Originally Posted by
Free Mason
Interesting commentary.
Was MD the first choice of most that voted for him, or did he get the vote to block someone that brought concern for other reasons than those items listed? Did the true concern over Art winning move the room towards unlikely group of supporters to get MD elected? Does the result make most of the MEC satisfied and get them a leader that all can support? Given the fact that it was 10-9 and the likely choice not getting any votes makes me curious.
What I heard was it was becoming clear with MD's entry that AA had a very good chance of winning if MD was knocked out in the first round. JVS was the 1st choice of the recall group until MD entered the game. There was enough solid support behind AA going into the first round that if they did not elect MD then, AA would prevail vs. JVS in round two. It came down to anyone but AA from the "regressives", but MD was far from and not part of the scripted history. Had MD not entered one of the NYC reps likely would have voted for AA and he'd be Chairman right now. I got the distinct impression MD was not a planned foil to AA and JVS.
I remember hearing part of the discussion during the KR recall was that those who had been on MEC's that experienced a chairman recall cautioned of unintended consequences. I think MD is exactly that, and possibly a very good one, and probably more of a change than KR was.
Let's wait and see. He's up at the investor conference today and I would expect a Chairman's letter in the next week. Does anyone really expect substantive changes on the day he is elected? He deserves, as any new Chairman, a honeymoon period. Let's see what happens in the next few months.