But I think it’s about time to say it out loud: The National Court Reporters Association does so many things in the name of legal liability. They refused to speak out against the fraud nonprofit Speech-to-Text Institute. They refused to entertain a bylaws amendment I proposed in 2021. They rejected an ad I wanted to place in the Journal of Court Reporting in 2022. Anything with any sort of legal liability is taboo at NCRA and it’s a convenient excuse for the board and staff to strike down membership’s desired direction.
So what’s the deal, NCRA? You use legal liability as a crutch when it suits you, but when it lets you screw members out of money, you’re all good with taking on the legal risk? Maybe you really are in bed with the big box brigade. This smells.
I hope people sue. How will your insurance rates do when it becomes public knowledge that this was a totally foreseeable liability that you ran into head first? You want to tell us GC didn’t know about this risk? Maybe it’s time for a new GC. Maybe it’s time for a new board that doesn’t put our national association at extreme risk of being sued. Because I’ve got news for you: If American Osteopathic is settling, you are too!
Even better, this potential violation of law is written right into the bylaws.
I’ve reached out to a lawyer myself. I’ll see where it goes. But from my reading of everything, members would have much more standing than I would. Especially members who require certification to work in their state. Imagine getting back years or decades of dues that you were all paying that you never had to pay in the first place. Isn’t that worth getting together and giving it a shot? You decide.
Because we already know the NCRA’s stance. Pay, pay, pay, and don’t complain!
For those that don’t know, Dave Wenhold is the current executive director of the National Court Reporters Association and his management company manages or has managed many state associations. This post is going to dive into why I believe this consolidation of power is likely very bad for the profession as a whole. Though I may have mentioned this on this blog at some point, I can’t quite remember, and it’s time for me to be very explicit about it, because everyone in power has failed this profession.
Understand that I’m sharing what I’m sharing because a lot of the people in power are old guard. They don’t have to deal with the consequences of their decisions. They’re selling their agencies to the big boxes and heading out ✌️. I am in a very different position. I have to deal with the consequences of their decisions for possibly three more decades. The students I mentor for much longer.
I’d also like to point out that when the women of this field say the things like what I am about to write, they’re met with silencing words like “defamation”, “libel”, “slander.” Nobody threatens me. Why? Because their threats get blasted to hundreds or thousands of court reporters and I show the world what paper tigers they are just like I did to Naegeli. This behavior is so prevalent that when mentioning Keith Lemon’s name and making factual statements at yesterday’s business meeting, the word defamation was used. How disgustingly sexist this field is, that a man could run the field’s largest blog, systematically outing fraudsters and cheats, and then when a woman dares to raise her voice to “authority”, she be met with silencing language.
Excerpt from the business meeting:
While making factual statements about incoming NCRA President Keith Lemons during the 2024 NCRA annual business meeting, a member was accused of defamation and personal attacks by outgoing NCRA President Kristin Anderson.
Also stated at the meeting was “shut your mouths, people in the cyber world.” But no, I don’t think I will.
Until our voices are heard they will grow into a deafening cacophony. And now:
When I was a New York State Court Reporters Association board member, it came to light that when Dave Wenhold’s company, which I believe to be the Kautter Wenhold Management Group (KWM or KWMG), had mismanaged our records. We were told by Tim Bower, the new management company, that we had no records from the time of Dave’s management. This is particularly egregious because NYSCRA is an organization older than the National Court Reporters Association. But to be frank, it is a shell of whatever it once was. No records, a stagnant or shedding membership, and no money to effect change in New York State. In my view, New York State’s last hope is my current union, ASSCR. It is, as best as I can tell, the most financially stable organization dedicated exclusively to court reporters, and its current leadership under Eric Allen makes it indomitable.
It is also a fact that I’ve had others from other states tell me they have similar feelings about Dave, his company, and mismanagement of their state association. They are scared into the silence of whisper networks. I write for all of them today. Though thanks to my disability, I cannot remember everyone individually.
As you can imagine, I did not keep this information to myself. I shared it with then-NCRA President Jason Meadors. I have come to suspect and believe that Dave is influenced by outside interests. Or, in the alternative, simply manages too many organizations to be an effective leader. Jason, as best I can tell, swept this information under the rug, or, in the aftermath of my mental health crisis, chose to discriminate against me for my health issues and discard what I had told him as just crazy Chris. Certainly he did nothing of import. Perhaps I cannot fault him. There was a time I doubted my own beliefs. But those beliefs have grown stronger with the passing of time to the point where I can no longer ignore them. I believe the looting I’m writing about has been going on a long time across multiple executives’ “administration.” I reflect on all I know about the organization’s history. It sold the land it once owned so that it could rent, a move that holding companies used to bankrupt (loot) Red Lobster. Much news media would have you believe it was the free shrimp. The point is that it is not uncommon for organizations to be subverted and used to benefit organizations with competing interests. And our board of directors let it happen to NCRA.
In the end, we must look at results. We have an organization that couldn’t compete with the Speech-to-Text Institute on media and government attention. We have a falling NCRA membership and participation. We have our STRONGest volunteers turning on the organization. We have increasing division, and though it is blamed on people like me, it is undoubtedly the fault of those in leadership that claim to hear us and then discard our every concern. It is the fault of Dave Wenhold. It is the fault of inaction king Jason Meadors. It is the fault of likely sellout Christine Phipps. It is the fault of chief dismantler Keith Lemons. We watch presidents cycle in, do their damage, cycle out, and cry “we’re only volunteers.” The National Court Reporters Association and its prestige is being openly looted. Whether my fellow colleagues and contemporaries continue to allow that following this post is no longer something I will lose sleep over, as I lost more than enough sleep deciding whether to write this.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. NCRA’s net assets dwarf everyone else in the field. It’s beat out only by the for-profit interests that can afford to bribe people. For-profit interests that seem to have a propensity towards wrongdoing. For-profit interests that literally created a nonprofit dedicated to fooling consumers and jobseekers. There is no reason the organization should be so cash starved beyond mismanagement, be it intentional or due to incompetence. As a comparison, the National Verbatim Reporters Association has a $200 membership fee, and they’ll actually give you a discount on that under certain circumstances. Just ask their President Patrick Stephens about it. When was the last time you heard the NCRA was handing out membership discounts?
But I digress. Some time ago, I made an entire post about how easy it would be to bribe court reporter leadership. The median bribe in this country is something like $60,000, hundreds of millions of dollars flow through organizations like Veritext, billions of dollars run through Veritext holding company Leonard Green (loots hospitals for poor people), and we live in an environment where such corruption would likely go undetected, and even if detected, unaddressed by people just like Jason Meadors. My life experience tells me that this is not some conspiracy theory. This stuff really happens. I was once a minutes reporter for a nonprofit that helps underprivileged children here in New York City. As best I can tell, though I was not privy to the details, the executive director and chief financial officer worked together to embezzle funds right out from under the nose of the board of directors, a board that included ostensibly powerful people from finance and even a lawyer from a big-name firm. The organization was put into financial peril because of their actions coupled with the funding cycle of nonprofits in New York City. If those people can be tricked, surely we court reporters, who often have no financial training, can be taken for a long, long ride. And even if I’m wrong about all that, it’s happened elsewhere.
Now it is plain to see why I have such rage, such vitriol, and why I am willing to use the dirtbag left performative media style to get my point across. We are in an environment where our century-old institutions are being destroyed by sellouts, spineless cowards, and mismanagement. I am in an environment where the well-being and financial future of my growing family is dependent on the actions of people who do not have to suffer the consequences of their action or inaction — and in fact in some cases benefit from the obfuscation of truth and the mismanagement of our institutions. In my view, this is “emblematic” of the issues facing America itself. Our American leaders, so enthralled by outside interests and empowered to use their office for self-enrichment, fail in their duty to achieve the aims of their office. There is no longer a doubt in my mind that people are human, and that these human tendencies to bend circumstances toward self-interest have leaked into “robotic” court reporting. Our ethics culture is a facade. The foxes are guarding the henhouse.
I’ll end with this:
If you see what I see,
the forest and its trees,
please share this missive,
until it reaches the dismissive.
I am not a man known to pray.
God, help us all.
Addendum:
Following this post a Stenonymous source gave me a list of some of the companies Dave Wenhold leads or is a part of.
California Society for Respiratory Care, https://www.csrc.org/board-of-directors, Dave Wenhold Executive Director and the new lobbyist he hired for NCRA, Wil Kreiger (Farragut Partners), is listed as “executive staff.”
NCRA, Dave Wenhold, Executive Director https://www.thejcr.com/2024/06/17/ncra-governmentrelations-update-regarding-ongoing-federal-lobbying-efforts/ Farragut Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, as well as Executive Director Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, NCRA’s Government Relations … In collaboration with the National Court Reporters Association’s contracted lobbyist Will Krieger, junior partner at Farragut Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, as well as Executive Director Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, NCRA’s Government Relations Department is pleased to offer the following update regarding proposed legislation
Missouri Academy of Physician Assistants, Missouri Academy of Physician Assistants – Board & Committees (moapa.org), Dave Wenhold, Executive Director
I’ll follow up with a bigger post hopefully, but the organization needs to raise dues because it’s bleeding membership. It’s bleeding membership thanks to the poor performance of its executive director and its board members’ consistent refusal to listen to the demands of members. They lambast criticism as defamation and plug their fingers in their ears. This is disgusting and inexcusable behavior.
The only way to get them to change direction is to vote no. Punish the association for its bad behavior and the bad behavior of the people representing it.
One of the points of my writing is that having no consequences leads to having no incentive to change. You want change? You present consequences. And the consequences of shutting properly brought motions down at the business meeting must be clear.
Tellingly, they shut down discussion of how many voting members they actually have after it was erroneously stated that there are 13,000.
If ever you needed more evidence, take this snippet from the captions of the business meeting.
Whereupon, members’ voices were not heard.
Addendum:
According to a Stenonymous source, the dues increase was voted down.
(Note: There is heavy cursing in this post as part of a dirtbag left performative media style. Sorry to those this style offends. I will try to be better about openly labeling offensive material.)
I was sent something from the NCRA by a Stenonymous source. I think the best way to do this is to bold my comments and put parentheses around them. Consider it Christopher Day’s annotations to what’s probably a bunch of bullshit.
(Take it from the king of bullshit.)
Good afternoon,
Please see the following statement from the NCRA Board of Directors. Thank you.
(Thanks Kristin.)
Kristin M. Anderson, M.A., RPR, CRI, CSR, FCRR
NCRA President, 2023-2024
NCRA Board expands advocacy efforts
President-Elect Keith Lemons and the NCRA Board of Directors would like to share with you, our members, what we envision for NCRA’s advocacy efforts this coming year. (That took a while.) President-Elect Lemons has decided to create a new broadly focused Government Relations Team (GRT), which will act as a multi-focused fast response team that will focus on a wide variety of issues of critical importance to the membership. This is not being done to detract from the years of work and current focus of STRONG on AI. Rather, it recognizes the breadth of issues confronting NCRA’s members and the current needs of NCRA’s Government Relations staff, which are much broader. (This sounds nice, but also gives no information as to what the actual plan is, which is a good indicator that there is no actual plan.) We also would like to explain how NCRA’s governance process works and how this new initiative fully complies with NCRA’s Constitution and Bylaws in order to counter the unfortunate rumors and disinformation that have been spread.
Before we get into the details, the NCRA Board wants you, our members, to know that we take our advocacy efforts very seriously. (That’s why we let the Speech-to-Text Institute, a fraudulent organization with no net assets, wreck our collective shit until Christopher Day stepped in to dismantle them with the help of a handful of supporters.) We also take the process of governance of the Association, legal liabilities, and the best practices for managing the business of the Association equally seriously. NCRA can and will proceed with our established procedures and best practices in how we operate and communicate with our members. (Which is to say, we will not communicate unless and until we are being openly attacked by a significant portion of the membership.) NCRA does not conduct official business on social media platforms (hence the term social, not business) (News for you all, your very existence is dependent on the social good will of court reporters. Fucking morons.) or allow back-and-forth discussions that include personal attacks, slander, defamation, or criticism of specific companies or their products that could cause legal liability for NCRA. We need to be above that and also cannot allow NCRA to be exposed to potential liability for such improper communications. (Because, as we all know, in the free country that is America, criticizing people opens up legal liability. We’re not stupid. Go fuck yourselves.)
We are a professional association that has been around for 125 years because NCRA works in a deliberate and effective manner. (So effective, it’s been bleeding membership for the last 10 years.) While it may not be popular in a “I want it now” way and in the combative and destructive mentality (And there we go, taking shots at anybody that criticizes the machine, like you fucking love to do.) that seems to permeate our societal discussions today, NCRA will take its time to try to get our decisions correct to make sure they benefit the membership as a whole. It is not a matter of hiding something but trying to get it right. While we may not accomplish it 100 percent of the time, please remember the VOLUNTEER Board and committee members are donating their valuable time to make all our lives better. (You know who’s not a volunteer? The guy you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to in order to get it right. Sorry, Dave, I know nobody’s got a magic wand. I do acknowledge that.)
It is also important to remember that this year, NCRA has more than 25 committees and more than 150 volunteers working on various critical projects. ALL of these committees are important, and all believe that their specific charges and tasks are vital to the future of the Association. No one committee’s work is more important than others, as that would diminish the vision of the leadership (who have a global understanding of how all the pieces of all the committees fit together) (We know more than you, trust us.) and devalue the efforts of other volunteers doing good work on other committees. All committees are valuable, and more importantly, all the volunteers’ work on every committee is important and deserves equal credit in moving NCRA forward.
Here is a short version of how committees work within the governance of a professional association.
Committees are established to handle specific tasks deemed critical for the success of the organization and membership, meaning the committees work FOR the parent organization, not the other way around. (We own you. You don’t like it? Leave.)
Most committees are only constituted on a year-to-year basis (in 2023-2024 NCRA had 28 committees). There are only a very few standing committees, meaning they are essential to the ongoing operations and are specifically identified in NCRA’s Constitution and Bylaws (C&B). These standing committees are the Executive Committee, the Council of the Academy of Professional Reporters, the Council on Approved Student Education, the Committee on Professional Ethics, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and the Distinguished Service Award Committee. (So we can amend the bylaws and make Strong a permanent committee? Because I bet members would go for that.)
Every year the incoming President meets with staff and other industry colleagues to review the charges of the current committees, discuss the successes and opportunities of the committee, and review if committees have met their charges and whether they need to continue as-is, or with amended charges, or evolve into another iteration, or not be continued. Committees are always evolving. Just because there was a committee the year before does not mean it continues ad infinitum. (So staff said Strong has to go? Good to know. Good to know.)
The incoming President also solicits input from other Board members, staff members, and other sources to seat the best people who they feel can accomplish the charges and help the committee be successful.
At this point, under the C&B, the incoming President then has the sole and exclusive authority to decide what non-standing committees to create for the President’s upcoming term, the charges for those committees, and who will be the members and serve as chairs. Under the C&B, the Board of Directors then is responsible for approving the committees, charges, members, and chairs of the non-standing committees created by the incoming President (as well as for the standing committees). The Board of Directors, however, may not create other committees on its own initiative.
This process starts in the spring and is ultimately voted on before the summer conference. In many cases, the charges for the committees being put forth and the selection of the candidates for said committees are not finalized until after the conference due to the sheer number of volunteers needed to fill the committees and the extensive planning for the annual conference.
The committees then begin their assigned tasks and report back to the Board on their progress throughout the year.
This is the established and accepted process adopted by most professional associations. (This is a straight up lie by the way. There’s no way on God’s Earth that anyone knows what most professional associations do. There are simply too many. It would be like saying most people wash their hands for 2 minutes after using the bathroom. Oh really? Did you take a fucking survey?)
Now, on to the specifics of the NCRA STRONG committee, which is not continuing in its current form (No shit?). On February 19, 2019, NCRA’s Executive Director suggested to then NCRA President, Sue Terry, that NCRA create a rapid response task force to combat electronic recording in the states. President Terry embraced the idea and on March 5, 2019, they presented the fleshed-out concept along with suggested charges to leadership. The new proposed committee was to be called the Member’s Electronic Recording Rapid Response Committee (MERRRC). It would be comprised of a group of member advocates solely dedicated to combating the dangerous use of electronic recording in the public and private sectors. A wise decision was made to rename the committee, and that is the genesis of STRONG.
The STRONG committee (past and present) has been recreated and approved each year by the Presidents and Boards that followed. It has been blessed with dedicated members for the past five years who have donated their time and expertise to that committee and have created tools that states and individuals can use for advocacy of the stenographic profession. Recently the committee has been focused primarily on artificial intelligence (AI) and has become subject matter experts in AI as it relates to speech-to-text in the court reporting and captioning industry. The committee has put together various content-heavy presentations and, with the help of an NCRA-hired consultant, assembled an excellent white paper on the dangers of AI in legal settings. NCRA has continually and publicly thanked the committee for its work on AI. That appreciation has been continuous and carries on to this day (It also hamstrung us often, but we’ll forgive that, since you thanked us and appreciated us.).
As with every professional endeavor, we must evolve and so will the mission of the committee. Incoming President Keith Lemons’ vision of advocacy is all-inclusive and means that NCRA will focus on all issues affecting our members. The Board recognizes that AI is an important issue, but it is not the ONLY issue that affects our members. To that end, incoming President Lemons wants to utilize the good work that STRONG has developed and go back to the concept of a rapid response team called the Government Relations Team (GRT). This new year-to-year committee will be designed after a very successful quick response task force NCRA had in the past and sunsetted due to budget issues. To some extent, it will be patterned after NCRA’s former Reporting Advocacy and Information Network (RAIN) program, which was a network of experienced reporters and captioners that reviewed legislation and rules pertaining to ALL legislative, regulatory, and judicial matters affecting the profession (And the reason we couldn’t do both things is…).
We will be securing members for the new GRT committee who have decades of experience in advocating for the profession, and we are actively seeking individuals in different states who excel in this legislative and regulatory acumen to review all the issues facing the profession and who will offer their expertise to assist the states and NCRA with formulating responses to protect our members. While AI is one issue, many reporters across the country are facing losing their CSR licensure language (IL, TN to name just two), official salary adjustments that have not kept up with other members of the court family, official page rate issues, contracting and other unethical issues, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules, employee vs. independent contractor classification (Which we are conveniently on the wrong side of.), digital recording threats, and many more issues (So many, we’re not even going to attempt to tell you what they are.). The new GRT team will assist the Government Relations staff in reviewing state and Federal legislative and regulatory actions and suggest grassroots efforts to help our members out in the states (Just look away from the fact that we’re deleting our current grassroots efforts to make new grassroots efforts, which is basically sabotage dressed up as assistance. Certainly none of us have been bought off by the big boxes who we can’t dare criticize in any way ever because, you know, convenient legal liability issues.).
NCRA, once again, commends the STRONG committee for their work and hopes that members of that committee will want to be part of this next evolution of our advocacy efforts if they are interested. NCRA strongly believes that we are better when we work together (Too late for that Keith. You burned them. And they’re coming for you.).
It is important to reiterate, however, that NCRA will not engage in social media and will not tolerate personal attacks, abuse or defamation of members, staff, or Board members, or possibly actionable comments about particular companies or their products, on the organization’s platforms (NCRA’s tolerated everything Stenonymous has thrown its way. You’ll continue to tolerate it because you are bought cowards who are sabotaging our profession under a false veneer of “professionalism.”). While constructive discussion is welcomed, anarchy, chaos and exposing NCRA to possible liability are not, and individuals inciting that type of behavior will be removed. Being part of the NCRA social world or listservs is a privilege, and there are rules to that access. NCRA will not allow people to be bullied, shamed, called out, or trashed on our platforms because a small group of dissatisfied people on a single issue do not like the direction or a specific stance (This is a propaganda technique. By calling us a small group, they minimize us and seek to make us voluntarily disband. Again, go fuck yourselves.).
Finally, it is important to remember that what you read on social media or through some hearsay discussion is not the only side of the discussion, or even accurate at times (But we won’t tell you what’s inaccurate because then the people we’re deriding can turn around and sue us for defamation, because, ultimately, we are spineless cowards.). Unfortunately, we live in a society where the loudest voices demand attention, but that is not always the best course of action or, once again, the full story. NCRA will continue to accept suggestions and respectful constructive debate in our formal channels of communication. NCRA has had hundreds of committees over the century we have been in existence. Committees are created, complete their charges, and are sunsetted. In the past five years alone, nearly 13 percent of committees have evolved or been sunsetted (13% is not the flex you think it is, bro.). Please remember that just because you do not see a response from NCRA immediately, it does not mean NCRA is not being transparent or is hiding something. Many times, the organization is simply getting everything together so as not to roll out something that is incomplete or challenging to administer with limited resources and volunteer time (And we are definitely not waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before we make announcements. Definitely.).
We hope that our explanation alleviates some of the miscommunication pertaining to this issue and also provides a better understanding of our advocacy outlook and general plan as we move forward in accomplishing all our strategic plan goals.
2023-2024 NCRA Board of Directors
I gotta be honest. It didn’t really answer a lot for me. It’s basically more of the same: We’re gonna do what we’re gonna do, and there’s nothing you can do about that.
Don’t be surprised when people push back. You fucking deserve it.
Side note, it’s come to my attention that NCRA was asked to stream the business meeting and stated it was too expensive. Using OBS software combined with Twitch, streaming is actually free, so again, more lies from an organization chronically afraid of change and criticism. Members should propose a bylaws amendment and force them to stream the business meeting. Then they’ll have to take that expense and shove it up their ass. Or they can have their parliamentarian make up a reason why it can’t be done and show everyone who they really are.
But what the fuck is up with forcing us to make a bylaws amendment for every single fucking thing we’d like to see done? And what the fuck is up with some volunteers being more valued than others? Our volunteer board is beyond criticism but we fuck our Strong committee volunteers at will with basically no notice?
You won’t win this by huddling in darkness and whining about how you’re treated on social media. Our “small group of dissatisfied people” is just going to grow and dismantle you in whatever way presents itself as the path of least resistance. In my case? That’s running the biggest alternative publication in the court reporting industry. How long until you tick off someone with some fundraising finesse and I make a new friend who’ll help this platform grow for a piece of the pie?
Till next time.
Stenonymous releases July 2024 readership statistics
Students, space is filling up so sign up at AFYEvents7@gmail.com to secure your FREE night out at the High Tea for High Achievers event on Thursday, August 1st @ 7:30 p.m. ET.
If you’d like to sponsor a student, it costs $55 & that covers:
Off-site Tea Party.
Party Bus.
Your OWN Fascinator Hat.
Sightseeing.
Tea-spilling with experienced court reporters.
You will leave well-informed about best practices in the industry.
Chris Day: To be forthright, my issues with the National Court Reporters Association are well documented.
That said, I follow a “doctrine” of fairness and freedom. I support the people that reach out to me with news of their events, and I support Chris DeGrazio. So here it is.
Below is information for 3 Louisville events — that’s the National Court Reporters Association conference this year. Then below that are 4 practice sessions unrelated to the conference.
Please feel free to spread these materials. Each is a flyer followed by explaining text.
And now from Chris DeGrazio:
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Student Giveaway:
Attention students!
If you’re going to be at the #NCRA conference in Louisville during August 1st-3rd, message me so that we can link up so you can claim your prize!
I’m collaborating w 10 creative people in our profession to create some custom & dope student swag. This is my third year doing this giveaway, so it’s going to be the best yet!
I’ll have a huge silver sequin duffle bag with me throughout the weekend filled w student swag. If you see me at any time, regardless of what I’m doing, come up to me so you can choose your gift.
The first year I did this (Vegas 2021), it was self-funded cuz I was too shy to ask people to donate & I didn’t know how I’d be received, some random guy giving out gifts to people he didn’t know. So I gave gifts to friends & colleagues & asked them to send students they knew my way.
The second year I did this (Orlando 2022), I was fortunate to have help from some friends whom I felt comfortable enough to reach out to prior to the conference. I also felt more comfortable encouraging students to come pick their gifts.
This year I’m going public w it. If you’d like to donate any amount, even $5, all of the $ raised goes towards the swag for the students.
After the conference I’ll share pics of the students & the awesome swag they received.
Regardless of whether or not you donate anything, plz share this post w students & reporters just in case they know a student who will be at the conference.
Thanks! 🤠🌈
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StenoMasters:
Exciting news! Joshua B. Edwards will be presenting StenoMasters at the NCRA conference this year on Saturday morning, the session before the awards luncheon. We need 3-4 prepared speakers to give speeches.
Giving a speech in front of your peers is a fantastic opportunity to share a story or a facet of your life that many court reporters don’t know about you. And you will get a ton of constructive feedback. Your speech does not have to be about the field. If you are interested in speaking for 5-7 minutes but need some ideas or help crafting a speech, please let us know. We’re happy to work with you.
Looking forward to seeing many of you in Louisville!
Join us on Friday, August 2nd @ 8 p.m. ET for our third annual Steno Pride Meetup at Miki’s Karaoke Bar @ 2230 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206. You don’t have to be queer or sing karaoke or drink alcohol to attend. This is a fun way to celebrate our diversity in an inclusive & laid back way. Plz register in the link below so we can have an accurate head count ( : See y’all there! 🤠🌈👨🎤👩🎤
It’s a holiday, so I’m not going to take up too much of your time. NCRA Members are being encouraged by former Strong members to stand up against what has been done. I’m in full support, so these materials have a home here. I regret no longer having my membership. But just let it be known that I’d be first to sign.
Spread ’em around to fellow NCRA members. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to see how the institutional machinery attempts to wiggle out of this one.
Years ago I would’ve wept at the sight of such division. Now I consider it wholly necessary for the advancement of our interests as a community. NCRA needs to understand — and needs to communicate that it understands — that it exists to serve our interests. The mission in the bylaws is leadership and enlightenment. Real leaders don’t toss away their strongest supporters.
I will post without commentary this time*. These words are from Sue Terry and posted with permission as given in the post itself.
As posted to the Steno Intelligence Facebook Group
Good morning, everyone. I indicated that I would respond on the weekend regarding the recent decision that the NCRA Strong Committee would cease to exist.
It’s a bit perplexing to us to hear that we will soon have increased advocacy working for us, as Keith has indicated, particularly at a time when the budget is so lean and the Strong Committee has been self-funding our activities, as you will see in the list of activities below. But we will as members anxiously await the announcement of those plans just like all of you.
I’m only active in a few Facebook groups, and you can feel free to copy/paste my words in other groups you may belong to.
I want to thank everyone for the support you’ve given the Strong Committee through many years, and for your texts, messages, calls, events we’ve shared with you, etc. While it has been a lot of work for all of us on Strong, it’s been well worth the additional friendships we’ve made through our service.
As I just posted on the Leaders listserv, the Strong Committee’s work has always been rooted in integrity and commitment to the NCRA membership, and more importantly, to our professional colleagues. I think you can see if you take time to view just some of our work below, it has never been about personal gain or agenda. I think any organization would be happy to have volunteers like this, but apparently there’s something much better coming than we’ve been offering.
While we are quite saddened at this development, we fully intend to regroup, of course, and will now support our beloved profession outside the walls of the association to the best of our ability.
We don’t know yet what that’s going to look like, but we don’t sit and wring our hands much. And there’s likely some of our competitors thinking this is a good kind of dream; well, think again. We are now free of constraints and will be able to push information out with a little more agility than in the past. We are Free.
I’d like to recap some of what our committee has achieved for you through the last couple of years. It’s by no means an exhaustive list since none of us kept a running list, but I think you’ll see we’ve done our job as unpaid volunteers. And just remember, “Strong” has never been about the name, it’s about the people and the advocacy.
Here is a rundown of what we’ve contributed in recent memory:
Most recent this week that was a fantastic experience:
*Joining ABA as an interested member to get their emails, offerings and what’s happening in their world. Several days ago, our committee members attended a webinar on AI in the justice system that the ABA gave. Imagine this: they acknowledged the presence of so many court reporters during the meeting, and their valuable input was welcomed. I have also watched all of their “free” bar continuing education webinars on AI/courts. So much information to share in due time.
Elevator Pitches for members.
Keeping members informed about ABA Resolutions and Guidelines.
In 2019 or early ‘20, suggested an AI Bill of Rights or Disclosure Bill, to require disclosure if a transcript was processed with ASR. (We are excited to see it’s now finally on the table.)
Supported members with information to combat a proposed push requesting federal judges to electronically record more of their trials.
Compiled a database of every state bar association to enable flow of information.
The NCRA White Paper has been cited by CNBC, Reuters, NextGov, and others.
Channel 2 Dayton news story with Kristin and I regarding the NCRA White Paper and dangers to the justice system posed by AI.
State flyers.
Video series on YouTube channel for members to use, all captioned by Strong.
Letter to US Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing on AI use in judicial systems nationwide.
Letters to Indiana, both personal and on behalf of Strong.
Letters to Tennessee, both personal and on behalf of Strong.
Letters to Washington on sunsetting, personal and on behalf of Strong.
Other Presentations and Tasks:
Montana Bar Association.
Colorado CRA.
Zoom webinars during Pandemic to move to remote.
Quarterly articles in Journal and often in the Weekly.
Privacy webinar.
Created other webinars for the NCRA store.
Drafted NCRA Resolution which was released ahead of the American Bar Association, who then adopted their own similar resolution.
Stenopalooza.
Spring Fling.
Powerpoints created for member use.
Powerpoints created for board use to present Strong.
Updated the Tech Powerpoint the board gives at their request.
Lisa Mig drove to Sue’s to do a mini-boot camp for Texas leaders (4-hour drive each way)
Lisa Mig drove to Kim Falgiani’s, 7-hour trip each way involving an overnight hotel stay to appear with Kim for a TV interview on AI dangers in broadcast captioning and courts.
Remote and in-person presentations for Steno in the City.
Ilinois Bar Presentation to their Board of Governors (Phyllis).
San Francisco Legal Professionals
presentation at their request.
Washington Court Reporters Association presentation.
Ohio (‘21, ‘22, ‘23 and ‘24)
State Leaders Webinar on Strong Education.
Oregon Court Reporters Association presentation.
CALDRA presentation.
California Court Reporters Association presentation.
Steno in the City presentation.
NCSA meeting in Las Vegas presentation.
NCRA Convention in Orlando presentation.
Utah CRA.
Massachusetts Court Reporters Association.
Provided assistance/brainstorming Zoom sessions/letters – Arizona, Texas, Indiana (before they dissolved the association,) Illinois,
Connecticut, Minnesota, Tennessee, Nebraska preparing for elimination of jobs and raise issues.
Alaska presentation.
Many one-on-one calls for support by all the Strong team, requiring additional evenings, weekends.
Youtube video series of judges/court admins, audio forensic expert, privacy and captioning all videos.
Series of meetings with privacy expert.
Captioned the Murdaugh FTR trial clip.
Phyllis worked with “Free” audio forensic, former FBI experts, Doug Lacey and Bruce Koenig (Bek Tek LLC), who contributed to some of our self-education, work and white paper.
Work with audio forensic expert, Ed Primeau, to produce videos on alterations
Ohio Supreme Court.
Stenocat Users Network seminars.
Each Strong member spent at least four hours a week doing research, and then met every other
Sunday evening for 2-4 hours to discuss research, projects, requests, strategies, etc., upcoming articles, and a few invited guests when needed.
Liz and I as Strong worked with Max Curry in the revamp of NCSA by digging into our own old files to reinvent the history of NCSA, which was obliterated by a previous CEO, along with many of the historical documents where members could go to archives and educate themselves on the path and history of the association.
Expenditures off the top of my head by our Strong Committee out of pocket:
Software to caption our own videos and some
of NCRA’s videos $225.00 a year, two years now.
Software for live polls during webinars $210 year, two years now.
Joined IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals and signed up for their privacy bar emails, and that’s where much of the AI bills information and charts that I’ve forwarded to states comes from, three years of dues for that at $250 a year.
Attended Legalweek in NY (Registration, Air, Hotel, etc., cost of approximately $2,000 and also gave a full report of that experience and threats to our livlihoods and the major players threatening us to the board in a written report.)
Attended multiple court technology conferences to be able to ask pertinent questions of court recording vendors during presentations, and that’s been multiple members of Strong when the technology conferences are near them.
Boot Camp – Stacey Raikes and I both paid our own air and hotel for Boot Camp at a dent to our personal budgets of another approximately $2,000.00 each and additional days off calendar.
When we were provided a booth at our annual conference to meet and greet with members. Stacey bought a monitor to have at our booth for streaming the videos we had produced for all of you, and also provided snacks we passed out, and a life-sized cutout for “Strong selfies” for members. She wouldn’t share how much she spent or let us contribute.
Court Technology Conference this past year: NCRA did provide a table for us at CTC, and it was a very costly spot. We much appreciated that expenditure. In addition to their expenditure, Debbie, Stacey and I also funded our own air travel and took vacation days from our work schedules to man the booth, stocked the booth with candies and goodies, and also outfitted the best-looking booth there, complete with banners, etc., all paid for by us (Debbie mostly on this one). I’ve been to a lot of court technology shows, but our booth at this one was one of the most popular and we were handing out our information constantly due to our focus on AI with our tag line of “Can You Trust AI Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?” I do hope the new people are going to self-fund at the level we did, considering the reported budget shortfalls.
In closing, thanks for the many messages of thanks of support we’ve received this week, along with offers to help. Thanks to Kimberly D’Urso and Kelly Bryce Shainline for your support, too. It means a lot coming from two great leaders. Please, friends, keep your states strong (pun intended) at this pivotal point in our profession and do what you feel is necessary to urge – no, demand – that the organization that has been so crucial to our justice system continues to fight for us. If you don’t belong to your state association, please join today. If you can afford it, join a neighboring one, too. Lets, please, please, please, keep our state associations strong. Membership deserves nothing less. Business as usual shouldn’t be an option for any of us. Our profession deserves everyone’s best efforts.
Sue
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Back to Chris Day.
Perhaps I will make one comment.
This is how the National Court Reporters Association treats its most fervent volunteers. People admittedly willing to spend thousands of dollars of their own money for a greater good and spreading awareness to the world about the research we’ve done.
How much do you think it respects you for your membership dues?
How much do you think it respects non-members of the profession?
It’s likely a simple calculation. The vendors want AI. They’re going AI. NCRA can’t have a committee making so much ground on AI awareness. We’re talking more media and legal profession attention than I could’ve dreamed. Look at Sue’s list again.
Those vendors are more important than the truth.
Those vendors are more important than your jobs.
What’re you going to do about it?
It’s time for a new national association. And if you like that idea, stay tuned for updates later in the year.
*The asterisk represents a liepushed for dramatic effect.
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P.S.
So it came to be that everyone could see what I see.
The headline is more or less the post. It’s come to my attention that the National Court Reporters Association will be discontinuing the NCRA Strong task force, later known as the NCRA Strong committee.
NCRA Strong was working on a great many things including gathering information about digital and AI failures. And from my own time there, I can honestly say that we were hamstrung every single step of the way by NCRA’s administration and organization. There were always excuses as to why things couldn’t, wouldn’t, or shouldn’t be done. They mothballed our white paper up until I published that they had mothballed the white paper and then quietly discontinued the committee within a year or so after. What an outrageous thing to do.
This marks a turning point in NCRA’s ethos. We should leave it in the dust bin where it belongs and form a new national association. If you haven’t dropped your membership yet, here’s your sign.
Always remember that the association was able to address the lies promoted by the Speech-to-Text Institute. It instead let independent publishers and activists like myself hang in the wind. The Speech-to-Text Institute, after being accused of fraud, quietly shut down its website in 2023.
And what a coincidence that NCRA Strong members validated some of my work indirectly and they’re now being disbanded. Some will blame Keith Lemons. Some will blame Dave Wenhold. Whatever the case, the National Court Reporters Association has indelibly proven itself to be an entity that does more harm than good by giving volunteers the feeling that they are doing good while quietly snuffing out anything that actually does good. It’s a political play that I can see a mile away, and I’m hopeful my fellow court reporters do too. We are being sabotaged and the knives have finally come out.
There’s some rumor of a new replacement committee. What does that accomplish? Pushing the people that have been doing this for years out of the seat for people that can be coached and directed easier.
I have a message from someone close to my heart. Go rogue. Get shit done.
The NCRA has enlisted the help of Farragut Partners. I wish them well. This could be a big turning point in terms of the advocacy we’ve seen from the organization.
In time, I may even be willing to say that I was wrong.
………
But then again, perhaps not, because certainly nobody that’s ever fucked me has ever expressed that they were wrong or that what they did to me was wrong. I was kind of thrown a bone, but nobody told me about it, I just kind of had to discover it myself. That’s like someone writing a sorry note and leaving it in the park where they know I walk occasionally.
We give to this entity because we associate it with good feelings and unity. I gave thousands of dollars and uncounted hours. If I could go back and undo that, I wouldn’t. That’s how strong those feelings are. The darker side of that is the ostracizing and othering of people that have been burned by the entity. I can only turn to my own experience. I was, at one time, guilty of that othering, guilty of believing that those that spoke against the organization were fostering division that would hurt our profession.
I have learned that I was wrong. Those people have a dedication to our craft and the students we mentor that transcends organizational loyalty.
Organizational loyalty in place of loyalty to our fellow reporters is a disease. It excludes the possibility of meaningful reform and/or the building of new organizations flexible enough to meet modern challenges. Would you keep grandpa on life support if it meant sacrificing your son?
Here I am in control of the premier alternative publication for the court reporting industry. All I can say is that if I grow with your help, I’ll remember those good feelings. If I grow despite your othering, I’ll remember that too.
Stenonymous releases monthly readership stats as of March 23, 2024.
P.S.
I heard there may be a judge in California reviewing my work. Should you find yourself arriving on this page ever, just know that I have spent years documenting what I’ve documented, I would testify to the things that can be testified to, and the situation is so deleterious to the health of the fraudster corporations that they have allowed me to publish unabated in my own name well beyond the statute of limitations for defamation even after I personally alerted them that I was doing what I was doing. Of course, I submit this is because what I’ve written is true.
I made myself so obnoxious that if the matter ever does reach a courtroom, the morons will have to explain why they harass court reporters for what they put on Facebook while letting me do this for years and years. The U.S. Legal reps will have their blatant sexism and bullying of women dragged out into the light.
But I still fear for this country. Many people have asked why SBF and others are able to get away with the things that they get away with for so long.
As it turns out, a 14-year professional in a field can document and publish extensively about a fraud being committed, including passing information to law enforcement and journalists, and nothing will be done.
Nothing.
For years.
On an issue impacting tens of thousands of people.
