NWLL baseball scandal

[Anonymous]

I hope everyone noticed that the current board picked Davenport & Quigley & Sague to pick the board (all engaged in misconduct) and that they promptly elected themselves and fired the whistleblowers??
Is this really the optic this board wants?
Is this fixing NWLL?

[Anonymous]

well how about this?
To elect themselves, the special committee members (Bensky/Misra/Quigley/Anderson) have to endorse Davenport and to get themselves elected?
Talk about a conflict and corruption.
Total banana republic!!!

[Anonymous]

Hi NWLL Community, here is an important update as we head into the election.

First, we encourage you to vote on the 2024 Board - Sunday at Stoddert Elementary (8pm). The Board refused our request for a virtual vote and is insisting that you appear in person or request an absentee ballot (see fine print in its 11/28 email).
It must be returned by Saturday at 11:59 pm. We also note that the membership gets to vote on the size of the board and we encourage you to select 8 board members, but to rank order the candidates 1-13.

Second, there are 8 Fresh Start Board Slate members (Joe Cannavo, Ashleigh Coniglio, Cedric Diakabana, Jed Edeler, Kevin Moriarty, Kathleen Quinn, Tom Quinn, and Margie Yeager).
None are current board members. We are asking for your vote in favor of the Fresh Start Board Slate. They will right the ship.

Third, the Davenport/Quigley/Sague nominating committee announced their 2024 board picks, i.e., people they think “possess” the “character” and “talent” to advance the mission of NWLL. Not surprisingly, (a) they removed Mike Klisch and Erin Sweeney from their slate, who were voted in every year until this year when they became whistleblowers, and (b) Davenport and Quigley picked themselves.
Write ins are allowed on the absentee ballot and nominations will be permitted from the floor on Sunday.

Note, on the Board call on Friday, the Board did not vote in favor of the nominating committee’s slate, which includes:

1. Ricky Davenport (existing Board member - President)
2. Molly Quigley (existing Board member, aligned with President)
3. Katherine Rossi (existing Board member (Treasurer), aligned with President, child coached by President)
4. Neha Misra (existing Board member, aligned with President, child coached by President)
5. Joshua Daniel (12u parent coached by President, led 12u parents in refusal to leave Board meeting unless President was exonerated, called whistleblowers “agents of chaos”)
6. Rick Bielke (existing Board member, aligned with President)
7. Scott Anderson (existing Board member, aligned with President)
8. Emily Wander (existing Board member, 12u parent coached by Davenport, aligned with Davenport, son paid to coach with Davenport).
9. Eric Bensky (existing Board member, aligned with President)
10. Joe Cannavo (not an existing board member)
11. Ashleigh Coniglio (not an existing board member)
12. Dermot Maher (not an existing board member)
13. Margie Yaeger (not an existing board member)

Note, in addition to removing Klisch and Sweeney, the nominating committee removed the four board members who were being compensated the most by NWLL (Pete Robinson/Redmond Walsh/John Sague/Joe Dyson).

Fourth, despite that the NWLL fiscal year ended September 30, 2023, the Board waited until December 1 to disclose the 2022-23 financials. As you can see, roughly half of NWLL revenue was used to pay board members.

Note, unlike past years, no payments have been made to coach 13+ year old players in the Fall 2023. Perhaps the Board is waiting to pay that expense or chose not to incur it.

Note, while coaching stipends were allegedly designed for expenses according to the treasurer, the financials show that expenses are reimbursed on top of coaching stipends to board members.

Note, the special committee of board members effectively investigating themselves approved every payment to board members. Nevertheless, they identified at least 16+ substantial changes that need to be made to the way the Board runs NWLL (p. 38).
Please read them carefully.

[Anonymous]

TL;DR of Special Committee Report: found, among other things, that Davenport manipulated/falsified draft scores, and that significant sums of money were paid to board members. it is unclear how significant and whether the spending was improper — certain sums were actually paid out as financial aid or fees were “zeroed out” if families were playing in multiple teams. Ie, the impropriety is perhaps not quite as bad as the whistleblowers initially suspected, but at least part of what they suspected is substantiated by this report (which, NB, is tilted in favor of the incumbents).

Report conclusion: So the league has been run with zero accountability for years, but let’s double down and stick with the existing board and just put in some place some new policies and procedures to make things better. It’s all good, nothing to see here!

This report is terrible and Steptoe’s reputation is tarnished for lending its name to this nonsense.

NWLL parents — please vote for the Fresh Start Board and put this behind us. It doesn’t make any sense that the old board members are clinging to these positions, especially when some don’t have kids in the league. This is/should be a nonprofit and people should be lending their time and expertise out of desire to make a better experience for the kids. There should be no financial consideration at play. As a parent, I want to be part of a league known for good sportsmanship and good baseball, not cheating and ethical lapses — which is the case right now.

— NWLL parent with younger player

[Anonymous]

Parents of younger players really need to make an effort to go vote. This may all sound like someone else's problem now, but it will be your problem soon if there is not change.

When my children were in their early years of NWLL, I paid no attention to how the league was run and was just grateful that some people were volunteering their time to make it all happen.

I had no idea someone with kids who had long since aged out was running it like a personal fiefdom, that our fees were used for things other than field rental and equipment, that players would go off to travel leagues and then suddenly show up again when they were recruited (!) back for the All-Star teams. I had no idea that non-parents coached 12u, and not because they were especially good at it and people begged them to do it, but because they wouldn't let it go and paid themselves for it.

Anyway, things have gotten way off-course, and it matters. So go vote.

[Anonymous]

Apparently both whistleblower’s kids are eligible to play in Cap City and Banneker - maybe they just want to tarnish NWLL before they go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently both whistleblower’s kids are eligible to play in Cap City and Banneker - maybe they just want to tarnish NWLL before they go.

What bs are you talking about? That's simply inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

What’s inaccurate Mike? That one of your players’ addresses isn’t in Cap City boundary and Erin’s player isn’t eligible to play for Banneker?

[Anonymous]

i never understand this thing about trying to cast aspersions on the whistleblowers. Whatever the whistleblowers may or may not be doing (and I have no knowledge that they have done anything amiss), how would that change the fact that NWLL's board has been negligent and imprudent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latest update from the complainants is out:

1. Board members Ricky Davenport, John Sague and Molly Quigley (“nominating committee”) will announce their 2024 board on 11/30. Davenport announced that NWLL members (parents) may not attend the board meeting and that it may not be recorded.

2. We continue to receive complaints about the nominating committee’s lack of independence.

3. The NWLL community is proposing its own list of board members, i.e., the “Fresh Start Slate.” It is a very impressive group of non-board members with considerable relevant experience who will ensure that NWLL funds are used appropriately and that rules and governing documents are followed, e.g., none of them will be paid. The election is December 3. Please cast your vote in favor of the Fresh Start Slate. We asked Little League International to help ensure a fair election.

4. The special committee and its lawyers (“Steptoe”) say they will release their report on the wrongdoing next week. Despite that lawyers may not represent the special committee and the company, Steptoe is representing the special committee in the investigation and NWLL in the litigation over access to documents and information. The court has been alerted to these issues and conflicts, which may result in the special committee’s report being disregarded in its entirety.

5. NWLL, the special committee and Steptoe continue to refuse to produce waivers or financial information, including finances for the period of October 2022 to September 2023. On November 22, we asked NWLL, Davenport and the Treasurer (Rossi) for this information (again), but they refused.

6. The special committee interviewed other local little leagues. We learned that (a) no other league pays coaches, (b) no other league pays board members, (c) no other league has an Intermediates division (it’s not even a DC District 1 program), (d) NWLL is the only league that pays to coach Intermediates and Juniors, which operates at a loss every season, (e) other league boards discuss virtually every expense before it is incurred, (f) NWLL substantially overpays for umpires and field maintenance, (g) unlike NWLL, other leagues pay non-board members to teach baseball skills to players under the age of 13, and (h) NWLL, with the assistance of a secret donor who funneled money through NWLL, paid about $4,500 in “financial aid” to one ineligible family that drives luxury cars, e.g., a Lexus and Mercedes, and earned income of over $100,000 annually, and that this was done for the number one ranked player in another league without board approval or discussion and in fact was prearranged by Davenport before the family registered to play in NWLL.

7. Settlement: Over the last month+, we have repeatedly offered to end this dispute if the Board agreed to step down and be replaced by a new board, but the special committee and NWLL refused this offer and did not make a counteroffer.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working together for the betterment of our NWLL players.

they paid a kid to play!?!?

Why?!

Is that kid ineligible to play in High School now becasue of that?

[Anonymous]

No payments to any kids. Misperception caused by NWLL Transparency email, but Mike/Erin did not have the decency to correct it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No payments to any kids. Misperception caused by NWLL Transparency email, but Mike/Erin did not have the decency to correct it.

To kids parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s inaccurate Mike? That one of your players’ addresses isn’t in Cap City boundary and Erin’s player isn’t eligible to play for Banneker?

NP. Weird that the people involved in this scandal don’t see how completely desperate and guilty this petty, defensive name calling makes them seem.

[Anonymous]

So how did the election go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how did the election go?

Election was postponed until 12/10 to give parents more time to digest information and be able to vote -- Special Committee report was just released a day ago, the voting process (for how many, what positions, etc.) was ambiguous, and the absentee vote process wasn't very clearly explained until last minute, and only upon request.