get the right answer 100% of the time. 4% of the people on death row are not guilty of a crime and have been wrongly convicted. A system that puts innocent people to death is indefensible and should be reformed. We want justice for the American people but killing innocent people on death row is the exact opposite.

Defend and protect women’s rights. We support the Paycheck Fairness Act. We oppose Republican cuts to Planned Parenthood and women’s health clinics all across the country. In 2016 alone, 60 TRAP laws targeting abortion were passed in 19 states. We will vigorously oppose all efforts to dismantle reproductive rights.

Enact police reform. We believe in the core idea of policing — to serve and protect the community. Police are a vital part of American society and that is why it’s so important to reform the system to make it serve all Americans. For-profit policing should be abolished, police training should be retooled to emphasize de-escalation tactics, and body cameras should be mandatory on all officers. Furthermore, community oversight boards should be created and broken windows policing should be eliminated. Stop & frisk — which disproportionately targets blacks and latinos 87% of the time — has a 97% failure rate. On top of being discriminatory and ineffective, it’s also unconstitutional and should be ended. Special prosecutors must also be appointed to hold police accountable.

JusticeDemocrats.com

#politics #Justice Democrats #populism #grassroots #progressive #progressive movement #bernie sanders #political revolution #democrats #democratic party #tyt #The Young Turks #secular talk #berniecrats

414 notes · View notes

lucasdsimmonstx · 4 years

Text

Boycott the Court of Master Sommeliers?

Is it Time to Boycott The Court of Master Sommeliers?

Is it time to say goodbye to the Court of Master Sommeliers? With eminent sommeliers quitting under protest and a wide array of accusations being leveled at the certification body, it’s time to consider the evidence. We’ve lain out what people in the wine industry are saying about the Court of Master Sommelier – Americas (CMSA). These include issues around racism, sexual violence, cheating, and political bias.

We also offer alternatives if you decide to not support the Court. There are equally good sommelier certification bodies available, so you can earn your sommelier pin with an agency that better aligns with your personal beliefs.

The Court of Master Sommeliers has a Racism Problem

Tahiirah Habibi

“In order to speak, you need to call me master”

A Master Sommelier Examiner to Tahiirah Habibi

Tahiirah has recently published a heartbreaking recollection of blatant racism within the Court of Master Sommeliers. We strongly recommend you listen to how the Court of Master Sommeliers nearly destroyed her love of wine and then callously exploited her.

It is unacceptable that in some CMSA circles there has been rhetoric around not being a political organization and wanting to remain neutral. There is no neutral. By doing nothing, one passively endorses the status quo — and the status quo for BIPOC in America has been, and remains, horrible.

-Richard Betts, MS

Such accusations have been lingering for a long time. Currently, less than 1% of all Master Sommeliers are black.

Diversity has long been an issue for the Court of Master Sommeliers, which skews the same way as most of the wine industry: male, and white. The problem, it seems, may not merely be about demographics.

Alder Yarrow, Vinography.

The Court of Master Sommeliers has a Sexual Violence Problem

In that past several years, we have had countless articles and two bestselling books that outline a disturbing and deeply ingrained culture of sexual violence within the sommelier world.

I no longer spend much time with the sommelier community because I find much of that culture to be toxic…For so long, I’d been obsessed with being part of this community of snobby, older (often white) men that just didn’t want me to join.

-Victoria James, author of Wine Girl in an interview with SevenFifty

In her book, James states that a restaurant owner raped her in the wine cellar. “I was young and insecure and thought that this was what women went through.” She is far from the only wine author to level deeply disturbing accusations. Bianca Bosker, the bestselling author of the book Cork Dork, recalled numerous examples of sexual violence and inappropriate behavior. She also pointed out that the restaurant industry accounts for more sexual harassment complaints than any other industry.

There was the blind tasting instructor who cracked off-color sexual double-entendres, nicknaming people who discussed a wine before savoring it “premature ejaculators,” or wondering“Did someone touch you inappropriately?” after a female classmate exclaimed at a wine’s aroma. There was the very senior sommelier who offered to let me stay in his “big” hotel room — not that I’d asked — and another who, while drunk, escalated from awkward attempts at flirting to full-out groping, despite knowing I was married.

Bianca Bosker, A Sommelier Opens Up About The Truly Gross Sexism She’s Faced In The Wine World, Refinery29

It doesn’t help that only 16% of all Master Sommeliers and only 14% of its board of directors are female. With women being the largest segment of wine consumers, it’s long past time for this to change.

I’ve come to understand that those by-laws have evolved in such a manner as to effectively prevent all but the old guard from running for the board of directors which is responsible for shaping policy. This is not the stance of a progressive or inclusive organization, it’s one of protectionism affording no reasonable opportunity for change.

-Richard Betts, MS

We call on the court to bring in a board of directors that more accurately reflects the community they serve, and that must include women as well as black and indigenous people of color.

The Court of Master Sommeliers has a Republican Problem

Just because a Master Sommelier is a Republican or is employed by one is not a cause to boycott the Court. Nor do we think it’s a problem if a Master Sommelier is a financial donors to the Republican party. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs.

However, the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas (CMSA) is a nonprofit agency that claims to represent the industry as a whole. If they appear to be a politically partisan group, that is a severe conflict of interest. In our reporting, we discovered that the Board of Directors of the CMSA has a distinct Republican bias. Most of the board members are executives in businesses whose leadership donates heavily to right-wing causes.

Currently, 7% of the board either donated to or worked for someone who donated to Democratic Causes. 14% donated to both parties, and a whopping 57% donated solely to Republicans. Dollar for dollar, the data is even worse. The money given to Democrats on average was less than $400, while the average donation to Republicans was over $10,000. We believe this lack of representation of differing political views is one of the systemic problems facing the Court.

Republican Donors & The Master Sommeliers Board of Directors

Thomas Price, MS has worked for Jackson Family Wines for over six years. The company’s chairman Barbara Banke has donated over 2 million dollars to Republican candidates across the country.

Steven Poe, MS has worked for over a decade at the Big Canyon Country Club. This club is well known for being an exclusive bastion of Republican politics in Orange County, California.

Ron Edwards, MS is an executive at Winebow, which is owned by the Brazos Private Equity firm. Both co-founders (Randall Fojtasek and Jeff Fronterhouse) donate exclusively to the Republican party. Donations as of publishing are well over $10K.

Randall Bertao, MS has been an administrator at the Los Altos Golf & Country Club for over a decade. His board of directors donates solely to Republicans. Of note is Andrew K Ludwick, the club’s Treasurer who has donated over $100,000 to Republican causes.

Christopher Bates, MS is now the owner of Element Winery. However, for 10 years he worked for Hotel Fauch��re and Richard Snyder. Mr. Snyder had a long history of donating to Republican causes.

Virginia Philip, MS is the Vice-Chair of the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas. She is an executive at The Breakers hotel. CEO Paul Leone has ha long history of donating to the Republican party.

Devon Broglie, MS is the current Chair of the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas. He has worked for Whole Foods Market since 2005. Mr. Broglie works with CEO John Mackey, a longtime Republican donor, including a Rand Paul Super PAC.

Democratic Donors & The Master Sommeliers Board of Directors

Peter Granoff, MS is the only member of the board to donate to a Democrat. He is the owner of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in San Fransisco.

Dual Donors & The Master Sommeliers Board of Directors

Brett Davis, MS works for Lux Wines, a division of E. & J. Gallo Winery. CEO Joseph E Gallo donates heavily to both parties.

Eric Entrikin, MS works for Germain-Robin California Brandy, a division of E. & J. Gallo Winery. CEO Joseph E Gallo donates heavily to both parties.

The Court Accepts Big Contributions from a Far-Right Political Donor

The Court of Master Sommeliers has deep financial ties to Barbara Banke, the far-right political donor. She funds the CMS scholarship program under the name of her wine company, the Jackson Family Wines Scholarship.

We call on the court to sever ties with the Republican party and bring in a board of directors that more accurately reflects the communities they serve.

The Court of Master Sommeliers Has A Cheating Problem

In 2018, a board member was caught giving answers to the Master Sommelier exam to one of his protegees. This blatant cheating was uncovered because the protegee had second thoughts and consulted a lawyer after taking the exam, and passing.

Nobody knows how many people cheated on the September exam. The Court has only said a lawyer contacted them to say that a “member of the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas disclosed confidential information pertinent to the tasting portion of the 2018 Master Sommelier Diploma Examination prior to the examination.”

-Frances Dinkelspiel, The Daily Beast

It is well-known that members of the board will tutor the very candidates they are supposed to be testing. This type of advocacy is part of the Master Sommelier culture. While on the surface this may seem innocuous, consider that this gives the beneficiaries (who are mostly male and white) a huge competitive advantage over other candidates.

Master Sommelier and (Former) Board Member Andrew McNamara tutoring an Advanced Sommelier candidate – He and She On Wine.

This cronyism goes far beyond giving an unfair advantage to certain people: it has clearly encouraged outright cheating. It was a fluke that the fraud was exposed, and we have no way to know how long such cheating has been going on: the Court continues to stonewall any outside investigation into the scandal.

This is not the only issue with cronyism. Board members are also allowed to change the scores after the exam to benefit certain applicants.

As highlighted in Uncorked, former CMSA board chairman Joseph Spellman, MS, wrote on social media that the CMSA exam committee “reserves the right to change the sequence or selection or point values/scoring of the wines”

Courtney Schiessl, SevenFiftyDaily

After clearly stating that the board will change scores for some candidates, he backtracked and claimed they would only do so “to adjust for exam flaws”. After discussing this issue with multiple sommeliers who have conducted blind tasting exams, there seems to be no valid reason to ever change a grade after the exam has been conducted.

The Court of Master Sommeliers has refused to comment on these serious issues, despite being widely reported on in the media. At this point, it is illogical to assume there was only one case of cheating, or that altering final scores is only done “to adjust for exam flaws.” It is entirely possible the premise of the Master Sommelier certification is a fabrication.

The Court of Master Sommeliers Has A Money Problem

The Court is a nonprofit agency [501©(6)] under US law. In their filings with the IRS, it clearly shows that they make an average of five million dollars a year, almost all of it earned through entrance fees for sommelier exams.

Where does that money go? According to the US government, nearly all that money goes to compensation and management expenses.

Compensation to the board and employees is 25% of their annual budget.

Management expenses (Including legal, accounting, occupancy, entertainment, and travel) are 44% of their total budget.

Having nearly 70% of a budget devoted to administration and expenses is a red flag, according to many nonprofit watchdogs.

The website SeriousGivers places nonprofits into three groups: green zone, yellow zone and red zone. The red zone is for nonprofits that spend more than 50 percent on fundraising and management. The green zone is for nonprofits that spend between 20 percent and 30 percent.

-Steve McDonnell, BizFluent

While these red flags are problematic, the Court is also not fulfilling its obligations as a non-profit.

The 501©(6) designation includes membership-based organizations or clubs that promote the business interests of their members… Typical ways that a 501©(6) nonprofit promotes the business interests of its members include gathering and presenting industry data to governmental bureaus and agencies and lobbying for legislation supportive of the group’s mutual interests…the organization must serve the “common interests” of those members and must not engage in business for profit.

Joanne Fritz, The Balance Small Business

According to its own documentation, the CSMSA is not serving the common interests of the sommelier trade, as it is legally bound to. It is only spending money to benefit its board of directors and employees. In its filings for 2018, the CMSA spent exactly zero dollars to support the sommelier community.

Alternatives to the Court of Master Sommeliers

Do you think it’s time to boycott the CMSA? There are several accreditation agencies in the wine trade that offer sommelier certification. They offer the exact same level of certification as the Court. You can check out a comparison chart of the three major wine trade certification bodies.

The post Boycott the Court of Master Sommeliers? appeared first on SOMM • Reviews of Sommelier Courses and Wine Schools.

from SOMM • Reviews of Sommelier Courses and Wine Schools https://www.somm.us/boycott-master-sommeliers/ from SOMM https://somm3.tumblr.com/post/621399673203195904

0 notes