Good question.

We have an elected board that makes policy decisions.  Occasionally such
decisions are subjected to a vote of the entire membership.  An annual
report published in Museum News informs the membership of board actions
and of course includes a full financial disclosure.  Three councils --
affiliates, standing professional committees, and regional organizations
-- meet with board representatives three times a year.  Each affiliate,
SPC and regional also has a liaison on the AAM staff.

AAM staff and board members attend state, affiliate and regional meetings
around the country.  On these occasions we "represent" AAM and to that
extent we are speaking "officially" for the association.  If we are asked
about something on which the association has not adopted a policy -- for
example, salary guidelines or benchmarks -- we can only offer personal
opinions, as I did on museum-l.

In terms of dealing with the media, the Government and Public Affairs
Department provides background information, but only the President and
CEO (Ed) can be quoted as an official spokesman.

For what it's worth, the attitude among most of the staff is that we are
merely the hired help -- you, the members, are the Association.

I hope this helps.

Andy Finch
AAM Government Affairs
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Standard Disclaimers

On Wed, 23 Jul 1997, Ross Weeks wrote:

> Who DOES speak for AAM anyway?