Q&A about election issues

Steve in Tennessee asked:

-What is the nature of the business relationship between Polgar and Truong?
-Does Truong still serve as Polgar's business manager?
-If so, how will that effect the interaction of the various members of the EB should both be elected?

Dear Steve,

Paul is my business manager and one of my best friends for more than 20 years. The amount of business inquiries that I receive daily is too much for me to handle. I need to be focused on other things that are more important to chess. He screens the majority of the inquiries. If or when he feels that the inquiries are legitimate, he then passes them on to me and I take it over from there. If I need a second opinion about various issues, I ask him and a few other trust friends. It is always helpful to have honest feedbacks from people you can trust.

Paul handles the media, publicity, PR and technical stuff for me, my website, blogs, chess center and the Susan Polgar Foundation. He does not get paid for what he does. He also does not have access to my finances. This was his #1 condition for helping me. He has helped me for years on an unofficial capacity and in an official capacity in the last 5-6 years or so.

Yes, he is still my business manager. He is also my chess trainer and second. One can judge his coaching ability by my results in the 2004 Olympiad, the Mayor's Cup, Women's World Chess Cup and 3 US Open Blitz crowns.

It has no effect with how we deal with other board members if we are both elected. In the last 5 years, we had numerous interactions with various board members or USCF staff. They can probably tell you how many times we have disagreed on various issues.

What some people seem to miss is Paul's expertise and mine are as different as night and day. Our personalities are also very different. We are 2 completely different people and we disagree on many issues. That has no effect with the Susan Polgar Foundation. In fact, it actually helps. All one has to do is see the accomplishments and success of the Susan Polgar Foundation. There is no need to speculate as the facts are there.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Jerry MacDonald asked:

JLM: Based on the fact that you have been business partners for some time, do you feel that this will expedite some of the changes you want to make in the USCF?

SP: It is absolutely needed. I am disappointed to hear some people said that they would not vote for a group of people no matter how qualified they are or how much they can help the USCF. This is precisely why the USCF has faced so many problems in the past.

Let's go back to the past 4-5-6 years. Which candidates have done the most positive things for Chess in this country and the USCF? Everyone will say great things about themselves on paper. Would you hire someone based on their paper resume? Would anyone say something negative about themselves? No. Therefore, why not look at the reality? In my opinion, the top 5 most productive people in the past 5 years are (in no particular order):

Paul Truong
Jim Berry
Mikhail Korenman
Randy Bauer and me

Are we all perfect? No. Are any of the candidates perfect? No. But these are the 5 that have done the most positive things for the USCF and US Chess in the past 4-6 years. In fact, if there is only one position open, the one person I would vote for is Paul Truong. Why? Because he has the experience and skills that no one has ever possess in the USCF. He will make the biggest impact for this federation, even more than me. How do you think the Susan Polgar Foundation can accomplish what we have done so far with virtually a zero budget? Look at the things he has done with PR, Marketing, Promotion and other areas with again virtually zero budget. He single handedly can accomplish more things than sometimes an entire company or department. I have seen head hunters trying to recruit him in the past 5-6 years and offering him an obscene amount of money but he said no to all of them just to help chess for free.

JLM: Do you feel that cooperation amongst board members is one of the most important needs in this coming year?

SP: Yes. The USCF as an organization has wasted so much time, money and effort in the past year just to defend and protect itself from the conducts and actions of Mr. Sloan. Can we afford another 4 years of this? Absolutely no. Board members do not have to agree. But they must have a basic level of respect for each other. They must also be willing to sit down and discuss or debates issues in good faith.

JLM: Can you make a statement, to rest cautious minds, that checks and balances inheriant from constructive debate will still be in place regardless of who is elected?

SP: I have always done this and I see no reason to change it. I do not intend to change if I am elected or not.

Shortly after I posted this, Mr. Sam Sloan once again lied and tried to fool the USCF members. This was my response to another USCF who did not allow Mr. Sloan to get away with his usual lies and deceits:

Thank you for noticing it. It is very unfortunate and embarrassing to see a board member behaving this way. Instead of focusing on fixing and improving the USCF, so many people have to waste countless hours dealing with a few destructive, vindictive and delusional people.

Just to clarify, only two people have access to my blogs. I have a separate webmaster (Mr. Justin Jenkins) for my websites. When I post (more than 5,000 items in the last 20 months), it will show something like this:

posted by SusanPolgar at 2/16/2007 01:32:00 PM

When Paul Truong posts (less than 5 times out of more than 5,000 items), this is what it will

show: posted by Admin at 2/16/2007 09:38:00 PM

Thank you again for not letting this individual getting away with this kind of fabrication.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar