Subject: AFSC
Name: Melissa Callahan
Date Posted: Oct 20, 07 - 10:38 PM
melissacci@yahoo.com
Message: This is a response to a couple of emails that I've received that question what the problem is between AFSC and me.
The second day into distributing the fliers calling for the strike, a driver approached me and gave me a business card from Prateek Sampat w/AFSC, who had been at O’Hare looking for me. I didn't know who Prateek was or why he was trying to reach me. The next morning, I called Prateek. He asked for me to come and meet with him to discuss the strike at Kabob Corner where he was also having another meeting with other drivers regarding lease cap violations. I attended their meeting with the other drivers and stayed afterward to meet with Prateek, Mike McConnell and a representative of the CIOCG. During their meeting regarding the lease cap issue, I listened to Prateek talk about how lease caps have been violated and I became angry at the thought that once again I, along with other taxi drivers had been taken advantage of. I agreed to bring my leases to AFSC. I agreed to nothing more than that. At the end of the meeting, Prateek and Mike McConnell said that they wanted to support the strike. At that point, I was three days into handing out fliers without very much help. Being completely exhausted, I very happily and gratefully accepted their offer to help.
Mistake 1 DISHONESTY
Prateek has been lying to anyone who will listen, saying that I sought him out and requested help from AFSC. How AFSC and I became involved is not a huge issue to me – it apparently is to them. My problem with this particular situation is that Prateek Sampat has proved to be a dishonest person.
The day before the strike, Prateek asked me to come into his office to prepare me for the press conference that AFSC had scheduled. George Lutfallah, whom I had met only a couple of days before, had also offered to help me with what he could. I decided to take George Lutfallah up on his offer to help me so, I called him and asked him to attend AFSC's meeting to prep me. He said that he couldn't make it but, Jonathan Bullington, Chicago Dispatcher’s Managing Editor, would be able to. I called Prateek to let him know that someone from the Chicago Dispatcher would be attending the meeting also. Prateek said okay and ten minutes later called me back to say that George and/or Jonathan were not allowed at the meeting. I insisted that Jonathan be there. My thoughts were that if I'm preparing for media questions, who better than to advise me than the media themselves? Prateek disagreed but reluctantly agreed to Jonathan being a part of the press-prep meeting.
Mistake 2 AUTHORITY?
This was a meeting for me. AFSC has no right to tell me who I can and cannot accept advice from.
The Chicago Dispatcher was never formally invited to the actual press conference and didn't receive a press packet like the other media. Why the complete disregard for the Chicago Dispatcher?
The day of the strike, after the press conference, I met with Prateek Sampat and Mike McConnell, at their request, to "debrief." During this meeting, Prateek informed me that the next step after the strike was to start organizing drivers. I explained that I thought it was a good idea but, it was too big of a task for me. Mike McConnell and Prateek tried, unsuccessfully, for an hour to persuade me to take on this project while incorrectly implying that I had agreed to organize drivers in return for their support of the strike.
Mistake 3 IMPOSITION
AFSC thought they could impose on me and pressure me into what they thought “the next step was.” I will not be pushed into anything and I take great offense when people attempt to do so.
Mistake 4 MANIPULATION
AFSC tried to lay a guilt trip on me by basically sending the message: We supported you with the strike and now you’re abandoning your obligation to us. AFSC should’ve understood that these guilt trip attempts and manipulation tactics would be unsuccessful and very offensive.
Mistake 5 CONDITIONS
I do not accept help when something is expected in return. If you would like to offer help, offer it unconditionally. Otherwise, it is not a genuine offer in my opinion.
Feeling the tension between AFSC and George Lutfallah, after the Snakes in the Morning editorial came out and having a somewhat naïve “let’s all work together” attitude, I decided to call a meeting to bring all existing taxi associations and advocates together and mend fences between everyone. Some of the people who attended were Raja Khan, George Kasp, Johnny Holmes, Ted Budzynski, George Lutfallah and me. Let’s be clear. The meeting was specifically meant to bring peace between everyone but, especially George Lutfallah and Prateek Sampat, AFSC.
Mistake 6 COUNTERACTIVE
Prateek Sampat did not show up. George Lutfallah did. That showed me a lot about who is willing to work together and who was not.
AFSC held a meeting for drivers. I was told by driver, Zafar Bhatti, that drivers were confused and wanted to know whether or not it was a meeting that I had scheduled. Prateek called me the day of the meeting to ask if I was planning on attending. To eliminate any confusion and to address any drivers with questions, I attended. Only when the question of my involvement with AFSC was brought up by driver, Mike Foulks, did I speak on that subject. At some point during the discussion of this topic, Prateek stated that George Lutfallah is not allowed at any organizing meetings.
Mistake 7 DICTATORSHIP
That’s when I had heard enough. I told Prateek and the other drivers that his comment was exactly what George Lutfallah had a problem with, AFSC trying to control drivers. Who is Prateek or his boss to tell drivers how to run our meetings? Who is Prateek or his boss to say who can or cannot attend? Being cabdrivers does not mean that we’re stupid and are incapable of making our own decisions.
Some of the most intelligent people that I’ve come across are cab drivers and I’m so sorry that AFSC can’t appreciate our capabilities.
Weeks after that meeting, Prateek asked to meet with me. At this point, so many drivers expressed to me their need for a “union” and I had accepted the responsibility of creating what they envisioned. During this meeting, Prateek spoke about the funds that AFSC had available for drivers to start this organization. He also said that AFSC would be taking more of a “secretarial role” from that day on. He wrote down guidelines that the organization would have to meet in order to receive these funds. The guidelines are listed below in the exact wording from Prateek.
Organizing Committee (or similar)
• Should have majority lease drivers
• Also has some single medallion owners
• Is clearly independent of the city and large medallion/fleet owners
• Should include leaders from all communities or close with appropriate representation
• Should have a fair and democratic process
Should have majority lease drivers
I believe that the committee should be made up of whatever the drivers vote on, not what AFSC says. If the majority of drivers that choose to vote elect 30 committee members and the majority happens to be medallion owners, so be it. If the majority of votes are for candidates who are lease drivers, so be it. The ultimate decision of what the majority of the committee is made up of is THE DRIVERS’ DECISION.
Also has some single medallion owners
Why did Prateek use the word “single”? Is someone who owns two medallions a horrible person and does not deserve to be on the committee? Is it so wrong for someone to own two cabs, drive one and lease out the other? The man that I lease my cab from owns two medallions, is the sweetest little man ever and couldn’t hurt a fly. Should this man be considered a predator out to victimize lease drivers?
Why should drivers who own two or three medallions be excluded from the committee? Most of the help that I’ve received with the strike and now, creating a “drivers union,” has been from medallion owners. Some medallion owners have said to me that they don’t have too many problems with Consumer Services, fleet owners or any other agency because they’re very careful to follow the rules set by the city to protect their investment. However, they support what I’m doing because they care about lease drivers.
So why should their involvement be limited when they’ve proven to be the most committed to bringing positive change to the industry?
The city hall incident occurred, which I assume everyone is familiar with. The day after that, Prateek and I went back to city hall to submit the petition for the fare increase. On the top of the petitions was a cover page that acknowledged everyone who had participated in getting signatures for the fare increase. Several “fleet owners” had petitions at their garages for drivers to sign. Prateek asked what I thought about taking the fleet owners names off of the cover page. I didn’t want to remove any names from the list of those who had helped.
Mistake 8 ABUSE OF POWER & AUTHORITY
Even if AFSC possesses misplaced, undeserved power and authority, it is wrong to discredit anyone who has acted in support of a good cause. I believe that credit should be given when credit is rightfully due.
After submitting the petition for the fare increase, Prateek Sampat and Mike McConnell suggested several times that they inform the media that I submitted the petition for the fare increase. They pressured me to the point that I finally became very frustrated. With all of the chaos within those couple of days, it was not the right time to bring media attention into the taxi industry. Plus, I didn’t feel the need to say to the cameras “It was me, Melissa Callahan, that submitted the petition for the fare increase.”
Mistake 9 MISUSING MEDIA
By no means am I an expert when it comes to the media. However, in my opinion I believe that the media should be used to educate the public and gain public support for taxi drivers. It serves no good purpose to use the media to claim or gain credit.
WBBM News incorrectly reported that George Kasp had submitted the petition for the fare increase along with his proposed amendments. Mike McConnell and Prateek Sampat’s message to me was “You see, we should have gone to the media before Kasp & Lutfallah did. I guess we learned something for next time.” As Mike and Prateek spoke they looked at me with an expression on their faces of pity and an expression of “I told you so.”
Mistake 10 CONDESCENDENCE
AFSC needs to realize that a condescending approach is a serious mistake to make not only with me but, especially with other drivers who might not be as willing as I was to overlook it. Prateek Sampat and Mike McConnell also need to understand that their knowledge is not above or better than everyone else’s knowledge and ideas.
THE ULTIMATE MISTAKE
From the very beginning, I was in the middle of a conflict that already existed between AFSC and George Lutfallah. I tried very hard to remain neutral and bring the two parties together. As the days passed, it became more and more stressful to be in the middle of this conflict when both parties had such strong, negative opinions of each other and wouldn’t budge an inch. While working with both AFSC and George Lutfallah, there were issues of confidentiality, trust and strategic views. I think the question of whether or not I could continue to remain neutral enough to honor both sides views was what concerned George Kasp & George Lutfallah . Those issues were a concern for AFSC, as well. I decided to disassociate myself from AFSC. I made this decision after having a discussion with George Kasp & George Lutfallah, in which they expressed their concerns and asked me to decide for myself what position I would take. I thought a lot about the conversation between the three of us. I realized that no matter how much effort I put forth, AFSC and George Lutfallah would probably never work together. I decided that it was definitely time to make a decision. Some of the factors that led up to my decision were that George Lutfallah and George Kasp have a long history of putting forth a tremendous amount of effort in improving working conditions for taxi drivers. The other factors that led up to my decision are the mistakes made by AFSC and their continued unwillingness to try to resolve the issues that they had with George Lutfallah.
AFSC couldn’t accept my decision. So, they attempted to destroy my reputation. They made this attempt by creating a double sided flier, plastered with lies about me on both sides. One side of the flier is about lease increases. It states the city’s position on a lease increase, it states Kasp & Lutfallah’s supposed position, AFSC’s position and lies about my position. They lied about me, stating on their flier: Melissa Callahan’s Position - Believes that companies deserve to charge higher leases because of the high cost of business. That was an outright lie. It was only a couple of days before that I had grabbed ordinances at City Hall that I thought would result in a lease increase and ran with them. I did that with one of the intentions being to prevent any lease increase and protecting lease drivers.
The opposite side of the flier is entitled AN URGENT LETTER TO ALL TAXI DRIVERS. AFSC states on the flier that they are writing the letter to alert drivers.
They go on to say that there are “a few people aligned with the largest and most powerful taxi lease companies who are trying to fool you into participating in an organization of drivers.” Who are these few people? George Kasp is not interested in creating or getting drivers involved in any organization. From the conversations that I’ve had with George Lutfallah, I believe that he thinks that it’s a good idea that drivers get organized. George Lutfallah does not have any role in efforts to organize at this point but, what if he did? What’s wrong with Mr. Lutfallah being an advocate for drivers? AFSC claims that he’s in with the “fleet owners” and that to work with George Lutfallah is a conflict of interest. If George Lutfallah’s interest is helping drivers and AFSC’s interest is helping drivers, where is the conflict?
From what I can see, George Lutfallah provides several valuable services to the industry. One service being his newspaper. The Chicago Dispatcher is a way for drivers to stay connected with what’s happening in the industry. Let’s think about it. If his newspaper didn’t exist, do you think that the Chicago Tribune or Sun Times would print information that is valuable specifically to taxi drivers and not of any interest to the general public? I don’t. I doubt that the Chicago Tribune or Sun Times would care about many of our problems, if any. It’s true, Mr. Lutfallah does receive money from the taxi companies, payment for advertisements. The taxi industry is fortunate enough to have this man with impressive credentials including a masters degree in business that has enables him to advocate on behalf of taxi drivers, a man who’s providing a very beneficial service to taxi drivers and he’s being bashed for it by AFSC. To me, this is outrageous.
If I’m missing something, someone please let me know. If you do have an opinion, I ask that you reply on this site. Be straight and allow George Lutfallah a fair chance to defend himself.
Let’s look at the friends wording again. “a few people aligned with the largest and most powerful taxi lease companies who are trying to fool you into participating in an organization of drivers.”
Prateek Sampat and Mike McConnell know that my intentions are good. They know that I am not aligned with any taxi companies. They know that I’m not trying to trick any driver into anything. Knowing all of this they tried, but failed, to destroy my reputation.
It is very disturbing to me that while AFSC knows that I care deeply about the well being of taxi drivers, they tried to steer drivers away from an organization that I am creating that would benefit drivers. I consider that to be a direct threat to the drivers. If anyone would like to see these fliers, ask Prateek for one. I’m sure he has lots of them left because the drivers at O’Hare told Prateek to stop distributing them.
Drivers were outraged by the actions of AFSC. It didn’t stop there. AFSC not only attempted to damage George Kasp, George Lutfallah and my reputation but they did it by cutting out signatures of drivers from other forms and affixing them to the flier that lied about my position. I suppose Prateek Sampat and Mike McConnell’s idea was to show that other drivers were in agreement with the slanderous content and they didn’t care if the drivers actually signed the flier. I received a call from one of the drivers who’s signature was on this flier, Ted Budzynski. Ted claims that he never signed that flier. He says that he signed something else. So, Prateek must have cut his signature off of whatever it was that Ted signed and affixed Ted’s signature to the flier. Now AFSC has not only resorted to unethical behavior but, they’ve committed fraud.
The drivers - the people who matter - know that my loyalty belongs to them and that I always have their best interest in mind. They know that I will work and fight as hard as I have to for them because they’ve seen it.
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Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
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Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
THE BIG ELECTION LIE STRAIGHT FROM NEVER NEVER LAND
The MAJOR rules: never allow the AUDIENCE to cool off; never admit a FAULT or WRONG; never CONCEDE that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a BIG LIE sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it
That is of course rather painful for those involved.
This essential "LEADERSHIP QUALITY" does not depend on particular intelligence.
Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness.
It follows the principle that when one lies, one should LIE BIG, and stick to it.
Then KEEP UP THE LIES, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.
The foremost connoisseur of this truth regarding the possibilities in the use of falsehood and slander have always been Foulks; for after all, his whole existence is based on ONE SINGLE GREAT LIE, to wit, that he "represents" a CAB DRIVER COMMUNITY while actually being a political force to which CITY GOVERNMENT lends its ear - but WHAT A FARCE!
One of the greatest minds of humanity has nailed this type as such in an eternally correct phrase of fundamental truth: Arthur Schopenhauer called people like LONG EARS "the great masters of the lie."
Anyone who does not recognize this or does not want to believe it will never in this world be able to help the truth to victory.
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Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
Are you one of these voters, members?
John Rees, Steve Wiedersberg, Syed Z. Ali, Gregory McGee, Ted Budzynski, Melissa Callahan
Or
Thair?
Are you going to vote again for the 3rd times?
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Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
I heard they call him "Rebel Without A Clue" down in DCS.
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Replying to:
Are you one of these voters, members?
John Rees, Steve Wiedersberg, Syed Z. Ali, Gregory McGee, Ted Budzynski, Melissa Callahan
Or
Thair?
Are you going to vote again for the 3rd times?
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
Di you not hear the Mayor on the radio today?
He said and I quote "No horsing around. No hee-haw."
That means you Long Eared Father of Fools.
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Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
My TV and radio talks to me.
They tell me what's coming on next and then suggest things I should go buy.
I wish they had TVs and radios which wouldn't make me so mad and be sensitive to the fact that I don't have enough money to buy everything they say.
I think they're mocking me. Where's "Little Elvis" and "His Little Pills"? I HATE IT when I lose the remote!
Sorry...maybe I've said too much.
-Mike Foulks
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Replying to:
Di you not hear the Mayor on the radio today?
He said and I quote "No horsing around. No hee-haw."
That means you Long Eared Father of Fools.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
Somebody, please, give him back his faith in humanity!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
My TV and radio talks to me.
They tell me what's coming on next and then suggest things I should go buy.
I wish they had TVs and radios which wouldn't make me so mad and be sensitive to the fact that I don't have enough money to buy everything they say.
I think they're mocking me. Where's "Little Elvis" and "His Little Pills"? I HATE IT when I lose the remote!
Sorry...maybe I've said too much.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Di you not hear the Mayor on the radio today?
He said and I quote "No horsing around. No hee-haw."
That means you Long Eared Father of Fools.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Just give me your names and I'll remind you who you voted for.
-Mike Foulks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
we forgot who we voted, mike.
can you help us?
still remember us?
-"several who voted in both elections" of cco
