Explorers Club Controversy

On this blog, and when I write for other sites, I try to stay positive and I try to give others the benefit of the doubt.

However, a series of events have occurred within one of my favorite organizations, The Explorers Club, that have slowly pushed me to write this blog post.  It's not a post I've wanted to write, and even though this post might seem a little negative to some, I've tried to be balanced in my handling of these events.

Here's what's happened...

A few weeks ago I read a report in the New York Post that caused me concern.  It stated that tv personality Josh Bernstein had been disciplined by The Explorers Club, and then went on to quote Ken Kamler and Jim Clash as saying this "discipline" was a vindictive attack on Bernstein because some of the leadership of the Club feels threatened by Bernstein and are attempting to smear him politically in order to remove him from the Club's board.

Wow.

The entire article seemed bizarre to me.  I'm an Explorers Club member, and I've never seen anything like this in all my years with the Club.

What bothered me even more was how upset Ken Kamler seemed.

Now, you have to understand, over the past 5-6 years I've run many, many conferences all over the country and met a number of interesting and talented individuals.  Of all the individuals I've met, I would place Ken at the very top of the list in terms of just being an overall truly likeable person.  He has a long list of accomplishments, but carries himself with sincere humility and dignity.  He is one of the most genuine people I know, and one of the easiest to get along with.

The other thing you need to know about Ken is that he absolutely loves The Explorers Club. Ken has served on the Board of The Explorers Club for many years and has been their Vice President for a number of years as well.  It would be difficult to find many individuals who have worked harder to promote the values of the Club and toil in the trenches to support its causes.

So when I read Ken's quote in the Post article, I was blown away.

I mean, I've never heard Ken utter a negative comment about anyone in all the years I've known him, so I knew something must be wrong for him to so emphatically state his concerns publicly.

However, I didn't do anything.  

I just noted the unusual nature of the article and went about my business.

Then, I began following the posts on The Adventure Blog .  You can read the posts here , here, here, and here .

Apparently, there's a little more to the story than what appeared in the Post, and it seemed, well, not so good.

According to The Adventure Blog, Josh Bernstein was disciplined for simply sitting at a sponsor table at the 2011 Explorers Club Annual Dinner, a petty offence at best.  Also, turns out that 10 of the 12 members of the Flag and Honors Committee resigned when President Karnath questioned the legitimacy of the Committee after her hand-picked recommendations (ie- read friends and supporters) were not chosen for awards.

Now this is bad enough, but I still wasn't going to get involved in any way until I received the following letter from President Karnath via email:

Dear Explorers Club Members,

I have heard from many of you regarding the recent piece about the Club that appeared in the New York Post on December 21, 2011. Reactions have ranged from astonishment that confidential internal Club information was disclosed in this fashion to disappointment at the tenor of the comments contained in the article. Many of you have also demanded that the Club take disciplinary action against those involved. Please be aware that nothing is more important to me and the rest of the Club's leadership than the reputation and integrity of the Club and we have spent -- and will continue to spend -- substantial time and effort focusing on how best to respond in light of recent events, including taking appropriate disciplinary action, in order to protect the Club and to ensure that this does not happen again.

Lorie Karnath, President

This letter was astonishing to me.

There was nothing mentioned about why Bernstein was disciplined, why ten Flag and Honors Committee members resigned, or who leaked the information about Bernstein's discipline to the New York Post in the first place.  

When I received this letter, I felt like the integrity of the Club was under attack.

In the past week, I've tried to get in touch with someone from the Club to give me official answers.  I called and was told that Matt Williams, Executive Director of the Club, would be happy to answer my questions.  I gave my name but have not heard from Matt.

I emailed Matt-- no response as of the writing of this post.

I posted my concerns on the Facebook page for The Explorers Club, but still got no response.

The entire situation strikes me as very odd, and makes me concerned that there are significant shenanigans going on at the leadership level of the Club.  As the days go by, I am growing increasingly concerned that there is a lot more to this story and that the rank and file members of the Club are not being told the total truth.  

Since I cannot seem to get any answers from the Club-- except letters saying other members will be disciplined for speaking up for those they feel have been attacked-- I would like to publicly ask President Lorie Karnath or some spokesperson for The Explorers Club to answer the following questions:

1. Was Josh Bernstein truly disciplined for something as silly as sitting at a sponsor table at the 2011 Explorers Club Annual Dinner?

2. Who leaked the story of Bernstein's discipline to the Post (I doubt Bernstein, Kamler, or Clash did, but I'm willing to withhold judgement until I hear the official narrative).

3. Why did the ten members of the Flag and Honors Committee resign?  

4. How on earth can I, as an Explorers Club member, be assured that the awards scheduled to be given out in March at the 2012 Explorers Club Annual Dinner were distributed fairly if 80% of the selection Committee quit in protest?

5. Will any of the ten members who resigned from th Flag and Honors Committee be present at the 2012 Explorers Club Annual Dinner to support the presentation of the awards?

For those who might write me and say that it is inappropriate to discuss these private Club matters in public, please note the following:

1. All the information above was provided publicly already.

2. I have been unable to get any sort fo response from the Club-- my Club-- through any other means.

I am hoping that this is all cleared up soon.  I'll keep you all informed on how this turns out.