Conflict of Interest

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


On Saturday July 28, Angie said:


> USET makes it possible for some of these backyard horsemen to travel and
> compete against the best in the world.  What do they get in return?
> Nothing that I know of.  Nobody has asked me for anything but I have
been
> informed that USET is footing the bill for mine and my crews uniforms
for
> the Pan Ams.  I really appreciate it, since I'll do well to afford the
> transportation costs up there.  If I'm "On the take" what is it that
they
> want from me?  I've accepted the bribe...now what have they asked of me?
> Nothing so far.  Not a penny.  Not a vote. Not a word.

Actually, what they have asked (whether explicitly or not) is
for Angie to be a walking billboard for them (i.e. they want her
and her crew to wear the uniforms which, no doubt, say USET on
them).  At least they are not (like Nike) asking that she pay
for the privilege of acting as a billboard for them, but they
are still getting something in return. And you can bet, if she
doesn’t wear the uniforms, it is unlikely that they will provide
them again. :).

Since I have not seen anything in the FEI rules for the Pan Am
games that requires riders and their crews to wear a uniform,
and if Angie is financially strapped in paying for transport
costs that uniforms aren’t in the budget, there is nothing to
say that she and her crew cannot wear clothes that they already
own.  So... USET, in their magnamity, has footed a bill that she
probably wouldn’t have incurred anyway, and what they get out of
it is self-promotion (i.e. promoting USET, not Angie).

I am not saying that they shouldn’t have done this, nor am I
saying that Angie shouldn’t accept USET’s offer--just that it
would be inaccurate to say that they don’t want anything for
it.  What they want is for Angie to advertise for them. This is a very
common practice that is considered a win-win situation.
Many of our endurance ride managers do the same thing to the
people who ride in and/or volunteer at their rides.  They give
these people a t-shirt to advertise their ride and call it a
prize.

> On the list of
> organizations I had to join, USET was optional.  They didn't even force
> me to join, and still were going to cover my uniform costs. I'm not
privy
> to inside politics, but they're looking pretty good to me.

You can bet, that were USET to be the specified National
Federation for the FEI (as they are hoping to be appointed),
that it is unlikely that they will not force you to join if you
want to compete at the FEI level (or pay a stiff non-member
fee).  After all, the AERC does.

And...here might be where I diverge from many people.  I see
absolutely no reason that people who want to compete at the
international level shouldn’t pay their own costs for doing so.
And as counter-intuitive as this may seem, I can explain to
anybody who is interested the economics of why having people pay
the expenses themselves, rather than seeking sponsorship and
financial support from outside entities, actually makes
participation more affordable for "the common man."  And not
just at the international level, but at all levels.  The more
outside financial support there is, the more inaccessible it
becomes to those who are not either rich or well-connected.

kat
Orange County, Calif.